Original subtitles

Your pass please, sir.

Thank you.

All right? You sure?

I will be. This stuff isn't aftershave.

Let's pull in somewhere, you have a drink and I'll drive.

- We have plenty of time. - Okay.

You really are frightened of the stuff, aren't you?

I've seen what it can do.

It's become a Jersey event,

fleshpots on the Eve of Charlie's going in for his check-up.

Two weeks of enforced clean living

so he can whoop it up for the rest of the year.

Hey, well, it's my annual decoke, you see.

I mean, you want to get the old pistons moving somehow, eh?

Well, cheers.

I can promise you all, once I get in there,

surrender the body beautiful to their tender ministrations,

nothing and nobody will get me out for the next fortnight.

- Not even business? - Least of all business.

I'll believe that when I see it.

You want to take a couple of weeks off golf and come and join me.

I'd love to, but I can't afford to match his prices.

I'm sure we can come to some arrangement, Dennis.

Excuse me, Matthew. Excuse me.

Oh, there you are, mrs frith, I just wanted to say thank you.

Oh, my goodness me, that quiche looks good.

- You know, you've really done us proud. - Thank you, mr hungerford.

But when the professor is back in residence at the university,

and the house isn't let, I like to keep myself occupied.

Ah, course you do, course you do, well, thank you again.

Oh, and, uh, don't forget to let me have your bill

Good turnout, Charlie, as usual

I'm beginning to think the cedars ought to pay you for the advertising.

Not a bad idea, eh! Yeah, yeah.

Oh, mr punch, you're going to prison.

- Who did it? - I did.

- Why'd you do it? - Because you hurt the baby.

And I'm going to hurt you!

That's the way to do it! Hit the policeman!

You're coming with me...

Grab a warrant, turn his hotel room over just for the form, you know.

Awful optimistic, aren't we?

Ah, Jackson's a pro, ain't he? He only takes what he can cash quickly.

Pack his bags, check him out, give him his ticket and send him on his way.

And if he squawks about his citizen's rights?

You may laugh heartily, but he won't.

He's got a record longer than Beethoven's ninth.

- Just tell him not to come back. - Everybody on holiday except us, eh?

And the villains, just to give you overtime.

- Fancy an ice cream? - No, I don't.

Suit yourself,

Yes?

Yes, I know the place. Any snacks?

I need a nervous system. You should try mine.

Right.

Mr whittaker, I have asked you to leave doors unlocked.

I do beg your pardon.

The old habit of living alone in these dreadful times.

Flannel you just enjoy being bolshie.

- I've come to see if you're ready. - Fifteen minutes.

- I'll be in the library. - Okay.

Police chiefs from 12 countries. Methods, cases, swapping knowledge.

Welcome back to the parish pump.

The data banks and the information taps, that's what policing's about now.

Kate, I can quite easily sign those.

I'd rather wait for sergeant bergerac.

I shall be sending through some recommendations

on these continuation reports.

-Specialist advice, -yeah, I'll read them.

They sad these transport requisitions were urgent, sergeant.

Make sure you do, it might broaden your outlook.

- I look forward to that. - You should get them tomorrow.

One week at the Hamburg police conference,

he's going to take on the entire mafia single-handed.

See the Mac?

You know, I really need his, Matthew.

The Serenity, the simple food, the reassurance.

You're an old fraud, Charlie.

This is a highly reputable nursing home and you use it as a health farm.

Aye, well, maybe we can talk a bit of business this time, eh?

If you can get your mind off scientific treatises

and back to the real world where money lives, eh?

Would you mind if you put me at the front of the bus, please?

- I like to pretend I'm still driving. - All right.

I'm disappointed there aren't more signs of improvement.

There won't be any. I'm reconciled to that.

Oh.

Thank you.

I'm surprised your doctors couldn't be more specific about the cause.

Ignorance, my dear.

The human nervous system is an exotic and largely unexplored labyrinth.

I know. Now, thank you for everything, miss montrose.

It's a pleasure, mr whittaker.

Strange man. He's terminal and he knows it.

And yet you get this sense he's looking forward to something.

Best way to be, take things as they are.

Come on, Charlie, I'll take some backgammon money off you.

As if you weren't wealthy enough already.

It's all right. My friends know where to find me.

Besides, I enjoy the noise and the hubbub.

Detailed layout of grounds. This is where you want.

Now, this is the outside gate padlock.

The alarm's inside, this switches it off.

What are these?

Master keys to the house, if we need them.

Well, don't worry, old boy. I'll take a cheque.

There's no need to dig out the petty cash.

Couldn't if I wanted to. Spare keys have gone adrift again.

- Oh, look, Matthew, just before we... - All right, Charlie,

make your pitch, then we can get on with the game.

The answer's still no.

Listen, I mean, look at current market demand.

- Now, you own and run... - My staff does.

- A modern nursing home. - Made very successful by my father.

Yeah, but which with my help, you could expand to triple your income.

Charlie, I was an applied scientist

living in the rarefied air of future medicine.

Locked doors, tabulated experiments.

Now I've come home to roost and I'm very happy.

Throw the dice.

One drop, any more is waste and overkill

that doesn't seem much of a dose.

Demonstration only, my dear, statement of intent.

With the full contents, I could kill half the people

in that pretty town down there.

You can stop palpitating now, Richard. You won't see this again.

He asked Kate if she'll be dropping in.

- She sad, "perhaps." - I'm a persistent man.

Jealously will get you two fellows nowhere.

Look what my animal magnetism has attracted.

Kate, hi. Glass of wine?

No thank you, Ben, I only came to see sergeant bergerac.

Superintendent Crozier sent over a copy of a fax from Hamburg.

Ah, this could have waited till tomorrow, Kate.

No trouble, glad to do it.

"A list of exemplary case studies.”

Apparently these are all about 400 pages long.

Records have got some of them. I could pick them up now, if you like?

No thanks, Kate. When I want late night reading, I'll read enid blyton.

- Oh. - Can you give the lady a seat?

- Sorry. - Now, would you like a glass of wine?

If this isn't urgent, yes, I would, very much.

There, you have a nice rest for the evening after your journey.

- I hope you sleep well, dr whittaker. - I'm not doctor, mrs frith.

Being one is what got me in this,

oh, I am sorry.

But you're scientific anyway, you must be.

Are you writing a book, might I ask? My last gentleman was.

The book's already been written, mrs frith.

I'm just tidying up the end of a few chapters.

- I'll see you tomorrow, then. - Tomorrow?

I thought you were going to settle me in and go on a holiday.

Oh, it didn't seem fair.

I was only going to my sister's and now I've got a good excuse not to.

I'll bring you some nice, fresh mushrooms for your breakfast.

- Night-night. - Goodnight, mrs frith.

Smooth as silk.

Foolproof. A pushover.

Bloomin' head!

Padlock was off the gate.

It's not foxes, there would have been blood and feathers everywhere.

I think they've been poisoned.

Oh, well, it was my idea to call you.

Oh, thanks a lot.

It was Barney's as well. He sad something about a letter?

- Morning, Jim. - Oh, good morning.

- My god, what happened here? - We were hoping you could tell us.

- We'll leave you to it. - Aye.

Damn and blast.

- That's a nasty cut. - Bad-tempered cats.

Could be a virus. Or could be mass hysteria.

Probably some freak with rat poison.

I'll take a couple and do an analysis.

Strange. Very strange.

There may be more to it than a simple case of poisoning.

In any event, I think we keep it as quiet as possible.

Oh, well, it's nothing I'm likely to gossip about over breakfast.

Not that I feel like any at the moment.

And I'll have that part of the garden shut off.

And discretion is Jim bergerac's middle name.

Probably something in the water.

Then there's this stiffness. I've never seen it before.

They just looked dead to me.

How long will the results take?

What's wrong?

You okay?

You're up early, mr whittaker.

I need very little rest and...

- Early? - No, I don't suppose so.

Richard's still sleeping off his nerves.

- There's no need for any. - Not yet, anyway.

Nor in the foreseeable future. Where, for what I have left of it.

I should spend my time looking back on the past.

Richard and I might want more than that.

I know you might, my dear.

I knew that when you joined this enterprise

and I was always less than eager to include you.

But it's under way now.

And still on my terms, miss manton. Richard seems satisfied.

You think so?

You think he'll go back?

To being a dogsbody in a white coat to a bunch of snot-nosed phds?

It's all he's qualified for.

I'd like a post-mortem as soon as possible, please. Okay?

Right.

"The dead chickens are just to show you

"that stuff what killed your hens can kill your patients.

"Not much of a hospital then, is it?

"This is going to cause you one mill on pounds in..."

Don't tell me. Krugerrands?

"And uncut industrials.

"Get it ready and no coppers, none at all"

- this is outrageous. - Yeah, well

firstly, have you any idea who might be responsible for that?

None at all

you got any inkling what kind of stuff they used?

Inkling, yes, I hope and pray I'm wrong.

What was it?

I can't tell you that.

Sir Matthew, we might have to insist.

Then we'll all have to refer to a higher authority.

I'd do that willingly but I rather wait until the post-mortem results are in.

All right, we'll wait. Let's start with what we've got, the letter.

Yeah, from a kid's exercise book. There are millions of those.

Three sets

of juvenile handwriting and probably a couple of dozen smeared prints.

It's very clever, innit?

I must congratulate you on the demand notes, miss manton.

Don't congratulate me, congratulate 4b.

English teaching was never like this at my prep school

much less dramatic expression.

No, you would've had the set books and essays twaddle.

And Bible reading.

Instead of projects kids can understand, they loved doling this one.

You should have seen the efforts on

"what would you do if you got pregnant in EastEnders?

I'd rather see osterson's face when he reads their current efforts.

Well, the spare keys aren't used often, but

that's a st of signatures of anybody who might have had them.

Thank you, matron, we'll talk to them.

Sergeant bergerac will take the addresses.

And the list, please, of all the patients

who've come and gone while the keys were missing, okay?

Yeah. Three shifts a day. 24 hours a day. That's exactly right. Ta.

Right, sir.

Every call you get will now be rerouted through a trace operator and recorded.

If you do get any calls, try and play for time, okay?

- All right. - Thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir Matthew.

Kruggerands and diamonds are clever,

somebody's heard that secret bank accounts aren't as secret as they were.

Oh, money's the least of it. There's a body involved now.

It's going to be the only lead we've got, Jim.

Listen, Barney, the note sad, "this stuff could poison all your patients.”

Now, this time it was a drinking trough and a few dead fowl

next time it could be a water tank and dead people.

Here at the nursing home, anywhere, a hotel maybe.

But still dead people and god knows how many.

The note also sad no police. None at all

so we've got to keep this, all of it, under wraps.

So much for the latest methods from Hamburg.

- Well, they needn't be wasted. - How?

You're owed a few favours, aren't you? Plug into every source you've got.

What for?

A complete breakdown of the life and times of sir Matthew osterson.

He's the one with the heat on him, let's find out why.

If you are going to take morning tea out here, miss,

I'd he obliged if you would use the breakfast crockery set out for it.

Thank you.

I'll see to it, mrs frith.

That's not your place, if I may say so, mr whittaker.

Starchy-drawered old cow.

A respecter of tradition, miss manton.

Not a breed you're familiar with. I'll talk to her.

Meanwhile, you'll do as she asks.

We've got a right board of governors here.

Till we've collected, yes.

Until then, it won't hurt you to mind your manners.

No, I suppose not. Keep up the crusade.

Whittaker doesn't want money, he just wants his own back.

Justice and compensation for having to die in a wheelchair.

We're going to live a lot longer than him, all right.

Where are you going?

Well, an important business appointment just cropped up.

Well, you can just uncrop it.

- What do you mean? - You are not going anywhere,

you can't stop me.

If you take one step outside this place, I'll slap you into protective custody.

- You can't do that. - You just watch me.

- But why? - Because whatever is happening here

is going to be kept completely, and I mean completely, under wraps.

- It's nothing to do with me. - Of course it is.

But how?

This song and dance you make about your annual decoke?

You leave here after 18 hours,

the entire island will know there's something badly wrong here, yes?

Oh, well, that's just the point, there might be.

Well, that's a chance you'll have to take, Charlie.

This is one sinking ship you're not going to desert.

- You're frightened as well, aren't you? - Yes.

I'm as put out as you are, mrs frith.

And that scruffy old bus in the professor's lovely garage?

Thank goodness it's out of sight.

Well, they just, as the young put it these days, dropped in.

- He isn't a relation, is he? - Oh, dear, no.

Just an ex-assistant of mine who's going through a bit of a bad patch.

And she will be his live-in... Whatever you call it.

- Whatever you call it. - And under this roof.

Oh, it'll only be for a couple of days. Now...

Kate, is Willy still on harbour detail?

No, he's checking something over at records for Jim.

I hope he's dodging the white slavers.

I can just see Willy nailed up in a crate for tangiers.

- Not a subject I know much ah out. - I could teach you.

- I'd bring my own crate. - I'm sure you would.

- This weekend, say? - Benjamin, you're a dear sweet boy.

But I honestly think Swedish au pairs are more your speed.

Wear your old uniform.

Now, what does our sergeant do with his time off?

Jim bergerac, instead of me?

- That's practically grave-robbing. - Just good taste.

Why order hamburger when there's steak on the menu?

Kate, I'm going to use the spare interview room to work in, okay?

Now, Ben, you move in there, put in a couple of extra desks

and send Willy in when he's through with records, okay?

Getting very private all of a sudden, aren't we?

You'd better believe it.

Ah, Julie, I've placed calls to Hamburg and London.

When they ring back, I'll take them on the private line.

Now put the chief on.

Normal nursing home morning. No alarms, no fuss.

-No boys in blue, -i didn't expect there to be.

We should have asked for more than a million.

- A lot more. - All I want is what's due to me.

No, no, no, Matthew. I thought I'd stick around for a bit,

it's the least I can do. Moral support and all that.

I appreciate it. A lot of my so-called friends would have cleared off.

Oh, not your real friends, Matthew.

- A package for you, sir Matthew. - Oh.

We're dealing with certainly extortion,

possibly a murder and maybe mass poison.

Yes, Ben, that is why it is private.

Under wraps, no noise, no fuss, no panic in the streets, okay?

Yeah.

Right, Willy, you check out all the staff at the cedars nursing home.

- Right. - Now Ben, these are some of the patients

that have checked in and out of the place recently.

Find out where they live, what they do and if they are who they say they are.

Okay? I'll check the rest.

Now, listen to this very carefully

and do exactly as you are told,

if you're sensible, and you are,

you will now have a million pounds in the specified form.

This is the procedure you will follow.

In at the front door, bold as brass,

and out again before you can say "knife". Sloppy.

Low-key is low-key, you can't have it both ways.

As it happens, the chief agrees with you.

Oh, good.

Which means you get to be put in charge.

Ah, so it's easier for sergeant's head to roll than a superintendent, yeah?

That's probably part of the thinking.

So, what have we got?

Death by nerve agent, soluble in water.

And these people say they've got enough to knock off a whole nursing home?

Or more. We don't know how much they've got.

I sad no interruptions.

Sir David on the line, superintendent.

Put him on. Sir David, Crozier.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir, I understand.

We're to pay what they're asking.

Oh, great. Raid the petty cash?

He sad we are to do our utmost to apprehend them,

but on no account, repeat, on no account are the public to be put at risk.

That's easier sad than done, isn't it?

They're coming back.

I couldn't find a thing.

Well, he wouldn't carry it on him, it's too risky.

Break a phial like that and its good night Vienna.

We need it, Richard.

A job a year and a rich, golden future.

He'll have it stashed away somewhere crafty, he'll never tell us where.

He might. There might be a way. Let's get the million first.

Follow the instructions you've received to the exact letter.

I don't need to remind you of the consequences.

See, it's, "I don't need to remind you."

It's the leading on the pronouns.

Well, I didn't notice it and that's the tense type.

Well, let's look at it.

You've had a long and successful scientific career,

sometimes in very controversial areas? You must have made some enemies.

Yes, disagreements with colleagues, disputes about procedure, publication.

- But none that would lead to this. - You sure?

Certainly no woman.

Well, it's probably not 2 woman sending it.

Any clever man would never use any version of his own voice.

Could you please concentrate on the period

you were concerned with nerve agents?

I'm not allowed to discuss that.

Besides, it was years ago, I was always an administrator

rather than an active bench participant.

Okay. Just after that,

you chaired professional tribunals, didn't you? What were they about?

Job status, ethics and procedures, acceptable working conditions.

- Acceptable, how? - In terms of health and safety,

some negligence claims.

So, you were sitting in judgement, yeah?

Put like that, I suppose I was.

I've seen a lot of people taken from the court swearing they'll get to the judge.

Yes, but this was quite different. I never met the people concerned.

- They wouldn't know who I was. - I wonder.

Anyway, I'd like you to go carefully through the period of the tribunal,

see if you can sift out any decision you made

which might cause someone to bear you a deep, lasting grudge.

Yeah... yeah, so you arrived home safe and well?

Still resting, are you? Good, good.

Yeah, of course I know Saunders...

Oh, you weren't staying at the nursing home last night, then?

Yeah, it's all on your record, yeah.

Let's hope the improvement continues. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye.

No, no. No, of course it won't go any further.

All right. Thanks. Bye-bye.

Wonder what it's like with a lady osteopath?

-I'll make some coffee, -yeah, it's better for you.

Hello, can I speak to mr whittaker, please?

I'm sorry, dr whittaker.

Well, this is the forwarding address and number I have for him.

I see. When did he sell you the house?

Right, that was about six months ago?

Do you know where in america? Did he say which state?

No. No, thanks a lot. Bye-bye.

- Get that down your neck. - Cheers.

Yeah, can I have matron, please?

It was a wonderful spread, mrs frith, and thank you very much.

Oh, thank you, mr hungerford. But I still think it's too much.

Nonsense, nonsense. Personal touch catering is very hard to come by.

Oh, matron's in a hurry.

Matrons always are, usually after me with something unpleasant, eh?

You know, I ought to come and take a complete rest cure with you, mrs frith.

By the way, how are things up at the professor's house?

Oh, the new gentleman is very nice.

An invalid, mind you. But never a word of complaint.

And he gets ah out in his chair marvellously.

I'm not so keen on those spongers that dropped in on him, though.

Oh, freeloaders everywhere.

Once they find out you've got a place in the sun.

I know, I've suffered from it for years. Holidays on the cheap, eh?

Well, goodbye, mrs frith. Thank you again.

Thank you.

Don't fall off your bike. Take care. Bye.

A lot of these cases are scientists

claiming illness because of the work they were doing, yeah?

And often wrongly. You have to remember it was comparatively early days

of pharmacology and genetics.

All sorts of exposure to all sorts of odd substances.

Well, you were dealing with nerve agents, weren't you?

Stuff to kill people.

A lot of beneficial drugs are toxic, sergeant.

What about these two?

Crane Jay, he tried to blame it on the lab work

but it was straightforward carcinoma, there was an early note from a gp.

This one?

Wilburson, I came in at the end of that.

Pathetic. Tragic, if you like, ironic, too.

He was working on experiments organised initially by me.

What happened?

Contracted a wasting disease, affliction of the nervous system.

Blamed it on the work, could never be proved.

- Did he claim compensation? - Yes.

I was chairman of the board that threw it out.

Name, wilburson.

Initial, h.

Okay, Jim. I'm going to ask for a complete ID,

including last known whereabouts and a recent picture.

But could I remind you that we are digging into the registers

of a top-level government scientific department, okay?

I know. Okay, get off the line.

Certainly I remember mr whittaker.

But he's a very nice man.

Yeah, I'm sure, but we still need to get the photo fit.

It doesn't take long. Unless we're looking for someone like DC pettit.

And then we ask Picasso.

- You're being unkind. - Professional jealousy.

No, he means concentrate on the typical expressions,

impressions, rather than features and details.

It'll all whizz through on the screen.

You finish your tea and I'll take you along.

I should have thought the wheelchair would have been the biggest help.

Everybody I've dished these out to wants to know why we're looking for him,

locate him, make it unintrusive and let us know.

Do not on any account approach him. That was what Jim sad.

They'll think we're taking a vow of silence.

Yeah, that or it's your vow of chastity,

then we're down for some really funny looks.

The likeness is near enough,

if you take into account 20 years of chronic illness.

How much compensation was he asking for?

Three quarters of a million.

Now plus a quarter more for his fleet-footed little helpers.

You can't say he's turning greedy, can you?

You, sir Matthew, will make the delivery,

in the specified form, at the specified place.

I would remind you that you will be in a very crowded place.

You know the risks that might be run

if any foreign substances were to go astray there.

Right. Tomorrow, then.

- I'll say goodnight. - Goodnight.

Where's the drop?

- Market. - Just us?

- Just us. - Right.

- Goodnight, Jim. - Goodnight.

Goodnight.

Try and head them off.

Half that town, he sad. A million pounds is nowhere near enough.

We get that phial off whittaker and we can work a nursing home a year.

We'll get it.

I'm sorry, sir Matthew, but it was very slickly done.

Ah, typical

it was the crowds, Charlie, we couldn't take chances.

Any other leads?

Yeah, well, there's some talk of a mysterious man in a wheelchair.

- Wheelchair? - Yeah.

Only, this new fellow up at the professor's house,

he's in a wheelchair, mrs frith was saying.

Right. Labelled as instructed.

And worth certificates of provenance for the diamonds.

You have an address in France to dispose off yours.

- But what about yours? - A different address.

I suggest a day trip after you've ditched the bus.

And a disappearance before you make the same.

The gold will finance you.

- As planned and you got what you want. - Yes.

We haven't.

That... oh, Richard.

Was to be expected.

Half a million.

If you'll pardon the expression,

it's still chicken feed to what you're holding.

- Which is? - The phial Richard lifted for you.

Give us that, keep your share. And we'll be on our way.

- Not a chance. Absolutely none. - Oh, we could persuade you.

You sad one drop would be enough.

And it was. I've got more than that left.

Any death threat against me is a waste of time.

Yes.

But that charming mrs frith should be here soon.

- Barney? - I'm listening.

You don't even know how the stuff they got works, do you?

- Nor do you. - But we know it killed Alan bruton.

If we all charge in there, they could panic.

Kill mrs frith and anyone else who gets in the way.

I hope you noticed that oil drip

from your dirty old Van in the garage, young man.

And I hope you'll be good enough to clean it up before you leave.

I put sawdust down, but that's only a stopgap.

I shall be in the garden if you require anything, mr whittaker.

You might just require yourself a face full of synthetic hemlock.

Hello, yes?

Mrs frith? No, I'm afraid she's not here at the moment.

No, we're not expecting her.

A woman's voice, sounded like the one on the tape recorder.

- Barney? - Okay, Jim.

Nice and quiet. At least to start with.

If that's the professor's place, guv, I know it.

It's not going to be that easy to get close to.

- As close as we can, okay? - Okay.

What is this stuff you're all so frightened of?

Where is the phial?

It could be anywhere, my dear.

I've had lots of time. Here, for instance.

Look at all the drawers and cupboards you can rummage in.

Why don't you just take all the money and walk out?

Because there's a lot more where that came from.

Why don't you just give us the phial?

Because of a deep moral aversion to destruction and greed.

Bit late, aren't you, doc? You helped develop the stuff.

Mrs frith, we'll have our coffee now.

Sergeant bergerac, you're just in time for coffee.

Mrs frith.

Mrs frith!

Come in, sergeant.

Do as they say, please, sergeant.

- Explain to him, doc. - He doesn't need to.

- Good. Richard, get his handcuffs. - They're in the car.

Thieves fallen out, are they?

- Yes. - Don't they always?

What do they want? More?

- Yes. - Give it to them.

A sensible policeman for once., obviously a village copper.

They told you about the dead vet?

No, they didn't.

What exactly do they want?

Enough to kill another 20,000.

Sergeant

You've killed him.

We've blown it! We've blown it! We'll never find it now.

Yes, we will, in the one thing he wouldn't leave.

- Why don't we go straight in? - Check the back fields again

and all roadblocks are in place and tell everybody five minutes, okay?

Stop wriggling, you old cow, or I'll break your neck.

Believe her, mrs frith. She's taken lessons.

Oh, Jesus.

- Is that all it is? - Yes.

Looks like something out of a kid's chemistry set.

I hope it's the nearest you'll see to play wagons

rattling through the streets.

You'd probably book them for obstruction, knowing you.