Original subtitles

(ominous music) (birds cawing)

- The children walked through the woods

for hours and hours.

The trees got bigger and bigger and it was getting dark.

There was lots of thunder

and animals made horrid rustling noises in the night,

foxes and wolves.

And a huge big bear!

- There's no bears!

- There was then, with fangs to eat you!

- Can we go back, Julie?

- Bear's coming!

Run, Sean!

- Julie!

Julie, come back.

- [Julie] Bear's got me.

(suspenseful music)

- Julie, where are you?

I'll tell!

(Julie roars)

- Stay there.

(dog barks)

- I understand the feelings

of the Midsomer Worthy community.

Setwale Wood has been a place of recreation for generations.

Children play there, people walk their dogs, picnic,

and I'm sure all sorts of things.

But none of that alters the fact

that the land belongs to Mr. Harrington.

As for this long list of objections.

Nothing warrants an injunction

to prevent Mr. Harrington selling his wood,

or Whitley Estates felling it.

(people groaning)

- With all due respect, your honour.

- Ms. Sullivan, when a barrister addresses the bench

with those words it is because he, or she,

is about to show no respect at all.

Please don't.

- [Clerk] All rise.

- [Troy] Where do they get these judges from?

The man burgled his way through every village in the county.

- Look, we catch criminals, we offer up the evidence.

Not everyone likes what happens in court.

Maybe the judge is right, give the boy one more chance.

Oh look, a squadron of pigs over Causton?

- It's not finished.

- They move in next week.

Setwale Wood will be flattened in a fortnight.

- Over my dead body.

- Suits me.

- Not the way, Simon.

- There are those who prefer your body alive and kicking.

Right, Ms. Sullivan.

(people gasping)

(men grunting)

- I'm a police officer and I want,

I want you two to walk away from each other

in opposite directions, now!

Or I'll arrest you both.

- Nice day for it, Rector!

(suspenseful music)

(kids chattering)

- Hi, hey.

Okay, off you go, I've gotta talk to mummy.

- I've already heard.

- You should have seen the look on Simon's face.

He really thought that bitch of a barrister would beat me.

Anyway the whole thing'll be done in a couple of weeks.

And the money in the bank.

- You'll be relieved.

- Come on, Caroline.

We can put the separation behind us.

The boys'll have a proper home again.

The way it was.

- The way it was is what worries me.

- What do you mean?

- Susan Bartlett.

How do I trust you again if you're screwing her?

- I'm not.

I'm not, Caroline.

- Susan Bartlett stood between us

through six years of marriage.

If she's still there, forget it all.

You can sell your precious farm and pay me what you owe.

(children chattering)

(glass thunks)

(papers rustling)

- No point going through it all again.

- I'm not losing because some old fool

of a judge can't see past the end of his nose.

- Setwale Wood belongs to James.

Whatever we say about the environment

or the local community, it means sod all.

- One of the intriguing things about English Common Law

is it's a mess.

The further back you go, the bigger the mess.

- Don't think a history lesson's gonna solve anything.

- We don't need a solution.

Just the mess.

500 years ago Abbey Farm was part of Midsomer Abbey.

It was sold off after the dissolution.

According to these half of any profit made

from Setwale Wood, cash or kind, can be claimed

by the abbot's successor.

That's the rector.

- This wouldn't stand up for five minutes.

- This is ammunition for months of legal wrangling.

Harrington will be bankrupt

before a chainsaw starts buzzing.

- Why keep it back till now?

- Pointless telling the rector

he might have a financial interest in the wood,

if you were getting Abbey Farm anyway.

- This is about saving Setwale Wood, Bernadette,

not forcing James out!

- So you buy Abbey Farm and save the environment.

A perfect end!

- I've gotta go.

- Cows don't care what time you get home Simon,

either the ones in the milking parlour

or the one in the house.

(suspenseful music)

(rain pattering) (people laughing)

(water whooshing)

- Sorry, Victoria!

Didn't see you.

My fault.

Not nice when neighbours drag you into a courtroom.

So you'll understand I'm a bit preoccupied.

- I do, James, perfectly.

As your mother might put it, preoccupied as a newt.

(horn beeps)

- We ran all the way to the road, all the way home.

They'd never have caught us.

- Hi!

- [Denise] Hi.

- It's filthy out there!

- [Children] Hello, Dad!

- Hello.

James Harrington has just missed me.

He was on the wrong side of the road.

I don't think he was even looking.

- What happened in court?

- He can cut the wood.

I wish he'd lost, but at least it might put a stop

to it all.

- We nearly found the robbers' hideout in the wood, Dad.

There was a lady they knocked out.

Their dog came after us.

- Julie, there's no gang of robbers in Setwale Wood.

Don't keep going on about it.

- She must have seen them hiding

and they hit her so they could escape.

- That's enough!

You'll frighten the life out of your brother.

I don't want to hear any more of your stories!

- Come on, both of you upstairs.

- It's not my bedtime!

- It is tonight.

Go on, off you go.

(suspenseful music) (rain pattering)

(kids laughing)

(thunder rumbles)

(birds twittering)

(cows mooing)

(engine rumbling)

(gun roaring)

(dog barking)

(chainsaw rumbling)

(horn beeping)

- What the hell are you doing?

- There's a footpath here, not a car park.

You'll know what trespass is.

- Mr. Harrington, you'd be very unwise to allow them

to start felling trees.

- Just a bit of preliminary work.

They move in next week.

But that hasn't got anything to do with you or anybody.

- We will be going back to court.

- You've fired all your guns

- Oh no!

And you don't know how much

the next salvo's going to cost you.

(tree cracking)

(ominous music)

- She's doing it again!

- [Sam] Hmm?

- Victoria Bartlett, garden inspection.

Every time she tells me how well it's doing.

she means must try harder!

- She does it to everybody.

- Not everyone lives opposite her.

Julie's still sulking.

She normally forgets these stories after five minutes.

- Well, I've got to exercise the hounds

so she can come with me.

I'll go up where they were playing, have a look.

- It's only encouraging her, Sam.

- No, cold light of day.

That'll put an end to it all.

(suspenseful music)

(stately music) (crows cawing)

- We done?

I could do with a drink.

- Ah marvellous ladies, delightful!

Hannah, I do think a gun, in church.

- Oh well, I could hardly leave it outside.

That would be terribly irresponsible of me.

I must go.

- I think we can expect news on Setwale Wood.

Bernadette, Ms. Sullivan, feels

there are legal avenues still to explore.

- Ms. Sullivan only bought a house here a year ago.

Mostly she's in London.

- She means to help.

- Hannah's family has been here

for hundreds of years, like mine.

I love the wood as much as anyone,

but I don't see things the way my son does.

And if there's no other way for James to save his farm.

I can't blame him.

- He's got forestry people up there already.

We'll have to move quickly.

- Oh, dear.

- Hello, Victoria.

- Bernadette.

- I didn't mean to interrupt.

- Oh, it's alright, I'm just clearing up.

I'll leave you two to conspire alone.

- Yes, the documents are in the vestry.

(footsteps tapping)

(suspenseful music)

- [Julie] I did see the lady.

- Julie, stories aren't lies,

but they're not the truth either

- It's not a story!

- Come back!

Chaser, Pharaoh, come here.

Oi, oi!

Rufus, come here, come here boy!

(dramatic music)

I want you to go straight home

and tell your mother to phone for the police

and an ambulance to come here.

- What's wrong?

- Tell her to phone the kennels too.

We're gonna need the lorry to take the hounds back.

- But we were going to walk.

- Just go and do it, Julie!

(dogs barking) (melancholy music)

(car rumbling) (suspenseful music)

- [Barnaby] Troy.

- Sir, over here.

- Do we know who she is?

- Susan Bartlett, local farmer's wife.

Same one.

We met him yesterday, throwing a punch outside court.

(birds chirping)

- It's a positive ID is it?

- Yes, Mr. Fielding knows her.

- [Barnaby] He found the body?

- Well, his dogs did.

He was exercising the Midsomer Hunt pack.

He's the kennel master.

- Mr. Fielding.

I'm Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby.

- I pulled her out.

Yeah, I couldn't leave her in there

and I knew there was nothing I could do for her.

She must have been dead since yesterday afternoon.

- How do you mean since yesterday afternoon?

- Well, my daughter saw the body.

We didn't believe her.

- Your daughter saw the body dead?

- But not in the pond.

Somewhere in the bushes.

I just thought it was one of her stories.

Sorry, I'm really sorry.

(tarp crinkles)

(gate creaks)

(engine rumbling)

- Just tell me where the bitch is?

- Really, Mr. Harrington, I won't have that kind.

- Leave the sanctimonious clap trap.

The police have cordoned off the wood.

They won't let me on my own land, they won't say why!

Where's the Sullivan woman?

- I think she's gone.

Gone to London.

- I'll have her!

Simon, all of you!

(dramatic music)

(ATV rumbling)

(cows mooing)

- We're a heifer short in the top field.

- It's in the barn.

Looked a bit lame.

- You couldn't tell me that, Jonah?

- Weren't here for me to tell

- I'll print out the list of cows ready for A.I.

Can you check it before they all go out?

Now, Jonah!

(machines clacking) (cows mooing)

Should be an email to confirm the bulls.

- I don't need guff to tell me a cow's bulling.

It's never right that thing.

Cows know when they're for serving.

That's the Lord's work that is.

"There shall not be male or female barren among you,

"or any of your cattle."

- Have you seen Susan this morning?

(suspenseful music)

Is she still in bed?

- Well, I just came to leave her eggs.

She comes and goes when she comes and goes.

About as predictable as you in that department.

- Susan?

Where are you?

(dramatic music)

(tyres screeching)

(horn beeping)

- Move it, move it now you idiots!

Get out of my way!

- Mr. Bartlett?

- Move it now or I do it myself!

- Mr. Bartlett, you may remember me.

We met yesterday.

I'm Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby.

This is Detective Sergeant Troy.

And I need to talk to you.

Where would your wife have sent this from, Mr. Bartlett?

- She had a laptop, in the house.

- She had her own email address does she?

- Where was she?

I mean what.

- The body was found in Setwale Wood this morning.

It appears she drowned.

But we'll know more after the post-mortem.

I will have to ask you to confirm her identity, sir.

- Poor Susan. I just never thought.

- Shall we, shall we go up to the house, sir?

Obviously there are questions I need to ask you.

- Yeah.

- See what else you can get here.

(water whooshing)

- Mr. Bloxham?

You don't live on the farm?

When was the last time you saw Mrs. Bartlett?

- Yesterday.

- What time was that?

- After morning milking, 10 maybe.

- You didn't see her after that?

- Not here I didn't.

- I saw her yesterday, early.

That was the last time.

I was going out, she was coming downstairs.

- And she wasn't in when you got back from the court?

- I don't know.

I assumed she was.

I went straight to bed myself.

The court case had been a bit of a shock.

We needed to take stock so we'd been talking 'til late.

- And you were where?

- At Bernadette Sullivan's.

She's the barrister for the campaign.

- What time did you get home?

- 10:30, a little later.

- You had separate bedrooms?

- Dairy farmers work unsociable hours,

it was better for Susan.

- Who else was at this meeting?

- It wasn't a meeting exactly.

It was more of a debriefing.

Bernadette and me.

- What was this truth

that's being referred to in the email?

"I must face up to the truth now.

"No more pretending."

What was that?

- Susan and I have been trying to start a family

for the last eight years, ever since we were married.

It didn't happen.

- And you think that's what she means?

- Well, I knew the truth a long time ago

but for Susan there was always another consultant,

another drug or some high-tech science mumbo jumbo.

There was never going to be a baby.

She wouldn't accept it.

I didn't know how bad her depression had got.

(suspenseful music)

(cow moos)

- He last saw his wife was eight o'clock yesterday morning.

What about Bloxham, was he here all day?

- On and off.

Last saw Mrs. Bartlett at 12, on his way to the village.

She was leaving the Harrington Farm.

- And Bartlett was just about to go into court

with this man Harrington.

Not the best time to drop in for a cup of coffee was it?

- Susan Bartlett only ever went to Abbey Farm

when her husband wasn't around.

(engine sputters)

- Do I detect a euphemism?

- Bloxham reckons they were at it.

- That's better, Troy.

Don't start discussing matters of the flesh

with delicacy and discretion.

I'll never know what you're talking about.

(car whooshing)

(phone trills)

- Oh, hello Simon.

What is?

All right, what's happened just tell me.

- You're sure about all this?

- Oh, yes, I saw her in the bushes.

- What were her clothes like?

- I couldn't see exactly

and then we were frightened and we ran.

- I saw a shoe.

- Thank you, Sean.

And you couldn't see who this person was?

- A lady.

- Do you think she'd been hurt?

- She could have been knocked out like by a robber.

But later I thought it was like she was asleep, you know?

The dog was a Jack Russell.

I didn't know him but I would remember.

If you got all the Jack Russells together,

I could pick him out.

- We'll think about the dog later.

Now, for the moment I don't want you

to say anything to anyone.

No one at all.

It has to be a secret.

Can you do that for me?

- We could help.

We could find things.

- You've been a great help already, thank you, Julie.

- You two go upstairs and play.

Inspector Barnaby's got a lot to do.

- Come on, Sean, goodbye.

- Bye, Julie, bye Sean.

(Denise sighs)

- I don't know what to say.

She's been telling so many tales lately

and making things up all about the woods.

If only we'd listened.

If we'd just. (phone trills)

(answering machine beeps)

- [Answering Machine] Hi there, I can't get to the phone

just now, please leave a message.

- Bernadette, I need to talk to you,

something terrible, Susan.

I was trying to get hold of Bernadette, to tell her that.

- Don't you have more important things to see to?

- I don't know.

- Susan's dead.

If there's anything you can do

to stop people believing her suicide was your fault,

you should do it.

I know you didn't have much time for her in life lately,

but I'd like to think that in death you can do

something more decent than rush off

into the arms of your mistress.

(birds cawing)

(knocker tapping)

(dogs barking)

- Oh, it's you.

Chief Inspector Barnaby, right?

You've got a bloody cheek.

Well, don't think you're gonna get away with it.

My woods, my timber, that's what the judge said.

- Shall we start again Mr. Harrington?

We don't seem to be on the same track.

I need to ask you some questions.

- You won't let me into Setwale Wood.

I'm the one with the questions!

- There is a police investigation going on in Setwale Wood.

Nobody is allowed in until I'm satisfied that the scene

has been preserved and the evidence, safe.

- The evidence of what?

- Do you know Mrs. Susan Bartlett?

- What kind of a question is that?

- I haven't got time to waste.

Can you say when you last saw Mrs. Susan Bartlett please?

- I wouldn't know.

I pass her in the street,

I don't talk to the woman.

- Mrs. Bartlett's body was found in a pond

in Setwale Wood this morning.

She was dead.

The wood belongs to you.

Shall we come inside?

Then you can tell me

what the Susan Bartlett you don't talk to

was doing here yesterday morning.

(suspenseful music)

(engine rumbles)

(dog barking)

(birds chirping)

She was here?

What time?

- 11-ish.

She didn't stay.

I had to be in court.

She popped in that's all.

- Did she make a habit of popping in?

- Of course she didn't!

- Then why yesterday?

- The row over Setwale Wood.

She thought there could be a last ditch compromise

between Simon and me.

A waste of time.

You saw that yourself.

- Let me make something clear to you.

I am investigating a suspicious death.

At the moment you're one of the last people

to have seen Susan Bartlett alive.

- You think somebody killed her?

- Anyone have a reason to?

- Oh for God's sake, I didn't.

- Then the truth shouldn't be a problem, should it?

- Simon and I grew up together.

We weren't always at each other's throats.

We were friends.

Susan and I were an item, in our teens.

Then I was away, agricultural college.

Next thing she's marrying Simon.

A whirlwind romance.

Like hell.

He was at her behind my back all the time.

- A long time ago.

- I was still in love with her.

My wife, Caroline, knew, eventually.

Didn't make for much of a marriage.

- Mrs. Bartlett.

Can we get up to date.

- Susan was.

- Yes?

- She made a play for me.

All these years later.

So, it happened.

I needed to find out how I felt.

And I did.

I realised I'd stopped loving her a long time ago.

I knew what was really important, Caroline, the boys.

So I ended it.

- Yet she was here on the day she died.

- I told her it was over.

She didn't get the message, I told her again.

- Where were you last night?

- I was in the pub, couple of pubs.

I came home, had another drink, went to bed.

- Anyone confirm that?

- Not once I left the last pub.

You're wasting your time here.

Don't husbands usually top the list of suspects.

- There's no one on the top

of any list as yet, Mr. Harrington.

Doesn't mean to say there won't be.

I may not know a lot about farming

but I'm very used to separating the sheep from the goats.

(chickens clucking)

(phone rings)

There's no doubt about the cause of death is there?

Or the time?

Right, I'll pick the report up tomorrow morning.

- Post mortem?

- Yes, Susan Bartlett definitely drowned.

And she drowned some time between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.

There was no sign of any kind of a struggle.

The suicide note was emailed at 9:48.

So the suicide theory fits perfectly.

Except for the fact that Julie Fielding

saw Susan Bartlett's body lying

in Setwale Wood earlier that afternoon.

- If Julie did see the body,

it was at least six hours before Mrs. Bartlett died.

- Well that gives us something to go on doesn't it?

- [Troy] What?

- It doesn't make any sense at all does it?

"As I was walking up the stair,

"I met a man who wasn't there.

"He wasn't there again today.

"I wish, I wish he'd stay away."

(dog barking)

(suspenseful music)

- I spent the night at my flat in London.

I've just walked in.

Was it an accident?

- Not an accident, no.

The general opinion in the village is suicide.

- But that's not your opinion?

- Other people's assumptions are interesting.

I've made none myself.

You're a barrister.

You understand about a suspicious death.

Mr. Bartlett says he spent the evening

of the Setwale Wood court case here.

Is that right?

- Yes.

- [Barnaby] When did he leave?

- I'm not sure exactly, 10, half-past.

- And you were with him all that day since?

- Since the night before.

There was a case to prepare, it was late,

he stayed the night.

Silence signifies you'd like to know the nature

of our relationship.

- Yeah, it would save time.

- I didn't make up a spare bed.

- Mr. Bartlett chose not to tell me

that he spent the previous night here with you.

- Discretion.

The Bartlett's have an image in the community.

- Did Mrs. Bartlett know about the relationship?

- Maybe.

I never got the impression she was very concerned

what Simon got up to.

She had other things on her mind.

But then you'll know about that.

- No, no, like what?

- Depression, it was hardly a secret.

Look, I'm sorry about Susan, of course.

But I barely knew the woman.

If she did commit suicide, I don't suppose it's much

of a surprise.

But the short version is Simon was with me from nine

in the morning 'til 10:30 the following night.

- He didn't go home at all?

- Briefly to talk to Bloxham.

There's more to say about cows than I've fathomed.

- How long was he there?

- An hour and a bit.

You're surely not suggesting Simon has something

to do with his wife's death, that's absurd.

- No, I'm sure you're right.

Well, thank you.

Thank you for your help, Ms. Sullivan.

(suspenseful music)

- Morning.

- What's happened?

(ominous music)

(phone trills)

- Bernadette, why the hell didn't you tell me

you were going away?

I was trying to get a hold.

What did he want?

- I'll need to take these back, Mr. Bartlett.

I'll give you a receipt.

- Well, who the hell did you think it was?

Yes?

I'll talk to you later.

- Ms. Sullivan?

- Any reason why not?

Look, am I gonna get an explanation for all this?

Why is my house being searched?

Why are Susan's things being taken?

- The laptop that Sergeant Troy has just removed.

Anyone apart from you and your wife have access to that?

- It was hers, I didn't use it.

- [Barnaby] Never?

- Never.

- The problem is the computer was used to send the email.

The suicide note.

It was sent when your wife's body had been lying

in Setwale Wood for at least six hours.

Probably longer.

So whoever emailed it to you, it wasn't her.

Your wife did drown, sir,

but I don't think she killed herself.

I think she was murdered.

(glass tapping)

- Morning Sergeant.

- I need to have a look around the farm, Mr. Harrington.

Haven't got a search warrant.

- Help yourself, old son.

Inside, outside.

There are no bodies that I can call to mind,

but you never know.

Oh, just one thing.

You won't leave a mess, will you?

- Mrs. Bartlett had a computer, laptop.

You weren't aware of it?

- Can't say as I was.

She did bang on about the web.

Gynaecological advice on the web, tarot card readings.

Not my sort of thing.

There's enough bullshit in Midsomer Worthy

without scouring the planet for this stuff.

- You didn't have access to this computer?

- Never even seen it.

I haven't been inside Grange Farm for 10 years.

Hello?

Oh, hello mother.

Well, yeah there is a policeman here as it happens.

Are they putting up a schedule in the post office?

By all means.

It's my mother.

She's in urgent need of a policeman for some reason.

I'm in need of a drink.

- Sergeant Troy?

(upbeat music)

- Don't pull those up, Sean.

- There's no flowers on them, mum.

- There would've been.

- Can we go for a walk?

- I'm weeding.

- No, no, no, not those.

- Can we?

- Well, just once around the village, all right?

- Good morning.

(ominous music)

- Did something happen the Mrs. Bartlett's garden, Julie?

- I didn't want to bother you but Hannah thought.

Well, I don't know what Hannah thought.

However horrid I can't see it has to do

with poor Susan.

Really all I want is to sweep the flowers away

and forget about it.

- Please, leave them for the moment Mrs. Bartlett.

My boss'll want to take a look.

- Oh, well, do what you must.

As far as I'm concerned, there's only one way

to deal with other people's unpleasantness,

plenty of hot tea.

- Oh, that'd be very welcome.

(birds chirping)

(suspenseful music)

- Why are you drawing Bosco?

- It's elimination.

You can take the sausages.

(bottle clinks)

(bell dinging)

- I'm sorry about Susan.

- Are you?

- Come on Simon, of course I am.

- She didn't care about you,

she didn't give a stuff but you never could take that.

- What are you talking about?

- You were trying to get her back

and she still wouldn't listen.

She still thought you were the same loser

that you always were.

- You're outta your mind.

- Is that why you killed her?

Because you begged her and she still wouldn't?

- You're a maniac, Bartlett. - You are an animal!

- Get lost! - I loved her!

Do you even know what that means?

You will get what's coming to you.

If the police don't get you, I will.

(suspenseful music)

- Come on.

- Hello Sean, hello Julie.

- Have you caught anyone?

- We have to find out what happened first, don't we?

- What about the dog?

- Sergeant Troy is hot on the trail

of every Jack Russell for miles.

- But he won't even know what it looks like.

- Yeah, well, he is a bit short of local knowledge.

- Come on.

(gravel crunching)

- Mrs. Bartlett, Mrs. Harrington.

- I'm sorry about this Mr. Barnaby.

Somebody's foul idea of a joke.

I know you've more important things

and the flowers will grow again.

- I'm not saying there is a link

with your daughter-in-law's death Mrs Bartlett,

but I'd like to know why anyone would think

of doing something so very odd.

Is there anyone you would regard as being your enemy

or someone your son would?

- People often fall out with each other.

- Your garden's never been vandalised before has it?

- No.

And I don't believe anyone we know

would respond to such a.

Susan's suicide by doing such a thing.

- Well, I wish it were as simple as it appeared

to be yesterday, Mrs. Bartlett.

But it isn't.

This is now a murder investigation.

- Everyone thinks Susan's death makes it bad manners

to stop him destroying the wood.

You know I've come up with something

that could bankrupt the man.

- Get on with it if that's what you want.

- What I want?

We've been fighting this for the last nine months, Simon.

- I don't give a damn about the dissolution

of the bloody monasteries.

- Well, you should.

It's you that gets Abbey Farm when this is all over!

Look, ever since we met you've banged on

about what you could do with more land.

I can make that happen.

I can make sure that when we do get together,

you'll have everything you've ever wanted.

(suspenseful music)

Come back with me.

You don't wanna be here, it's miserable,

I understand that.

- Can't you wait 'til she's buried (scoffs).

- What is the decent period

for abstaining from carnal knowledge

of your mistress when your wife dies?

If she'd walked out of here you'd have thrown a party.

It's the same woman.

- It's not that simple.

- Why not?

Unless you killed her.

- Of course I didn't kill her!

- Well, you're a bit weak in the alibi department, darling.

I only hope you can convince Barnaby.

- I don't want anything more to do with this, James

or Setwale Wood.

- Or me?

- I didn't say that.

(birds chirping)

- I could drop you off if you'd like, Mrs. Bartlett

- No, I'd rather walk.

I have to go to the rectory.

There's Susan's funeral.

Bye Mr. Barnaby.

(gravel crunching)

- [Barnaby] You've known Mrs. Bartlett a long time?

- Forever.

When we were kids there was hardly a day we didn't meet,

usually in the wood.

There's the ruin of a cottage there.

We didn't think anyone else knew it.

Of course everybody did (laughs).

It's even marked on the map!

- This thing with the flowers, Victoria Bartlett's garden,

you believe it was a lot more

than just a tasteless joke don't you?

- They were burning witches here up until the 17th century.

One of the things the witches were accused of

was putting the evil eye on people.

- It wasn't the evil eye which killed Susan.

- I only mean it makes a statement, a warning if you like.

Mr. Barnaby, I'm not easily frightened.

But when I saw those flowers laid out

in the shape of a dead body, another dead body.

It made my blood run cold.

(tractor rumbling)

- Can we go home?

- I don't expect Mr. Barnaby just goes home

before he's finished detecting.

- I bet he does.

He's a chief inspector.

There's another one.

(suspenseful music)

(dog barking)

- Sausages, Sean!

(dog barking)

This is the one from the wood.

It is.

I'm going to investigate.

- I don't like it here, Julie.

(dog barking)

He's eaten them all, Julie!

(birds chirping)

- No one comes here!

No one!

I know who you are.

You come again and I'll have you.

"You will know the winepress of the wrath of God!"

- We can establish that the email was sent using

the phone line in Grange Farm.

- Yeah, but that doesn't get us very far.

There was no password.

Anyone who knew how to operate a PC

even at a basic level could've got into it.

- Yeah, but you need to know it was there, wouldn't you.

And you'd need to get into the house

if you weren't there already.

- The house is empty.

- Yeah, if Simon Bartlett left Bernadette Sullivan's

when he said he did.

- Well, she's not likely to lie.

I mean, she's a barrister isn't she?

- I can see, Troy, that despite your experiences

at Causton Crown Court, you still have a touching faith

in the legal profession.

- You think she is lying?

- I think all sorts of people are lying, Troy.

Susan Bartlett's phone calls.

- Pretty well all to the gynaecologist

at St. Thomas' in London.

She tried to phone Harrington a lot.

The calls only last a few seconds.

There's one very odd call she received

the day before the murder.

The number's been traced

to Mrs. Caroline Harrington in Causton.

I wouldn't have thought they have much to chat about.

- You didn't take a pound of sausages this morning

did you Sam?

- Of course I did.

I always take a pound of raw sausage to work with me.

Everybody does.

Don't want to be the only one out do I?

- I must have used them.

Call the kids.

(dramatic music)

- Tea.

Come on.

Looks interesting.

- It's just dogs.

- It's all the Jack Russells we followed

to find where the lady was.

- When did you do this Julie?

- Today.

- You followed people.

- We did find the dog, I'm sure we did

in an old house that's falling down.

- That's it, I don't want any more of this.

From now on, you do not leave the house

or the garden on your own.

You go to school and then you come home.

- But Mr. Barnaby said.

- You don't understand these things, it's not a game.

Now go and sit up!

Playing detective has got to stop!

- Sam, we've got to find a better way of stopping it

than shouting at her.

- I don't want them out on their own.

- What's the matter?

- Susan Bartlett, she didn't kill herself.

Someone murdered her.

Julie and Sean are out there following.

(suspenseful music)

- Hi, how's it going?

Shut up.

I'll tell you when I see you.

Don't keep me waiting.

Any trouble, you know what's gonna happen.

- James!

James, if you're in there!

(horn beeps)

I want to talk to you!

James!

(suspenseful music)

- I've got the card.

Chief Inspector Barnaby lives in Causton.

We've got to tell him anybody Mr. Bloxham's Jack Russell.

- We're not allowed.

- It'll just have to be a secret like he said.

- There's things we need to talk about James.

- What?

- It's not a conversation to have here.

- Well, I don't care.

We're celebrating.

There's money in the bank from now on.

And every time I draw some,

it's gonna make me feel so very, very good.

- Shut up.

- Let's have another drink?

- No more, I'll take you home.

- We'll have one at the farm.

- You do what you like.

- Night mother.

Bad manners to leave a wake early, I know

but you can put a long face on with the best of 'em.

- Can't you keep him under control?

- No Hannah, that's why I left him.

(suspenseful music)

(tyres crunching)

- James.

- Hm?

- There's something I need to tell you.

- Well come in and have a drink then.

- I don't want one.

- I do.

- Well sod off then.

(engine rumbling)

(children laughing)

(dogs barking)

(suspenseful music)

(truck rumbling)

- Come on.

Two halves to Causton please.

- No school today?

- We're doing something important.

- Oh, we'll not hang about then, there you go.

(machine rumbling)

- Yes, that's James, my son.

You won't need a doctor to pronounce him dead.

- I will have to ask you more questions.

- I'll be in the yard.

George is still alive.

At least we might be able to save him.

- George?

- It's the dog.

- Number seven.

- I'm starving.

- Hello?

- Hello, I'm Julie Fielding and this is my brother Sean.

Is this where Chief Inspector Barnaby lives?

- Well yes it is, but I'm afraid he's at work

at the moment.

- We've come a long way on the bus.

About clues and everything.

- Well, you better come in.

I'm sure I can get hold of him for you.

- Are you Mrs. Inspector Barnaby?

- Yes, I suppose I am.

- I'm ever so hungry.

- He'll need to be kept warm.

Don't feed him today.

Something in the morning

and if he's sick again, we'll stop.

- I'll bring him through.

- Mr. Fielding.

- Oh I couldn't get hold of a damn vet.

Anyway, Sam's forgotten more about dogs

than they've ever known in that practise.

- What happened to the dog?

- Something knocked him out.

Whatever it was it was strong.

His sick took most of it, it's all around him.

- Poison is it?

- No symptoms that I recognise.

It's just knocked him out cold.

- Nothing to tell you what it was?

- An odd smell.

On his breath.

It reminded me of something but nah it's gone now.

- Sir.

Have you got a minute?

We found his car, still outside the pub.

His mother said he was in there with his wife,

well, ex-wife.

Not quite sure what we're supposed to call her.

- Well, whatever she was yesterday,

ex seems to cover it today.

So Caroline Harrington gave him a lift home, did she?

- Yeah, that means she was the last person

to see him alive.

So far anyway.

- Right, I'll talk to her in Causton.

In the meantime. - Yeah?

- There's a lot of dog vomit in there.

Mr. Fielding will show you where it is.

- Dog vomit?

- Yeah, could you collect it up?

Much as you can.

- His mobile's turned off but the stations say he's gone out

to Midsomer Worthy.

- I didn't want to tell him there.

It's all got to be a secret, you see.

- Can I have some more cake?

- I'm glad you like it.

- I could eat loads.

- Sean, it's rude to just ask for more.

- [Joyce] I'll take it as a compliment.

- Thank you.

- Your parents do know you're here?

- They found his body, like Susan, drowned.

Everyone knows.

- If you need a lawyer, I'm not cheap.

- Look, I am sorry about yesterday.

. You don't get told your wife's been murdered,

for God's sake, how am I supposed

to handle something like that?

The police are going to think it was me with everything.

- They can't prove anything.

What aren't you telling me?

- I went to Abbey Farm last night.

- That's clever.

- I didn't know someone was gonna kill James.

He wasn't even there.

I am frightened Bernadette.

I went to the farm, I went home, I was on my own.

He could've been there dead when I was.

- Did anyone see you at Abbey Farm?

- No.

- Then you weren't there.

And you weren't on your own, you spent the night with me.

An alibi from an eminent barrister

should even shut Barnaby up.

(suspenseful music)

Forget it all.

Problem solved.

- I called at the house and there was no one there.

- You just missed Mr. Fielding.

He was here.

Look, you go on home.

I'll take these two over to them at the kennels.

Harry!

- May we see some detecting please?

- Come on, in the car.

- [Sean] Can we put the siren on.

- No you may not.

See ya later, Joyce.

- It was Mr. Bloxham's Jack Russell, honestly.

- In.

(engine sputters)

(suspenseful music)

(phone trills)

- [Answering Machine] Hi, we can't come

to the phone right now.

Leave your message and we'll get back to you

as soon as we can.

- [Bernadette] Come and eat this evening.

You won't feel much like cooking, call me.

(machine beeps)

(lawnmower rumbling) (birds chirping)

- I panicked.

I thought the police would come to me,

they'd think I did it.

- Oh that's ridiculous, Simon.

- And I realise it was stupid.

Setting up a false alibi with Bernadette,

it was stupid.

I went home.

For the first time I saw things clearly.

- I do know, Simon.

It's no different for anyone.

When your father died.

- If we'd been happy.

If the last few years hadn't been such a.

It was me.

I shut her out.

- Maybe you should go away for a bit.

Jonah can run the farm.

If I cleared out her things.

- No, no, I don't want anyone else doing that.

- All right.

When someone dies, you don't want to let go.

But you will have to.

- I do have to let go.

I don't know why Susan died, why James did

but there is a poison that is gonna stay with me

for the rest of my life unless I do something about it.

- Is that what Bernadette wants?

- Bernadette?

- Can't say I like the woman

but clearly when this is over, you and she.

- No.

- I thought.

- I think I've just discovered

that I don't like her very much either.

In fact, there's something about her that.

I'm gonna sell the farm.

(suspenseful music)

- What?

- As soon as Susan's funeral's over,

Grange Farm goes on the market.

- Simon!

You can't throw away a lifetime's work.

And what about all the other lifetimes,

your fathers, your grandfathers down the generations?

We are a part of Midsomer Worthy.

We matter here.

It's madness.

No, the answer is no.

- We can buy another farm.

Can't buy my way out of what's going on in here.

(birds chirping)

- Denise will go ballistic.

Anything could have happened.

Why didn't the school?

- They're safe now.

- So there's somebody out there who's killed two people.

That's what you think?

- We don't know.

- Julie and Sean, I mean, they've seen things.

They are witnesses, aren't they?

- Nobody knows that.

Look, I'll make sure the house is patrolled okay?

- This dog business.

- I don't hold out much hope there.

- Julie's very sure though isn't she?

Julie, Julie!

Tell Mr. Barnaby all the names of the hounds that you know.

Go on.

- That's Barnard, that's Chaser, that's Sable,

he's got more black, there's Pharaoh, Tess, Floppy,

with the funny ears, Brandy,

she had pups at Christmas, that's Kestrel, and E.T.

- Okay.

(glass tapping)

- You want something?

- You've got a Jack Russell Terrier?

- What if I have?

- Can we go inside?

I still need to find anyone who was in Setwale Wood

on the day Susan Bartlett died.

People see things.

On their own they don't mean much

but the smallest thing can help.

Now there may have been another murder.

- I wasn't there.

- Your dog was seen in the wood in the afternoon

at a time when we know Mrs. Bartlett's body

was already there.

- Plenty of Jack Russells round here.

- There's a good chance this was yours.

- He goes where he wants.

Anywhere there's vermin.

Plenty in Setwale Wood.

- But you weren't with him?

- No.

- We haven't found anyone who saw Mrs. Bartlett

after you did, Mr. Bloxham,

when she drove out of Abbey Farm.

- Next one'd be him who killed her.

(dog barking)

- This your dog?

Here boy.

(dog barks) (Barnaby shrieks)

- Charlie don't like people very much.

Here, tablespoon, twice a day.

See off any infection that will.

- What is that?

- Herbs, nature's remedies.

- Thank you.

Well, if you do happen to remember anything Mr. Bloxham.

(suspenseful music)

- "O God, who knowest us to be in the midst

"of so many and great dangers,

"and by reason of the frailty of our natures,

"we are not always stand upright.

"Grant to us such strength

"as will support us in danger."

- The cause of death is clear.

Asphyxia as the direct result of liquid animal waste

entering the breathing passages.

He had consumed a great deal of alcohol.

And Valerian.

The root of Valeriana officinalis.

It's a sedative used for nervous conditions.

A popular cure for insomnia.

It's in any chemist.

- So it's not dangerous?

- Normally, no.

However, normal isn't the word

for what's in Mr. Harrington's system,

or what the dog threw up.

But it looks to be a very concentrated form of valerian.

- And Susan Bartlett?

- I've been back, the same.

- Enough to kill?

- Not in a healthy adult.

We're talking about paralysis, unconsciousness.

- "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings."

- Could it be knocked out like by a robber

but later I thought it was like she was asleep.

- Julie Fielding said she was asleep.

I thought she said that

because she didn't really understand what dead meant.

But she was telling us exactly what she saw.

- Tom, I know you're not a great believer in coincidences

but I was struck by where Mrs. Bartlett was found.

- Setwale Wood?

- Valerian's had various names in its long

and ancient history but in the Middle Ages

it was called setwale.

(liquid gurgling)

(suspenseful music)

- Harrington was drunk when he got home.

He wouldn't have noticed

if his whiskey tasted a bit strange.

And Susan Bartlett, she was taking pills and potions

like there was no tomorrow, some with Valerian in.

Small doses, but it wouldn't have been hard

to substitute the concentrated stuff.

- That puts it pretty close to home.

- Doesn't it?

What's Simon Bartlett's alibi for last night?

- Ms. Sullivan confirms he was with her.

- Jonah Bloxham's dog!

Anything else from Abbey Farm?

- I found these.

Harrington's life was insured for 400,000 pounds.

Two policies.

- The premiums on these must've been a bit hefty.

Are they still active?

- Insurance company says yes.

He wasn't paying for them, his wife was.

She has been since the separation.

(suspenseful music)

- You'd been separated from James for one,

nearly two years now?

Yet you still kept up the payments on his life insurance.

That seems unusual.

- It's just something I did.

- And he had no contact with the insurance companies.

All the correspondence came straight to you.

Did you discuss it with him?

- There was no point talking to James about money.

It only meant a row.

As for correspondence, he ignored every envelope

that came through the door.

- It's still seems a lot of insurance,

for a man so very close to bankruptcy.

- We were trying to sort things out,

to get back together.

I really didn't kill him for this money, Mr. Barnaby.

- I have to ask these questions Mrs. Harrington.

To make sense of things.

- You find people's lives make sense, do you?

It would be very nice if they did.

It's not my experience.

- Sergeant Troy spoke to you after the death

of Susan Bartlett,

to confirm the time you met your husband

after the court case.

- Yes.

- You didn't tell him that you'd made a phone call

to Susan Bartlett on the previous day.

- No.

- Well was there a reason for the call?

- I heard that James was seeing her.

I wanted to know the truth.

- What did she say?

- She laughed.

- Is that all?

- I slammed the phone down.

I decided I didn't want to know after all.

In the end it didn't matter

whether anything had happened,

only that it wouldn't happen again.

That's what I wanted to say to him last night,

but he was too drunk to listen.

(woman sniffles)

If I had any inclination to kill Susan,

I would have done it years ago.

I won't say it didn't cross my mind, then.

(suspenseful music)

- He went to Harrington's farm and killed him.

He done the same thing to Bartlett too.

He took her body to the woods on his ATV.

Search the farm.

- [Troy] The call was logged at one o'clock this morning.

It was made from the phone box in Midsomer Worthy.

- [Barnaby] Nothing on identity?

- Anonymous male, that's all.

The man was on for less than a minute.

You can see he didn't say very much.

- Simon Bartlett went to Harrington's farm and killed him.

He also killed Susan Bartlett

and he used the ATV to get her body into Setwale Wood.

- Makes sense.

- And the motive?

- Jealousy.

- A crime of passion.

He killed his wife, then he kills her lover.

Sounds very Mediterranean that, Troy.

- I just drove up there.

James wasn't there.

I turned round and came home.

I knew that I was under suspicion for Susan's death.

I was afraid if I said I'd been

at Abbey Farm, you'd think.

- Why, why did you go there?

- I wanted to talk to him.

- "If the police don't get you, I will."

You do remember saying that don't you?

- That was, I didn't know what I was saying.

I didn't mean it.

- All right so, you came home.

You were never at Ms. Sullivan's at all?

- No.

- Why would she lie about it?

- I thought, I believed it was to protect me.

Now I'm not so sure.

- What do you mean?

- Well, she wasn't just giving me an alibi.

She was giving herself one.

(suspenseful music)

(dog whining)

- Skipper!

In behind the bale.

- The whiskey is spiked with Valerian.

Stronger than anything the lab's seen.

- What about the rest?

- The hair on the ATV is human.

They'll be able to match it to samples

of Susan Bartlett's hair.

So whoever made that call is right.

That's how he moved her.

We're up against a top barrister here, sir.

We'll have to tread carefully.

- So will she.

She's up against me!

- Simon Bartlett is my client.

I'd like to know precisely why he's been arrested.

- I think you're under a misapprehension

as to why you're here.

You provided Simon Bartlett with a false alibi

for the night of James Harrington's death.

You don't need legal advice from me

to understand the implications of that.

(suspenseful music)

(metal clanking)

(crows cawing)

You do admit he wasn't there?

- I made a mistake.

- Not something a distinguished lawyer

should make a mistake about.

- Oh, my mistake's much dumber than that.

I believed a weak man was something else.

I believed he wasn't still in love

with the dull, stupid woman he married.

When he told me he'd been at Harrington's, I saw the fear.

I lied for him.

It seemed more reliable than a marriage licence.

- Knowing he could have murdered James Harrington

and his own wife?

- Simon couldn't kill anyone.

- We have evidence that says he did.

- Then look at it again.

- Charges against you don't stop

at wasting police time and conspiracy

to pervert the course of justice.

If Mr. Bartlett is a suspect, then so are you.

- I'm not some criminal

you've pulled in off the street, Chief Inspector.

- I find criminals in very unexpected places, Ms. Sullivan.

May even be that if Mr. Bartlett isn't a suspect,

you still are.

He seems to think that you could have killed his wife

and his neighbour.

Setwale Wood, you know a lot about that.

- I wasted enough time on it.

- You know what setwale means?

- It's a plant, Valerian.

- Somewhere here it's referred to as the devil's herb.

Is that the same plant?

- What's this all about?

- In 1652 a woman was burned as a witch, apparently

because she tried to kill her neighbour,

with the devil's herb.

- Witchcraft didn't kill Susan Bartlett

or James Harrington.

- No.

But both bodies contained large amounts of Valerian.

You were trying to stop Harrington felling the wood

using some old feudal laws, whatever.

Why did you need to know anything about herbs and potions?

- It interested me.

- Where did you get the information?

- Church records, the library.

A local historian wrote a piece

about the Bloxham family, back in the 50s.

- As in Jonah Bloxham?

- He's a descendant.

The woman they burnt as a witch was called Mary Bloxham.

Even after the war the villagers used to go

to his grandfather for remedies.

Old people trusted him more than the doctor.

- The ATV.

There couldn't have been any forensic just sitting there

on Bartlett's ATV.

Bloxham spent a morning cleaning it

- "Like as the arrows in the land of the giants,

"even so are the young children."

(suspenseful music) (footsteps tapping)

(wrench thuds)

(Jonah's body thuds)

- You bring the car round, Troy.

There's something I'd better leave the lab to look at.

- What is it?

- Nature's remedy that, Troy.

It's from Bloxham, for the dog bite.

- You didn't take it?

- I'm afraid I did.

(suspenseful music)

(fire whooshes)

- We got here early enough to save the house.

But Mr. Bloxham's touch and go.

- Where is he?

- In here.

He's not badly burnt but he's taken in a lot of smoke.

He's unconscious.

He's got a nasty crack on the head.

(respirator hissing)

(doors thudding)

- He's fine.

Like nothing's happened.

You know, I think I know what knocked him out.

I recognise the smell, it's Valerian.

I remember it from when I was a kid.

My dad used to say that the gipsies used it

to deal with unfriendly dogs.

It doesn't stay in the system

and it doesn't leave any after effects

but it must've taken a hell of a lot to do that.

(dogs barking) (suspenseful music)

(siren wails)

- You think that started it?

- It's old enough to be lethal.

(water whooshing)

(melancholy music)

- The way the fire spread,

there must have been something on the carpet.

They thought the paraffin heater started it.

But the thing hadn't been used for years.

- This has been stripped.

There were lots of pictures,

old black and white photographs.

It didn't register at the time,

but he didn't want me to see.

And he wasn't the only one.

- [Hannah] When we were kids

there was hardly a day we didn't meet.

(fire crackling)

(suspenseful music)

- I'm letting the garden get out of hand.

It's time I did some clearing up.

- Me too, Victoria.

(gun clicks) High time.

(suspenseful music)

- What is it?

What's the matter?

- You'll be cross.

- Of course I won't.

- You were before.

(suspenseful music)

- What is it, Julie?

(bell dings)

- Look inside, Troy.

I'll try the garden.

- No one here sir.

All the doors are open.

- Mr. Barnaby, I saw your car.

This doesn't make any sense, but,

well, I had to say something.

Julie was looking out of her bedroom and,

well, she's very sure.

- Best in her own words, Mrs. Fielding.

Julie.

- Mrs. Harrington took her away.

And she had a shotgun pushing in her back!

(suspenseful music) (car rumbling)

- [Hannah] Out, out!

- Hannah, this is madness.

(doors thudding)

- [Troy] Causton's right, the main road.

- No, not the main road.

- Where do you think she's going?

- There's the ruins of a cottage there.

It's even marked on the map.

(Hannah yelps)

- Left, Setwale Wood left, go on.

That's it!

(gun roars)

- No further to run, Victoria.

- You frightened me, Hannah.

- You murdered my son.

You killed Susan too.

I knew as soon as I heard the word Valerian.

(footsteps thudding)

Remember how you picked the plants with Jonah.

You would catch rabbits and squirrels,

see how long they stayed unconscious.

Mostly they died.

Not a very nice hobby for the prettiest girl

in Midsomer Worthy.

Your parents were relieved when you discovered boys.

(suspenseful music)

Poor Susan, wasn't there an easier way

to get rid of her?

No, despite everything he wouldn't leave her.

And finally you knew there'd never be a Bartlett heir.

My God, is that it?

- He didn't have the guts to kick her out.

- So you did it for him?

- I put my son first.

I looked at James.

A drunk who couldn't keep his life together because of her.

She was dangerous.

- But if she delivered grandchildren?

- The Bartletts have farmed here for 500 years.

You don't let that disappear.

There's a debt to the future.

For God's sake, Hannah, even your waster

of a son could produce children!

- Is that why you killed him?

- I didn't want to.

He saw my car here.

He was blundering about in the wood.

Drunk, I suppose, I don't know what he was doing.

But he knew once the police came.

He phoned me.

He wanted money from me.

He wanted me to pay him to keep quiet.

- That way.

- But that's not all he wanted.

He wanted to rub our noses in the dirt, to destroy us.

- It would be a good idea

if you put the gun down, Mrs. Harrington.

(melancholy music)

- I'd like to go home now, Mr. Barnaby.

We're really not friends anymore.

(gun roars)

- We've been friends all our lives, Mr. Barnaby.

I wouldn't even let a dog

of mine suffer more than it had to.

- [Barnaby] Susan Bartlett had to be replaced.

- [Troy] By Bernadette Sullivan?

- By any woman who could provide a grandchild.

But Harrington worked it out.

He put the flowers in Victoria's garden.

Not to say, you know, you're next.

Just, I know you did it.

- But why would Bloxham frame Simon Bartlett?

- He found out what she'd done.

He wasn't part of it.

Yes, he'd learned all about Valerian

from from him some 40 years before.

But Bloxham was trying to incriminate Simon,

because Simon was about to break his mother's heart.

- By selling the farm.

- Yeah.

The farm was everything to Bloxham too.

He grew up there.

And Victoria, she was five years younger than him,

but she was like a kid sister.

Hannah says she idolised him.

And he loved her.

Couldn't stay kids forever.

So he turned the only time he was happy

into a private world.

And he had to protect it.

And even Simon was expendable.

Victoria didn't see it like that.

- Thank you for waiting for me, Mr. Barnaby.

(melancholy music)

(footsteps tapping)

(Barnaby groans)

- Bloxham's damn dog.

(engine sputters)

(bouncy inquisitive music)