Stella Gibson, The Fall

Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson)

On British psychological thriller The Fall, show lead Stella Gibson was introduced as a Detective Superintendent in London’s Metropolitan Police when she arrived in Belfast to conduct a twenty-eight day review into a murder case that had stalled and provided no suspects. Gibson is portrayed as a very capable detective and a woman who’s highly comfortable with her own sexuality.

Before the events of the show, Stella had an affair with ACC Jim Burns, now supervising the case and still romantically obsessed with her. In season 1, episode 2, Stella had a one night stand with DS James Olson, a young detective, but she rejected his pursuit of a relationship and he is killed shortly thereafter by unknown gang members. Following his death, Stella begins to see him in her dreams, implying his murder had a huge psychological impact on her.

Season 2

In the second season, Stella became personally close with female Professor Reed Smith, an esteemed medical professional and the senior pathologist assigned to her new case. While they were having drinks in a bar, Stella kissed Reed to drive away man that tries to hit on her. Later they were flirting while waiting for an elevator back to Stella’s room and Reed asked what they are doing, to which Stella answered “going with flow.” Reed got cold feet and ended the encounter.

Later in Season 2, Stella, wearing a nightgown, watched her colleague DS Tom Anderson from her bed. The tone of the scene and Stella’s and Tom’s familiarity implied they had sex a few moments earlier.

Season 3

Season 3 was the final showdown between Gibson and serial killer Paul Spector. The show is on permanent hiatus.

Appearances:

• Show lead

Female love interests:

• Dr. Reed Smith (Archie Panjabi, main cast 9 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

Male love interests:

• Jim Burns (John Lynch, main cast)
• James Olson 💀 (Ben Peel, main cast S1, guest, S2)
• Tom Anderson (Colin Morgan, main cast)
• Glenn Martin (Emmett J. Scanlan, guest, S1, main cast S2-3)

Relationship story arc with a man: Yes

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Male (Regular)

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.