Playing Nice: The Ending Of ITV’s Baby Swap Drama Explained

Everyone’s talking about Playing Nice, ITV’s latest twisty drama, this time centring on two couples and set beside the sea. If you’ve already raced through all four episodes, you might be wondering how everything came together – or, ahem, fell apart – in that shock ending. Here’s the Playing Nice ending explained.

Image courtesy of ITV

What Happens In ITV’s Playing Nice?

To recap: ITV’s Playing Nice follows couples Pete (James Norton) and Maddie (Niamh Algar), Lucy (Jessica Brown Findlay) and Miles (James McArdle) – and the fallout when they discover their young sons Theo and David were swapped at birth. At first, despite being shellshocked, the couples agreed to work together to come up with a plan to ensure all four were able to see both boys, but matters took a turn for the worse when a frustrated Miles took matters into his own hands and brought in the courts.

Arguments and disagreements naturally ensued, but when Theo unexpectedly ended up in hospital (after consuming some of Pete’s old cannabis gummies), Miles and Lucy are granted temporary custody over their biological son, Theo (who Pete and Maddie have been raising as their own). The court’s final decision on the matter is set to be made in the series finale – and tensions are high…

JAMES NORTON as Pete and NIAMH ALGAR as Maddie in Playing Nice. (ITV)

Playing Nice Ending Explained

Everything comes to a head as the courts hear more about Maddie’s postnatal depression and all four parents’ perspectives on the baby swap debacle. But it’s Miles’ mother who throws a spanner in the works. She warns her daughter in law, Lucy, that Miles doesn’t stop until he gets what he wants, pondering whether a father like that would be healthy for Theo and David.

To make matters worse, CCTV footage reveals how Theo really got his hands on those gummies: Miles fed them to him. Lucy blames one of the nannies for leaking the footage – but Miles aggressively dismisses her, clutching her wrist, which Maddie spots from afar.

The next day, Pete is spending the afternoon with Theo – when the boy suddenly disappears. A stranger tells him she saw a man approach Theo and wander off with him, assuming he was his father. Pete runs off to find Miles and Theo, and Miles sends Pete a location. When he arrives there, waterside, Pete spots Theo’s yellow jacket floating in the sea. In a panic, he rushes to retrieve his son, but quickly discovers Theo is thankfully not in the water too. Returning to the meeting location, Miles tells Pete he wanted him to know what it’s like to lose a son. Theo comes out of his hiding spot and reunites with Pete.

Later that day, Maddie visits Lucy to appeal to her decency, recalling seeing her in the NICU when their sons were born, alone with Miles nowhere to be seen. Maddie also realises Lucy leaked the CCTV footage, but Lucy won’t say why. Maddie tells Lucy she’s not alone.

The next morning, Lucy wakes up to find Miles packing up the car with David, saying they’re going on an impromptu picnic. Lucy tries to stall, not wanting to leave with Miles, and calls Maddie for help. She admits she is scared of Miles and fears he will do something awful after becoming more obsessive and controlling throughout her pregnancy. And then the big reveal…

JAMES McARDLE as Miles in Playing Nice. (ITV)

Who Swapped The Babies?

Lucy admits she swapped Theo and David at birth in a bid to save her biological son from growing up with Miles as a father, knowing he would have a better life elsewhere. An emotional Lucy sends Maddie her location at the picnic – cliffside, naturally – and Maddie sets off to meet them.

After their picnic, Miles confronts Lucy about the CCTV. He carries David to the cliff edge, yelling at Lucy to tell him the truth about her betrayal. Eventually, Lucy admits she shared the footage with the courts, and concedes they will give David to Maddie and Pete and take Theo back for themselves, though this isn’t what she wants. Meanwhile, Maddie races to the scene, spotting the rowing couple on the horizon. Miles tells Lucy he will get Theo back – but he doesn’t need her or David.

He moves closer to the edge with the young boy. Arriving at the scene, Maddie calls out for Lucy. Miles is distracted, and Lucy uses the window to hit him over the head with a rock. Miles drops David, who runs to Maddie, and grabs Lucy, ready to pull her over the cliff edge with him. In the tense struggle, Lucy manages to pull herself free – and push Miles over the edge.

Miles falls to his death. Later, we see Lucy struggling to wash her husband’s blood off her hands, but she tells Maddie she feels safer now Miles is gone. She gives a statement to the police, claiming Miles was really angry and disappeared, setting off towards the coast. Pete and Maddie corroborate her story.

What Happens To David & Theo?

Playing Nice flashes forwards three months. Pete and Maddie are running along the beach with Theo, while Lucy is sat on the beach with David. It’s not clear what the living situation is, but it’s clear that the three parents are caring for the two boys together.

WATCH

All four episodes of Playing Nice are available now on ITVX.