Original subtitles

It all begins with a curse.

Milk sours.

Vermin enters your house.

Your crops are blighted, then your cattle die,

but there are no signs of disease.

Family members are stricken with seizures.

(CLICKS TONGUE)

Children cough themselves to death.

The only explanation is...

Witchcraft.

1645...

One man set out to rid England of its witches.

That man was Matthew Hopkins,

the Witchfinder General.

We're looking for a modern-day Matthew Hopkins

and he killed hundreds before he was stopped.

Better start looking for gingerbread houses then.

(LAUGHING) You're an idiot!

I don't believe in witchcraft either, but that doesn't matter.

Witches exist.

They are people who think that their rituals and superstitions

have real power.

They believe, and so does the killer.

You all have your tasks. Go.

RAY: Did I tell you the locals call this the witchy house?

They're all spooked by Dorothy's burning.

Have you seen these?

They're similar to ones from the first crime scene.

Do you think the killer did them?

Well, if he did, who are they for?

Who can read these?

Come on.

JOSEPH: Is this Dorothy's sister Cecilia Cade?

WOMAN: Yes, DI Chandler.

-Is she okay? Can she talk? -Yes, she seems calm at the moment.

(CONVERSATION CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY)

(CONVERSATION CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY)

-Okay, we'll take it from here. -Okay, sir.

Miss Cade, my name's DI Chandler.

What is your name?

-It's DS Miles. -Please take a seat.

Thank you.

To think of some poor soul burnt alive at the bottom of the garden.

Dorothy agrees with me, a most ghastly thing.

Dorothy? You've spoken to Dorothy?

Of course. She wanted to speak about nothing else ever since it happened.

She's there. Dorothy's sitting beside you!

(EXCLAIMING IN SHOCK)

I'm really sorry, sorry.

I beg your pardon.

-All right, steady, relax! -Just calm down. All right?

Okay, right, call for paramedics!

-All right. -Go!

(ALARM RINGING)

The quilt's a record of their history in the craft.

CADE: Dorothy's not happy with you seeing things

that gentlemen shouldn't see!

I've had enough of this.

Sorry, Dorothy. No offence.

-I've gotta get out. -Miles?

He came to see Dorothy.

Can you tell me anything about him?

Well, he was heavy, he made the floorboards creak,

but he was light on his feet,

so I should think he was tall,

well-built.

About the... About the same age as yourself.

And did you hear him speak?

He never said a word.

I know, I shouldn't have walked out like that. I'm sorry.

What happened in there?

It was Cecilia. She gave me the creeps.

You? Afraid of a spinster?

Well, don't you ever get spooked? Ever?

Don't you believe in any kind of supernatural phenomenon?

She needed answers, I suppose.

She did everything she could to try to talk to him.

Mediums. Empaths. Psychics.

They all came to the house and they all took her money.

It went on for years.

She drove herself insane trying to find him.

I'm sorry. I didn't know that.

But my father was not a cruel man.

If he could have given her a sign, he would have.

So, no, I don't believe. It's false hope.

Bysack's being seen by the doctor.

He thinks it's acute alcohol withdrawal.

It's the same marks again.

-Bysack must be connected. -That's what I was thinking.

You find them carved into doorways

and around windows and fireplaces in 16th century houses.

They were used to ward off evil along with witch bottles

and the practice of putting a dead cat in the walls.

It's a ritual. Bysack makes the marks to protect the killer.

So, if we can find more of these marks,

it might lead us to the next victim.

-KENT: Mansell! -What?

Found it.

Yeah, they're here too, which makes sense,

since Whitechapel is the gates of hell,

according to Buchan.

There's more here as well.

Well, how are we gonna tell what each one means?

We can't stake them all out.

(SIGHS)

This isn't a good murder site. There's too many people, CCTV.

I think we're wrong about what the marks mean.

Excuse me. Do you know anything about these marks?

-Who told you? -Does it matter?

(EXHALING)

Right, if someone finds a kind house,

where they'll give you a bit of work in the garden, they leave a mark.

If it's a house where they'll like...

Get angry and chase you off, they leave a mark.

This is our private language.

It's what keeps us alive.

Look at this.

That's a bit unexpected.

JOSEPH: You made these marks in your cell.

Warm bed. Good food.

Tell them what they want to hear.

Sorry.

You didn't kill Alex Zukanov, did you?

I tried to, but he got away,

and then I got arrested.

But why confess to a murder you didn't commit?

'Cause it's scary living on the streets.

You see things, you...

You hear things that you people wouldn't believe.

I was tired, all right?

I...

I wanted somewhere safe to sleep, somewhere warm.

I found that here.

I'm afraid you'll have to remain in custody for a couple of days.

Thank you.

It's funny that old lady's dead, too.

Alex went to her house all the time.

RAY: No suspects, two dead and probably more to come,

and you reward him for wasting police time?

He's given us a link between Alex Zukanov and Dorothy Cade.

We have two dead witches who knew each other.

Perhaps they were part of a group?

A coven. It's possible.

How many's a coven? A baker's dozen?

Got to be 13, innit? A coven. Unlucky for some.

You know, crooked nose or a third nipple.

RAY: Bet she had one of those, too.

No. She had ten fingers, like us.

Then, what's the...

The challenge is to find the odd one out.

They all look the same.

Then don't look at them.

but it's not... It's necrotic.

RAY: Who does that one belong to, then?

There were only two people at the bottom of the garden

so I would say, the killer.

So, he tied Dorothy Cade to a stake, and his finger fell off?

Yeah.

Cecilia said she could smell something sweet and sickly in the house.

Rotting flesh. That's your man.

This piece of gauze was found at the scene.

It's from a bandage.

My guess is the killer is wrapping himself up.

It suggests he has a long-term, chronic health condition,

something like diabetes, or issues with his circulation.

It mainly affects the extremities, so fingers, toes, the nose.

How long before he dies?

EDWARD: The accused is placed on trial.

Evidence is heard of enchantments,

and curses and possessions.

Once they admit to being consorts of the devil,

they're forced to denounce other witches until the whole coven is exposed.

Alex denounced Dorothy.

Who did Dorothy denounce while she was being burned?

Whose name did she give in order to extinguish the flames?

Dorothy belonged to a lot of groups and had a lot of friends.

The WI. She volunteered at animal shelters, quilting circle.

Any one of these people could be next.

Oh, Ed, will you come and have a look at something for me, please?

(PHONE RINGING)

DC Mansell.

WOMAN ON PHONE: Liar. Cheat. Bastard. Liar.

-JOSEPH: Mansell? -Sir?

The killer is suffering from gangrene. Check with GPs and hospitals.

-See if anyone's asked for treatment recently. -Yes, sir.

Would you like a lolly?

That's it.

Come closer.

(CLICKS TONGUE)

Time for milk, Morgana?

(CAT MEWING)

Yes, here you go, my babies.

Here we are.

That's a good girl.

Yes.

Yes, lovely.

(CAT YOWLING)

What is it, Lilith?

(HISSING)

DI Chandler.

WINGFIELD ON PHONE: Joe, I'm sending you my files.

-Wingfield, is that you? -She's onto me.

I don't have much time.

Someone has to carry on the work.

-Have you been threatened? -It's up to you to find

the agent provocateur before she destroys you.

-Wingfield... -I wish you the best.

Riley, would you mind checking on Wingfield for me?

-The MI6 man? -Yes. Very paranoid.

-Thinks he's being hunted down. -Well, is he?

I don't know. It could be all in his head.

-Take a uniform with you. -Okay, sir.

(SHUDDERING)

(GASPS) I'll tell you! I'll tell you!

(WHIMPERING)

-Night. -No chance of that.

There's been another one.

Another possible dead witch.

What happened?

She drowned.

That's what they did, isn't it?

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(GASPING)

(EXHALES)

(DRIPPING)

(DRIPPING CONTINUES)

I'll be home soon, okay?

Just a little bit later than I thought.

Don't cry, sweetheart.

I know. I love you, too.

Was Cherry Thrapston part of Dorothy Cade's quilting circle?

We're through here.

Spinster, bald, three black cats.

We only need a cauldron and we've got a witch's full house.

The bathroom?

Well, he didn't drown her in the kitchen sink.

You'll have to go in without me.

What, you can't walk 10 feet?

I thought I could do it, but I...

I can't.

This isn't a crack house with corpses torn up and blood everywhere.

-You've seen worse. -Yeah, I'm sorry.

Drownings bother me. I can't.

-Snap your rubber band. -I can't. It broke.

-I'll get you another one. -No! It was from Morgan so...

There was only one.

Well, that bathroom's too small for us all anyway.

Thanks.

Hello. You're just in time. We're pulling her out.

Right, it's a quick check on him,

make sure he's all right, then we're off.

(CRASHING)

(CAR ALARM BLARING)

(WOMAN SCREAMING)

(MOBILE RINGING)

(SIRENS WAILING)

Riley...

-Are you all right? -Wingfield fell out of the sky.

I didn't see anybody.

I'm sure there's nothing you could do.

Well, if I'd have stayed in the car

for ten more seconds, I'd be dead.

Come on, love, we'll get you home.

I'm glad you didn't try and catch him.

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)

What are the chances of Wingfield falling out of a window?

-He was suicidal. -No.

-The last time I spoke to him, he was scared. -When was that?

No doubt you have a transcript of the conversation.

-Why don't you read it? -I can assure you nothing sinister is going on.

Why are you so paranoid, DI Chandler?

Don't play mind games with me.

Hysteria is contagious. You know, you should be careful.

You're starting to sound like Wingfield.

Tell me that was a Tango.

I had to blur the edges, Skip.

-I hate autopsies. -You can't drink in here. Are you an idiot?

It's just between me and you, Pops.

There's no harm done. Just don't tell Mum.

-You don't fear me any more, do you? -Fear you?

-No, Skip. You're a pussy cat. -I'm a pit bull!

-Where's Joe? -He sends his love.

Didn't you faint the last time you were here?

Me? No.

You must have got me mixed up with someone pathetic.

I love a bit of guts.

This was a wet drowning.

-Any other type? -Well, yeah, there is actually.

Dry drowning is when the cold water causes a laryngeal spasm.

Wet drowning is caused by water entering the lungs.

RAY: How long did it take?

Well, you drown more quickly in fresh water.

So it was quick?

No. The killer put salt into the bath water

to make it last as long as possible.

-Thank you. -Thank you.

-What's this? -They're from Wingfield.

You can't read these, you'll go blind.

He really wanted me to have these to continue his work.

Well, you could, if you were barking mad and had nothing better to do.

Wingfield thought the information in these files were to blame for his death.

Someone's gonna have to read them.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

RILEY: Knock, knock!

Ah, I like presents.

Well, this is a gift horse, Ed.

Oh...

Crispin Wingfield, MI6.

There could be great secrets here.

Yeah, well, you've got to find them.

Um...

Do you want some help? Got a lot of boxes here.

Um, yes, be my guest.

Right, now we will have a look at the contents of the stomach.

I... I hear you had a bit of a close call.

You know, at your book launch...

The little old lady that wasn't your mum?

Yes.

She spoke to me,

and she wondered how I did the job,

never knowing if I'd make it home to see my kids.

Ah.

And now you're thinking she may have had a point?

The only hazards I face are eye strain and paper-cuts.

-And mould. -Yes!

Yes, my biggest enemy is fungus. (LAUGHS)

Well, not to worry, you'll be safe down here with us.

I've got my eye on you.

(BOTH LAUGH)

-Tea? -Please.

Yeah.

There is undigested food here,

so I would say death occurred less than two hours after this meal.

I spent the first three months of this pregnancy

with my head in a bowl.

Not a good look for a pathologist.

What's this?

There's writing on it.

What kind of writing? Like symbols?

No.

It's an apology.

"I'm sorry I..."

What's that say?

"Named." I think it says "named".

"Nick"? Is that a Nick?

That's all there is.

RAY: "I'm sorry I named Nick."

I think Cherry's given us the name of the next victim.

(DOG BARKS)

Here, Charlie. Here, here.

Here, here. Wait.

Good.

(DOG YELPING)

Charlie?

"Nicola Green. Wig maker."

The diminutive of Nicola is Nicky, isn't it? Rather than Nick.

It's like the diminutive of Emerson is Emma.

(CHUCKLES) It's very original. Haven't heard that since school.

Doesn't look like she had many friends,

just work colleagues.

It's quite sad, really.

(DOG WHIMPERING)

Charlie?

Charlie?

It's all right, Charlie. It's all right.

(DOG WHIMPERING)

(GRUNTING)

JOSEPH: Okay, so we know Nick Hempstead is missing,

and we also know he has no interest in the occult.

If Nick was not a witch, not into any of that stuff,

then why did Cherry name him?

Maybe she picked the only person she knew

who had a chance of fighting off the killer.

Maybe she thought the killer would spare him

'cause he clearly isn't a witch?

Well, didn't make any difference, did it? He's still missing.

-What do you see? -Victims.

-A coven of witches. -Yeah, that's what the killer sees.

We need to challenge our assumptions.

-What if Cherry wasn't a witch either? -She looks the part.

Three black cats, sensible shoes and a wig make you a witch?

-It helps. -(ALL LAUGHING)

What about the Cades? Why do we think they were witches?

RAY: Well, they lived in the witchy house

and the blind lady scared the hell out of me.

There was no cauldron, spell books, or crystal ball. No evidence.

Alex Zukanov did talk to a rat.

It's his pet. Everyone talks to their pets.

I see four ordinary people.

We were wrong.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(PANTING)

Ed, I need to know more about these witch hunts.

Oh, uh, any specifics?

I want to know why innocent people were persecuted.

Right, well, just give me a second.

(DRIPPING)

Misogyny, with persecution being a way to punish uppity women.

No, we have as many male victims as we do female.

Well, 17th century Europe suffered from a culture of persecution,

targeting the Jews, the lepers and homosexuals.

Politics? The McCarthy witch hunts were all about rooting out communists.

No, we...

We need a reason why our killer would think

that perfectly ordinary people might be witches.

Fungus!

-What? -There is another idea.

In 1646, the Thames froze and the roads were snow-bound

and so food couldn't be transported.

People were forced to rely on stores of rye,

but the rye was contaminated with fungus.

What does this fungus do?

It causes ergot poisoning.

You are not seeing my sister!

It's a bit late for that, mate!

(INDISTINCT YELLING)

Pack it in! Stop it, that is an order!

(GROANING)

I was just about to do that.

I will not have this kind of behaviour in my incident room.

-Are we clear? -Yes, sir.

-Sir. -Tidy up.

No imps.

There's no imps.

-Maybe you aren't a witch. -No, I'm not.

I told you I'm not, and I don't know anyone who is.

I don't know any witches.

Hmm.

(SCREAMING)

Okay, uh...

So, ergot poisoning causes convulsive seizures and mania.

It has also been said to be the cause of accusations of bewitchment

and there are examples of whole communities

-believing that they were cursed. -Mmm.

Or a finger?

If the killer has ergot poisoning?

He'd be suffering from psychosis with delusions.

-Happens often, does it? -(SCOFFS)

Not since the 19th century.

But he thinks it's happened here?

It fits.

Where would someone get ergot poisoning?

Badly stored cereals, somewhere damp and cool.

Well, there's lots of dodgy windmills all over Whitechapel.

I was thinking of bakeries.

There was an artisan bakery off Brick Lane

specialising in sour doughs, rye breads, that kind of thing.

It was flooded last year and had to close.

That's a lot of bad luck for one man.

RAY: We've met him before.

The homeless bloke, where Zukanov lived.

If Washington has ergot poisoning, he's gonna die, isn't he?

No! He just needs medical attention.

He can survive this. He can be saved.

Bysack! Bysack!

Where's Washington?

He has a plague.

We... We didn't want him here.

Where's he gone?

Crawled off somewhere to die, I guess,

somewhere quiet.

Like a rat.

He's not to die under any circumstances.

No suicides or death leaps or anything like that.

Mansell, you go around the back.

Rye.

(SNIFFING) It stinks.

(DRIPPING)

(GASPS)

Boss.

(DOG WHIMPERING)

-(SHUSHING) -(WHIMPERING)

JOHN: I know there's more of you.

Give me a name and I'll spare your eyes!

No!

No! No!

No, there's more of them!

They have to be sent back to hell!

-JOSEPH: John Washington, I'm arresting you... -Nick?

Can you hear me?

You're going to be okay. You're safe now.

and will make a full recovery.

And Washington?

The necrosis is so advanced,

I would measure his time in hours rather than days.

Thanks.

Look, this is just a coincidence. It's bad luck.

No. I failed again.

(GASPS)

I need to find the one that cursed me.

You weren't cursed.

You ate mouldy rye in your bakery

and gave yourself ergot poisoning.

(WHIMPERING)

No, I didn't flood my shop...

Or make my child cough to death...

Or make my wife leave.

I can't be cured,

because medicine can't cure evil.

I need to find who did this, or I can't get better.

The people you killed weren't witches.

No, I just didn't find the right ones.

It's still out there.

I was so close.

So close...

So close.

So close. So close.

So close...

(EXHALES)

(SIGHS)

(DRIPPING)

(SIGHS)

Here.

If you say or do anything to put Erica off of me,

you're dead.

And if you go near her again, you're dead.

(CHUCKLES)

You two getting along now?

Yeah. All sorted.

Because I'm watching you.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

Who's there?

(FOOTSTEPS STOP)

(FOOTSTEPS RESUME)

Come here!

(LIGHTS CRACKLING)

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

(SIGHS)

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

Go on, then! Show yourself!

I ain't scared of you!

I'm not scared of you, either.

Sorry, I...

Thought you were someone else.

Septicaemia.

Once the infection took hold,

there was nothing the doctors could do.

I'm sorry.

Another killer escapes justice.

I think you're being too hard on yourself. You saved Nick's life.

If you told me 500 years ago I was cursed, I'd have believed you.

Here.

Here's to bringing one in alive.

Why Whitechapel?

How can so much horror be visited on such a small area?

How can you hear a bottle open all the way down in the archive?

-Come in. -I'm so sorry to intrude,

but I have a matter of some urgency to share with you.

-Have a drink. -Oh... Yes.

After you hear this, we'll all need one.

Um...

As you know, Wingfield was trying to catch a provocateur.

-It's a madman's map. -Yes, so it would seem.

This is us. Here.

Well, we know he was watching us from the hotel across the road.

Did you know he was also watching John Washington's bakery?

Fascinating, isn't it?

Washington thought his life had been blighted by a witch.

Wingfield was following an ancient evil

that visited the bakery.

They were after the same person?

EDWARD: Wingfield seemed to think so.

And he followed them to this building.

Are you saying there's a demon in this station?

Right. That's enough for one night.

Well, you criticise me for not being open-minded.

I'm sure there's a rational explanation for all the connections,

we just need to find it.

I hope we do.