Bodies is a Netflix web series that follows four detectives in four different time periods of London who are investigating the same murder. The murder has far-reaching consequences for the history and future of Britain. The series is based on a graphic novel by Si Spencer and stars Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Shira Haas, Amaka Okafor, and Kyle Soller.
The four detectives are:
– DI Alfred Hillinghead (1890), a closeted gay man who is married to Charlotte and has a daughter Polly. He is haunted by visions of a mysterious body and a cult leader named Mannix.
– DS Charles Whiteman (1941), a corrupt cop who runs a criminal empire under the alias Karl Weissman. He is tasked by a secret organization to retrieve the same body from Longharvest Lane, a site of a Nazi bombing.
– DS Shahara Hasan (2023), a Muslim woman who pretends to be devout but is actually an atheist. She finds the body in a dumpster and becomes involved in a conspiracy involving a teenage boy named Elias Mannix, who claims to be the son of God.
– DC Iris Maplewood (2053), a cyborg detective who is part of a rebel group fighting against a totalitarian regime led by Mannix. She discovers the body in a bunker and learns that it is the key to stopping Mannix’s plan to destroy the world.
The body is revealed to be a messianic figure who goes by many names, such as Frank, Gabriel, and Kyal. He is the source of a mysterious phrase, “Know you are loved”, that appears in each timeline. He also has a connection to Mannix, who is a reincarnated cult leader who wants to use Frank’s power for his own agenda.
The series explores how the detectives from different eras try to communicate and collaborate with each other through time travel, blood rituals, and technology. They also face personal challenges and moral dilemmas as they uncover the truth about Frank, Mannix, and themselves.
Each Episode explained:
1 Episode (“You’re Dead Already”)
In 2023, Detective Sergeant Shahara Hasan of the Metropolitan Police found a dead body. After investigating, she meets the sadistic suspect Syed, who committed suicide.
In 1941, he was asked by Sergeant Charles Whiteman’s Secret Service to retrieve the group from Longharvest Lane. He was followed by Farrell, the suspected leader, but the latter was killed in a bomb attack. Whiteman is tasked with investigating Farrell’s body and death, with the organization asking him to screw up the investigation.
In 1890, surveyor Alfred Hillinghead surveyed the group at Longharvest Lane. He receives photos of crime scenes from gay journalist Henry Ashe. Seeing a man in one of the photos, the investigator warned Hillinghead against continuing the investigation.
In the year 2053, Detective Constable Iris Maplewood’s car detects an electromagnetic anomaly coming from Longharvest Lane. He investigates the now-abandoned place and discovers the body of a man still alive.
2 Episode (“Do You Know Who I Am?”)
Hasan’s team investigates Elias Mannix, a troubled teenage friend of Syed’s who he was seen with before he was found. Hasan questions Mannix’s adoptive parents, who lead the police into a trap that kills a colleague. Mannix’s enigmatic Hasan is adopted by his mother for what she will do to Elias.
Whiteman accuses a local detective of the crime, although his superior DCI Calloway remains a suspect. A child had previously seen Whiteman as his body arrived at his post on Longharvest Lane.
Hillinghead is encouraged by his boss to close the case, but does not light the picture of the man in the window display. He and Ashe did not agree to investigate the matter publicly.
2053 Britain is ruled by a dystopian government called The Executive, led by Commander Elias Mannix, who seized power after a bomb exploded in 2023. Maplewood is banned from investigating, but he pleads with his brother on the way. It is illegal for her to know the man she found through him. DNA is like Gabriel Defoe, still alive, professor of gravity. Mannix asked him to investigate Defoe’s connection to a terrorist group called the Perilous Chapel.
3 Episode (“All in Good Time”)
Hillinghead and Ashe identified the man in the photograph as the merchant Sir Julian Harker. Harker calls Hillinghead on one of his mother’s vacations, where Hillinghead takes medicine from Harkers and takes pictures of the decomposing state of Defoe’s body. Hillinghead warns Ashe that Harker is plotting and the two sleep together.
The girl, Esther, tries to silence Whiteman. The group ordered him to kill her. However, Whiteman cannot bring himself to kill Esther, so he fakes her death and hides her in his house.
Elias Mannix was arrested and told Hasan that his adoptive parents knew what was going to happen in the future, including the explosion they were saying was going to happen. Back on Longharvest Lane, Hasan saw Hillinghead’s name carved into the wall.
Mannix tells Maplewood that the body found is Defoe’s, but two days later, because his organization has succeeded in creating time travel that threatens the power of the Executive. He told her to follow Defoe.
4 Episode (“Right Up the Wazoo”)
Ashe saw Harker’s fingerprints left on Hillinghead’s mirror, meaning they could still be linked to the body through other prints Hillinghead had seen earlier on Longharvest Lane.
Whiteman and Esther flee to an air raid shelter during a bombing raid, where Whiteman attacks and kills a fellow policeman who is following him. The woman who called Whiteman from the meeting turns out to be Polly, Hillinghead’s now elderly daughter, and poisons Esther.
Hasan uncovered archive files from the Hillinghead and Whiteman investigations, as well as links between Mannix’s adoptive parents, the Morleys and the Harker family. Hasan enters Harker’s abandoned house, where Andrew Morley talks unknowingly about being part of a great group in an inevitable way, whose mission is to change the world and the future. Morley then locked Hasan in the basement.
Maplewood to keep leap to protect it in another side. They talk about freedom and research and naked. He tries to escape but is caught by Maplewood, only to be loved by his neighbor Lorna, who becomes Defoe’s companion from the Perilous Chapel.
5 Episode (“We Are One Another’s Ghosts”)
Hillinghead brings Harker in for questioning about Defoe’s body, but Harker harasses him with indecent photographs, telling him to frame Ashe for murder.
Whiteman gets help from DCI Calloway in finding Polly, discovering that she is the CEO of Harker Bank. Whiteman kidnaps Polly, threatening her with Russian roulette until she confesses that she killed Esther. Calloway arrests them both for murder, but is killed by Polly Hayden’s son, the chief of police.
After learning that Elias’ fingerprints match Julian Harker’s, Hasan investigates Elias’ biological mother, Sarah Mannix. She learns that DCI Barber is Harker’s grandson and Elias’ father, but Barber disappears after taking Elias to HM Feltham Prison. Hasan found a 1941 recording that Harker told him, confirming that she would help him bomb London.
Under the Perilous Chapel, an elderly Hasan shows off the Maplewood “Throat” – Defoe’s working time travel device. They explain that Mannix intends to return to 1800 so that he can start a cult to recreate the events that culminate in the 2023 bomb and his rise. Seeking the safety of society now, Maplewood plans an attack that kills most of the dangerous Chapel and leads Mannix to the Gorge.
6 Episode (“The World Is Yours”)
Hillinghead tells Ashe that he will be tried for Defoe’s death, but Ashe refuses to run. Hillinghead signed a false statement, told his family about his sexuality and was arrested. Polly says the boy is innocent.
Elias Mannix/Julian Harker, now an elderly man, tells others about the record. Whiteman refuses to let Hayden join the plot and kills Hayden, Polly and Julian/Elias in revenge for Esther’s death. He was arrested, tried and sentenced to death by hanging.
Hasan tells SO15 about the bomb. DI Bothroyd accompanies him to Harker Bank where they find a safe containing a nuclear bomb. Hasan meets Barber and Elias, who is holding the explosives. Bothroyd kills Barber. Later, Hasan took Elijah to his mother’s house, but she avoided him. Having gone overboard, Elias has a change of heart and calls the number Barber gave him, which triggers the explosion.
Defoe and Hasan are brought to Maplewood and Mannix. Hasan shot Mannix in the leg, but was injured. Mannix forced Defoe to change the throat in 1890, and entered. Defoe chases after him and Maplewood shoots him in the eye as he enters the portal.
8 Episode (“Know You Are Loved”)
Maplewood manages to tell Hillinghead about Harker’s past and Hillinghead’s impending death. Hillinghead tells Harker that he knows Harker is Elias Mannix and that he will die alone and unloved. The conflict changes the timeline, as Harker’s nervousness becomes calm and distant. He tells a worried Polly that she is caught in a time loop and their relationship is getting worse.
In 1941, Harker, filled with regret, made a final secret recording advising Elias against the project. After Whiteman kills Polly, Harker convinces him to hand over the recording to Hasan. Whiteman hides the recording in a framed photograph before Hayden’s agents kill him.
Hasan returns to 2023 and finds the records left by Whiteman. He tells himself about the second trigger. Older Hasan then plays Harker’s new record for Elias to hear, but he doesn’t detonate the bomb. Sarah kisses Elaija, who with the older Hasan will disappear after the knot is redone.
The researchers live a new life, free from the disaster of the loop. Back in 2023, Hasan is in a black taxi driven by Maplewood, who appears to know Hasan. The letters KYAL appeared on the side of the tower.
I hope this gives you a good idea of what Bodies is about. If you want to know more, you can watch the series on Netflix or read the graphic novel by Si Spencer.
