Winter ending explained: Who killed Simone Edwards?

Richard Armitage recently returned to our screens with ITV’s Winter. The series follows a maverick forensic pathologist who helps solve murders across Bristol while secretly haunted by his fiancée’s unsolved murder.

The detective thriller has been popular with audiences across the UK as they follow closely to see Armitage’s Dr Ethan Winter attempt to uncover the grizzly truth.

But how did the ITV series end, what is Pegasus and what does the triangle mark on the victims symbolise?

Let's break it down.

Want to see this content?

This page contains content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes.

At the beginning of the series, we are introduced to the maverick forensic pathologist Dr Winter, played by Richard Armitage, and his troubled relationship with Simone Edwards. His partner "appeared out of the blue" and he remarked how he can’t live like this as it was becoming exhausting.

However, while DI Lauren Bell, played by Annabel Scholey, was searching the police records for Simone Edwards, she discovered that the talented photojournalist was murdered in her Bristol home and found by Dr Ethan Winter, but it was too late to save her. Therefore, she is just a figment of Winter’s imagination and he is suffering trauma from her murder 10 years ago.

Winter and Edwards's neighbour became obsessed with the photojournalist and was arrested and charged with her murder. However, as he was leaving the court, he insisted that he was innocent and declared, "It wasn’t me, she was still alive."

What does the triangle mark represent in Winter?

When Simone Edwards was found dead, there was a mysterious triangle mark carved onto her thumb by the murderer. The same mark was discovered on the bodies of Phillip Jensen and Rosemary Lockheart.

It was believed that Lockheart had killed herself. However, a junior pathologist discovered the triangle mark and brought it to Winter’s attention, as he found anomalies with the blood coagulation on the thumb that was different from the wound that killed her. He was told to disregard this evidence, and Winter falsified the cause of death report and said she carved the mark into her own thumb. However, he did this to give himself more time to uncover the truth.

The triangle mark found on Rosemary Lockheart showed that Robert Parker could not have been responsible for her murder, as he was behind bars on remand for a drugs offence, and instead suggests that a serial killer could be at large.

Could there be a second season of Winter?

Although ITV has not yet made any official announcements regarding a second season, it is expected that Winter will return, as the six-part series ended on a dramatic cliffhanger.

After Winter is rescued from Randall Boyd by DI Bell, she says that Robert Parker is putting in an appeal to overturn the conviction for Simone’s murder. Bell also revealed that she will be leading a team looking into the triangle murders of Phillip Jensen and Rosemary Lockheart, and any links they might have to Simone.

Trying to find connections between the victims, Winter remarked that Phillip Jensen was also engaged and discovered that he had also bought his engagement ring from Wharf Jewellers. As Winter and Bell went to the now-abandoned shop to find a ledger for evidence, they discovered horrific photos in a scrapbook of the victims that only the murderer themselves could have taken.

What does 'Pegasus' mean in Winter?

When trying to uncover the truth of Simone’s murder, Winter fraudulently gained access to the psychiatric ward where Robert Parker was being held. He was drugged up on medication and unable to speak, but Winter injected him with adrenaline in order to interrogate him.

Parker admitted that he was stalking Simone and gained access to her apartment around the time of the murder but she was already fatally wounded when he found her. However, she did manage to utter the word, "Pegasus."

The meaning of that word was a mystery until the final scene of the series, when Winter and Bell find a photo taken by Simone next to the murderer’s scrapbook. The picture depicts riot police and protesters in a city square, with a statue of the winged horse from Greek mythology in the background.

However, the series ended before any more was revealed and it’s suggested that any upcoming instalment will uncover the significance behind the protest photo and the role that might have had in Simone’s murder.

Winter is available to watch now on ITVX.

Add Winter to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.