I wondered what would happen to Angelica Fanshawe at the end of her incredible journey in The Devil’s Whore. In the past three episodes she has been pursued by an insane landlord, escaped the noose twice, lost two husbands (and a child) and been brandished a whore by all she encountered. Her incredible journey – from footloose, privileged Royalist to politically aware heroine – was played out in the crucible of bloody rebellion. I was willing her to pull through, to survive this grim time. I really hoped she would.

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I’m sorry I’m so late reviewing this episode. I was out last night, so I set the PVR and was looking forward to watching it when I came in. Trouble is it didn’t record so I was really angry and heavy with fret this morning. I telephoned Channel 4 and told them of my predicament. I must thank them, because they biked over a DVD so I was able to watch this it this afternoon.

It really was worth the wait. What a stirring, emotional, bloody and beautiful finalé.

We picked up the story with Angelica and the Ranters still as thick as thieves. The one she was thickest with, the double-crossing Christian, was ordered by Joliffe to hasten his seduction and debauch her in the middle of a Bacchanalian-style orgy of sex and booze, held by the Ranters in a pub. That would surely prove that she was the whore that Joliffe had bizarrely and indiscriminately was convinced she was.

But. But. BUT! Just as Christian was about to have his wicked way with a drugged Angelica over a pub table in rode Sexby. Good old Sexby. Sexby, the TV character I most want to be in the whole, wide world. Sexby, the best anti-hero we’ve seen on telly for a long time.

He had seen (and heard) Christian chat with Joliffe and got to the pub in the nick of time, delivering a fatal blow to the double-crosser and whisking his lady off to safety.

And then there was the first of two incredibly touching scenes between these two strange lovebirds. Sexby revealed that he had always loved the lady, and she had helped to melt his heart and soften his hard edges. Angelica finally gave herself to him. But, as ever, things didn’t quite pan out as you would expect with these two. Sexby was consumed with anger at Oliver, for imprisoning Honest John in a windowless cell, in a remote Jersey gaol. We’d have to wait a bit longer for these two to really get it on.

Drawing his sword on Oliver, who had become disillusioned with to the point of wanting to kill him, Sexby was banished into exile, and threatened with the noose if he ever returned to England. He was escorted to the coast.

Angelica had lost another husband, but vowed to right a few wrongs in his abscence. She pleaded with and petitioned Oliver to let Honest John’s wife (a stunning Maxine Peake) visit him in jail (which she did, and tended to him until his obscure and sadly inglorious death), and then she took care of Joliffe. Returning to Fanshawe House, she dressed as the highwayman, stole into the rampant misogynist’s bathroom and shot him in the head. Hurrah!

At Honest John’s modest funeral, a figure dressed in, well, a dress and veil caught Angelica’s eye. She was still dressed as a bloke, and she confronted the bloke dressed as a woman. It could have only been one person – Sexby. They stood there, gender-bending in the middle of the hallway. It was a metaphor for the hardness and toughness with which Angelica had imbued herself, and the unaccustomed softness Sexby was now enjoying. They went to bed, and after one of the most beautifully shot and sensually acted out sex scenes ever, Sexby revealed to his lady that he was back for one reason – to avenge the deaths of Thomas Rainsborough and Honest John Lilburn. He said that if he returned from his duty he would take Angelica to the New World with him to start a new life.

He didn’t return. His assassination attempt on Oliver, on the day he crowned himself Lord Protector, was botched thanks to a double-crossing, and he ended up taking a musket and blowing out his brains rather than be captured.

Angelica, hearing the church bells signifying Cromwell’s successful coronation, collapsed onto the beach and wailed. Once her mother had abandoned her in the same spot, and now her second husband would not come to her.

After having giving birth to Sexby’s child, she went back to Fanshawe House, where she lived out her days in a post-Cromwell England, with a King back on the thrown. She had lost all her men, but she still believed in hope, love and joy.

And that was that. I wanted more of the life and times of Angelica Fanshawe. I had found myself falling in love with the woman’s incredible spirit this past month; a spirit that whatever was thrown at it came back and back again. Andres Riseborough was simply, utterly fantastic. But so was Maxine Peake, so was John Simm – adding another classic TV character to his already bulging CV. Dominic West was terrific as Cromwell, and Tim Tim McInnerny was just the most loathesome, relentless villain we’ve seen on telly for a long time.

In fact this was one of the best series on telly for a long, long time. Full of revolution, politics, love, beauty, loss, heartache, joy and hope – everything that makes us what we are. It was period drama, but resonated in today’s socio-political landscapes. It was costume drama, but this was no Regency confection. It was drama with massive balls.

Loved it.