Shoestring (1979) s01e03 Episode Script

Lengthen your stride, Wadell.
Come on, easy action.
That's better.
Good, good.
Oh Catch straight to mid wicket.
Stand up to it, Nicolas.
More confidence, boy.
Come on, Cunningham.
That's right.
Nice rhythm.
Good.
That's better.
Well done, well done.
- How nice of you to come.
- This is Matthew.
- Hello, Matthew.
- Hello.
- James.
- Hello, James.
My husband's over by the nets.
I'll go and fetch him.
Nice, long stride.
Easy action.
That's it.
Good, good.
Oh! Now your head's coming up, Nicolas, all the time.
Keep your head down, lad.
Keep the head back.
The ball comes to you, keep your head down.
Play under the foot, right? - Sir.
- Here.
Carry on, boys.
I'm needed back at the study.
This is a school with a high recommendation Splendid, splendid.
Perhaps the boys would like to watch the cricket practice first.
- They're rather shy.
- Oh, we shall fix that.
Higher Ground's a very rugged name.
An army term, if I'm not mistaken.
Yes.
Well, here we are.
Same person, isn't it? Hmm? You know what I mean.
Same person been hounding us for weeks.
Hounding us? Yes, us and the school, trying to put us out of business.
Now, who should want to do that, my dear? - These incidents - Pranks.
No, Ross.
Dead sheep in the water tank.
- Fire in the storeroom.
- That was an accident.
Was it? Do you really think so? - Now this? I've got to tell the police.
- No.
- But why, for heaven's sake? - You know very well why.
It could be one of the boys.
In which case, I shall handle it myself.
Discreetly.
If we inform the police, the school's good name could be very bad news.
We don't want that sort of publicity.
Am I right? Then, let me handle it in my own way.
Come on.
Try this.
Oh, no! No, definitely.
Look, it No hat, it doesn't even fit.
Yes, the hat.
It's the Sam Spade image.
Don, this is ridiculous.
Don't be so coy, Eddie.
It's perfect for our ad campaign.
Phil here is our poster genius.
We're going to plug you in the papers and on the buses.
It'll look like something out of a B movie.
We want to dramatise you, Eddie.
Trust me, this will have the right impact.
I'm a voice, not a celebrity.
I need to preserve my anonymity.
Don't worry, even your best friend won't recognise you.
Just try the hat for a couple of shots.
Oh! Your car's waiting, Mr Satchley.
Right.
It's you, sailor, you'll be a superstar.
Goodbye, Don.
Relax while I reload, will you? I like the hat.
You can have it.
The phone-in girl thought you'd like to hear the tape now, since your present job's fallen down.
Go ahead, Mrs Hansford, we can take your call now.
Isn't Mr Shoestring there? No, but I'll pass on your message.
I'd like to see him urgently.
Somewhere private at first, you understand.
It's to do with my husband but Well, it isn't just the usual marital problem.
If he phones me, the number is Gladfield-424.
It's a dreadful sight.
Not the first time something like this has happened.
Dead birds littered everywhere, dozens of them.
Made our stomach turn over.
It isn't easy talking to a stranger like this.
Well, you called me Mrs Hansford.
If you want me to help, you have to tell me something about the Major.
Yes, I know, but it is rather difficult.
I suppose he'd have you shot for treason if he knew what we were discussing.
Something like that.
How's that! What about the members of staff? Oh, we're not a large school, Mr Shoestring.
We only have three other members besides the Major and myself.
Mr Wavel and Miss Blair, both nearing retirement.
Mr Mallette who's been off sick for a month, just come back today.
I hardly think any of them would be connected with a vendetta against my husband.
The reason I believe it's being directly aimed at Ross is he's having unpleasant phone calls as well.
From whom? I don't know, he won't say.
But they definitely upset him.
And he's not easily shaken, he's a very strong man inside.
Reserved kind of a person, is he? If you mean is he uncommunicative? Yes, I suppose he is.
So you have no idea why anybody should be getting at him? None at all.
I think I ought to explain that we married only five years ago.
As you can guess, he's older than I am.
He had a very full life before we met.
Well, do you know anything about that? No, very little, apart from odd reminiscences.
His past isn't something he'd talk to me about.
Most wives complain their husbands talk about nothing else.
Ross joined the army as a boy.
He served overseas a good deal.
When did he come out? About eight years ago.
He was moved aside in the end, for younger men, what he calls "schoolboy officers".
He was married and divorced, too, before we met.
That's another thing he doesn't talk to me about.
I wouldn't call that uncommunicative, I'd call it thoughtful.
Whatever's happening, Mr Shoestring, I don't want anything to happen to our lives.
I was turning into what you might call a professional spinster before we met.
Come on, let's go and watch the cricket.
- Enjoying the cricket? - I hate cricket.
It's too fast to follow, it makes me dizzy.
Good chance to look things over, though, isn't it? What, little schoolboys and overgrown ones? Just keep smiling, English rose.
We're thinking of sending our offspring to this place.
I haven't got a ring on.
Don't be daft.
You don't need one nowadays.
We haven't got a child.
He's nine years old with your big eyes, my general good looks, charm and intelligence.
And does this mighty offspring have a name? Eddie Junior.
Or if you prefer you can call him young Eric.
They've declared.
Tea will now be served in the marquee.
One thing I did overhear about your Major.
He believes implicitly in corporal punishment.
He did a radio broadcast on the subject a couple of weeks ago.
What's going on? What's happening? Excuse me.
We live in a world of violence.
And nobody should know better than the Major.
If you mean Northern Ireland, yes, I did serve there.
But that wouldn't make me, in a school context, a hard-liner either way.
Boys at my school simply know where they stand.
That's because you have borders in a hot-house atmosphere.
No, it's because we have strong ground rules for behaviour that go all the way down from headmaster to the nearest That old broadcast any help? - What? - That any help? No, none at all.
I'm trying to get a picture without going to the only reliable source, the Major himself.
Rod of iron, stiff upper lip, all that stuff.
I met him when he was here at the studio.
He mentioned he was in the South Western Command latterly.
That's no use.
Their filing cabinets are shellproof.
An old golfing friend of mine, Tom Clarke.
He's a civilian now working on a firing range.
But he used to be in the army.
I think some of it was spent here in the West Country.
But he knows everyone.
He's your man.
Oh, by the way.
There you are.
Oh, no.
When's the premiere? Thank you.
- You get everything at the market? - Hmm? Everything that's needed.
Or shall I go into town later? No, I I got it all.
What is it? The Woollens.
Want to take their boys away.
No explanation.
Ross, come for a walk at lunchtime.
Along the river.
- We'll take a picnic lunch.
- No, I can't, I'm too busy.
If you'll excuse me.
Yes, of course.
Pull! Fire.
Pull! Fire.
- Is that it? - Yeah.
- Uh, do you want a drink? - Right.
So, you're the famous Eddie Shoestring.
What can I do for you? Don Satchley said you might be able to help me.
It's a case I'm working on concerning a Major Hansford.
You know him, do you? Oh, three years I served under him, that was enough for me.
Tough, was he? Ah, he was one of those blokes who would have won medals if it had been a real war, you know what I mean? Being a peacetime soldier didn't suit him.
He got all bitter and twisted.
Me, I just served my time.
Enjoyed myself when I could.
It's not a bad life, really, you know.
You sounds like the advert.
No, Major Hansford couldn't lead cavalry charges so he took pleasure in all the detail and discipline.
Lived and breathed the bloody army 24 hours a day.
Mind you, his wife might have had something to do with that.
Was that his first wife? - Oh, he got married again, did he? - Yeah.
Yeah, he has.
What were you going to say about the first one? Well, she was a nutcase.
Yeah, yeah, famous for it.
Batty Betty the lads used to call her.
She used to turn up at the barracks, yelling at him.
You know, she chopped up his dress blues into little pieces once.
He showed me a camera one day, she'd been at it with a tin opener.
What was wrong with her, then? What was wrong with him, more like.
You know, I reckon it was him that drove her nuts.
In the end, ah, he just left her, when he was posted to Cyprus.
What happened to her? The army bundled them out of married quarters straight after the divorce.
I lost track when Hansford went off to Northern Ireland.
And I heard she'd died.
So, you didn't go to Northern Ireland? Oh, yes, yes, for a short while, thank God.
Anyway, what's your interest in the Major? Well, his wife seems to think that he might have made an enemy somewhere.
Oh, does she? Well, in my day, anybody with less than three pips could have been the enemy.
And that was only on our side.
- Well, he's out of all that now.
- Oh, yeah? - He runs a boarding school.
- School? I would have thought he'd have had enough of kids.
He couldn't stand the recruits, you know.
"Scrawny little rabbits" he used to call them.
And worse.
Personally, I don't think he ever got over Betty taking the kid away.
- Kid? - Yes.
Yeah, a little boy.
Destined to be the model soldier of the British Army, as far as Hansford was concerned.
Yeah, Betty took the kid when they split up.
Mind you, he'll be a young man now.
Why didn't you tell me the Major had a son? I don't know.
I don't even know if he knows where Rodney is.
Another of those dark areas of his life, the fact that his first wife took the boy away from him Well, do you think you could find out if your husband knows where the boy is? You don't think he's involved, do you? I don't know, but could you find out something about him? It means going through Ross's papers.
It could help me, Mrs Hansford.
All right, I'll see what I can find.
- Afternoon.
- Hello.
Bit of a dull day, isn't it? Well, yes.
Major Hansford, isn't it? - Who are you? - Eddie Shoestring.
That name sounds familiar.
Why? I'm on the radio, I work for Radio West.
Oh, yes.
Some sort of a private detective, aren't you? Some sort.
- Do you chew? - Hmm? Oh, no thank you, no.
- Do you mind if I do? - No.
I wanted to talk to you.
- You might need my help.
- I hardly think so.
Whatever she talked about, she's mistaken.
Are you telling me that all those incidents at the school were a mistake? I was at the old boys' cricket match, Major.
That was hardly a mistake.
And your wife seems to think there's a threat behind them.
Nonsense.
I've lived through too much danger to be bothered by such stupid forms of psychological warfare.
So you admit that somebody is waging a campaign? Kindly be on your way, Mr Shoestring.
Your wife thinks enough of you to be worried by it.
Now, I'd take that as a compliment if I were you.
Yes, but you're not me.
And you're obviously prying.
So, let me tell you something about myself.
I'm not the sort of man that issues warnings lightly or twice.
And this is the first.
So, get yourself away from here and keep your nose out of my business, once and for all.
Is that understood? I was wondering what it was that drove your first wife round the bend.
You're obviously not an easy man to live with, Major.
I'm sorry about the dog.
Sorry? However, that's another matter.
What does concern me is this business of you contacting this radio detective.
So, you've met Mr Shoestring? No doubt your intentions were good, even behind my back.
But I thought we understood each other better than that.
Not behind your back, Ross.
I told him I didn't want you involved or upset in any way.
Well, he's already dug up some stories about me.
God knows from where.
- What sort of stories? - Never mind.
The important thing is he's got to be stopped.
Do you want 30 years of barrack room gossip raked up over me? Is that what you damn well want? Of course it isn't.
I was thinking of us.
Then think properly next time.
I'm frightened.
Can't you see that? Why? You see, you turn away.
Somebody is turning our lives into a nightmare and you turn away.
Why can't you tell me what's happening? Because I Because I can't.
Isn't that enough for you? A few years ago all I had left to show for my life was a couple of service ribbons and a swagger stick.
Isn't this school good enough for you? Look at them.
Look at them.
Would you have married one of them? Passed over officers on retirement pay? Would that have suited you? You suited me.
Can't you see that? I'm sorry.
Of course, sir, you have every right to complain.
Invasion of privacy, Mr Satchley.
I'm sorry you take it that way.
We are only trying to provide a service.
It was your wife who requested it.
Eddie, the Major has made his position clear.
He doesn't want you to intervene, so you won't.
Thank you.
I'll sort out my own problems.
I always have.
- Good day to you.
- Morning.
I'm on guard, Shoestring.
So don't come prowling around to the perimeter.
Good day to you.
I hate people who say "good day to you" and "good morning to you".
I had a boss in computers, who always used to say "to you".
That was to let you know he was the boss.
Well, let me say this to you.
Forget about Major Hansford and his wife and get on with some other listener's problem.
Yeah? I've got an urgent call ready.
Okay, Sonia.
Urgent, you.
Hi, Shoestring.
Hello, Mr Shoestring? It's Jean Hansford.
Can you talk? Yeah, of course I can talk.
It's about, uh, Rodney.
I've been looking through Ross's diary.
The address is Fordingvale Hospital.
That's right, Fordingvale.
Yes, it's a psychiatric wing.
I don't know if he works there or what.
- What did you say? - Psychiatric ward.
- Do you know it? - Yeah, I do.
Yeah, I will.
Of course I will.
All right.
Bye-bye.
Thank you.
- Something good? - That one is very interesting.
Good day to you, Don.
Hello, Mr Shoestring.
Nice to see you back again, sir.
- How are you, Frank? - Oh, same as ever, sir.
- Come to see Dr Fischer, have you? - Yeah, I have.
How is he? Never did learn his three Rs.
Can't even pronounce one of them.
Not even in his own name.
Hey, Frank.
- I didn't forget, did I? - Thank you, sir.
God bless you.
Wonderful to see you again, Eddie.
- Really great.
- It's wonderful to see you.
It's very reassuring to be an old boy somewhere.
Clearly you have never adjusted to reality, externalising like crazy.
Yeah, or Merry Christmas, as we used to say.
When we're able to verbalise Our feelings with humour.
Well, I didn't cut my ears off yet, so I must be getting better.
The Private Ear.
I hear you on the radio.
"Eddie Shoestring, bring him your problems.
" Who needs a psychiatrist? Well, maybe it was inevitable with all your externalising and verbalising that I should communicate.
No, it's all that garbage you used to read.
All those thrillers, cheap pulp, while we tried to pulp your mind for your own good, of course.
So, what do you want here? Well, I'd like to ask you about a patient of yours.
- Rodney Stokes.
- Ah, now don't you remember? We never discuss our fellow patients without situs.
I thought we'd agreed.
I'm an old boy.
All right.
What do you want to know? Well, what's he like? Well, he's a rather disturbed young man.
He was here recently as a voluntary patient.
And he left.
Did he ever mention his father? That's a Major Hansford.
Yes.
After the Major divorced Rodney's mother, she killed herself.
So he's screwed up.
She was the only thing in his life.
He just couldn't get it all together.
Well, who can blame him? Would your records say where I could find him? No, no, no, no, they wouldn't.
But I've got an idea he went for a job in a meat-packing factory.
Meat-packing factory? Will you be long in town? I shouldn't think so.
Not unless I get tied up with Hoskins.
You needn't bother to collect me from the stables.
I'll get a lift back.
I said I was sorry, Jean, and I meant it.
I'm sorry I ever intruded on your personal life.
I shan't do it again.
Jean? I'll try and explain everything when I get back.
I promise you.
I don't want to lose you.
But I may lose everything else.
What are you doing to yourself? Sarvangasana.
What? Sarvangasana.
It's a shoulder stand.
It sounds more like a curry.
No news of your Major's son? Well, Dr Fischer's helped me out.
But I must call Mrs Hansford.
I'm out of change.
Can I use your phone? Go ahead.
So you think he might have it in for his father? Sort of revenge for his mother? I don't know, but I don't want to start rattling the eggs too soon.
I think you ought to tell the police, though.
- Really? - Mmm.
Good morning.
Can I speak to Mrs Hansford, please? Has she? You don't happen to know where? No, no, no.
It doesn't matter.
All right.
Thank you very much.
Bye-bye.
Now, that is good news.
- What's that? - She's gone out riding.
That means I can talk to her without being threatened by Rommel.
Hmm.
Where's Mrs Hansford? She's been out a couple of hours.
She shouldn't be long.
Okay, I'll wait.
Don't let me stop you working.
Do you get paid for doing that? No, my father owns the stables.
- Do you ride? - Only on buses.
They haven't got all those hooves and teeth.
Mind you, I can see its attractions.
All that graceful flesh going where you tell it to.
Yes, there is that to it.
- It's very stimulating.
- I'm sure it is.
You don't send them out on their own, do you? Hold it! Excuse me.
- I'm looking for Rodney.
- You're looking at him.
My name's Eddie.
Dr Fischer told me where to find you.
He's a friend of mine.
- Friend? - Well, I'm an ex-patient, like you.
- What do you want? - Your day off yesterday, was it? Look, what is this? Does your father know where you work? - My old man? - Major Hansford.
I don't know what you're talking about, mate.
Yes, you do.
You're Rodney Hansford.
Okay, maybe I am.
What's it to you? Your stepmother died yesterday.
She fell of the horse.
Look, I never met her and I haven't seen my old man for years.
- I don't even know where he lives.
- Don't you? - Look, are you a copper or something? - No.
But I'm investing some things that have happened recently, some rather unpleasant things involving your father.
Now his wife is dead! Oh, I see.
And you think it was me.
Well, to tell you the truth, I was going to slip out and knock off somebody yesterday but I couldn't find the time.
Do you want to check my fingernails for blood? "Write, from henceforth, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.
"Even so, sayeth the spirit.
"For they rest from their labours.
"And now unto the King eternal, "immortal, invisible, "the only wise God, "be honour and glory forever and ever.
" - Amen.
Amen.
- What the hell are you doing here? - I came to pay my respects.
I did find her.
And I'm sorry.
Your sorrow doesn't interest me.
I warned you to stay away from me and my wife.
I went to the stables to talk to your wife about your son.
My son? What did she know about him? She found out that he's been at Fordingvale Hospital.
I spoke to him yesterday.
He wasn't particularly sorry about your wife's death.
And he feels pretty badly about the way his own mother was treated.
You'll explain that remark.
Is that an order? I was asked to try and find out who was threatening you.
It now seems reasonable to think that it might have been your son.
Somebody has got it in for you, Major, and your wife is dead.
Now, that doesn't seem right to me.
Does it to you? It doesn't seem right to me that a despicable character like you shouldn't be locked up.
How you can dare come here at such a time.
You've got a bloody nerve! You've got a son called Rodney who's skulking in these grounds, as he probably has done several times before.
Look, I have just seen him in the road a few minutes ago.
If my son is here, I'll deal with him.
How will you deal with him, Major? That's my business.
Now, will you kindly leave? Or you'll call the police? You never do, do you? Why? Get out! - It was you, wasn't it? - Lf you mean at the school, yes.
I thought you didn't know where your father lived.
Planning another event, were you? Look, you've got it wrong about me.
Dead wrong.
I just wanted to see him, speak with him.
That's all.
Don't ask me why, 'cause I hate his guts.
Well, did you see him? Well, come on.
Did you? I changed me mind.
Chickened out, if you like.
Especially when I saw you.
No, because you saw me, because you lost the element of surprise for another attack on the enemy, as your father might say.
Listen, he isn't my enemy.
Not in that way.
They said I was sick, but it's him that's sick.
And there's another thing.
How'd he get the money for that school? Have you thought of that? No.
Whoever's bugging him, it isn't me.
And I was going to tell him that, but I was too much of a coward.
He used to beat me for being a coward, like he once beat my mum.
Hi, Shoestring.
I got your home phone number from Radio West.
It's urgent.
Oh, what is? There's a guy following you.
I recognised him.
Uh-huh.
Who? He was in the army with my father.
I knew it was him.
Sergeant Curtis.
What, you mean Bill Curtis? Oh, yes, yes.
I can tell you a thing or two about him.
Like what? A thoroughly bad luck, was William Curtis.
Mind you, he got what he deserved, I suppose, in the end.
He used to cheat at cards, you know.
Is that all? No, laddie, no.
Not by a long chalk.
No, our friend Curtis was sent to prison.
And he got chucked out of the army.
Yeah, but the army's got its own prison.
Glasshouse.
Oh, yes, yes.
But Curtis went to prison in Ireland.
In the South.
Yeah, it was about 1970, I think.
He crossed over the border, you see, and robbed a bank.
Got 12 years.
- Is there a phone around here? - Yeah, there's one in the bar.
Have you got 10p? Are you there? Sergeant William Peter Curtis served just over eight years and was released in Dublin three months ago.
He was reported entering Liverpool on the fourth of last month.
What else? At his trial, Curtis gave no defence.
No names of anyone else involved.
And over £40,OOO are still missing from the bank robbery.
Yeah, I've got a feeling I know where that's gone.
Look, I'll see you later.
Haven't you any idea where he's gone? I'm not at all sure that I should allow you to be in here at all.
The Major would be very cross if he knew.
Look, I think he's in danger.
Can't you help me at all? I mean, didn't he tell you where he was going? No, he didn't.
Where's Brockfield? It's about a mile away, on the Compton Road.
There's a big quarry there.
Well, Major, how nice to see you again.
I'd have preferred an FN, sir, but these are more easy to come by.
Prison doesn't seem to have done you any harm, sergeant.
I had the right background for it, didn't I? You don't look bad yourself, sir.
Why did you have to kill her? This is between you and me.
It was only meant to be a fall.
But you needed a lesson.
It's all there, but I'm sure you'd like to count it.
You bet I do.
Do you think it was worth it, Major? Killing him? Yes.
He's not the first person you've betrayed, is he? Save me the sermon, Mr Shoestring.
Curtis was quite willing to cross the border with me.
He knew there were risks involved.
He knew that I'd leave him if I had to.
And I did.
Then you refused to pay him when he came for his share.
You're a real officer and a gentleman, Major.
I wonder what the army did to deserve you? Do you? All right.
Since you've been so painstaking, I'll tell you.
I gave 30 years of my life to the army.
I gave them everything.
I gave them my allegiance, my faith.
Yes, and my love.
But someone like you wouldn't understand that.
And then when I was in my forties, men like you came along and passed me by.
College boys, calling themselves soldiers.
When I joined the army, we had an empire to defend.
When I signed off, all I had to do was give orders for people to search prams in back alleys.
So, you made it up with robbery and murder.
I decided to take what I needed.
I had no desire to spend the end of my days locking up factory gates at night.
Swapping boring stories with other worn-out warhorses.
So I bought the school with that money.
And I found a woman who was happy to share it with me.
That was my higher ground.
It's very touching, Major.
But the law won't give you any medals.
No one is going to arrest me.
But this is the end of the case as far as you are concerned.
Killing me isn't going to end it.
No.
You have a good reason for staying alive.