The Listeners ending explained: Was the hum real and what happened to Claire?

The Listeners: Official trailer

Chilling BBC drama The Listeners sees a teacher become obsessed with a low humming sound that only she can hear - which leads to devastating events.

Adapted from Jordan Tannahill's novel, the series follows English teacher Claire (Rebecca Hall) and her student (Ollie West), who begin to hear a low hum that appears inaudible to others.

As Claire seeks out others who can also perceive the hum, she finds herself increasingly alienated from her loved ones and stumbles upon a dubious group claiming to hear the same enigmatic sound known as "The Hum".

The four-part drama is currently available in full on BBC iPlayer, with The Listeners also airing weekly on BBC One at 9pm on Tuesdays.

The final episode of The Listeners sees the drama come to a tragic end and an explanation of the mysterious noise. This is what happens in the ending of The Listeners.

What happened in The Listeners ending?

Claire (Rebecca Hall) loses her grip on reality thanks to a mysterious noise in The Listeners (Image: BBC)

Episode four sees Claire embrace Omar and Jo's group as she becomes more and more isolated and distant from her husband Paul and daughter Ashley.

Claire begins to experience more intense sensations from listening to The Hum as the wider world grows more concerned about the cult.

Kyle's mother arrived at the house with Paul and Ashley to get more answers, but the group stood firm and stayed in the house. The police are called and later send armed police when they learn member Damian has brought a gun.

The members of the group are engaged in their deepest listening session yet as Claire becomes lost in her own euphoria.

Suddenly armed officers storm the garden and shoot paranoid ex-soldier Damian dead, and student Kyle is caught in the crossfire.

Kyle dies in Claire's arms and she cries uncontrollably. She appears to be experiencing the pleasure of The Hum and the pain and shock over his death.

Omar and Jo are arrested while Claire is sectioned. Claire is diagnosed to have undergone psychosis before she is released to her family and tries to resume her life and her new teaching role.

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Claire tells her family that the hum has disappeared, yet we see signs she is still curious about the sound and what actually happened.

The teacher continues to grieve over Kyle's death and quickly requires further psychological support.

She searches online whether a person can die from grief by wishing for it, and the length of time it takes a body to smell.

Claire also visits the ramshackle shed where Kyle lived inside, where she appears to reconnect with The Hum and witness a vision of Kyle staring at her.

She also has memories lying together with her former student on the grass. It's unclear from the final scenes what Claire is experience.

A viewer could interpret she can still see Kyle, which suggests she remains in the hallucinatory lure of The Hum. Alternatively, she could be grieving over Kyle and accepting that her friend actually has died.

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Claire (Rebecca Hall) finds answers about The Hum thanks to a group in The Listeners (Image: BBC)

Following Claire's sectioning in the final episode, it is revealed the local council discovered The Hum was caused by vibrations from a natural gas pipeline.

But whether this is the truth is open to interpretation. The Listeners sustains an air of ambiguity throughout the drama, with suggestions that there could be non-natural reasons for hearing The Hum.

The Listeners ending explained: Was the hum real and what happened to Claire?

The Listeners ending explained: Was the hum real and what happened to Claire?

The Listeners ending explained: Was the hum real and what happened to Claire?

The Listeners ending explained: Was the hum real and what happened to Claire?

The Listeners ending explained: Was the hum real and what happened to Claire?