*CREDITS*
Mrs C?
Christ on a bike!
Argh! Gah!
Well, if that mutton wasn't dead before...
it certainly is now.
The pie...
It's a bit on the overdone side.
I was just putting the washing out.
Think you've done that already.
Best go in. Got a pie in the oven.
- Well, you don't want that burning. - No.
She's an enigma.
An enigma? She nearly burned the house down.
It'll just be one of her moods.
- I might mention something to Will. - No, no, don't... do that.
He's preoccupied at the minute.
He's not preoccupied. He's moping.
Poor chap's just had his heart broken.
- He was only with her for five minutes! - Even so.
- She was engaged to someone else. - He's got no curate.
With wedding season, he's hardly got a moment to himself.
Wedding season.
Didn't realise how much happiness you had to endure.
I always rather enjoyed the weddings.
So much... hope.
The thing about hopes, they can always be dashed.
Well, you're a joy this morning.
Excuse me? Sir, might I just get to the door?
Sir?
Police. On your feet.
Oh, no.
Blimey. Not another one. Chuck him in the van, Mike.
Not a bad way to go.
Bottle of whiskey, looking up at the stars.
Beaten senseless in a doorway. Sounds idyllic.
Ask around. See if anyone knew him.
Why? No-one cares.
Boss.
You know the vagrant deaths we had a few months back?
They were found in doorways, too.
Hardly gonna find them at The Ritz, are we?
They're tramps, boss.
They get drunk. They have fights. End up dead sometimes.
Well, let's revisit the files.
See if there's any other similarities.
Governor said he wanted those cases closed.
"Misadventure", he said.
You're in serious danger of a ticking-off, Larry.
Files, now!
Odd, isn't it?
My biggest concern half an hour ago was whether I had
enough currants for the Chelsea buns.
I feel responsible somehow.
Well, it's hardly your fault, Leonard.
I've seen him recently, asking for money a few times.
I was always relieved when...
he didn't approach me.
He had this signed.
Book of tennis and poetry.
"Robin Fellows. SM."
St Margaret's College. He was at the university.
Let's find out if he's Robin!
Oh, no! No, you don't!
New boss. Not keen on my religious advisers.
How does he feel about ex-cons?
- He never expressed an opinion. - I'd say that's positively an invite.
I pray every day.
Why won't you answer me?
- Ernest Evans! What are you doing?! - Nothing.
Did you do this?
That is a wicked thing to do!
Do you know what happens to the wicked?
God punishes them!
They burn in the fires of hell for all eternity,
you wicked, wicked boy!
Mrs C, that's enough!
St Margaret's College. This is the place.
This is the way.
No, sorry. THIS is the way.
Room 10. This is the room.
Mr Fellows? It's the police.
No answer.
- Thank you, Leonard. - Heyo, fine fellows.
Are you looking for Robin?
Detective Inspector Keating.
- Just... plain Leonard. - Short for Leonardo?
Sadly not.
- Erm... Jim Baker. Sorry. - Are you a friend of Mr Fellows?
Er, next-door neighbour, erstwhile friend,
but you won't find him in.
- Do you need a hand? - Thanks.
Just back from a field trip. Anthropology.
Third years got Kenya, we got Canterbury.
- Always the pity. - Whoa!
We're doing bones.
- I call him "Yorick". - It's a reference to Hamlet.
- I got that. - When was the last time...
Where be your jibes now?
- Your gambols? Your songs... - Mr Baker!
Yes, sir?
When was the last time you saw Robin?
End of term.
He left under a bit of a cloud. Have a seat, if you can find one.
- Er, what kind of cloud? - Rumour is, he...
.. well...
went a bit doolally.
Almost unhinged. A complete fall from grace.
Parents had to come and collect him. It was all rather hushed up.
Last I heard, he was recuperating by the seaside.
Is it possible he's back in Cambridge?
It's possible, I suppose.
We found this on the body of a deceased man.
That's Robin's.
Robin's not the...
He's not dead, is he?
- Where is he? - Don't be angry.
Angry? I'm bloody fuming!
- Desecrating a church? - It was hardly desecration.
Here... now!
- Apologise to Mr Davenport. - He already has.
- Destroying a church? - It's hardly destroyed!
I really am sorry.
Apology accepted.
Now, I think there's some cake in the kitchen.
I'm telling him off, and you give him some cake?
I can't stand conflict.
- He used to be such a lovely boy. - He still is.
Ugh, he can be a right little bugger sometimes. Sorry.
- What for? - The "bugger".
I know I should be more understanding,
but sometimes, I just want to throttle him!
Does he ever talk about him? His dad?
He won't even mention him.
I could talk to him, if you like?
No, you don't have to do that. Honestly, it's fine.
I'd be happy to. Besides, I used to be a little bugger myself, so...
Never seen a dead body before.
I rather turned my back on Robin when he was...
.. suffering.
Sometimes, it's easier to look away.
Doesn't make me much of a friend, does it?
You ready?
It's not him.
It's not Robin?
Why would he have Robin's book, do you think?
I have no idea.
Perhaps, h-he gave his things away?
Or perhaps this poor chap stole it from Robin at some point?
I don't know.
_
If anyone'll know where Robin is, it'll be the Prof.
It's short for Professor.
Yes, I cracked that little code, thank you, Leonard.
- Veni. - She likes to address us in Latin.
Ah! Praeclarus.
Jim. How was Canterbury?
Cold.... Rainy.
Alas was it ever thus.
These chaps are detectives.
I'm just a hanger-on.
You're definitely police.
You've got that crumpled, useless look about you.
Thank you, Professor.
I have a lecture in an hour, so let's cut to Hecuba.
You're here about Robin, I take it?
That's him. There he is. First year, was it?
He looks so... carefree. It's hard to believe he...
He had a nervous breakdown, do you think?
Complete and utter.
Academia and troubled minds
go hand-in-hand, but...
.. his decline was rather spectacular.
What precipitated that, do you think?
Precipitated? Hmm! I'm impressed.
He'd been working on his thesis.
What was it about? In small words, so I can understand.
The destitute.
Whether there are inherent factors
that predispose someone to reject society.
Or predispose society to reject them.
Bleeding heart, too, are you?
No. A Christian.
God and the law!
You two really are a pair.
Robin wanted to help. He'd take food, blankets.
- He made friends with these men? - You both did, didn't you?
Robin wanted to rehabilitate them. I-I just helped.
Jim thinks Robin's recuperating at the seaside.
I thought it was a euphemism for the loony bin, but...
.. this was posted... under my door. Hand-delivered.
"Ring out wild bells, and let him die."
- Mmm. It's... - Tennyson.
Spanner, if you would, please, Ernie?
I have a bike. It's got three wheels and a bell.
Stop. You're gonna make me jealous!
- Who bought you the bike? - Mum and Dad, for Christmas.
You must miss him, your dad.
- Am I a wicked person? - Of course not.
The lady in the church said I am.
The lady in the church is wrong about a lot of things.
When you miss someone, like you miss your dad,
it can make you feel all sorts of things.
- Sad, angry... - I don't want to talk about him.
- OK. - I want to talk about bikes and dogs.
Well, who doesn't want to talk about bikes and dogs?
This is one of the places Robin used to come.
Someone here might know the dead man.
I thought their own church had a soup kitchen?
It closed. Neighbours complained.
Excuse me? It's, er, in relation to the death of...
Bugger off!
They're... not keen on authority.
You don't say!
Don't suppose you lot wanna help me either?
Geordie, lad!
Danny boy.
Been a while. Keeping out of trouble?
Just about. You?
Just about.
Is it true? Barney's dead?
Is that his name? Barney?
What everyone round here called him.
- Last name? - Not a clue.
- You've been in the wars. - Barney was looking for a fight.
- And you obliged, did you? - Gladly.
Not much love lost between you, I take it?
Ugh, couldn't stand the bastard.
Straight out of Borstal, mean as a snake.
World's better off without him.
I think you and I might need a few words down the station, Danny.
Whoa, watch the corner!
Did you see me then? I was going so fast.
You know what? I think that may have been 100mph.
Maybe even more. You may just be the fastest man in the world.
Mum!
- I'm the fastest man in the world. - Wow, look at you go!
Come on. Let's go even faster.
- Here you go. - Thanks.
Any luck?
Nothing yet, I'm afraid. Sorry.
No, don't be sorry. It's not your fault.
Grief takes its time, I suppose.
What was he like with Ernie? Your husband?
Wonderful.
How's your affair coming along?
You don't mince your words, do you?
What? I'm surrounded by children all day. I need gossip.
It's over.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I want to see her.
I'm desperate to see her, but I know if I do, then...
Sex?
- Probably. - Heartbreak?
Definitely.
Was it true love, do you think?
True love doesn't exist. Said so yourself.
Did I? Oh, God, I'm the most terrible cynic.
- Sorry. - What for?
The blasphemy.
You are forgiven.
Thank you, Reverend.
Good boy. You're such a good dog.
- Why'd you and Barney fight? - Well, he'd stole from me.
- Bottle of whiskey. - Oh!
Well, no-one gets between Danny boy and his whiskey!
Too bloody right!
He was beaten to death.
Well, not by me.
He went off to town after. Said he was meeting someone.
- Who was he meeting? - Didn't say.
Do you know this man? Robin Fellows?
Yeah. Do-gooder.
Up their own arses mainly, but he was all right.
Asked about life before, you know, the wife, the kids.
- Didn't know you were married. - Was.
You have no idea how quickly it can all...
.. slip away.
Barney knew the risks.
He should have stayed with the rest of us where he was safe.
What do you mean, "safe"?
Well, he wasn't the first of us, was he,
to die in a doorway like that?
Some reckon there was a madman out there.
Maybe they were right.
Larry, files on the previous vagrant deaths,
- where are they? - Ah, I couldn't find them, boss.
Miss Scott!
Ooh, thank you, Miss Scott!
We had a postmortem on Barney yet?
The governor said we're to chalk it up as "misadventure".
- I want a postmortem today. - The governor said...
I don't give a damn what the governor said!
I thought he was beaten to death?
So did I.
Compression marks. He was strangled.
- Hardly see 'em, boss. - But they're there, Larry.
There's a pattern.
Same victims...
same crime scenes...
same MO.
One man did this.
I think you should go round to Bonnie's and apologise to Ernie.
- Why? - Because you called a child wicked.
Knock, knock.
- I said wicked. I meant wicked. - I hope I'm not interrupting...
He's six. You scared him half to death.
- Good. - Good?
He needs to know God will punish him.
Oh, it's not like he killed someone!
Do your own bloody potatoes!
- She's an enigma. - She's a bloody nightmare!
- She's just having one of her moods. - Maybe I should speak to Jack.
No! No...
- Don't do that. I'll talk to her. - Good.
Because I'm this close to mortally offending her.
Mrs C! What are...
What does it matter anyway? What does any of it matter?
A man died outside my cafe today.
I am not prepared to listen to any maudlin nonsense.
Death is around every corner, just waiting,
like a punishment from God.
Oh, good Lord. You're not dead yet.
Sod it. Sod it all!
We're going out.
Are we?
Perfect victims, in a way.
No names...
.. no relatives to claim their bodies...
- And no-one to remember them. - Mm.
What kind of bastard kills men who have nothing?
The kind with no compassion.
So why tuck them up in a blanket?
To hide their bodies maybe?
Then leave them in a doorway to be discovered?
Doesn't make sense.
This guy...
This guy's the key to it, I'm sure.
Captain Efficiency's on prowl.
- Sorry. - Are you coming?
We'll have to fend for ourselves. Mrs C weaponised a potato, so...
I think I'll stay here for a bit.
Did you ever meet Bonnie's husband?
What, Eddie? Yeah, a few times. Why?
What was he like?
He was nice... quiet.
He was good with the boy.
Oh, I wish I could get Ernie to talk about him.
- What? - Distracting yourself from your heartache?
No! He's a sweet kid.
Could say the same about you.
Shut up.
Where are you, Robin?
We can't afford this!
- Can't take it with you, Leonard. - Good Lord!
We'll have the "sham-pag-na".
Madam wants the champagne?
- Yes, Madam does. - Mrs C, it's £3.
Perhaps you'd prefer the house white.
I want the... "champagne".
She wants the champagne.
People always look down their nose at me.
- No, they don't. - He was.
Yes, well, he was...
but I suspect he looks down his nose at everyone.
Ever since I was a girl.
"Poor Sylvia".
Plain... unworthy...
You're Mrs Sylvia Chapman, for goodness' sake.
The most formidable, the most brilliant and kind
and marvellous woman I've ever met.
Champagne, Madam.
Bring another bottle!
These aren't your initials, are they?
They're your dad's. Eddie Evans.
And now you can come and remember him any time you want.
I didn't pray hard enough...
- .. so God let him die. - No, he was poorly.
It was nothing to do with you.
I miss him.
I know you do.
He's never coming back...
is he?
No, he isn't.
I'm sorry...
.. but you must know that he loved you very much,
and he'd want you to be very happy.
Don't do that.
Let's go.
Do you ever feel ashamed?
I used to.
Still do sometimes.
Do you know, I haven't been back in the church since...
.. everything.
Didn't feel right somehow.
Rises up on you, shame...
.. when you least expect it.
You know, I always find shame diminishes...
if you share it with someone.
Waiter!
We'll have another bottle.
I think you've had enough.
- You think I'm common, don't you? - Mrs C...
I think you're drunk.
Snobby bastard, aren't you?
You all are, aren't you?
Looking down your nose at me.
Do you know what I say to that?
Do you know what I say to all of you?
Up your bum!
Up... your... bum!
Also...
your lamb was slightly overcooked!
Geez.
Robin Fellows. I finally spoke to his parents.
They were told to admit him to an asylum,
but thought they could manage themselves.
Oh, God.
They haven't seen him for a week.
I took the liberty of ordering for you.
You seem like a saveloy kind of chap to me.
And you'd be right.
- Any breakthrough? - Breakdown more like!
Things'll get better.
I was talking about work.
I wasn't.
Well, it makes you realise, doesn't it?
You know, you lose one thing...
.. your job...
.. your wife...
.. and you're on a downward spiral.
We're all a few pay packets away from being on the street.
You are not going to end up dead in a doorway, Inspector.
Not on my watch anyway.
Vinegar?
- Say it again. - "Up your bum!"
Honestly, I didn't think I'd ever hear those words
come from your mouth.
Didn't used to be like this, you know?
- Like what? - A prude.
- I used to be wild. - Did you? How marvellous!
I told God I'd change.
Told him I'd be good from now on.
Look where that's got me.
It's a punishment from God, isn't it?
The cancer?
God loves you.
How could he love a murderer?
You know you can tell me anything?
You know I'd be the last person to judge?
I wasn't even 15.
The boy was a bit older.
Said he loved me...
.. and I loved him.
I was so young.
- Could never have a child, could I? - Oh, Mrs C.
There was a woman in the next village.
Told my mum she'd sort it out.
Said I'd still be able to have babies after.
I prayed to God.
I told him if he let me live...
.. I'd be good...
.. and I was ever so good the rest of my life!
But it wasn't enough, was it?
You were a child, Mrs C.
You were in a terrible predicament.
God doesn't judge that.
I never did have a baby of my own.
Never one that he let me keep.
He's forsaken me, Leonard.
God tests us...
.. but it's not punishment.
Your cancer... is NOT a punishment.
He'll come back to you when you need him the most.
All that happens to us.
These... trials.
God's leading us...
.. to where we're meant to be.
If you'd had children, maybe you wouldn't be here...
.. with me.
And if I hadn't gone to prison, well...
.. who knows where that particular bump in the road will lead?
Oh, I do love you, Mrs C.
"Old faith must die".
Why send a note to the police if you were on a killing spree?
Because you want to be stopped?
And yet he sends that note,
and then kills again the very same night.
It's a compulsion.
He loves killing and hates it at the same time.
Right, I'm off.
You've got grease all down you.
There's a clean shirt in your bottom drawer.
You really are too good to me, Miss Scott.
Miss Scott!
Hands are clean.
Nails are clean.
He's clean-shaven.
All of them are.
He takes them in.
He cleans them.
He cares for them.
Then he kills them.
Look, we're not open yet.
Did he suffer?
Did who suffer?
The man who died here.
I believe when someone dies...
.. God is with them.
He would have alleviated his pain.
I didn't want him to suffer any more.
Let me get you something to eat.
'Hello. CID'
Leonard Finch for Inspector Keating, please.
'Oh, he's not here presently. May I take a message?'
Tell him...
"He's here."
February 13th.
First man found outside a bakery on St Paul's Road.
That was the week I failed Robin on his thesis.
You called it "mawkish hokum".
Did I? I don't remember.
March 23rd, 9pm.
Second man found inside the doorway of the Wildflower Cafe.
I ejected him from a lecture after he tried to strike me.
Now, why would he do that?
I told him he had a saviour complex
when he was just as hopeless as the men he was studying.
You knew he was unstable, and you said that?
I'm here to challenge, Inspector. To provoke.
Not to play nurse.
Compassion isn't your strong suit, is it, Professor?
I don't always mean what I say, Inspector.
I have a duty...
to elicit debate.
You have a duty to your students first, I'd say.
Sorry?
I used to be a clergyman.
If you need to talk, need to...
get anything off your chest.
Am I sick?
They say I'm sick...
.. but I'm feeling better now.
Did you know the man who died out there?
"All things must die."
"All things must die.
"All things must die." What's that?
That's Tennyson... isn't it?
"All things must die."
Things must die.
Do you like Tennyson, then?
He studied here at Cambridge.
Always found that rather miraculous.
He took my book.
The dead man?
It was mine...
.. and he took it.
- Did you try to get it back? - It was mine!
- It's all right. It's OK.
I wanna make it stop!
- Of course, you do. - I just wanna make it stop!
Please make it stop.
Please.
Make it stop.
Please.
Please!
- Robin. - Geordie.
He's scared. You're scaring him.
Now, you didn't wanna hurt those men any more than you wanna hurt us.
You were kind to them, weren't you?
No, you're a kind boy.
You're not gonna hurt us, Robin.
We both know that, hmm?
Next time you call in,
be a bit more descriptive than "he's here".
- Bonnie. - Sorry, I'm interrupting.
No, no, no. Come in.
- How's Ernie? - Good!
Yeah, really good, actually. Erm...
He wanted me to give you this to say thank you.
- Oh, you didn't have to do that. - No, it's just a little thing.
- He said you were jealous of his. - Well, he is right.
I was very jealous.
You're brilliant!
I mean... you were brilliant with Ernie yesterday.
- I... ju... You're just... - Brilliant?
After everything, I-I didn't think Ernie was gonna be OK again,
and now I think he might be, so...
He will be OK. He already is.
He has you, so...
A-Anyway, I-I'll just...
Now, Robin, would you look at it?
Look at it, please.
Someone put their hands around his throat
and squeezed until the life ebbed away from him.
Do you know how long it takes to kill a man like that?
Long enough to have regrets.
Long enough to look into their eyes and see the pain you're inflicting.
The fear.
"All things must die."
Were you trying to tell the police you'd done a terrible thing?
I... I wanted it to stop.
Did you put your hands around that man's throat?
It was meant to make things better!
How?
No-one else can hurt them.
But you hurt them, Robin.
You hurt three men.
Now the hurting stops...
.. doesn't it?
Robin, do you understand what you've done?
Do you understand the severity of your actions?
Can I have my book back?
Of course you can, son.
A doctor's gonna see you now.
He's gonna take you to a place where you'll be looked after.
Where you can get better.
And then can I go home, please?
I'd very much like to go home.
Here we are.
- Enjoy. - 'Thank you.'
Oh, thank you. Come again.
Jim!
I hope you don't mind.
I asked the Inspector where I might find you.
Not at all.
How did I not see it?
What Robin was becoming?
Nobody did.
I hope to be a vicar one day.
Good for you.
I-I study people.
I want to be of use...
.. and I didn't see it.
- He'll have help now. - In an asylum.
What kind of life is that?
The man who Robin...
The last man who died... Barney, was it?
Did they find his next of kin?
I'm afraid not.
What will happen to him?
He'll be buried.
No service, I imagine?
Not much of one.
An unmarked grave.
How unbelievably tragic for a life to end that way.
'At a time like this...
..'we're reminded of the good Samaritan.
'A parable of a man who showed mercy on a stranger.
'Someone who didn't look away.'
The man we bury here today is a stranger.
Someone we may have walked past many times.
But let us be reminded,
he was also a man who had hopes and dreams just like us.
He was loved, and loved just like us.
'We think of someone as being poor if they have no food.
'No shelter.
'But we can be poor in far more painful ways.
'Rejected by society.
'Cast out.
'Suffering alone.'
We must stop walking by these people we think of as strangers.
We must acknowledge they are our brothers and our sisters.
They need our help, our love, our counsel.
Not tomorrow, but today.
For Jesus Christ, our Lord.
- Amen. - Amen.
*CREDITS*