The Fortune ending explained: Does Amanda keep the money at the end of the Channel 5 drama?

Ever since Amanda Blakefield was told she'd been left a life-changing amount of money by a man she'd never met during the first episode of The Fortune, we've been hooked on the psychological thriller.

As the tension has built, there's been more twists and turns than a rollercoaster for Amanda, as her life has come crashing down around her.

Intriguing characters have brought menace to the storyline, and audiences have been left not knowing who to trust or what to believe. As the final episode of the four-part series airs, we break down the shocking ending.

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Why did Martin leave Amanda the money, and did she take it in the end? Let's have a look.

The Fortune ending explained

The Fortune finale picks up just after several shocking revelations from episode 3.

Anthony found out Martin and Fiona weren't his real parents - his real father was actually Boots, who had been shot and whose body was last seen being thrown into a lake by Anthony, who didn't know at that stage about his true parentage.

Fiona told Anthony that Martin in unable to have children, so this also rules him out as being Amanda's real dad, also crossing off another possible reason he could've left her the money from the list.

Amanda had also found out that Jimmy, suspicious from day one, had secretly been messaging and meeting with Sandy. At this point, she doesn't know why.

Jimmy and Linda are both missing - Jimmy was taken after going to meet one of the mystery people he's been having snatched phone calls with, and Linda had been kidnapped from her care home.

Both were last seen in the back of a car driven by the taxi driver who has popped up in every episode so far, just happening to be there whenever Amanda needed a ride to get somewhere.

When we catch up with Amanda in the finale, she's desperately looking for both Jimmy and Linda, and needs to confront Sandy about exactly what's going on between her and Jimmy behind her back.

When Amanda does confront Sandy, she says all that happened between her and Jimmy was that Jimmy had asked her to get on board with pressuring Amanda to take the money. She insists there's nothing more to their relationship.

All she knows is Jimmy had spoken to somebody Amanda knew on the night he disappeared, but doesn't know who - they were going to meet that night and he was supposed to fill her in on everything happening, but he didn't turn up.

While Amanda continues to receive threatening messages containing pictures of herself, taken by someone clearly covertly watching her, she also gets a surprising phone call from Fiona.

Fiona asks her to agree to split the fortune equally between them. After making this proposition, Fiona looks up to see the taxi driver in her garden, while Amanda's mystery stalker is seen watching her house.

It's not long before Amanda has another call to tell her Jimmy and Linda are safe, and her ordeal will be over if she just agrees to take the money.

Just after this threat, more are being by Anthony. Accosting Amanda outside the cafe, he reveals his allegiance has now changed with the revelation Fiona isn't his real mum.

He now wants the money for himself, threatening Amanda with pictures of her at Boots' house the night he died, and letting everyone know she was the last person to see him alive, if she doesn't give up the will.

Tracking Jimmy's phone, Amanda finds her mother in an old house at a boat yard, being cared for by the mysterious taxi driver.

You might have pieced it together yourself already, but the taxi driver is revealed to be Amanda's father, Barry. He's not dead after all, like she always been told, and the boat house is the couple's "happy place" from the photos sent anonymously to Amanda.

All her father wanted to do was make sure Amanda ended up with Martin's money - it had originally been his, and Martin had taken and invested it as a loan, ending up rich while Barry and his young family had ended up with nothing.

Martin had once tasked Boots with hiring an assassin to kill Barry to get him out of the way for good. Barry had in turn found out about the plot to murder him and killed the assassin before he got to him, but the Worrall's and Boots believed him to be dead.

Barry was happy for everyone to think he'd died, because he was ashamed of losing the money to Martin, that he thought would provide his family with a good life.

The torn up photo of a dead man found in Martin's suitcase in a previous episode by Fiona, had been the picture of the dead assassin Barry took to keep and use as leverage if he needed it.

Finding out he was dying, Barry had decided to send the assassin's picture to Martin to let him know he was alive, and make sure Amanda ended up with what was rightfully hers. He didn't think Martin was going to take his own life because of his actions.

However, Barry knows nothing about Boots being dead, and who has been sending the threatening pictures to Amanda - neither had been done by him.

Who killed Boots in The Fortune?

It seemed likely that Anthony killed Boots - he'd disposed of his body and Fiona found bloody clothing in his room that hinted at wrongdoing. But viewers hadn't actually seen him do it, so he could've just been the one to find the corpse.

Jimmy also came under suspicion. He'd mentioned the name "Boots" in conversation with Amanda, before she'd even said the name herself. So how did Jimmy know Boots' name if he'd never met him?

However, Anthony does later admit to Fiona he had indeed carried out the killing, to protect Martin, the man he believed to be his father.

The mystery of how Jimmy knows Boots is solved when Barry reveals all Jimmy's apparently shady phone calls have been with him. He thought Amanda wasn't going to take the money, and had shared his identity and backstory with Jimmy in the hope he could get Amanda over the line in accepting the will.

That was Jimmy's only secret - he'd felt so guilty over knowing Barry was still alive, but Barry hadn't wanted Amanda to know. Jimmy was only meeting with Sandy to have someone to talk to and to get some advice.

Does Amanda take the money?

Amanda does end up taking the money, although she lets Fiona keep the house, believing she's suffered enough.

Before agreeing to take it, Amanda had left her mother with Jimmy at the boat house, setting off to confront Fiona and Anthony over what they knew about what Martin had done.

Fiona is being held hostage by Anthony when they arrive at the house, who is still spiralling after finding out about his identity. It turns out Anthony knew everything about Martin, the stolen money and the assassin, because Boots had told him.

Boots and Anthony had been the ones threatening Amanda, Boots because he wanted his secret son's future secured, and Anthony because he didn't want Amanda to have it despite knowing the money didn't truly belong to him.

Believing they were the only two people in the world to know, Anthony thought killing Boots would ensure he ended up with the money - until Barry walks into the house alive, and able to prove Martin's wrongdoing.

This tips Anthony over the edge and he takes the gun to himself and shoots, taking his own life. While Amanda and Barry are away from the boathouse, Linda passes away, sadly not getting to die with Barry by her side, which is what she wanted.

In the closing scenes, all the secrets are out, and Amanda has financially secured her future. Barry is living in a care home nearby and able to still see his daughter, and Jimmy has returned to work at the cafe.

Although she doesn't need to work, Amanda asks Sandy for her old job back because working there is her "happy place."

All episodes of The Fortune are available on 5.