Ragdoll (2021) s01e01 Episode Script

1 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING.]
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING.]
[REPORTERS CLAMORING.]
It wasn't me.
Rose? I want you to know that I wrote that letter.
I reported you.
But I didn't give it to the p-press.
Don't embarrass yourself, Chambers.
[SIGHS.]
COURT CLERK: All rise! WINGATE: In light of these allegations, not only were multiple witness statements deemed inadmissible but the electronic messages upon which The Crown built its prosecution, were obtained without a warrant.
I can only apologize to the victims and their families.
The police have let you down.
Mr.
Hooper, you are a free man.
You may apply to court to cover your costs.
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING.]
[PEOPLE SCREAMING.]
[THEME SONG PLAYING.]
Always a fight Keep your mind intact Re-live the fire When you're looking back 'Cause it's over Yes, it's over When it's all over Life just seems a dream Yet it's so real So real When it's all over All over [PHONE VIBRATING.]
Rose Hmm Let me get a pen.
How many, by the way? How partial? Huh.
153, Halcross.
House [SIRENS APPROACHING.]
ROSE: Ey up! How was traffic? There goes the neighborhood.
Etcetera.
That's not your bike.
I don't wanna freak you out, ma'am, but I think it's been, er, stolen.
Oh, that fits.
Listen, it beats the loony bin.
- Psychiatric facility.
- I think ''loony bin'' better reflects my lived experience of that absolute hellhole.
Talking of hellholes Oh.
Legoland.
Next weekend.
Are you in? Will you let me smoke? Eh, they'll smell it on your clothes.
So tell your nieces not to get so close to me.
- They like you.
- I can't live my life in fear of getting hugged.
Oh, that's what you're afraid of? Not the guy you busted for killing three lads with a claw hammer.
Brick hammer, thinking man's claw.
Didn't mind pinning him down, disarming him.
Loved it.
And you know you're okay? You, of all people, asking me if I'm ok Hey, I'm mindful now.
I've got three meditation apps and a key of Ayahuasca back at the flat.
Good.
I'm not gonna get triggered the next time I hear MC Hammer.
POLICE OFFICER: Sir? Er, DI Baxter? That's Baxter, you clown.
POLICE OFFICER: Sorry, ma'am.
- BAXTER: Thanks.
- I got you.
The elevator's not great, but the stairs are horrific.
Hmm.
Usually it's the other way round.
It's not necessarily significant, just an observation.
It's oat milk.
- - [UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING.]
- FINLAY: Thank you.
- BAXTER: How bad? They're going to make a podcast out of this one.
[MUSIC STOPS.]
After you, ma'am.
Oh, right leg belongs to a Black male, the left leg to a Caucasian female, the right arm to an East Asian female, the left arm to a Caucasian male, a [SIGHS.]
Caucasian male torso and a Caucasian male head.
Well, it's not the strangest thing I've ever seen.
- Top ten? - Seventh? Remember the dead man alone in the locked panic room? Oh, yeah, he was great.
BAXTER: He was my top three, for the sheer chutzpah.
ROSE: Clean cuts.
Post-mortem? It's thawing.
All the limbs were frozen.
The torso and head are fresh.
So what are we calling this guy? Loco Chanel? - BAXTER: Issy Mi-yucky.
- Tommy Killfingers.
- Michael Kor-pse.
- The Prada murdara? You've got to work your chat.
What is that? Mint.
I, I got it from the cafe.
It's a thing in Morocco, when you visit a leatherworks, - the cowhides smell so the - BAXTER: Okay.
EDMUNDS: I looked in a drug store, but all the mentholated products contained palm oil.
And I'm trying to go a year without buying it.
I thought the biggest issue would be shampoo.
Emily? Who does that look like? - Hooper.
- Mark Hooper? The Cremation Killer.
And that's an example of a lazy nickname.
Because usually you get cremated after you're dead.
So it underplays what a massive wanker Mark Hooper actually was.
But isn't Hooper in prison? Let's find out.
[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING.]
Lemon juice.
Leave it in five minutes.
Thanks.
I'm sorry I, I'm taking a moment to acclimatize.
In my head, New Jersey's filled with mobsters doing horrible shit.
Well, I was a cop in my hometown, like a college town.
We had a female mayor, lot of craft beer.
The violence was mostly economic.
So it was quiet.
Why d'you move? I met a British post-grad.
She was leaving at the end of the semester and I was like, "If not now, when?" And then I spent three years over here listening to my professors talking about politics.
And I realized, this is what they're gonna do for the rest of their lives, just talk.
Yeah.
Women from the non-profit space still struggle to be heard, unless they have experiences which speak to conservative preconceptions of what constitutes a good leader.
And your solution to that is you're gonna catch a serial killer? Well, they're universally unpopular.
Even other white dudes are like, "Hmm, no, he's not with us.
" You're very sure of yourself.
I'm actually very self-critical, because I know my potential more than anyone.
So, did you and Rose always vibe? Well, he was my DI to start with But did he always have your back, with the other guys in the unit? Yeah, I know it's blokey, but it's not Lord of the Flies.
You're doing fine.
Anyway, being Rose's mate was a catastrophic career move.
But he was never charged, for the assault on Mark Hooper.
Rose was suffering from PTSD.
He made a full recovery.
Well, he was released.
They're very different things.
[CELLPHONE VIBRATING.]
I've got to take this, it's Simmons.
Will you start without me? It's something he ate? What, like a bad oyster? I thought prison food was 80 to 95 percent carbs.
He died Thursday in the prison canteen.
That's all I know.
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING.]
Fuck a duck.
FINLAY: And before you attempt to be witty, these are for Baxter and her claw-hammer chap.
A brick hammer, very different.
Hmm, you single-handedly get a murderer consecutive life sentences and they treat you like Mariah Carey.
Technically, he's a serial killer.
Well, that threshold needs to be higher.
Three kills, that's barely a spree.
Any luck with the landlord? He sublet the flat to a bloke online.
The bloke paid in cash, envelopes through the letterbox.
Well, I've got some juicy clues.
Scar on the left arm, but that's from an op.
It's getting X-rayed.
And the right arm comes with a surprisingly good tattoo of a Pomeranian.
And then there's old TBC.
[CELL DOORS CLOSING.]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
Hooper was killed by tetrodotoxin, a naturally-occurring neurotoxin.
Apparently, you get it in blowfish.
I did notify your unit liaison.
DI Chambers, he's on leave.
Well, that'll be why then.
We need to speak to all your staff and all the prisoners who ate in the canteen the day Hooper died.
Wait, what are you talking about? Well, I'm assuming you haven't had multiple fatalities, which means someone in here specifically targeted Hooper.
No.
Mark Hooper had recently become the only vegan in maximum security.
Oh, was that part of a rehabilitation program? He was a sociopath.
He just wanted to feel special.
I'm guessing his food had to be prepared off-site.
At great expense.
Makes you want to bring back hanging.
BAXTER: That's why it rings a bell.
There's that episode of The Simpsons.
Homer's never eaten sushi before, he gets poisoned by a blowfish.
I've never really seen the show.
I know the memes.
Oh, God.
Get onto the caterers.
Hooper's food was either poisoned on their premises or in transit to the prison.
My guess is, they're vegans, they'll have crap security.
I'm vegan.
Oh, I mean, that was never in doubt.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
- Hooper? - He was poisoned.
Die in agony? It's meant to be painless.
But, long and drawn-out? Almost instantaneous.
[ROSE SIGHS.]
- I hate that I was right.
- No, you don't.
Yeah, maybe.
Just 'cause I was right, doesn't make me well.
Don't let him beat you.
Don't spin out.
No one knew you were going to move into that flat.
Our man didn't stitch together that rank Pinocchio in the time it took you to assemble a sofa.
Think about the frozen arm.
This is months in the planning.
So listen to me, this is a sick coincidence, until further notice.
Honestly, if it's too much, I can get you reassigned.
- I'd miss you.
- No.
You're right.
THERAPIST: Are you comfortable? I want you to follow the light with your eyes, from side to side.
Let your mind go blank.
Follow the light and tell me where it takes you.
Tell me what you notice.
Tell me what you feel.
Where are we? ROSE: I'm seeing where they sent me.
Locked me up.
Shot me full of tetrahedra-something.
[SQUEAKING.]
[SQUEAKING CONTINUES.]
THERAPIST: And this is Joel? Joel, yeah.
Paranoid schizophrenic, the whole shebang.
He was your neighbor on the ward? He was my friend.
THERAPIST: Why now? On the day Mark Hooper's found dead, why remember Joel? He'll kill anyone you want, you just say the name.
- You spoke to him.
- I owed it to Teresa.
NEWSREADER: Mark Hooper has been arrested and charged with the murder matching the chilling and sadistic crimes of the Cremation Killer.
Hooper was charged with the murder of eight people, but in August, Hooper's trial collapsed.
When a member of the Murder Investigation Team, Detective Sergeant Nathan Rose, was accused of obtaining those crucial messages without a warrant.
Thanks to DS Rose, Mark Hooper was freed.
Yesterday, he was arrested at the scene of a murder bearing all the hallmarks of the Cremation Killer.
The victim, a man in his [ROSE SCREAMS.]
He went over it again and again, but he was lucid.
He wanted me to know exactly what it felt like to find his sister, Teresa.
And he told you about her murder because, you're a police officer? Joel didn't have any faith in us.
[SIGHS.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
ROSE: Oh, anything from the prison caterers? A possible intruder last week, specifically this, silhouette.
Yes! Take the rest of the day off! Will that be all? It was just a joke.
I know that there are a lot of unknowns right now and I'm only telling you this because I really want us to succeed, but I do not respond to that tone.
Edmunds, do you mind? Yeah.
I hate having to apologize for really weak jokes.
When do you ever apologize? That's what I'm saying, I don't want to apologize.
What? Nothing.
Technically, today would have been my dad's 60th.
Oh, you see your brothers tonight? - Best behavior.
- No.
I can't get home in time.
[SIGHS.]
It's not worth showing up, dressed like this.
- Too much ammo.
- Sure.
Diamonds platinum Cruising the sun All on your credit card The things we do for love Love, love Love will make you blind and crazy Love will make your vision hazy Love, love All the little things we do for love Love Love will make you blind and crazy Love will make your vision hazy La, la, la, la, ooh La, la, la, la Ooh, all the crazy little things we do The things we do for love [MUSIC FADES.]
[INAUDIBLE CONVERSATIONS.]
Oi, oi, Jackie O.
They're taking the piss.
Well, he is the Mayor of London.
You've heard him banging on about Rose, using his mental breakdown to score points against us.
And what does "rebooting" the police even mean? Maybe he wants to switch us off, then switch us back on again? It's not more officers or more support, it's cuts.
- Hmm.
- Pillock.
- RECEPTIONIST: DI Baxter - Oh, for God's sake.
Rafael Orfao.
He was fourteen.
And you gave his family some closure.
Be proud of yourself.
[MIC FEEDBACK.]
Yesterday, the remains of six people were recovered - from an address in Deptford.
- [DOOR OPENS.]
- On entering the apartment - ANDREA: Rose? BAXTER: they found the remains of six people.
This is now being treated - as a murder investigation.
- ANDREA: Is this a grudge? I didn't make Chambers write that letter.
- Your paper printed it.
- I defended you.
You pulled your punches, barely.
I had to write something.
They were desperate to give my job to the intern.
She just sits on her peachy ass re-tweeting Reuters.
[BAXTER CHUCKLES.]
So come on, what's the deal with this? Honestly, this is a non-story.
- Six dead? - They died of boredom.
ROSE: Hmm.
There's a poem.
It's about using sex to deceive yourselves.
It goes, "I know that you know, that I know that you know, "that I know that you know that, I know.
" That's why there's so much money in poetry.
[BOTH LAUGH.]
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION.]
No suspects have been identified at this moment.
We would like to invite two The fact that you're lying - just got me really hard for this story.
- [REPORTERS CLAMORING.]
if they have any information on missing persons in the area.
Thank you.
- You did great, ma'am.
- That's such a pointless lie.
Wait for Rose.
Coordinate with missing persons.
[DOOR OPENS.]
[ELEVATOR BELL DINGS.]
I know Andrea from years ago, pre-Leveson days, back when we all used to drink in the same pubs.
Ah.
Press-police fluidity.
Well, there were fluids involved.
- Don't pull a face.
- I'm not, pulling a face.
Everybody did it.
Chambers got his end away with the editor of the Funday Times.
You are, you are pulling a completely impassive, dead face.
That's so strange, because I'm finding it hilarious.
You'll get it when he comes back from holiday.
Unless he chokes to death on a piña colada.
How do you and Chambers maintain a professional relationship? Oh, you mean after I broke his arm? And his complaint about you during the Hooper investigation, that was, that was a lot.
- You read about that? - Oh, yeah.
It was my first experience of the British tabloids.
It was like watching a pack of homeless guys trying to fuck the same dog in a dumpster.
[ROSE CHUCKLES.]
Yeah, that's fair.
Do you think he regrets writing the letter? Would he do it again? Americans are too polite.
You want to know what a psychotic liability like me is doing back at work.
I just assumed you were a Freemason.
[ROSE LAUGHS.]
Get some gloves! And get Simmons! [INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING.]
SIMMONS: We don't know it's from Donatella Ver-sach-eurgh? You do get a lot of post.
FINLAY: Rose has admirers from the Hooper trial.
A lot of whatever the kind word is for cat-ladies.
The Rose Buds.
The Moan Roses.
They send me knickers, unsolicited photos Please don't be proud of that.
[PAPER RUSTLING.]
One.
Ray Turnbull.
Sir, do you think we should be concerned he could mean the Ray Turnbull, the Mayor of London? Yes.
DC, State-the-Shitting-Obvious.
It's DC Edmunds, sir.
Two, Nick Hooper.
Three, Eric Turner.
Four, Matthew Wingate.
Five, Andrew Daly.
Six, Nathan Rose.
Nate? Nothing.
I mean, it is what it is.
It's not that bad.
You're on a kill list.
Well, we always knew I had a certain, Marmite quality.
SIMMONS: That's the spirit.
With me, Houdini.
- Marmite is a kind of tarry yeast.
- I'm sorry.
Sorry, DCI Simmons, but is that appropriate? Is it smart to involve Rose? It is not personal.
Clearly, he antagonizes the killer, plus the Mark Hooper of it all? This doodling prick doesn't get to dictate who's on my team, and nor do you.
BAXTER: There are two sets of people we need to ID.
First, the body parts recovered yesterday.
The individual, arms, legs and torso, sewn together into the whatever-we're-calling-it.
FINLAY: Edward Different-Hands? The Ragdoll? Ragdoll it is, nice and simple.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, who's this guy? I'm a technical officer.
The projector wasn't working.
- It's a good thing I was here.
- You're kidding me? I.
T.
get to name our grisly discoveries? Second the list of six names DS Rose received in the post today.
One has been identified as the Mayor, Ray Turnbull.
Another has been identified as DS Rose.
[SIRENS WAILING.]
I want armed protection officers on every entrance.
Stop the lifts.
Turn off the air.
[ENGINE WHIRRING.]
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING.]
TURNBULL: These protection lads do my head in.
I was on my way here anyway and they pitch up and bundle me into the back of the car.
Ray! This isn't a joke.
This-is-happening now! Well, I didn't want to stand around making speeches outside, anyway.
My hay fever's rank in this weather.
Your asthma's rank all year round.
- What about the children? - They're all in France.
Oh, shit.
There is another one, too, different mom.
Keep it under your hat.
[TURNBULL BREATHING HEAVILY.]
Please don't stop, sir.
It's just the 11 floors to go.
What did I ever do to you? I remember you calling me a "fascist" on television.
Chop, chop.
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING.]
[INAUDIBLE CONVERSATION.]
TURNBULL: What is this, a florist? SIMMONS: Just in here.
All right.
I'd get comfortable.
What are you gonna do? Catch the prick? Will that take long? Ma'am! - BAXTER: Hmm.
- The tattoo, the Pomeranian.
I thought it was a fat husky.
It's all drawn in one continuous line.
It's by an artist called Hau, H-A-U.
- What is this? - Scroll down.
Look, there's the Pomeranian or fat husky.
Where is he? Hau is doing a residency at a studio called Halloween Parade.
- It's - I know it.
It's off the Stockwell Road.
And it's 100 meters from the spot where Rafael Orfao was murdered.
Come on.
Or even ten years ago, if you had a bloody huge neck tattoo, I'd arrest you on principle.
Now you just look like any another barista.
How do you know about all this shit? Oh, okay.
Jesus! As long as it stays under the uniform, yes? Yeah.
Don't worry, my therapist says this is about compartmentalization.
Ah, so the risk is the reward? You get a kick from trusting a stranger to give you a pre-determined scar? Yeah, the trust is kinda non-negotiable.
I dated someone who tried to tattoo an X on their own arm, - ended up looking like a swastika.
- [BAXTER CHUCKLES.]
Ironically she broke up with me for becoming a cop.
Fair enough.
I wanna piece of like, like sacred geometry.
Actually I was inspired by your flowers.
- Those dahlias.
- Ah.
- If you want them, you can have them.
- Oh, no, ma'am.
It's super-important to let yourself accept praise.
You know what? Just wait in the car.
Sarnie? It's cheese.
Shut the door! I'm getting a back-draft of bloody pollen.
This, erm, this Ragdoll.
We're not definitely calling it that.
The killer's got a bee in their bonnet about Mark Hooper.
Yeah.
I imagine it's about that photo shoot.
Mark Hooper, shaking your hand from his hospital bed.
Listen, I will never condone brazen police brutality.
Maybe it plays in Brexit-on-Sea.
Not in London.
Now, if Hooper had mysteriously died in his cell one night.
- [TURNBULL CHUCKLES.]
- Right, so if I'd done an Epstein, hanged him with his paper pajamas.
You'd be DCI.
[CHUCKLES.]
[DOORBELL RINGS.]
Detective? Is there a problemo? No, no.
No big problemo.
Eh they, si, eh I just want to protect my community to the best of my abilities.
I'm not looking for any special treatment.
I'd Oh, obrigada.
Erm, I don't want my colleagues to think that this is harder for me than it is for them, because that could affect the way that we communicate.
I am so sorry, I don't understand.
DI Chambers helped me catch your son's killer.
Would you send him flowers? I did not no send no flowers.
[BAXTER SIGHS.]
Oy! [SIREN WAILING IN DISTANCE.]
So you've got nothing against brutality in principle? There's celery in this.
[SIREN CONTINUES WAILING.]
I don't even care anymore, I'm having a cigarette.
- People love a maverick.
- Isn't that the truth? Put a sock over the fire alarm, will you? Call Rose! [PHONE RINGS.]
[PHONE RINGS.]
[PHONE RINGS.]
[SCREAMING.]
Help! Help! [FIRE ALARM BLARING.]
Baxter! You were meant to be watching him.
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING.]
[DOOR BUZZING.]
He'll kill anyone you want, you just say the name.
The deal is, he'll kill you too.
- Who did this? - Nathan.
- Sorry.
- I'm glad to see you looking so well.
Yeah.
I'm here to see, er, Joel Shepton.
Ah.
I'm afraid Joel died.
He hanged himself twelve months ago.
Thank you.
[DOG BARKING.]
Do you want me to come up? No, you're all right.
I don't think he's going to be hiding under my bed.
This guy's got loftier ambitions.
[BAXTER CHUCKLES.]
You know you can talk to me.
Yeah, always.
[MUSIC PLAYING ON THE RADIO.]
Ah it's a good one.
Hmm.
You know, the lady in the flat below me is a schizophrenic.
Or at least, er, she acts like my neighbor in the loony bin, this guy named Joel.
Only, she puts on music to drown out the screams.
The thing is, it's really good.
So most nights I find myself Shazamming her episodes.
[BOTH LAUGH.]
You're the reason I'm here, Baxy.
The only reason.
Hmm.
Get some sleep, mate.
Yeah, yeah.
[ROSE SIGHS.]
Yeah.
THERAPIST: It's late, Nathan.
Do you think he was driven mad by his quest for justice? You don't deserve to die, Joel.
I will die with peace of mind.
Joel told me about The Faust.
You go to The Faust.
And you name one person you want dead.
Deal is, he'll kill you too.
So you did this? You spoke to him? I owe it to Teresa.
It's not meant to be cruel.
So Joel named his sister's killer.
So he put his, his faith in a higher power? I guess he lived in hope.
An eye for an eye, a wild justice? Does that appeal to you? Let me have it, the number.
Are you sure? Here.
Do you think The Faust is real? Is that why you called me tonight? Did you believe him? Nathan? [COINS CLANKING.]
[PHONE DIALING.]
[LINE RINGING.]
The Faust isn't real.
Are you sure? [LINE RINGING.]
This is Nathan Rose.
I want you to kill Mark Hooper.