'Your mother's left me.
'She's found somebody else.'
I-I think she doesn't love me any more.
'How about I make us a nice cup of tea, '
and then we'll go look for her together?
Come on.
Jasper!
What are you doing here?
I wish to speak with you.
But it's not even... seven o'clock yet, so,
ring back after nine and make an appointment.
Like everyone else.
I have a great deal of lost time to make up for.
Very well. Come on in.
- Thank you. - It's me who should be thanking you.
I'm not sure I would have got Dad home
and settled so easily without you.
Well, I can't believe you never said anything.
Yeah, well, it's no-one's business but ours, so...
I'm sorry, Dan, for not trusting you.
And I'm sorry for... you know.
Taking advantage of me.
- It was a moment of weakness. - And another moment of weakness.
Hm-mm. I'm sorry. It must be doing your head in.
Oh, stop apologising
and, um...
get back into bed.
Oh!
Morning! Housekeeping.
Dr Hill?
*CREDITS*
Excuse me, thank you.
Doesn't look good.
It isn't.
I can smell gas.
The father may have died from it.
Maybe the son, possibly both.
What about the girl?
Hard to say.
Some kind of internal trauma, but beyond that I'll be guessing.
- Do I recognise her from somewhere? - Maybe the TV.
Dr Harriet Hill, AKA Dr Death
to our friends in the tabloid press.
She's a prominent campaigner for assisted dying
according to her website.
Here. Let me.
Urgh! There we go.
Dan?
That's right, Mr Donckers. Dan.
Rabbit. I've already told him I'm gonna be late this morning.
- Yeah, he already texted me. - Should one of us call him back?
Not me. I've got the day off.
Oh, have you got a date with the TV in your boxers on the sofa?
I'm meeting a friend, actually.
Sorry, I didn't mean to pry.
- It's, uh... It's not Dina. - Forget it, Dan.
Forget this whole thing, in fact.
Lis, um...
...she finished with me.
- She finished with you? - Uh-huh.
Apparently, I got on a little too well with one of her friends.
I don't know who it is.
Right.
I sense resistance, Jasper.
Hostility, even, towards this... process that we're undertaking,
towards the very idea of re-examining your past.
Do not dwell on the past.
Do not dream of the future.
Concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha.
Study the past if you would divine the future.
Confucius.
Have you any previous experience of psychoanalysis?
In my teenage years, my mother hoped
it would alleviate my compulsive traits.
And you weren't impressed by the outcomes?
Quacks and mountebanks. Every last one of them.
Paid a fortune to parrot my own thoughts back at me.
Oh, but here you are, 40 years later seeking my help.
These sessions, er...
in your teenage years, did they involve hypnosis?
- Invariably. - Right.
It is often used to surface repressed memories
of childhood trauma,
but it has been suggested
that it can also lead to delusional disorders.
Delusional disorders?
Well, specifically false memory syndrome.
Sorry, ma'am.
Boss.
Oh, my God!
You picked a bad morning for a lie-in, DS Donckers.
- Well, what happened? - It's all in here.
I don't need to tell you, Paul, we need the postmortem reports
- as quickly as possible. - I'm working on it.
Should I tell DS Winters to cancel his day off?
No, you leave him be. Once we've established causes
of their deaths we can begin to figure out what order they died in
and who did what to whom.
Feet up, shoes off. Champagne.
- It's almost like she's celebrating. - I thought the same.
We can't ignore that she's an outspoken supporter of euthanasia.
No, which means our working hypothesis must be
that she killed her family for some reason before killing herself.
Until proven otherwise.
I'm heading back, see what else we can find on her.
Your memory of pointing a gun at your father may be real, Jasper,
but this memory of pulling the trigger that so obsesses you,
I believe may be false.
A confabulation?
An unreal implant or indoctrination.
Call it what you will.
It may be a manifestation of guilt
that you feel about your father's death.
It's not at all uncommon
for children of people who've taken their own lives
to-to blame themselves for their parents' death.
And to feel that...
that-that somehow they...
Weren't lovable enough?
To give them reason to go on living.
In seeking to, er...
recover and confront the painful memories of childhood trauma,
which your younger self naturally has tried to repress,
you may be confusing the real with the imaginary,
and so you've created an-an unresolved mystery
around the death of your father.
The sort of mystery it would require an eminent criminologist to solve.
Well, like your chosen career,
your OCD is also a reaction to the chaos
that defined your formative years.
I attempt to contain and control it.
Mm.
If you want to change your obsessive thoughts and behaviours, Jasper,
I suggest you need to face your fears about your past,
and try and understand your phobia of intimacy, Jasper.
Looking for a ride?
Yeah, not from some wide boy in a Chelsea tractor.
Come on, we're gonna be late.
You look the part.
All I need is a earpiece and a shoulder holster.
Well, I'm glad you changed your mind.
- Yeah, I hope I will be. - Relax.
It'll be the easiest money you've ever made. Guaranteed.
Are you sure this is a good idea, Jasper?
Not entirely, Mother. Germs and intimacy.
For me, he is the full phobic package.
Well, do take care of him.
I shall treat him as well as I would treat you.
That's what worries me. I hope you have insurance at least?
Ah. That sounds a trifle superfluous.
He's a pedigree.
He's potent and he'll hump anything that moves.
With the price of puppies such as it is,
he's a veritable canine gold mine.
I shall speak to my insurer and add him to my home and contents.
Thank you, Mother.
'Ladies and gentlemen, please indicate if any of you'
are regular readers of the Cambridge Courier?
Occasional, perhaps?
You are a generation obsessed with the narcissistic posturings
and mindless witterings of attention junkies from the far flung reaches
of the planet, yet with your snouts buried deep
in the sulphurous trough of social media,
you've failed to notice the multitudes
that land daily on your own doorsteps.
Local media is a treasure trove for the would-be criminologist.
Familicide.
A rare but regrettably growing subset
of the broader category of homicide
in which an individual kills multiple close family members
before killing themselves.
In 90 percent of cases of spousal murder, ladies and gentlemen,
it is the man who is the perpetrator.
But when the murder of one or more children is also involved,
it is just as likely to be the mother
who has committed the crime as the father.
Now, at the risk of exposing myself to all sorts of Freudian nonsense,
are any of you budding Sherlocks willing to venture an explanation?
So it's as likely to be the husband as Dr Hill herself,
even though she's a very high profile supporter of assisted dying?
Statistically, yes,
assuming it is a straightforward case of familicide.
What else would it be?
Euthanasia is a controversial subject,
much like false memory syndrome.
It stirs up anger, division, violent disagreement.
You're suggesting she may have been a target
for her outspoken views, then?
I do not wish to speculate, only to keep your mind open
to the existence of other possibilities.
- Crikey, what are they? - Some kind of sedative, I think.
- Well, someone was feeling anxious. - Very anxious, I'd say.
For one of the kids, you reckon?
For the daughter, Madeline. Take a look at these,
case files, I think, one for every person she's advised
on assisted dying for some charity she works for.
I'll need to get some legal advice before we can take a proper look.
Do you think we might be looking at a disgruntled family member,
someone who blames Dr Hill for the death of a loved one
who's decided to take revenge?
Well, if that's the case,
we're gonna be dealing with a bloody long list of suspects.
Yeah.
- Boss, can you take a look at this? - All right.
_
Oi, what do you reckon, then?
What, about those two?
No!
- Briefcase. - What about it?
What's inside?
I mean, it could be anything - diamonds, cash,
anthrax powder, missile codes.
It doesn't bother you not knowing what we're involved in?
We're getting paid good money to keep our noses clean
and our eyes averted, Dan.
Don't mess up a good thing by asking stupid questions.
Yeah, but we can't afford...
'Madeline!'
'Madeline, can you stop making that noise, please?'
'Get of my room!'
- 'Get out! Get out! - Stop making that noise!
'I don't want you here, just get out!'
Nice work, Dan.
That's for you.
There must be a grand in there.
It's the going rate.
You're sure this is all kosher?
Relax. It's fine.
What, you wanna give it back?
Nah, you're all right.
You can make double that working nights.
There's a job this Thursday.
8pm till the early hours if you fancy it?
Maybe.
Yeah, why not?
I'm going home before I do something to someone I may regret.
You're welcome, Professor.
Where's the dog?
The dog?
You know, so high.
Unfortunate disposition.
Looks like a cross between a slipper and a gerbil.
If he's up there, then what are you doing down here?
Looking for a suitable replacement.
I think it's been fairly traumatising
for the people connected to the family.
- Yeah. - Thank you for joining us, Jasper.
Do you have a dog, Professor?
Do not be absurd.
OK. I've been given a verbal briefing
on the result of the postmortems.
It seems clear that Dr Hill overdosed
on a large quantity of sedatives.
Tranquilisers. Anti-anxiety medication.
The overdose threshold is lowered considerably
when taken with alcohol.
She used to work at some kind of hospice, didn't she?
That's right, boss, palliative care home.
Do we think that she got the drugs from there, from work?
We found a large quantity of the same medication at the house, ma'am.
And a trace in her husband's blood
at a lower concentration, which suggests it was his prescription,
even though he died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
- From the gas? - No, that's the son.
Car exhaust for the husband.
The levels of nitrous oxide are the giveaway.
Does that mean we can rule him out
from involvement in the other deaths?
I mean, he could hardly have sat back down on the sofa
after gassing himself in his motor.
Unfortunately not.
We could be dealing with a number of different combinations
of murder and suicide.
So, what else have you learned about Dr Hill that could help?
We spoke to the manager of the care home a couple of hours ago.
It's, um... devastating.
Her fellow doctors, the nurses,
the patients particularly, were all in a state of shock.
We're supposed to be celebrating her ten-year work anniversary,
champagne, cake, a party after hours.
It's turned into a wake.
How did she seem to you at the party?
A little subdued, maybe, not her usual self.
She was anxious to get home. Left the party early.
Did you put that down to anything?
Kenny Holland.
She puts ideas in her head.
Stay away from my girl! Do you understand?
His daughter, Stacey, a national diving champion,
paralysed from a neck down in a freak accident at 17.
What a waste.
Can she hear us?
She drifts in and out.
Before her condition worsened, she expressed the wish to travel
to Switzerland to end her life.
It's supposed to be next month.
Her mum's very supportive.
- But her dad? - Don't tell me...
Violently opposed.
He's very angry.
Stay away from my girl, do you understand?
Well, she often travels with her patients to Zurich unofficially
in case they need medical care on the journey,
but in this case she decided not to.
She told me at her anniversary party.
Do you think she was scared off by Kenny Holland's threats?
'Sounds a promising line of inquiry.'
Except it would take a cool hand and a cold heart
to arrange these deaths to look so exactly like suicides.
Not a hot-head hell bent on revenge.
Point taken. We should still look into it, though.
Don't tell me, focus on the family.
The husband shows traits of neurosis, emotional instability.
We did a bit of digging, spoke to the housekeeper.
Apparently, he's a bit of a neat freak,
obsessed with order and his son's routine.
Yeah, Alexander is diagnosed autistic.
He's high functioning, but with complications, er...
ADHD and epilepsy.
Nicholas has been his primary carer for the last ten years
since giving up his job as a medical journalist.
He suffered a psychotic episode. Attacked a colleague physically?
- Yeah. He even wrote about it. - There's this.
Madeline!
- Madeline, could you stop making that noise? - Get of my room!
- What's going on? - He's being a freak again!
Get him out of my room!
Don't speak to your brother like that.
- Oh, you always take his side! - No, I'm not.
- I just ask you to stop sh... - I hate you!
- 'I'm going to Alice's. - It's all right, son...'
Alice was her best friend.
According to her, Madeline talked about harming herself.
It was all over her laptop. Stuff about suicide.
Memes, videos, social media posts.
And DI Rabbit found this on Dr Hill's desk.
Yeah, the parents paid for Madeline to go see a child psychologist.
And yet the postmortem clearly states
that she died of a severely broken neck.
It's hard to see how that could have been self-inflicted,
especially as there are no rope marks.
Anything you'd like to share, Professor?
You sound like my therapist.
Speaking of which.
- Mother. - Jasper, my boy.
Do you remember dear old Basil?
How could I forget?
Your childhood companion until you declared him unhygienic
and consigned him to the attic.
I thought he might be more receptive to your ministrations
than poor old Kafka.
I can not invite you in, Mother.
Can not, or-or will not?
I have company.
At this time of night?
How intriguing!
Mother.
Er, Mother. Tatiana, Tatiana, er... this is my mother,
Mrs Adelaide Tempest.
Pleased to meet you.
The pleasure's all mine.
I'm interviewing Tatiana for a vacancy as my new intimacy coach.
Well, she looks eminently well qualified.
I-I have a resume.
Well, Mother, as they say, three's a crowd.
Don't worry. I can take a hint.
I don't need to look, dear.
No previous experience could possibly prepare you
for working with Jasper. Good luck, dear.
Hi.
It suits you.
- Thank you. - Let me take it off.
- Oh. - Mm. - Mm.
I could get used to this.
Having you around.
Ah, that was too much too soon.
No! No.
Ah, I don't know, Lis.
I keep on thinking about what you said
about not mixing work with pleasure.
Yeah, I meant that.
Maybe not in the way that you think.
- So how do you mean it? - Well,
maybe it's the working bit that needs to give and not the pleasure.
So, like what?
Well, it's not an inevitable law of physics
that we have to be partners in Cambridge CID.
I know that!
I just mean maybe one of us could ask for a transfer.
I don't know, try something else.
Yeah. Maybe.
Get those off.
What, here?
- Oh, my God, no, I meant the gloves. - Oh, the gloves.
- Yes. - I'm afraid the gloves are staying on.
They've become part of me now.
_
Dan?
Er, I wasn't... I was... wasn't looking.
Mr Holland?
I'm DS Lisa Donckers.
Nice to see the old bill are getting a bit more shaggable.
- Excuse me? - Don't, Dan.
Mr Holland, my colleague and I were hoping to have a word with you.
My solicitor, you'll get nothing from me without him.
Look, it's just a bit of background we're after.
About Dr Harriet Hill.
I told you, no brief, no questions.
She was a patronising bitch.
- What'd you say? - You heard me.
I'm glad she's dead.
Come on, missy, walk away.
Lis.
Er, can I help you?
You may try.
Only then will I be able to ascertain whether you can or not.
I'm sorry?
I have some questions about Ms Stacey Holland.
And you are?
Professor Jasper Tempest...
...a consultant with Cambridge Police.
That's a university library card.
May I ask my questions anyway?
Dr Hill must have arranged the deaths herself.
It just seems the most obvious explanation.
Superficially, perhaps.
But just because she believed in allowing people the right to die,
it does not necessarily follow that she participated
in the deaths of her own children.
It is my surmise
that Dr Hill withdrew from accompanying Stacey Holland
to Switzerland because she was an uncomfortable reminder
of her own daughter Madeline and her suicide threats.
She was terrified of losing her child,
not hell bent on dispatching her.
Where does that leave us?
We've ruled out Madeline because of the nature of her injuries
and none of us fancy Nicholas and the cause of his cause of death.
- Well, what about Alexander? - Really?
- With his diagnosis? - Individuals with autism
are just as capable of acts of violence as the rest of us.
But I concur in not regarding Alexander as a suspect.
I believe the calculation involved in arranging the bodies
of his family on the sofa would've been beyond him.
- Well, that just leaves us... - Donckers, Winters.
This is DI Lainsborough.
Ah, please, call me Simon.
Simon is with the regional drug squad.
He's come to me with a question which I want him to explain to you.
Yeah, I understand that you've made an approach to question
one Kenneth Joseph Holland,
and for reasons that I can't go into right now,
I'd like to ask you nicely to desist,
at least for the time being.
Can we ask why?
Well, Holland runs a road haulage business
and he's a person of considerable interest to us,
- has been for quite some time. - How long's for the time being?
Couple of weeks, a month tops. He may well be in custody by then,
and hopefully he'll have 20 or 30 years
to answer your questions.
How were you alerted?
Oh, I'm sorry. We haven't been introduced.
Er, this is Professor Jasper Tempest,
our consultant criminologist.
How did you know that DS Donckers
and DS Winters were making inquiries?
Well, I'm not at liberty to say, as you can imagine.
All you need to know is that we are getting intel on Holland
from a variety of sources.
Charming.
We can't question Kenny Holland,
but there's nothing to say we can't keep digging into his background.
You will be wasting your time and mine.
At least in relation to the current inquiry.
Your forensic team has been over every micrometre of the property.
There's no evidence of violence or any form of a struggle.
It would be beyond the wit of the most sophisticated
and imaginative criminal
to stage that gruesome a tableau without coercion.
Let alone a sausage-fingered Neanderthal like Kenny Holland.
So where does that leave us?
We now have precisely zero murder suspects.
It leaves you to make the logical deduction
that you have precisely zero murders.
Let us deal with the victims one by one.
Madeline Hill, age 17, severe fractures
to the third and fourth cervical vertebrae leading to asphyxia.
Estimated time of death between 3 and 4pm.
I have compared and contrasted a number of scenarios
that might account for the presence of the broken guitar.
With Alexander at the care centre and Dr Hill at the clinic
at the time we believe Madeline died...
- Leave me alone. - ..only one makes any sense.
Madi, please, why are you so hostile?
It's Madeline, and I'm hostile
because your pet halfwit is ruining my life.
Stop calling him that name.
- It's bloody awful. - There you go again,
taking his side!
I've simply asked you not to play your guitar
when he's in the house, that's all.
You just try and stop me!
Stop it!
Stop it now!
Madeline!
Oh, no!
Madi! Madi.
I'm here.
Nicholas kept the house in perfect order,
except for one small detail.
A solitary flaw in an otherwise immaculate home,
but a fatal one nevertheless.
Why did he carry her to the sofa?
A final gesture of caring, of concern.
Professor?
Cast your mind back to the kitchen, Detective Sergeant. What do you see?
Nothing. It was spotless.
Just like how I imagine your kitchen might look.
Precisely. It is my belief
that the husband may well have been on the autistic spectrum,
but undiagnosed.
Is that relevant?
Very much so, to his thought process.
At first, he is gripped by panic.
Then quite a different thought takes hold.
He is trapped in a tunnel...
...and there is only one way out.
However, it is not uncommon for fathers
under extreme psychological pressure to succumb to the delusion
that it will be impossible for their families to go on without them.
We know that shortly after 6pm,
some time after Madeline's estimated time of death,
Nicholas picked up Alexander from the daycare centre.
It is my belief that his dominant thought was to protect his son
in the only way he knew how,
by killing him while also killing himself,
Thus turning a tragic accident into a familicide.
All right, Alex, today, we'll have a bit of fun.
We'll get to drive. You are going to drive.
Focus on the road and you look straight ahead.
Can you prove any of that?
No. But it is a reasonable deduction
from the forensic report, which states clearly
that the son's fingerprints were found on the steering wheel.
He walked from one great danger into an even more considerable one.
- The gas was still on in the kitchen. - Precisely.
He would've been quickly overwhelmed.
Dr Hill then came home to discover it all.
I imagine her first thought must have been
that her daughter had finally followed through on her threats.
Madeline!
Come on!
Poor woman. It was only gonna get worse.
Urgh.
No!
It's a brilliant theory, Jasper.
Let's put it to the coroner.
Dad, do you remember this?
Mum?
Do you wanna dance?
'I just can't imagine it.
'Someone of that age wanting to end their life.'
It's a tremendous relief.
However sick or old you are, to be in control,
to have a choice...
...to die with dignity.
*CREDITS*