Original subtitles

(bright music)

- Seeing what other people do with their houses

and gardens does give one ideas.

(bright music)

- [Guest] Cheers.

(bright music)

- Hello, sexy boots.

- Madam.

(bright music)

- What's in these?

- Elderflower cordial.

- [Maureen] Mr. Rogers.

- Yuck.

- Yes, I am talking to you, Mr. Rogers.

What about the Pelfe Chase development?

Excuse me Mr. Rogers, I'm talking to you.

Oh, you deign to listen to me, do you?

Because I want to tell you that in my opinion,

you're a bent jerry builder with the morals of a tomcat.

- And don't forget the chairman of the planning committee.

- Oh yes, Mr. Otley.

Look at you.

It's clear you're corrupt by the company you keep.

You're a disgrace to elective office.

(bright music)

- [Joyce] Now this last one, Swanscombe House,

wouldn't be on the list if we'd had our way.

- [Barnaby] Ah, conservation society are on the war path.

- [Joyce] We were dead set against it being built at all.

It's quite out of character with its surroundings.

- [Barnaby] The fight goes on.

(gentle music)

- You've got a nerve, Mr Swanscombe.

You think by opening this eyesore

to the public you might win some sort of approval?

Well, you are so wrong because it should never

have been built in the first place and I have to tell you

that the Midsomer Conservation Society

will oppose your plans to further vandalise this village

by any means necessary.

- My dear Maureen, why would I want

to vandalise the village?

I've made my home here.

My mother was a local girl.

- But your father could have been

any passing tinker, couldn't he?

- Take no notice, Norman.

- Oh, and you're just as bad.

You and all his other cronies.

You've put this monstrous carbuncle

on the face of the village and now you want to do worse

with your appalling plans for Pelfe Chase.

- God, you ridiculous, philistine old bags.

(crowd gasping)

- No, no, no, no, no please.

Please.

- Steady.

(bright music)

- [Barnaby] Well done you, sir.

- No, not at all.

Used to be in the peacekeeping business.

- [Tom] Did you really?

- Army.

Major David Walsh.

- Tom Barnaby.

- Peacekeeping's what we did in my day.

Retired down here for a quiet life,

but you never know, do you?

Look if you'll excuse me.

I'm a candidate in this local election.

I have to counter all the votes being bought

by the development mafia.

- Chief Inspector Barnaby.

Liz Gerrard, county planning officer.

- They hold Liz personally responsible

for this monstrous carbuncle.

- Which is terribly unfair.

This house went through all the rigours

of the planning process.

- Amen to that.

Liz studied the specifications for this house

to such a point she could build it herself blindfold.

- Personally, I think the committee made the right decision,

but I'm just a politically neutral servant of the public.

Like yourself, Chief Inspector.

- What exactly is this Pelfe Chase development

that Mrs. Lawrence was going on about?

- Pelfe Chase is a piece of land on the edge of the village.

The council is considering giving

outline planning permission to a mixed housing

and commercial development.

- But there is local opposition is there?

- There will always be opposition to change,

especially change for the better.

- Mr. Swanscombe, you are a candidate

in the local election, are you not?

- I am.

I'm standing as an advocate of change for the better.

The Pelfe Chase development will breathe life into a village

that's in danger of dying in its sleep.

(crowd chattering)

(soft music)

(glass shattering)

(soft music)

(camera shutter clicking)

(soft music)

- Fragments of broken glass in the wound.

- Opportunistic killing.

- Pretty savage one at that.

- Time of death?

- Between 9:00 p.m. and three this morning probably.

- We need to talk to Mr. Swanscombe.

(soft music)

When did you last see Maureen Stubbs alive?

- Yesterday afternoon when she left here

after the, well, the incident.

- And did either of you see or hear, you know,

anything unusual during the hours of darkness?

Mrs. Swanscombe?

- No, we tidied up in the garden and then had supper.

It was quite late when the phone rang.

- It was Maureen Stubbs.

She said she had something to show me

that I ought to be aware of.

- About what time?

- It was around nine when she called.

I asked if it could wait until morning,

but she was insistent, very insistent,

so I agreed to see her.

- She didn't turn up?

- No.

- Maureen.

She said something about your mother yesterday.

What was the meaning of that, Mr. Swanscombe?

- My mother grew up here.

In the early 50s when she was 18, she left Midsomer.

She was expecting me.

She never named the father.

- So the name Swanscombe?

- My stepfather.

He met my mother in London and took us both on.

- You were obviously very offended by what she said.

- We're offended on behalf

of Norman's mother and stepfather.

They'd be deeply hurt by having

ancient history dragged up again.

What's so depressing about this place is the way gossip,

and malice and spite infect everybody for generations.

- That's why I'm standing for election.

I want to introduce the village to the 21st century.

- And Maureen Stubbs opposed your plans.

- Local politics.

Not something anyone would commit murder over.

(gavel pounding)

- So, in principle, we're all happy with the plans

for the Pelfe Chase development and we'll recommend approval

to the next full council meeting after the election.

Good, well that concludes this meeting

of the planning committee.

Thank you, colleagues.

Oh, and in a particular thank you to Liz

for her customary diligence and efficiency.

- [Audience] Here, here.

- Thank you, Chair.

- Oh Liz.

Liz.

You don't fancy lunch, do you?

- Can't right now, James.

Got a meeting.

- So Maureen Stubbs had a very busy day

even before I arrived?

- Yes, sir.

She told the Chair of the planning committee

that he was a disgrace to his office.

- [Tom] James Otley.

What does James Otley do in real life?

- He's a vet.

She said Liz Gerrard was a spineless jobsworth.

- [Tom] Well that's a little harsh.

She's very pretty.

- And she called Geoff Rogers a bent jerry builder

with the morals of a tomcat.

(soft music)

- You were late last night.

- Business.

- You can't build houses in the middle of the night.

- Don't act thicker than you are, girl.

I'm not a brickie any more, Gem.

I'm a mover and shaker round here.

I have to put myself about at all hours.

I'll see you when I see you.

(soft music)

- [Tom] So what had all these people done

to provoke Maureen?

- Well, Clifford Bunting designed the house.

Rogers built it.

Otley and Liz Gerrard gave it planning permission.

They're what Angela Lawrence called Swanscombe's cronies.

- Oh, I see.

- Oh.

There's Fiona Conway.

She lives at Pelfe Hall.

She sold Swanscombe the land to build on.

- [Tom] Maureen shout at her, too?

- No, she seemed to steer well clear of Maureen.

(soft music)

- At last.

I was just about to start without you.

- Had some hassles at work.

- We can forget work for an hour.

(gentle music)

- Swanscombe site repeatedly vandalised

and the builder's plant and machinery sabotaged.

- [Stephens] And the attacks

on Swanscombe House have continued.

- Yep.

Graffiti sprayed on the walls.

Ball bearings fired at the windows from a catapult.

And then death threats to Norman Swanscombe.

Why don't we have a word with Major Walsh?

Peacekeeper's perspective on Great Pelfe

might be interesting.

- [Jones] You've had an interesting career, Major Walsh.

- Service through leadership.

That's always been my motto.

Special forces, 'nough said?

- Oh yes, sir.

Yes indeed.

Detective Sergeant Jones and I, we stand in awe.

- Drinks?

- Ah no, but thank you.

Oh, we were hoping you give us your perspective

on recent events in the village.

- You've got to understand

there are alien elements at work here.

They've got money and they've got influence.

- Who exactly are we talking about, sir?

- Norman Swanscombe and his cronies.

I mean, look at the way they got his ghastly house

through the planning process.

Stinks of corruption.

- Have you any proof of that?

- It's obvious.

And now he's trying to bulldoze his way on to the Council.

I mean, I've been living here for five years now.

I sat at the feet of our late Council representative.

I made it my business to learn about the village

and its traditions before I put myself forward for office.

- So you were groomed for the succession, so to speak?

- If you want to see it in those terms.

I see it more as an apprenticeship.

Frankly, no one expected the seat to be contested.

Then Swanscombe threw his hat into the ring.

- Well, that's his democratic right.

- But he's doing it for subversive ends.

- Ooh, subversive?

- A plan has been drawn up for the development

of Pelfe Chase, an unspoilt site on the edge of the village.

- A development which Maureen Stubbs was opposed to.

- Yes, and Swanscombe says he'll support it if he's elected.

The same gang are involved that built his eyesore.

- Hm, I see how that could cause trouble.

- Trouble's what they'll get.

- Oh sir, that could be interpreted as a threat.

- Not at all.

It's a promise.

At a public meeting tomorrow night openly and above board,

I'm going to take the war to the enemy.

(soft music)

- [Tom] You got the keys?

- Sir.

(soft music)

Well you can see who Maureen Stubbs supports.

- Yeah.

Right.

You search the house.

I'll do the garage.

(soft music)

Jones.

- Up here.

(soft music)

- I don't know if Maureen Stubbs was our burglar,

but she was certainly equipped to be the vandal.

- Maureen was a fairy godmother to me.

When I moved here with my husband and took this on,

we had no idea the business was dying.

It was a desperate struggle.

Then my marriage broke up.

Dear Maureen and Douglas befriended me,

and when he died, we became even closer.

- Maureen Stubbs was the founder member

of the Midsomer Conservation Society, wasn't she?

- That's the Great Pelfe branch, yes.

She was our leading light.

I just helped out as committee secretary.

David Walsh and I will have to pick up the batten

and the struggle will continue.

- And Mrs. Lawrence, will the struggle continue

using the same criminal methods?

- I don't know what you mean.

- We found aerosol cans, a catapult,

and ball bearings on Maureen's premises.

- The kind of equipment that was used

to vandalise Swanscombe's House.

Did you know about that?

- Absolutely not.

- But you were so close, weren't you?

You and Maureen.

- If she had been tempted into extremism,

she would have wanted to protect her colleagues

from guilty knowledge.

Selfless to the last.

- See what I mean?

- Yeah.

I can't see anything mechanically wrong.

Maybe there's an electrical fault.

- Please, don't get me started on the electrical faults.

- [Geoff] Well, the man you wanna talk

to about these doors is your architect.

He specified all this fancy gear.

- You and Bunting.

I tell you.

I've had it up to here with your bloody excuses.

- Mr. Swanscombe, could I have a word please?

- Don't mind me.

I've got to be off.

- [Tom] Mr. Rogers?

- Geoff Rogers, yeah.

- I'm Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby.

I'd like a word with you, too, when it's convenient.

- Yeah, well, I'm out and about a lot.

You can try me on my mobile.

Fix something up.

- This is DC Stevens.

I'm so sorry.

We seem to have walked in on an altercation.

- Yes well, just snagging issues, you know.

Always happens on a new building project.

- Oh yes.

Now sir, we've discovered some items

on Maureen Stubbs' premises which suggest

that she was the person responsible for the vandalism here.

- Well, that doesn't surprise me at all.

- We couldn't help wondering you know,

if she came back here last night

intending to inflict more damage.

- She said she wanted to talk.

She had something I ought to see.

- We're going through her phone records.

- What do you mean?

You don't believe me?

- Well, perhaps she came back here last night unannounced

and you disturbed her when she was about her work?

- No.

- Yes, and the anger you felt

at the persecution you'd suffered.

Then your anger boiled over.

- No, no.

Nothing like that happened.

I am not responsible for Maureen Stubbs' death.

- I don't care what you say, Cliff.

I can't be doing with all this Swanscombe House aggravation.

- Swanscombe's a nit-picking pillock.

- Yeah, but your drawings didn't help much.

All right for some poncy architect magazine.

Sod all use on site.

- My design instructions were perfectly clear.

Quite frankly, Geoff, I wonder if your local yokels are up

to speed with cutting edge building technology.

- [Geoff] We better get our act together

when it comes to the Pelfe Chase job.

- [Clifford] If it ever happens.

- Oh, it's gonna happen.

I've got serious money behind me.

I am gonna be a big player in the construction business.

- Actually, Geoff.

I don't think my cashflow problems can wait until then.

A bit of folding money up front would be very welcome.

- Yeah, we'll all get paid off in due course.

- Yeah, but I'm safeguarding your dirty secrets right now

and I think I should be rewarded.

- You blackmailing me?

- I don't care what you call it, Geoff.

(soft music)

- [Answerphone] One new message.

(machine beeping)

- [Norman] It's Norman Swanscombe, Clifford.

I'm sick and tired of you and Geoff Rogers

playing pass the parcel about the defects in this house.

If action isn't forthcoming, the next communication you get

from me will be a solicitor's letter.

I'm fronting up a major property development

for you people for God's sake.

(bright music)

- This Maureen business.

I don't want the police poking around.

- I know.

Well, we'll try and keep them off the scent.

- No, no.

Think of my public profile.

Well, I better get back to Eleanor.

We've got an election to run.

- You can count on my vote.

- If only I had the same hold

over the rest of the electorate.

- I'm so glad we found each other, Norman.

- So am I.

- [Norman] Norman Swanscombe.

Leave a message and I'll get back to you.

- Norman, I got your rather hysterical call.

I'll drop round when I can and see what I can do

about your petty problems, but do calm down.

The last thing you want is to see

is your own dirty linen waving in the breeze.

(soft music)

(gentle music)

- Now that is what I call a des res.

(gentle music)

Maybe he's round the back.

(gentle music)

Sir.

- Oh.

- And it's recent.

- Right, in you go.

(gentle music)

Someone's done a very thorough job here.

(soft music)

- [Jones] So where's Bunting?

(door slamming)

- Who the hell?

Oh, it's you.

Well, that's service, I suppose.

I was just on the phone ringing about the burglary.

- We're not here about your burglary, Mr. Bunting.

We want to talk to you about the death of Maureen Stubbs.

- Murder.

Burglary.

Blimey.

You lot are losing your grip around here.

- There's only you and I now

and we have just two meetings left to win the vote,

so do you think I should go ahead

with tonight's speech as planned?

- Absolutely, David.

Give 'em both barrels.

- Well, yes, but now we have no proof.

- Nevermind about proof.

Speak out for what you know to be true.

It's what Maureen would have wanted.

And it means so much to me.

- Didn't you hear your intruder then, Mr. Bunting?

- If I'd heard him, I would have dealt with him.

- What's been taken?

- Nothing, as far as I can see.

- Does anyone else live here?

- Not since my last wife left.

I'm not a total masochist.

- When did you last see Maureen Stubbs?

- At the Swanscombe House two days ago

when she threw her drink over me.

- She was murdered that night.

- Well, not by me.

Maureen was a pest, not an enemy.

- Where were you that night?

- Here.

- Anyone verify that?

- No, they can't, but if I murdered everybody

who took offensive exception to my work,

the streets would be clogged with corpses.

The trouble is, too many people like Maureen

and Angela Lawrence want to live in the past.

- Bit like yourself?

- If I could afford the kind of house I design,

I'd live in one.

As it is, I'm in a Georgian house,

and I have modernised it according to its form and function.

That is integrity.

- And tell me, Mr. Bunting,

do all your clients appreciate the products

of your creative integrity?

- Well, they have a tendency to ignore the fact

that they're privileged to live in sculpted space.

They quibble about trivial details.

- Who was the architect who said that God is in the detail?

- Mies Van Der Rohe and he'd have changed his mind

if he had my clients.

- [Chair] Order.

- And so, I want to see Great Pelfe moving with the times.

We need affordable housing for sale and rent,

for local, village workers.

The Pelfe Chase development is in sympathy

with the existing built and natural environments.

- It's not.

- [Norman] It is ecologically sustainable.

- Rubbish.

- The alternative is to see Great Pelfe turned

into a theme park for commuters and second home owners.

- It's not true.

- Nonsense.

- I would like to make it absolutely clear

that I have no financial interest

in this development whatsoever.

- Not much.

- It's absolutely true.

I'm asking you for your support

because I believe that together,

we can safeguard the future of our village

as a thriving, living community.

Thank you.

Thank you very much indeed.

- Murderer.

- Order, please.

- You and your cronies.

Everyone here knows why Maureen Stubbs was killed.

- Mrs. Lawrence, I must ask you to moderate your language.

- Oh, don't worry.

I'm not listening to anymore of this charade.

This is the kind of stitch-up

that provokes ordinary people into direct action.

And I can promise you.

There'll be plenty more of that.

(audience clapping)

(gavel pounding)

- Order, order.

Order.

David Walsh, independent.

(audience cheering)

- Well.

You've been offered a seductive vision

of the village's future.

Unfortunately, this vision is a mere smokescreen.

This will never be built.

Detailed, secret plans already exist

for a quite different development on the Pelfe Chase site.

An out of town shopping centre will be built

with parking for hundreds of vehicles.

Together with some low rent social housing of poor quality,

radically and permanently altering

the character of our village.

And who's behind this?

Mr. Swanscombe, the big city accountant and his cronies.

Fiona Conway owns the land.

Clifford Bunting's drawn up the plans.

Geoff Rogers will be the builder.

Now, once this toy town fantasy has been approved,

they'll use salami tactics.

Grub up the woodland, drive roads through.

And then, bit by bit the attractive and expensive features

of this plan will be dropped for reasons

of cost overruns and technical difficulties.

- Rubbish.

Rubbish.

- This has all been written down in black and white.

And once the real scheme,

or should I say scam, has been nodded through

by compromised council members and officers.

- Shame.

- A supermarket chain will plunge millions

into the development and all concerned

will get a handsome payoff.

- Where's your evidence, eh, Walsh?

- All right, all right, all right.

I'm being asked about evidence.

Maureen Stubbs had in her possession documentary evidence

of this conspiracy the day she died

and that's why she was killed.

(audience gasping)

- [Chair] Order.

Order.

Order.

- Excuse me, excuse me.

Major Walsh.

I'm sorry.

Major Walsh.

- See you later.

- Can I give you a lift home

because if do you have some information

pertaining to Maureen Stubbs death, I want to hear it.

- Only too happy to oblige.

- That's very kind, thanks.

Jump in.

- [James] Liz, hang on.

Now that's opened up a whole can of worms hasn't it?

- The innocent have nothing to fear.

- But, it's not them I'm worried about.

Listen, do you think maybe we should go for a drink?

Talk this through?

- Not a good idea right now, James.

Might look as if we're conspiring.

Everything comes to him who waits.

- Major Walsh, you spoke of documentary evidence

of a corrupt conspiracy.

- Mm hm.

- Can you produce that evidence?

- I saw it with my own eyes.

- That's not what I asked.

Where is it now, this evidence?

- Maureen had the evidence.

Now she's dead and it's missing.

I know the conclusion I draw from that.

- But surely she made a copy?

- Well, apparently not.

We can all be wise with hindsight, can't we?

- Where did this material come from?

- Oh, Maureen told me she received it

from an anonymous source.

A whistleblower, if you like.

- Fiona Conway, Geoff Rogers, James Otley.

They've all suffered from burglaries

in these past few weeks.

Burglaries in which apparently nothing was taken.

And these are all people that you accuse of being cronies

in this new development scheme.

It doesn't look like a coincidence, does it?

Was the evidence that you saw the product of a burglary?

- I'm in no position to know, am I?

And I don't think that's the point.

The point is, these people are corrupt,

and they've committed murder to cover their tracks.

- Everything Walsh said last night was absolute rubbish.

Smear tactics.

An attempt to spread black propaganda about the opposition.

- So the Pelfe Chase development is clean?

It's all above board?

There's no conspiracy?

There's no plan to substitute another scheme?

- Absolutely not.

- We're going to have to look through your personal

and business affairs, Mr. Swanscombe.

Records of financial transactions, phone calls, so forth.

- Well, I find that unnecessarily intrusive.

- Mr. Swanscombe, someone's been murdered on your property

and last night you were publicly accused of that murder.

- Oh please, Angela Lawrence is an hysteric.

- There have also been allegations of corrupt practises.

Now we are bound to investigate.

- Very well.

I've got nothing to hide.

(soft music)

Damn it.

- How is it?

- Walk him about a bit.

Well, looks good.

You can saddle up.

Just you know, take it gentle for a few days.

- Magic, James.

Bless you.

- [Boy] Margarita?

- It's Fiona, actually, but we won't let

that stand in our way.

I don't seem to have any cash on me,

but if you'd like to step inside for a minute,

I'll see you right.

- Tilly.

Thanks, James.

- No, not at all.

You were my right hand in the operation,

so you've got yourself to thank.

You don't want a job as a veterinary nurse?

- Mr. Otley, Ms. Gerrard.

Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby, Causton CID.

This is Detective Sergeant Jones.

- Right.

- Well, I'll leave you guys to it.

- [Jones] Oh, will you be available

for interview later, Ms. Gerrard?

- For Chief Inspector Barnaby, I'm permanently available.

- Yes well, without the support of the public,

then where would we be Jones?

Nowhere.

Nowhere at all.

Tell me, Mr. Otley.

Do many public sector workers, I mean council officials,

manage to keep horses these days?

- Liz.

Well, I think she's got some private income, I believe.

- Has she?

Now Mr. Otley, we need to talk.

These patients?

- No.

No, they're symptoms of nostalgia.

I started as a marine biologist

specialising in the Indo-Pacific.

- Is that you in these photos?

- Yeah, I used to do a lot of scuba diving.

Off Australia and Indonesia.

- And you gave all that up

to become a lonely vet in Midsomer?

- Oh.

You know, financial security, settling down.

- Now Mr. Otley.

At Norman Swanscombe's house,

Maureen Stubbs strongly suggested

that the council planning process was open to abuse.

To corruption.

At least I take it that's what she was implying.

- There's no way of knowing now, is there?

Look, I chair the planning committee.

The conservationists always accuse us

of all sorts of dereliction of duty.

It comes with the territory.

- The people who built the Swanscombe House

are now trying to develop Pelfe Chase.

Have any of them tried to bribe you?

- No, I'd be on to you people like a shot.

- When did you last see Maureen Stubbs?

- Well the afternoon that she left Swanscombe's place.

- And your whereabouts that night?

- Well, I was at the surgery, I think.

I was catching up on some paperwork.

- [Jones] With anyone else?

- No.

- Up to what time was that?

- About midnight.

Maybe half past.

And then I went home.

You're not treating me as a suspect?

- We'll need to talk to you again, Mr. Otley, but thank you.

(doorbell ringing)

(soft music)

- Hello.

(soft music)

- Well, the spark plug went, didn't it?

I had to go for miles to get another one.

See ya.

- It's all right, sweetie.

It's only the filth.

It's not the drug squad, just a murder inquiry.

Do come in.

Someone must have been burning leaves.

- Yes, and autumn is so far away.

Do you live here on your own, Ms. Conway?

- Yeah.

Pizza?

- No, no.

- Seems to gone a bit cold.

How about you, sexy boots?

- No, thank you.

- The truth is, when I have finally sold off Pelfe Chase,

you won't see my arse for dust.

- [Tom] Why couldn't you sell up sooner?

- Hassles with planning permission and all sorts.

Thank God dear Norman Swanscombe

and his pals seem to find a way through.

- But they're being accused now, are they not,

of conspiracy even murder?

I mean you heard what Angela say at the meeting last night.

- That soppy cow.

Do you think Norman's that stupid?

He's one of the few people round here

who've actually got a life.

- What about those allegations of corruption?

Can you shed any light on those?

- I don't know anything about it

and I don't believe the galloping Major knows either.

- David Walsh?

- The truth is, Walsh's nose is out of joint

because he thought he was a shoo-in for the council seat

and now there's a much stronger candidate

standing against him.

Drink?

- No, thank you.

But Major Walsh is very passionate, is he not,

for conservation issues?

- He never used to give a toss about conservation.

In fact, a few years back he tried to buy some land from me

to build holiday homes.

- Really?

- Oh yes.

Conservation's just a bandwagon for him.

And of course Angela Lawrence

is leading him around by the plonker.

Do sit down, darlings.

- Is there any actual relationship there?

- In his dreams.

Angela's on the other bus.

- Can you explain that to the chief inspector?

- When Angela came to terms with her sexuality, dear,

her marriage broke up.

- So, one way and another,

you would reject absolutely would you,

the charges of cronyism and corruption?

- If there's one thing I'm an authority on,

it's villains, chancers, and wrong'uns.

And believe me, Norman Swanscombe is as straight

as a telegraph pole.

(soft music)

- So what the hell's the problem?

(soft music)

(dramatic music)

- [PC] Got that?

- Well the cause of death seems obvious.

- If causes of death were ever obvious,

you wouldn't need me, would you?

- Well, Dr. Bullard, I await the formal results

of your postmortem examination with anticipating delight,

but might you expedite our investigation

by honouring us with the speculative hypothesis.

- Conclusion of the carotid artery,

leading to severe brain damage due to hypoxia.

Just a guess.

- Time?

- Recent, within the last two or three hours.

- Well, looks accidental.

- Well, we'll see.

Bunting's car is out there.

Will you take a look?

- Yes, sir.

- And I must talk to Mr. Swanscombe.

(gentle music)

- I drove Eleanor to the station.

She's in town for the day.

Then I came back here and found him.

- Where are the electrical systems that control all this?

Where do you keep them?

- There's a fuse box in there, I think.

- What was Mr. Bunting doing here in your absence?

- I'd asked him to sort out some of the problems,

including the sliding doors.

Yes, it's in there.

- [Tom] Ta.

- [Norman] He kept his own set of keys

so he could sort out the problems

when I was working in London.

- So someone could be using those controls

at the same time as watching the window?

- Yes, I suppose they could.

- What time was you wife's train?

- 12:45.

- It was on time?

- Yes.

- Well the drive from Pelfe Hall

would take 15 minutes give or take.

That would get you back here at one o'clock.

You didn't report finding the body until 1:30.

- After Eleanor caught her train,

I decided to take a drive.

The woods, Pelfe Chase.

Take in some scenery.

- Did you meet anyone or did anyone see you?

- I was taking the air, not constructing an alibi.

- What do you found?

- This.

- Oh, the architect's essential tool.

Is it just houses?

- Yeah.

- Okay, get 'em downloaded.

I'll have a look at them.

At least they give us the times and places

of Bunting's recent whereabouts.

- You said Angela Lawrence made threats

at the meeting last night?

- Yes, she did.

And Swanscombe dismissed her as an hysterical woman.

Fiona Conway thinks she's a fool.

Well she may well be either of those things.

On the other hand, she could be something else entirely.

(bell ringing)

- That was quite a meeting last night.

And you were wonderful, my dear.

- Well, someone had to speak up for poor Maureen.

- And you certainly did that.

- So who are you targeting next?

- Less said the better, my dear.

- Oh, David, surely there's nothing we can't share?

- [Tom] Jones.

- Couple of things on Clifford Bunting, sir.

He was heavily in debt, he was being chased

for maintenance by both his ex-wives,

and he was in arrears with his mortgage.

- So if there were a serious money making scam on offer,

he'd be very tempted.

- We also found this.

- Huh?

- Left it for Swanscombe two nights ago.

- [Answerphone] One new message.

(machine beeping)

- [Bunting] Norman, I got your rather hysterical call.

I'll drop round when I can and see what I can do

about your petty problems, but do calm down.

The last thing you want is to see

is your own dirty linen waving in the breeze.

- He's not coming clean with us.

Mr. Swanscombe.

(bright music)

(soft music)

- Is this business, again?

- Yeah.

- What time you likely to be home?

- When I'm good and ready, all right?

- Geoff, I've never known you like this before.

Look why can't you tell me what you're scared of?

(soft music)

- Doing a little overtime, Stephens?

- Before you go, sir, you should look at this.

- From Bunting's camera.

- [Stephens] Yes, but there's more detail.

- [Tom] Ooh, Geoff Rogers.

- To coin a phrase.

Not so easy to ID the woman.

- Vehicle registered to Elizabeth Gerrard.

- And there's more?

- There's houses, but there is this.

- [Jones] Fiona Conway.

And that's not her pizza delivery boy.

- Bunting was in financial difficulties, wasn't he?

Maybe he was dabbling in a little blackmail.

- Geoff Rogers installed those sliding glass doors.

- Yes.

So he'd know how to use them as a weapon, wouldn't he?

I think we should have a little talk with Mr. Rogers.

(soft music)

(gentle music)

Ah, Mrs. Rogers.

We actually wanted to talk to your husband.

- Ah, he went out a couple of hours ago.

- Went out?

Do you know where he went?

- Business.

- When were you expecting him back?

- He told me not to wait up.

- All right, ah you will tell him will you please

that we would like to talk to him?

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

I think Sergeant, we should call that a day.

Barnaby.

- Stephens, Sir.

I'm at Elizabeth Gerrard's house.

There's been an incident.

(sirens wailing)

- Major Walsh, getting a new perspective

on criminal justice, are we?

- I'm exercising my right to silence.

- Well don't exercise it too hard.

It's not what it used to be.

- I heard a noise from in here,

so I locked this door and dialled three nines.

- That showed coolness great presence of mind that.

- Well, the windows in here are all barred,

so I knew he couldn't get out.

- None of your property was found on Major Walsh.

Have you any idea what he might have been looking for?

- Evidence of my professional wickedness, no doubt.

And of course, he didn't find any.

- Guv'nor's here early checking up on us.

(soft music)

- I could have been a brain surgeon.

- No, it probably worked out for the best there, George.

- Thanks.

- Any initial thoughts, Mr. Bullard?

- Well, I can only assume asphyxiation,

because of the pressure on the thoracic cavity.

- Was he alive when he was covered with concrete?

- That's what it looks like.

Until I get his lungs on the bench,

I can't tell you anymore.

- [Jones] Where were you before you broke

into Liz Gerrard's house last night?

- Major Walsh.

Geoff Rogers was killed last night.

So if you have an alibi,

I think you ought to give it to us now.

Several people, your political opponents in the village,

have been burgled recently.

We know now that you committed one of those burglaries

and we believe that you committed all the others as well.

Now, two of those people are dead

and that puts you in a very serious position.

- I need to think about this.

- That is very wise, Major.

You and Geoff Rogers were having an affair, weren't you?

- Yes.

- [Tom] Yes, when did you last see him?

- Two days ago.

We were due to meet again last night.

- Where?

- The usual place.

Geoff didn't show up.

I couldn't get him on his mobile,

so I came home and discovered the break-in.

- Was he due to meet anyone else before he met you?

- I don't know.

Geoff kept his business to himself.

He had all sorts of deals going,

contacts all over the place.

Professionally, I preferred not to know.

- What, you suspected they were criminal contacts?

- I wasn't in the business of criminal investigation.

I took Geoff to bed because he was rough,

and uninhibited, and exciting.

People like that can be dangerous.

That's the fun.

- And people like that can make enemies, can't they?

Were you aware of any enemies?

- Geoff knew the conservation crowd

blamed him for Maureen's death.

- Was he afraid they might take some kind of revenge?

- You heard what Angela Lawrence said at the meeting,

but Geoff wasn't afraid of much.

- These photographs show that someone knew

about your affair.

Was he being blackmailed?

- Yes.

- By who?

- I don't know.

He wouldn't tell me, but he said he'd take care of it.

- We think Bunting was the man.

Bunting took those photographs.

Do you think your rough and dangerous Geoff?

Do you think he'd be capable of killing Mr. Bunting?

- I can only say, I desperately hope not.

- [Angela] I know.

- We'll take that as a definite no, shall we?

- Yes.

It's just that it's such a big step, darling.

You know best.

I'll leave straight away.

(soft music)

(hand knocking)

- Come in.

(soft music)

- You shouldn't have come in today.

- Better than wallowing at home.

- Well, if there's anything I can do, you only have to ask.

- [Liz] I know.

- I'm going to come clean with you.

I admit burgling Liz Gerrard's house,

but I don't know anything about any murders.

- What about the rest of the burglaries?

- Yes, I effected entry into those properties.

- Oh, you effected entry?

Why?

- I broke the letter of the law in pursuit of a higher good.

I was hoping to find evidence of criminal conspiracy,

and eventually, in Rogers' case, I found it.

- [Tom] Where?

Oh, in the documents you say Maureen Stubbs

was carrying the night she was killed?

- Yes.

- [Jones] So the story about this anonymous

whistleblower was untrue?

- Yes, yes.

When the documents disappeared at Maureen's death,

I suspected both Bunting and Liz Gerrard.

I targeted them for covert action.

Unfortunately, I didn't find any documents.

- Look, two of the people you targeted

have subsequently died.

That cannot be coincidental.

- I know nothing about any murders.

I'm giving you as much help as I can.

- What about your other associate

on the Conservation Committee?

Angela Lawrence?

What part did she play in all this?

(soft music)

So you packed a few bags.

You put them in the car.

What was the intention?

- I wanted a few days away.

Business hasn't been good.

- You can't just walk away from a post office.

Had you arranged cover?

- Mrs. Lawrence, you were a leading light

in the Conservation Committee, weren't you?

Now if Maureen Stubbs knew

about Major Walsh's criminal campaign, then you knew too.

- I'm not responsible for whatever foolishness

Walsh has been up to.

If he's told you differently,

he's just trying to spread the blame.

- At the election meeting you threatened more direct action.

Now since that meeting,

two of your political opponents have died.

But I wonder.

(man whistling)

Oh.

Oh, Mrs. Lawrence.

Well this isn't the overnight float

from a village post-office till, is it?

And I can't believe it's a reward from Major Walsh

for supporting his election campaign.

So Mrs. Lawrence, you have a lot of explaining to do.

- I had no reason to murder Clifford Bunting

or Geoff Rogers.

- No, you hadn't had you?

Because I believe that you were acting on their behalf.

- I don't know what you're talking about.

- Mrs. Lawrence I don't believe

that you are an hysterical woman.

I don't believe that you are a fool,

but I do believe that you are in desperate need of money

and I think that this is payment for your role.

- That is such nonsense.

- I believe that someone is paying you

to discredit the Society by associating them

with extremist tactics.

Am I right?

- So who was paying you?

- Geoff Rogers.

- Geoff Rogers.

So you vandalised Swanscombe's House

and you planted the catapult

and the aerosol cans in Maureen Stubbs' garage.

- I'm afraid so, yes.

Sorry Lesley, Cyril.

We're closed.

- [Cyril] Dreadful service.

- Shall we go into the other room?

- So you were actively encouraging

Major Walsh's campaign of burglary?

- Major Walsh is just a silly man

who thought it was Watergate all over again.

Then unfortunately, he actually found something.

- The documents Maureen was taking

to Swanscombe when she was killed?

- Yes.

- But I do not believe that Maureen Stubbs

or Major Walsh would be so foolish

as to approach Norman Swanscombe

with such incriminating evidence

without first making a copy.

And you'd be the woman to do that wouldn't you?

- Yes.

When Maureen received the compromising documents

from David Walsh, she did bring them to me to make a copy.

- So, you knew Maureen had the documents.

You were secretly working against her.

Did you follow her into Swanscombe's garden and attack her?

- After Swanscombe's garden party,

I went to Causton and spent the night with my sister.

We went to a concert in the evening.

There'll be plenty of witnesses.

- Who else knew that Maureen Stubbs' had these documents?

- Geoff Rogers.

- Well, that's very convenient, isn't it?

Given that the man is dead.

Who else is involved?

- He was my only contact.

If anyone else was implicated, I never knew about it.

- So, you betrayed your best friend

for a bit of cash from Geoff Rogers?

I don't believe you.

- You can believe what you like.

I have nothing more to say.

- Well, it's all here as Walsh claimed.

First everything's normal.

First phase original planning application.

Phase two site preparation to the point

where it can be developed, but then phase three onwards

is a planned series of technical hitches, cost over-runs,

and so forth so that any environmental

or social benefits have to be stripped away.

And then, finally supermarket chain moves in

to save the day with a vast out of town shopping complex.

- Walsh found it on Rogers' premises, so he's implicated,

but apart from that there's no proof

of who's in on the scam and who isn't.

Trouble is, that doesn't solve our murders for us.

- No, it does not.

And my guess is, there could be more.

(gavel pounding)

(crowd chattering)

- I thought he was under arrest?

- Yeah, he was.

He's been charged.

He's out on bail.

- [Joyce] Can he stand for election?

- He certainly can.

Man is innocent until proved guilty.

- Welcome to the final meeting in the by-election

for Midsomer County Council for the seat of Great Pelfe.

I'll begin by calling on David Walsh, Independent.

(audience clapping)

- This election is taking place

in the shadow of grave events.

Three people have died in the village.

I ask of you one simple thing.

When you come to the polling station,

please remember the documents brought to light

in the current police investigation

have vindicated every word, and every action,

of my campaign and that of my supporters.

The Pelfe Chase development plan has been exposed

as a snare and a delusion.

It's corruption has been accompanied by lethal violence.

In all humility I solicit your vote,

not for a flawed and fallible man, but for a cause.

Thank you.

- [Audience] Here, here.

(audience clapping)

- Quiet.

Norman Swanscombe, Independent.

(audience clapping)

- The revelation of a hidden agenda

behind the Pelfe Chase development plan

has been a profound shock and disappointment to me.

However, I should make it absolutely clear that,

if elected, I will support the planning application

with all of my ability.

Now by that I mean the original plan with all of its social,

environmental and architectural benefits to this community.

And I most solemnly pledge to press

for the most rigorous investigation

into Midsomer's planning procedures and personnel.

Vote for prosperity, progress, and principle.

Thank you.

(audience clapping)

- Bravo, bravo.

- Thank you.

(soft music) (audience clapping)

(gentle music)

- I've trawled through Swanscombe's financial affairs, sir.

- And?

- There's nothing that ties him in

with the development scam.

He's not received any benefits

that I can see from Bunting or Rogers.

- Really?

- Well, when he acquired the land from Fiona Conway

to build Swanscombe's House, the title was transferred,

but there's no record of any money changing hands.

- But that land must be worth millions

and she obviously needs money.

- Fiona Conway stands to gain massively

from the Pelfe Chase development.

Swanscombe's an aspiring politician promising to support it,

so on the face of it--

- She's handed him an absolutely massive bung.

- [Jones] Yeah.

- Mrs. Swanscombe, we're trying to find your husband.

Been round to your place, but no one in.

- Well, you could try Pelfe Hall.

My husband spends a lot of time there,

but you'll have to talk to him about that.

- [Tom] Thank you very much.

- The Major's a buffoon.

You're bound to win if the electors have got any sense.

- If.

- And then, shouldn't we really stop pretending?

- It would be a relief to Eleanor.

- It's the filth again.

Should you do a runner out the back?

- Only if you feel compromised.

- Good God, it'd take more than this.

- I see the payroll vote is out in force.

- We've come across something rather, rather odd.

Mr. Swanscombe, it appears that you obtained the land

for your house from Ms. Conway here

without paying her any money for it.

Now could you explain that to me please?

- Damn it, Norman.

They've got ways of finding out.

- Finding out what?

- Fiona's my sister.

- Half sister, strictly.

Same dad, different mothers.

- Ah.

And how long have you known this?

- I've known for years.

Daddy let it slip shortly before he died.

- Fiona told me when I came back to the village.

- I thought the family owed Norman, so I gave him the land.

- But why the secrecy?

- I thought it might open old wounds for my mother.

- Ah and Maureen Stubbs for one would make a meal of it.

Yes?

- Yes, I'm afraid we have been rather selfish,

grabbing as much time together as possible.

- Ah, Tom.

- George, I hear you have some information for me.

That right?

- Yes, you remember I said that Rogers was alive

but unconscious when the concrete was poured.

- Yes, I do.

- Not entirely correct.

He was in what we call a state of dissociative anaesthesia.

- And what would that be then?

- Conscious, but incapable of speaking or acting, Benjamin.

He'd been taking or had been induced to take Ketamine.

- Bit old for recreational drugs wasn't he?

- But Ketamine's also has legitimate medical uses.

Yeah?

- Mm, in some cases on humans.

Yeah, although these days--

- It is most commonly used, is it not, by vets?

- Absolutely.

- [James] Hello.

- Mr. James Otley.

I'm arresting you in connection

with the death of Geoff Rogers.

You do not have to say anything,

but it may harm your defence if you do not mention

when questioned something you later rely on in court.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

Do you understand, sir?

- I didn't kill Geoff Rogers.

- Mr. Otley, do you use Ketamine

as an animal tranquilliser in the course of your work?

- Well, yes of course.

It's normal in a veterinary practise.

- Geoff Rogers was drugged with Ketamine

before he was killed.

- That has nothing to do with me.

- Oh Mr. Otley, look at it from our point of view.

A criminal conspiracy has been uncovered.

You and Liz Gerrard are at the very heart

of the Midsomer Council planning process.

So either one or both of you must have been part

of that development scam in order for it to succeed.

Now someone who opposed the conspiracy has died,

but then two other people whom we believe

were part of the conspiracy have also died.

And it begins to look as if someone's methodically trying

to cover their tracks by killing their associates.

Someone, sir, like you.

When you operated on Liz Gerrard's horse,

did you use Ketamine?

- Sure.

- [Liz] Thanks James.

- No, no, not at all.

You've got yourself to thank.

You were my right hand on the operation.

So, if you ever want a job as a veterinary nurse.

- Were you present for the whole time

that the horse was being tranquillised?

- Yeah, of course.

Oh no, no hang on.

Except for a moment when I had to go back

to the Land Rover to get a splint,

but Liz was perfectly safe looking after the drip.

- When was the last time you saw Liz Gerrard?

She didn't go to work this morning.

- Called in at her house.

No one home.

Where is she, sir?

- You don't think?

I haven't harmed Liz.

I couldn't.

I couldn't.

- Mr. Otley please.

Tell me when did you last see Liz Gerrard?

- She stayed the night with me here.

I'd been dreaming about that night for years.

I always knew there was something about Liz

that was dangerous underneath the surface.

She just proved how right I was.

- Tell me about the really scary things

down on your Indo-Pacific reefs.

- Well, there's the blue ringed octopus,

which is very small, lethal poison.

- Isn't there an Australian fish

that produces a heart attack in humans?

- Oh, I know what you mean.

They're the Irukandji Syndrome.

Except it's not a fish.

Look.

(soft music)

- Oh, wow.

- The Irukandji jellyfish.

- Whoa, it's tiny.

And that could give a grown man a fatal heart attack?

- It could and it would be almost entirely undetectable,

unless the pathologist knew exactly what he was looking for.

- Has anyone ever extracted the toxin?

- Oh yeah I have actually just by way of interest.

I thought it might be a more humane way

of putting down terminally sick animals.

- Oh, you're such a clever guy, James.

- And that's about all I remember.

When I woke up this morning, Liz had gone.

- Swanscombe will be at the Town Hall,

won't he, for the count?

- Yeah.

- Right come on.

(dramatic music)

- [Chair] Now concentrate everybody.

Please commence counting and good luck.

(dramatic music)

(phone ringing)

(dramatic music)

- [Liz] Norman?

Liz Gerrard.

We need to talk.

This is desperately confidential.

(dramatic music)

- I'll be right back.

(dramatic music)

So what's all the secrecy about, Liz?

- Can we talk about this over a drink?

I'm really strung out about things.

- Okay.

(dramatic music)

- Cheers, Norman.

- Cheers.

- [Jones] Don't drink that.

- Oh.

- Secure the bottle.

Ms. Gerrard, put that glass down.

(glass shattering)

Ms. Gerrard.

You murdered Maureen Stubbs

because she was just about to reveal details

of your development scam to Mr. Swanscombe here.

And you had most to lose, didn't you?

Because Otley, Bunting, Rogers, they could all bounce back

from such an exposure, but not you.

You, your whole professional life would have been destroyed.

And when Bunting tried his blackmail,

then you, Rogers, and the entire conspiracy was threatened.

But Geoff Rogers couldn't bring himself to kill Bunting.

Could he?

Didn't have the stomach for murder, but you did.

And you knew every detail of Swanscombe house

like the back of your hand, didn't you?

Because of your work on the planning application

and you took the safety device off the patio doors.

(soft music)

And then Geoff Rogers became a danger because he wanted out.

- I want the best and its within reach if we don't panic.

- I'm really not sure I'm up to this Liz.

- Geoff Rogers, he loved you, didn't he?

He trusted you.

So it was easy to spike his drink with Ketamine,

the drug you'd taken from James Otley

when he was treating your horse.

And when you'd rendered the poor feller helpless,

you killed him.

(soft music)

And of course the use

of the drug Ketamine that pointed the finger

at your one remaining co-conspirator, James Otley.

And if you'd had managed to introduce

the fatal Irukandji Syndrome

into Mr. Swanscombe here then.

- My God, Liz.

- Yes, sir.

And that exotic toxin had been detected,

then James Otley would have been in the frame twice.

- Poor old James.

Good vet, lousy lover.

- [Tom] But your loyal accomplice in all this

was your one true love.

Though I doubt if you know the meaning of the word.

(soft music)

- I thought everything we'd planned for was falling apart.

- But you kept your nerve, love.

- Anything for you.

- And you rewarded her with the promise

of a future life together financed by your paymasters,

the venture capitalists financing

with the secret supermarket development.

Ooh.

(soft music)

(gavel pounding)

- In the County Council by-election

for the seat of Great Pelfe,

the votes cast were as follows.

Norman Anthony Swanscombe.

254.

(audience clapping)

David Patrick Walsh.

306.

(audience cheering)

I declare David Patrick Walsh duly elected.

(audience cheering)

- It's what Maureen would have wanted.

- Well done, well done.

Congratulations.

- Commiserations.

- [Norman] Thank you.

- Those two are starting to look like cronies.

- You can't rely on politicians' promises, Joyce.

They'll be a Pelfe Chase development yet, you see.

(bright music)