Original subtitles

Come on, come on.

Can

you hear my

horn?

The station, wasn't it, madam?

The station.

I can't go on like this, Alicia.

I can't.

Better than you were six months ago.

Don't do this, Alicia.

You know I'm not better.

Look at me.

Look, my lungs are never clear.

I will not go on being a burden to you. Don't say that.

You're not a burden to me or anyone else.

I love you, Daniel.

We're going to fight this thing together and we'll win. We will.

What do you say, Sam?

Am I better?

I'm not a doctor.

But you're never at a loss for an opinion.

I came here to talk to you about this university nonsense.

Nothing to talk about.

We could build another three branches with that amount of money.

We're expanding too fast already.

And I want to leave something behind.

You're not going anywhere.

Oh, so suddenly you are a doctor.

Oh, stop it, both of you.

Old Daniel won't mind.

Punctuality was never his strong point.

I'd say I remember him.

Oh, I haven't seen him for years.

He was one of our mature students.

He managed a decent tutu.

His business acumen is honestly greater than his horticultural skills.

One sees these Calloway garden centres of his everywhere.

She gets the pinion, duck.

She's a good old wagon.

Well, you'll be pleased to hear your chest sounding a bit clearer.

But the eczema hasn't responded as well as I'd hoped.

Using the cream regularly.

She keeps me an inch thick in this stuff.

Keep it up, Alicia. Do you need any more?

We always need more.

Only if you could write me up for more digoxing.

Not overdoing it, eh? No, of course not.

Alicia?

They need dodgy stuff, that's it, to tell it.

When she's in top gear between three and three and a half out of red, she gets

that lovely, satisfied hum.

Well, it's very gratifying.

Look, I've been thinking... Get away. I thought that was forbidden for college

principals. It's about us.

Oh, help.

Well, we were pretty good together, weren't we?

Were we?

Yes.

Are you kidding?

We were hell on wheels.

Well, nonsense. We had some good times together. I can't think of any.

Well, be that as it may.

Why did we give it another go?

Because the go went, Julian.

After eight months with you, I decided I would never again get romantically

entangled with a man who pronounces both his R's in February.

What a beautiful place.

Yes? We'd like to see Mr. Calloway, please.

What for?

And who are you?

Well, that wasn't the question.

That's all right, Mrs. Potts. All I need is ringing the bell. I'll take care of

it.

I'm Alicia Calloway. You must be Professor Marchant, Rosemary Boxer?

Rosemary Boxer. Do come in.

I'd much rather you didn't see me like this.

Oh, don't be silly.

You're an old mate, and anyway, you asked us to come.

Must be that blue folder, Sam.

I'd best be off.

Bye, Dan.

Thanks for coming, Bob.

Can you see yourself out?

Why, she thinks so by now.

I'll go out the back way, if that's all right. Of course.

It's all in here.

In fact, the merchant deals with all the grown-up stuff.

A proposal for the endowment of the Kennerway Chair of Plants Genetics at

the University of Malmesbury.

Have your legal people go through it.

Drop whatever documents are necessary and I'll sign it. Tea.

I'll put it on the table, will you, Mrs Potts?

Herbal tea for Mr Trent.

No caffeine for him.

Thanks, Mrs Potts. I can't tell you how grateful we are.

You mentioned in one of your letters that you, rather surprisingly, had a

horticultural problem.

Has it been remedied yet?

Nothing wrong with the gardens. As far as I can see, they are exquisite.

It made Rosemary's day, I can tell you, seeing what one of her old students can

do. I can't take any credit for that. The gardens were completely redone by

the previous owner, a Malaysian, with one of their big electronics companies.

Must have spent a fortune.

So, what's the problem? Something to do with the trees?

Yes.

In the avenue, they're losing their bark.

Like me.

I guess we'd better come on in.

We'll go on into the lounge.

Sam will be back soon. He just... He left me.

Oh, for some 23-year-old tart.

Well, thank you very much for volunteering my services.

No, you're fine. I know we can depend on you.

Well, and who is going to do my lecture in the morning, may I ask? Oh, don't

worry. I'll ask young Frank Peasden to do it. This is important for the

college. Yes, I know. I realise that.

Well, that doesn't look good.

What is it?

Oh,

I'm not quite sure yet.

It's very interesting.

I wonder if any of these have been affected.

Ah, that'll be my taxi.

Ah, will you just get it sorted out, eh? Good old Rosemary.

Well, how long have I got?

As long as it takes.

I'll be in touch.

Thanks a...

Well, this is a night of pride.

Sam, what am I going to do?

What am I going to do, Sam?

Well, I... I suppose you knew about this.

What Vicky's just told me.

Oh, come on. You're our best friend.

Look, sit down. Sit down.

Tell me what happened.

Nick's left me.

Another woman?

You did know. I didn't. Nick's the last person I expected to do something like

this. That's what makes it worth it. He spends 27 years pretending to be a

decent human being and he turns out to be just like the rest of you.

Want some toffees?

I'm sorry we can't pick you up.

Oh, it's all right.

Good evening.

Yeah, I called only about a room for Mrs. Time. Oh, yeah, that's fine.

If you just sign here, I'll have your bags taken up.

If you want dinner, we stop serving at night.

Oh.

Time for a pill.

What's that for?

Uh, to keep your pump going.

Right. See you in the morning, then.

Yeah, I'll be here at half past eight.

Okay.

Come on.

Oh, no. No, fine.

Oh, hello.

Billy? Billy, it's Rosemary.

Oh, look, I'm stuck up here for a couple of days.

Could you bunk some clean clothes and some knickers in a bag and bring them to

me? Do you know where my house keys are?

Oh, great.

I need to go to the lab and get a small microscope, my copy of Exotic

Dendrology, and my laptop.

Yes, fine.

Where am I? I'm at the White Hart in Downminster.

Yes.

Yes. Thank you.

Cheers, Billy. Bye.

Want to try again?

I don't know what to do.

A friend was supposed to pick me up at 8.30.

No sign of him. Now there's no reply.

Was that the chap you were with last night?

Yeah, yeah.

Sam Trent.

Ah.

Well, you know him? No, no, not really. I met him yesterday. Does he live near

here? Only a couple of miles away. It's a village called Devonish. Oh, I'd go

past there.

Come on, I'll give you a lift.

Oh.

Thank you.

23 years old.

23, blonde and thin as a bloody rail.

Where did he meet her?

Work.

He's a policeman, did you say?

PCI. Detective Constable when we got married when I was a WPC. He made me

give all that up, of course.

Well, maybe he'll come back when she's bored with him. Back?

I wouldn't have him back if he crawled on hands and knees over broken glass.

Atta girl.

Sorry.

You married?

No. No, no.

No. On the brink a couple of times, but the good ones got away.

Stop. Stop, stop, stop.

Oh, my God.

That's Sam's car.

Hit by a truck as he crossed last night.

Oh, my God.

What about the driver?

Truck driver said he comes straight across the junction, about 40. He didn't

have a chance.

He needs to go higher.

I knew.

I don't know if I saw the number.

I always remember registration numbers. Stop bringing it back now. Oh, my God.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Such a careful driver. He would never have gone across that road without

stopping.

I'm so sorry.

Vicky used to tease him about his driving.

She was much more slapdash.

Do you want to go and see her?

No, no. No, I can't go there.

Oh, poor Vicky.

She didn't like me very much at the best of times.

I suppose I'd better go back to the pub.

Well, I don't think that's a very good idea, to sit there moping.

Come on, come with me to Winterbourne. Keep me company.

Get in.

Nicky? Nicky. Oh, don't. He was only going

to be gone for 20 minutes.

Oh, Mrs. Potts, can you do that later?

I've got the bedrooms to do after this.

Later, Mrs. Potts.

Questionings at all.

Go through more.

Well, figure it out. Mrs. Kellaway, both agree about Sam driving.

He would never have been careless.

And he had a heart condition.

And yet they both accept that he just happily drove across that road without

even looking.

Well, what are you saying? That he had a heart attack before the crash? Yes,

quite possibly.

Oh.

Did it make any difference?

He took a pill before he left the hotel. Now, what if someone had been tampering

with them?

Well, I should say.

I don't know.

There's something dodgy about the doctor and Mrs. Calloway, anyway.

What makes you say that?

Oh, body language.

A bit too friendly.

What exactly are you doing here?

I'm a plant pathologist, and there's something wrong with the trees, and Mr.

Calloway asked me to have a look at them.

Oh, they won't thrive if you don't strive.

That's what my dad used to say.

Farmer.

Oh.

Beautiful year, isn't it?

So you're a gardener?

I love gardening. Oh, so do I.

But I'm more on the academic side, more a bookworm than an earthworm.

It's funny, I don't miss my house at all, but I really miss my garden.

Oh, wow.

Ooh, bloody hell, look at that.

Arachneum montegasianum.

Giant hogweed to us commoners.

It's poisonous, isn't it? Don't even touch it.

Mrs. Pott? Yeah, why?

I'm sure I've seen her before.

I can't think where.

But as soon as I saw her face, a word popped into my mind.

Wither sedge.

Wither sedge? Is that a name?

I don't know. I don't know what it is.

The sedge is withered from the lake and no bird.

La belle dame sans merci.

Rosemary!

Oh, Billy!

Oh, you needn't have waited.

Not that it's not nice for you. Oh, well, I thought I'd better. I've got

them closed for you. Ah, yes, great.

This is Laura.

Laura. Hi.

Hi. And this is Billy Halliday.

I wanted to talk to you personally.

This letter came to you this morning.

It's from Professor Marchant.

I thought you might want to see it.

Three other members of the faculty have had them.

This is a joke, right?

I don't think so, no.

He's given me the bloody sack. And all the others.

Who are those?

Digi Fellows, Tom Bishop, Baggage Cook.

He's given us all the sack.

I'm so sorry, Rosemary, I... He was only here with me yesterday, saying he could

depend on me, the shifty, treacherous, double-dealing, vile little bastard.

Just finished 18 years at Mansbridge.

Only senior lecturer in Applied Horticulture, PhD.

I got too big.

They had to cut me down.

A winter-born manor, Devonish. Yeah, Dr Whittaker. It's quick as you can, Peggy.

What happened?

I called an ambulance.

Dan! Don't touch him, don't... Did he fall?

He must have.

What's he doing here, anyway?

Dan rang me about 20 minutes ago. He sounded desperate.

I heard a shout as I was getting out the car. I found him like this.

When did you see him last?

Not since lunchtime.

Well, he must have fallen, mustn't he? From his room.

Look, go and get a blanket.

We've got to keep him warm.

Thank you so much, Professor Hashim.

The diseased trees are a mystery to me.

Yes, you've been a great help. Thank you.

Well, my regards to Madame Hattie.

Thank you, right.

Yes, bye. Bye.

Oh, dear.

Sorry, where was I? The ambulance came.

Yes, the ambulance came and took him away.

Was he dead?

No, I don't think so.

The ambulance men put a grip on his arm.

Unless it was formaldehyde and they wanted to keep him looking nice.

Do you think his wife or the doctor might have pushed him off the balcony?

Oh, I don't know.

I couldn't hear properly. I was behind a bush.

But they seemed genuinely upset. I don't know what to think.

What were you doing behind a bush?

Hiding.

And you didn't say anything?

Well, how could I? I couldn't explain what I was doing there, eavesdropping.

And there's another thing.

She had a knife.

Well, it looked like a knife. Bloody hell.

What do you think was in the sack? Well, that's what I was wondering.

I mean, she was being very furtive.

Well, she looks bonkers anyway.

I think it's just the hat.

Wish I could remember where I'd seen her before.

Nick's mother wears hats like that.

Not Nick again. No, no, no, I'm fine.

Bastard!

Well, he probably didn't tell her he was married. They don't, you know.

Then it's too late. 23 years of age.

Laura, please. Well, it's so unfair.

I didn't ask to get old.

Well, everyone gets old.

We'll get old.

She'll get old.

Not if I have anything to do with it.

Oh, I hate hospitals.

I just want to see how Daniel is. And I can't ask at the house. No one knows

that I saw anything.

Well, suppose his wife is here.

Oh, that's the point.

Well, I'll just have to sort of say... No, you'll just have to sort of say you

heard somewhere.

Oh, thanks very much. Very convincing.

What?

What's going on? It's my Felicia.

I'm a doctor.

No cause for alarm, sir.

Just a routine inspection.

He's not going to tell us much.

Oh, at least he's still alive.

Poor dear.

That's the dermatitis I told you about.

Is that the same as eczema?

Doesn't look like any eczema I've ever seen.

Oh, you're horrible.

Actually, his skin looks better.

I was all blessed in yesterday.

Come on.

I don't know if they've got better medication here.

First one partner, then the other.

I wonder who inherits the business.

Well, the partner's wives, presumably.

Alicia Kelleway and your Vicki Trent.

Hmm.

What are you suggesting?

Well, maybe they didn't want the money to go to your university.

Known far less as a motive.

Wait a minute.

Who's it?

He's here!

Who's here?

Bloody no!

I want to see Professor Marchant. Oh, dear, there you do.

Julian.

Rosemary. How dare you?

I heard there'd been an accident. You toad.

Ah, you've had my letter. You vermin. You cheap, grisly, low-rent,

dismal little...

Crumb! Oh, God.

That was sensational.

What weight do you normally fight at? I've never hit anyone before.

You've got a natural talent for it. Thank you. Thank you very much.

How did I ever fancy it?

That's what I don't understand.

You need cheering up.

I need calming down, not cheering up.

Well, this'll do it.

To hell with men.

Haven't you ever met a good one?

No.

Either they're all over you or they're...

All over somebody else.

Oh.

Some of them are lovely.

Oh, well.

No, no, no more work. You're on R&R.

No, no, I'm just looking up that word on the internet.

Withersedge. Oh, right.

Uh-huh.

Oh, the Royal Borough of Withersedge. It's a place. Oh.

There's a sight here called They Got Away With It. What's that, I wonder? Oh,

try it.

Oh, Jack the Ripper, Adeline Bartlett, Madeline Smith.

It's people that got away with murder.

Oh, here it is.

The Wicked Witch of Withersedge.

That's right, of course. Delia Kettle.

That's right, that's right. It's Delia Kettle. Look, there's a picture of her.

Look here.

Look, and it does look like it. She's even wearing one of our hats.

1972.

That's right, because I'd just joined the force.

It was all over the papers. The trial was in the autumn.

Mrs Delia Kettle, seen in our house, in Withersedge, shortly after her release.

Ah, she got off.

She had married a retired wholesale butcher from Norwich. Now, he died

suddenly, apparently of a heart attack.

But there was an awful lot of talk locally, and she was already called the

Witch of Withersedge.

Why?

She grew a lot of herbs or something, I don't know.

Anyway, she'd been married before, and he had died in suspicious circumstances.

Ah, that's right, there was a child from the first marriage.

Now,

Mr Kettle's insurance company refused to pay up, saying they weren't satisfied,

so she took them to court, and that's when the police got interested.

Was she accused of poisoning you? Yes, that's right, but they didn't have much

of a case, unfortunately.

At least you've got a sense of humour.

Why?

Mrs Kettle, Mrs Potts. Potts, yes.

But how can she be involved with Daniel's fall from the balcony when I

saw her in the garden just before? I still think she found a way of killing

Sam. Oh, come on, that was an accident, as far as we know.

How?

My computer's plugged in.

What's she doing here? What's her motive? Maybe she doesn't need a motive.

Maybe she's just a natural-born killer.

Yes, could I speak to Sergeant Time, please?

Your husband?

No, not my husband.

No, no, it's my eldest, Matthew.

He's at the Met.

Sergeant Time?

Yes, hello, Matt. How are you? Hello, Mum. I'm fine. Are you all right?

Fine. No, I'm fine.

I mean, you've got to feel sorry for any girl to get mixed up with a man like

your father.

Now, listen, Matthew, there's something I want you to do for me. Anything at

all, Mum?

I want you to look up Mrs Kettle, 1972.

A Mrs Kettle?

Yes. Mrs Delia Kettle. She poisoned her husband, but she got away with it. I

want you to find out what happened to her.

I can't do that, Mum.

Mum,

I've got...

Oh, Mum!

All right.

All right.

Yes, I will.

OK.

Goodbye, Mum.

Haven't you got a mother?

Right. I'm good at digging.

Keeps my mind off things.

Well, almost. Where do you want me?

You'll only need a trowel. Oh. Now, I don't have a spare one. There's a barn

round the side.

Maybe there'll be some spare tools in there.

Do you know, I keep thinking you ought to warn Mrs. Galloway. I assume she

didn't knowingly employ the wicked witch of Wither's Edge. Well, how can we warn

her? What if she was the one that pushed Daniel off the balcony?

Yeah, we'll just have to wait for Matthew to ring back.

Hydro-cortisone cream?

Industrial 5.

You use that in gardening?

No.

Maybe Daniel uses it for his eczema.

What's he doing in the barn, then?

I've never seen anyone dry foxgloves before.

It's just a cream.

Look at this. What?

What are you doing in here?

We thought it was going to rain.

Poking about ain't allowed.

This is private, this is private property. Yes, terribly sorry.

Clear off out of it, the both of you.

I nearly fainted when I saw her standing there with that knife.

She had a knife when you saw her the other day, didn't she?

Poking about ain't allowed to private property, this is.

Still haven't got you a trowel. Haven't you got anything else in the Land Rover?

Oh, my hand.

It's so itchy.

What's that?

I don't know.

Oh, yes, I do.

It's where I put the cream on.

Where are we going?

Where are we going?

I want to show you something.

Look.

Someone has been cutting stalks from the base. Oh, the hogweed. Now, did you know

it was illegal to propagate this? No. Because if you put the sap on your skin,

it blisters and burns.

Like this.

Now, when I first saw it, I thought somebody was making a half-hearted

attempt to remove it.

But did you notice there was some crushed hogweed stalk?

on the floor of the bath.

That's right.

So, someone has been adding the juice of the hogweed to the

cortisone cream. And it's not just anyone. It's got to be that awful

housekeeper. And that's why the more they put on Daniel, the worse he got.

And why now he's in hospital, he's getting better because no one's

spreading this all over him. No, wait a minute. If I remember correctly, it's

not just the juice. It's something called phytophototoxic.

Phytophototoxic. To-to?

Phytophototoxic. Toxic. It reacts with the sunlight on the skin.

As far as I know, Daniel never goes out.

Hmm.

It's not going to kill him, though, is it? I mean, nobody ever died of

dermatitis. No, but it could get infected, and then it could get

septicemia, and that could kill him.

Hmm.

It's so good. I've got to tell Alicia, if that old witch suspects...

that we're on to her. God knows what she might do. Yeah, two arms. Oh, yes, you'd

better go and find Dr Whittaker. Now, tell him everything and show him your

arm. I mean, he can't ignore that.

How am I going to get there?

Take the wagon.

Drive that thing! Oh, you'll love it.

No, no, you can't go back in that house on your own. She won't do anything to me

if Alicia's there.

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

Okay.

Hello? Alicia?

Calloway?

It's really quite nasty. Could you hold on without this?

But don't you think Mrs. Potts' behaviour is suspicious?

Eccentric, perhaps.

But I'm sorry, there's no conceivable motive.

It doesn't make any sense.

Poisoners are weird.

They don't always need a motive.

They just enjoy being clever, you know.

Just dropping a pill in someone's drink and standing by looking all innocent.

Waiting for them to die?

No.

No, I'm sorry.

It's you.

I thought you were Mrs. Potts.

What are you doing up here?

I was looking for you.

I came to warn you.

Do you mind if I sit down? I feel quite weak.

What did you want to warn me about?

Your housekeeper, Mrs. Potts.

Really?

Do you go on?

Sorry, Doctor.

You must think we're a pair of hysterical women.

That's quite understandable.

You're in a highly charged emotional state anyway, and then you see an

elderly woman who you think looks something like... Oh, this is the time.

I'll call for you. Oh, excuse me.

Hello? Hello, Mum, it's Matthew.

I looked into that Mrs Kettle for you.

The police in Norfolk kept an eye on her for a time. Mm-hm. I mean...

Then, a few years later, her daughter started getting into trouble. A couple

of assaults on teachers, one of them quite nasty.

Anyway, Mrs Kettle apparently sold up and moved away. That was 25 years ago.

They've had nothing from her since.

Hmm. Well, thanks, Matt. It was probably a false alarm, anyway. Alicia skipped

her probation, so if you do come across her... Yes, yeah, I'll turn her in.

What did you say? I said if you do come across them... What?

Alicia.

Alicia Kettle.

Mum?

Mum? Oh, my God.

Alicia is her daughter.

This is very disturbing, Rosemary.

I'll say it is.

I think we have to confront Mrs. Potts with what you've told me.

We?

Now?

Better to get it out in the open.

Don't you think?

Yes,

I suppose so.

They're at Winterbourne Manor.

Yes, you might be.

OK, thank you.

They're sending a patrol car as soon as they can.

You know, this is probably exactly what Alicia and her mother wanted. They

weren't going to kill Daniel. Oh, no, that's too risky.

With Mum with two dodgy widowhoods behind her, they were going to drive him

into killing himself.

You know what? What?

That's probably the only reason she was sleeping with you.

Alicia is my patient, nothing more.

Come on. If she wasn't sleeping with you, then she was certainly leading you

on. I'm sorry, but that is... She wanted to make sure that the main medical

witness at the inquest was in no position to make waves.

I mean, it is incredible, isn't it?

Oh, it is brilliant.

Ah, here she comes.

What do you want?

This lady's been making all sorts of accusations, Mummy.

How does she know?

How does she know?

That's one bit you haven't worked out, isn't it, Rosemary?

I knew she'd be trouble.

Deal with her, Mummy.

There's nowhere you can go to, you know.

Go on!

Their problem was that Sam would have still been in charge of the business

even after they'd finished off Daniel.

So Mrs. Potts was dosing him up at every opportunity with herb tea made from

foxglove leaves.

Along with the digitalis-based drug that Dr. Whittaker was giving him, it

probably would have doubled the dose.

Gave him a heart attack while he was driving.

I'm not surprised no one could work it out.

I had to go all the way.

to the University of Kuala Lumpur's Department of Forestry.

Apparently, it's a fungus only found in the rainforest.

When did it get here?

Well, as you said, the garden was remodeled by Malaysian families, so they

must have imported a few exotics from their own country, and somehow the

fungus came with them.

So what's the verdict?

Well, you're going to lose three trees, and the rest, including the

laburnum, They'll have to be sprayed once a month for six months. It's a big

job because of their size, but it'll be worth it.

Oh, yes.

And I think I'll keep the hogweed.

Useful reminder.

Daniel, I'm so sorry.

How could I have been such a fool?

I'll never trust anyone again.

She was so affectionate.

So loving.

I know.

Thank God for trees, eh?

Yes, thank God for trees.

Well, we'll call by a couple of weeks, see how you're getting on.

I should be up and about by then.

Well, I suppose this is what they call freedom.

Me without a job and you without a husband.

You know, when Daniel said, thank God for trees, I...

I really felt something.

I mean, trees are not like human beings, are they?

I'm really pissed off with human beings.

You're just pissed off with Nick.

You know something?

You haven't mentioned him for at least half an hour.

That's good, isn't it?