What happened in the Platform 7 ending, did Matty kill Lisa and how does the show finale differ from Louise Doughty’s book?

The Platform 7 ending delivered plenty of haunting moments as Lisa’s story drew to an emotional conclusion, though it did differ from the book.

If you’ve not yet snuggled up under one of the best electric blankets to watch ITVX’s Platform 7 then you’ve been missing out on a poignant psychological thriller. Based on Louise Doughty's book of the same name, this is a four-part series that is sure to have got viewers asking questions. Alongside curiosity about where Platform 7 was filmed there is also likely to be some intrigue surrounding what happened in the Platform 7 ending. Although it largely kept the major plot-points from the book ending, it did change certain aspects which impact how we leave Lisa’s story.

*Warning: This article contains spoilers and references to sensitive subject matters*

Platform 7 ending explained and did Matty kill Lisa? 

Prior to the Platform 7 ending it was finally revealed that Lisa’s former boyfriend Dr Matthew ‘Matty’ Goodson didn’t murder Lisa a year prior to the events of the show, however he was in many ways responsible for her death. His controlling behaviour and coercive control throughout their relationship had been carefully concealed from others like Lisa’s parents, but the night Lisa died an argument had turned into a physical fight. Terrified that he would kill her, Lisa had run for her life, pursued by Matt all the way to the station and the titular Platform 7. 

Although he hadn’t pushed her, she’d been trying to get away from him when she’d fallen and been hit by a train. Instead of admitting he’d been there, Matty had run and continued his pattern of coercive behaviour with new girlfriends, all the time lying about Lisa’s own mental health in the run-up to her death. 

In the Platform 7 ending Lisa, who was still there in ghostly form, had finally recovered all her memories of what had happened to her. She began haunting Matty, now able to interact with real-world things like his laptop. He’d tried to rationalise the strange goings on, like Lisa putting on the same clip of him singing on the TV on repeat.

In the end, in an effort to protect Matty’s current girlfriend Sasha and every other woman he’d hurt over the years, Lisa sent a mass email to every woman at the hospital he worked at. Featuring a picture of Matty it said simply, “If you like what you see, text me”. He was then disciplined and sent home by HR, where Sasha arrived later and broke up with him.

He turned aggressive and she remarked that she’d finally seen his “true colours” before Lisa jumped on his back and stopped him from preventing Sasha from leaving. All Sasha saw was Matty wrestling with himself and believed he needed “help”. The downstairs neighbour also thought Matty was behaving strangely when she saw him outside the house later, scared and convinced someone was taunting him. 

Although he couldn’t see Lisa, she was there telling him what she thought of him and that she wanted the “impossible” - for him to finally change. Mirroring the night Lisa had died a year earlier, Matty ran away, this time followed by Lisa. Transport police officer Akash who’d been trying to get Lisa’s case reopened had been called by their neighbour and had set off after Matty who climbed over the railings and jumped onto the tracks.

He was saved from harm and in the closing stages of the Platform 7 ending we saw him being given medication and repeating to himself that he couldn’t rationally explain what had happened to him and that he’d seen her. So it seems he possibly did realise it was Lisa haunting him and might even have caught a glimpse of her - or imagined it, even if he still couldn’t see her ghost.

Lisa’s parents seemed to have found some kind of closure after the loss of their beloved daughter and learning about the part Matty played in her death and covering it up. Their house was seen with a ‘sold’ sign outside and they were packing up her things, ready to move on as best they can without her. 

For her part Lisa also appeared to have found a sense of peace after achieving some kind of justice for herself. She boarded a train at Platform 7 and settled into her journey, which would presumably lead her into some kind of next phase of her life. This was where the Platform 7 ending left Lisa’s story and whilst there are of course a lot of similarities with Louise Doughty’s book ending, there are also quite a few differences.

How does the Platform 7 ending differ in Louise Doughty's book? 

Similar to how fans of The Crown might be wondering about how much of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret's wild night out in season 6 is accurate to real life, anyone who’s seen the Platform 7 ending might be intrigued about how accurate it is to the book. The answer is generally it’s very similar when it comes to the major things, however Matty’s ending is very different. In the book Lisa instinctively knows that Matty won’t ever go to prison for his part in her death and covering up that he was there that night.

£7.53 at Amazon

Platform Seven by Louise Doughty, £7.53 | Amazon

If you've already raced through the series, you might be tempted to see where it all began. Lisa Evans knows exactly what's going to happen when she sees a man crossing the walkway at Peterborough Station one November. It's only then that she begins to realise how they're connected.

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Instead, as she sits on the train she reflects on how she knows his life will play out so that readers know what lies in store for him. She sees him going on to be just as controlling to his wife Shelley as he was with her. One day, he’ll be going back to the car in a carpark with Shelley, their baby son Jason and her daughter Estella, only to lose his temper in front of strangers.

The strangers will call him out on it and try to help Shelley and this is what begins to make Shelley see that she needs to find a way to get Matty out of her life. The couple who helped Shelley that day report Matty to the police who then pay a house call after looking up his name and seeing his connection to Lisa and his history of controlling behaviour.

In Lisa’s view Shelley will ask Matty to leave “within a year” of the police coming to see her. She remarks that he “keeps coming round, of course” and “has to be arrested twice before he stops”. Shelley will eventually get a new job in Norwich and move there with the children, whilst Matty will get into more relationships and tell them all the same story - that Shelley was jealous and unreasonable and took his children away from him.

Lisa goes on to say that when Matty is 52 he’ll be “found drunk” on the top floor of the car park but will be talked down before anything happens. After that, he says, her former partner is “just a blur, a grey blur”. In the Platform 7 ending in the book Lisa then continues on her train journey with the hopeful thought of reaching Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire.

Whilst Lisa doesn’t quite know how she’ll be able to make her mum realise it, Lisa knows that she was loved during her life and wants this to be felt by her mother. The Platform 7 book ends with her musing that, “I have no presence or reflection but to the people who cared for me, I exist, living on in their hearts. I am not alone. I never was.” Ultimately the sentiment of Lisa finding a sense of peace is the same in both the book and show’s Platform 7 ending, though Matty’s fate does differ.

If you or someone you know finds themselves in need of support or someone to talk to in a safe space, they can reach out to Samaritans 24 hours a day by calling 116 123 for free or by visiting the Samaritans website and can reach out to Refuge by calling 0808 2000 247 for free or visiting their website.