The story begins with Laura Sanderson, a wealthy art gallery owner in London, meeting her son Daniel's new girlfriend, Cherry Laine, a real estate agent. Laura is immediately disapproving of Cherry, suspecting her of being a social climber interested in Daniel's wealth. Despite this, Daniel invites Cherry on their family trip to Spain, where tensions between Laura and Cherry escalate.

During the trip, Laura saves Cherry from drowning, and they momentarily call a truce. However, upon returning to London, Laura discovers a viral video of Cherry sabotaging her ex's wedding by putting animal organs in the cake. This revelation solidifies Laura's belief that Cherry is dangerous and manipulative.

As Daniel's birthday approaches, Laura plans a traditional surprise dinner and theater night. However, Cherry intervenes by organizing a rock climbing trip that Daniel has always wanted to do. Daniel chooses to go with Cherry instead of attending his mother's planned event. During the rock climbing trip, Daniel suffers a near-fatal accident.

At the hospital, Laura ignores Cherry's calls and decides to fake Daniel's death to keep Cherry away from him. She tells Cherry that Daniel has passed away and that there was a private funeral. Meanwhile, Laura takes Daniel to their second home in Spain to recover, telling him that Cherry has moved on.

Laura further sabotages Cherry by hacking into her Instagram and posting a message that gets Cherry fired from her real estate job. Cherry's life begins to unravel as she loses her job and has to move back home.

Cherry eventually discovers that Daniel is alive when she meets one of Howard's real estate contacts at a hotel he owns. The contact informs her that Daniel is dining with Laura upstairs. Cherry confronts Laura and Daniel, revealing Laura's deception. Daniel feels betrayed by his mother and reunites with Cherry.

As tensions rise, Cherry attends one of Laura's gallery events. Laura takes Cherry aside, and they get into an argument. Cherry breaks a glass against her own head and then accuses Laura of attacking her in front of the attendees.

In the aftermath, Laura's personal and professional life begins to fall apart. Her assistant, Harriet, launches an online campaign accusing Laura of unfair dismissal after being fired. Laura seeks comfort in her artist friend and ex-lover, Lilith, but this leads to further complications when Howard finds out and ends their relationship.

The story concludes with Cherry determined to ruin Laura's life in revenge for her past actions. However, specific details about the final confrontation and its outcome are not fully detailed in the available sources. In the book version, Cherry's plan involves sabotaging Laura's work and personal life, but the TV series may differ in its conclusion.

At the end of The Girlfriend (2025), Daniel and Cherry are married and expecting a child, living seemingly happily with Daniel's father, Howard. However, Daniel discovers a hidden recording left by his late mother, Laura, revealing Cherry's dangerous and manipulative nature. The series closes on a chilling note as Daniel realizes too late that Cherry may pose a threat to him, confirming Laura's warnings.

The ending unfolds in a detailed sequence of scenes:

The final episode opens with Howard, Daniel's father, packing his belongings and telling Laura that he is done with her, revealing he has been secretly supporting Laura's art career financially. This confrontation marks the dissolution of their strained relationship.

Laura, obsessed with exposing Cherry's true nature, continues her investigation. She finds a piece of mail addressed to Cherry containing an invoice from a nursing home. This leads Laura to visit Cherry's father, John Laine, who is a resident there after a severe fall. Laura pretends to be an old friend to gain access and learns from the nursing staff that John suffered a 20-foot fall, breaking his spine and cracking his skull.

Laura confronts Cherry's mother, Tracey, at her butcher shop, demanding to know if Cherry was responsible for John's injury. Tracey confirms Cherry pushed him but insists it was not an attempt to kill him. Tracey warns Laura to be careful, implying Cherry is vengeful. Unbeknownst to Tracey, Laura records this conversation on her phone.

In a tense confrontation, Laura's relentless pursuit to reveal Cherry's dark past culminates in a deadly altercation. Laura dies--likely accidentally--during a fight with Cherry, ending her crusade.

The story then flashes forward several months. Daniel and Cherry are married and expecting a baby. They are enjoying a sunny day in the garden with Howard. Daniel goes inside to fix drinks and notices the family cat pawing at something under a side table. He retrieves Laura's phone, which had been knocked away during the fight, and finds a final message from Laura explaining she visited Cherry's mother to uncover the truth because she loves Daniel.

Daniel plays a recorded audio message from Cherry's mother, Tracey, who describes Cherry as relentless and manipulative, recounting how Cherry has destroyed men in her past and warning Daniel not to be fooled by the good times. Tracey ominously predicts that Cherry will soon want something Daniel cannot give, and then she will find a way to get rid of him.

As Daniel listens, he looks out into the garden and sees Cherry smiling at him, a smile that now carries a sinister undertone. The realization dawns on Daniel that his mother's warnings were true, but it is too late to escape Cherry's influence.

The fates of the main characters at the end are:

• Daniel: Married to Cherry, expecting a child, but now aware of Cherry's dangerous nature and his mother's warnings.
• Cherry: Victorious in her relationship with Daniel, pregnant, and seemingly in control, but with a dark, manipulative past hinted to continue.
• Laura: Dead, her death resulting from her confrontation with Cherry, leaving behind a final warning for Daniel.
• Howard: Living with Daniel and Cherry, having left Laura, seemingly unaware of the full extent of Cherry's nature.

This ending leaves the story on a suspenseful cliffhanger, emphasizing the unresolved tension between love, trust, and danger within the family dynamic.

Yes, The Girlfriend (2025) has a post-credit scene. In this scene, the story flashes forward to Daniel and Cherry, who are now married and expecting a child, living in Laura and Howard's home. Daniel is cutting limes in the kitchen when Laura's cat, Moses, sniffs something under a table. Daniel finds Laura's phone there and begins looking through her "Favorites" photo album, which is essentially a virtual shrine to him. However, he notices a video thumbnail of Laura from the day she visited Tracey at the butcher shop. The video plays Tracey's voice warning Daniel about Cherry, saying that when Cherry sets her sights on something, she is dangerous and will eventually want something he is unprepared to give, implying Cherry could turn on him. The scene ends with Daniel's horrified expression as he looks at Cherry, who is massaging her pregnant belly, signaling that the seemingly happy times may not last and that Laura's warnings might have been true after all. The screen cuts to black just before the credits roll.

Laura fakes Daniel's death and holds a fake funeral to keep Cherry away from him, telling Cherry Daniel is dead and the funeral has already happened. This deception deeply betrays Daniel when he learns the truth, straining his relationship with his mother. Cherry is also driven out of Daniel's life temporarily, but the lie ultimately backfires, leading to increased conflict among all three characters.

Cherry sabotages Laura by various means, including a viral video of her disrupting an ex's wedding with animal organs in the cake, hacking Laura's Instagram to get Cherry fired, and framing Laura for injuring herself with a broken champagne glass at Laura's gallery event. She also sends a dead puppy to Laura's colleague and writes a letter that leads to Howard asking for a divorce, escalating the personal and professional attacks on Laura.

The rock climbing trip, organized by Cherry as a surprise for Daniel, leads to a near-fatal accident for Daniel. This event is pivotal as it triggers the hospital scenes where Laura lies about Daniel's death to separate him from Cherry. The accident intensifies the conflict and sets off Laura's drastic measures to control the situation.

In the final confrontation, Laura locks Cherry in a room and tries to keep her away from Daniel. Cherry escapes by jumping out of a balcony and later confronts Laura with a knife. During their struggle, Cherry slashes her own palm to make it appear Laura attacked her, manipulating others to side with her. This intense and violent encounter marks the climax of their toxic rivalry.

Laura fires her assistant Harriet after a missed appointment, leading Harriet to launch an online campaign accusing Laura of unfair dismissal and filing a lawsuit. Laura seeks comfort in Lilith, her artist friend and ex-lover, and signs her for a gallery exhibition. Howard, Laura's husband, discovers this and angrily ends their relationship, adding personal turmoil to Laura's professional and familial struggles.

The TV show The Girlfriend (2025) is not family friendly and carries a TV-MA rating, indicating it is intended for mature audiences only. It contains moderate sex and nudity, including explicit sexual scenes, strong sexual references, and suggestive incestuous mother/son flirtations. There are also moderate violence and gore, moderate profanity, and some frightening and intense scenes. Specific potentially upsetting content includes:

• Explicit oral sex scenes and graphic sexual acts.
• Detailed discussions of loss of virginity and underage sex involving a teen male and an adult female teacher.
• Nudity including full female nudity and explicit nude artwork.
• Strongly suggestive and crude sexual dialogue.
• Intense psychological drama with controlling and manipulative behavior.
• Some scenes may be disturbing or offensive to sensitive viewers due to the sexual content and psychological intensity.

This show is unsuitable for children and sensitive viewers due to its mature themes and explicit content.