Marple (2004) s05e03 Episode Script
Blue Geranium
1 Pritchard.
(Sighs) You'll have to stop ringing me here, please.
No, she's upstairs, in bed.
Look, I said I'll do it, and I will, in my own time.
Now please stop ringing me here.
The protection of the spirits of the wind, the earth, the fire and the water around me.
And I beg you spirits not to let evil cross the boundary into this room tonight.
Spirits, please help me.
Help me, please.
Ah, Caro.
Tell Hester I'll take breakfast in the study this morning, please.
Yes, Sir.
Mrs Pritchard? Mary? Mary! Mary! For goodness sake.
Oh, no.
No George? What is it? Mr Pritchard.
You should see this.
Look at the geranium, Sir.
It's the wasp season already, Miss Marple.
Oh, so I see.
I hope you're killing them humanely, John.
Nasty little predators.
What's the point of a wasp, Miss Marple? I've never worked it out.
I don't know.
I'm sure they have their place.
The garden's going to look wonderful again this year, Miss.
I think so.
Especially if we can get rid of these blighters.
Oh.
Are you alright, Miss Marple? Yes.
MAN: Hello? Hello.
Yes.
I wonder, is it possible to speak to Detective William Somerset? Yes, I believe he has a hearing in front of the Old Bailey today.
MAN: Your name, please? Yes.
My name is Jane Marple.
MAN: One moment, please.
Detective Somerset? There's a telephone call for you, Sir.
It's a Miss Jane Marple.
Oh, for goodness sake.
No, I don't want to talk to her.
Tell her to go away.
I've got a murderer to hang.
Only put it more politely than that.
He won't come to the phone? MAN: Perhaps you could call back later, Madam.
Goodbye.
Oh, Jane.
Jane MAN: Scotland Yard.
Hello, yes.
I wonder, could you tell me where I can find Sir Henry Clithering? I'm terribly sorry, but as I've explained to you, this is a gentlemen's club.
Yes, I know.
But I have travelled some distance already today.
I need to see Sir Henry Clithering on a matter of some urgency.
Jane! Oh, what is it? Oh! Well, it's this, Sir Henry.
Excuse me.
They're going to hang the wrong person for murder.
Thank you so much.
I think you'd better come through.
But Sir Henry, ladies are not allowed beyond the desk, Sir.
I'm a trustee.
Make an exception.
Excuse me.
Thank you.
You need to stop the hearing, Henry, or there will be terrible consequences.
Are you familiar with the case? Yes, but I retired from Scotland Yard some time ago, you know? I carry no authority there.
But you can get to the people in authority, whereas I can't, and I need to.
Calm down, Jane.
Have you ever known me to be wrong, Sir Henry? In all the years you've known me? No.
(Chuckles) Well, I was wrong here.
I was there when it happened and I've got it wrong.
Do you remember when old Mrs Challinor died in St Mary Mead? Mrs Challinor was murdered? No, no, no.
But when she died, she had a knitting basket that was full of abandoned projects and they were so entangled that one simply couldn't unravel them.
Well, that's how I think of this case, this Blue Geranium murder.
It became so knotted that it was difficult to tell one thing from the other.
Tell me what happened, Jane.
And then tell me why it's wrong.
I'd been invited to the West Country to visit a friend, Dermot Milewater.
He lives in a village called Little Ambrose.
And to get there, you have to catch a bus from the train station in Fothersby.
There was one other person on the bus.
And he was in a mood to talk.
I love nature, don't you? I love the bareness of the trees and the clouds.
Yes, yes, I do.
'My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky.
' Wordsworth.
Yes, yes.
And I don't mind saying that I've been through a tunnel, Mrs? Marple.
Miss Marple.
Eddie Seward, or just Ed or Eddie.
Eddie.
Eddie.
As I came through this tunnel, I saw a crocus.
Saw it out the window.
An early white crocus.
And it was beautiful.
It was terrifically beautiful.
And I thought I've never really seen nature as being beautiful before.
And I should have done.
I I should have done.
And then my heart leaped up, like in the Wordsworth.
It jumped.
Do you think God is in nature, Miss Marple? I think he is.
I think he shows us how terrifically beautiful .
.
the world could really be.
Are you going to Little Ambrose, Mr Seward? I'm going to force the moment to its crisis.
What moment to what crisis? And surrounded by such beauty I .
.
I feel I will.
I feel I can do it, yes.
Yes.
Jane! Jane! Oh! Oh, I'm sorry I'm late.
Hello, Dermot.
But I come bearing gifts.
They're beautiful.
Thank you.
Well, it's been too long, Jane.
Yes, yes, it has.
Excuse me.
Mr Seward, do you know where you're going? Uh, yes Thank you.
It's a beautiful village.
Um Oh, what a beautiful day I have a wonderful feeling Everything's going my way.
Oh.
Hello, darling.
You're up.
Will you be writing? Yes, of course.
Now you know full well they're not for you.
She can't eat them all, can she? There once was a man called Daniel Lambert, the fattest in England Don't be mean about my sister.
I'm not.
And when he died, the undertakers had to smash through the window at the front of the house to get his corpse out because he was so fat he didn't fit through his own front door.
Am I talking to myself again? I am, you know? I am talking to myself.
Now, let me see.
Hm Hello! You must be Miss Marple.
Yes.
Jane, this is Hester.
This is my niece, Robert's daughter.
No! I remember you when your father had the parish at St Mary Mead.
You were this tall.
I remember St Mary Mead very fondly.
Is it still as pretty? It is.
But this is, I think, the prettiest village I know.
And with a much more impressive church.
Yes, well, as impressive as it may be, it might not be here for much longer.
We've had some trouble with subsidence on the south wall.
Uncle Dermot's raised funds to dig out the foundations.
It was a botched job, Jane.
They completely ruined it.
Can't the diocese help? No.
But we have a plan.
There's a generous millionaire in the village now.
Mr Trans-Europa Airlines, who bought Summerleigh at auction when Major Frayn died, lock, stock, and barrel and all the contents.
Hester's cook at Summerleigh now.
(Laughs) Yes.
And our plan is that today, when he's made captain of the golf club, we're praying he'll be in a benevolent mood.
Where is she, Philippa? She says honk the horn all you like, but it's giving her a migraine.
I've only honked it twice.
And, anyway, she's decided she's not going to come.
Why not? Here, let me help you on your bike.
No.
No thanks, George.
She's had her horoscope read this morning over the telephone.
Oh, no.
And she wants you to ring Dr Frayn.
Things are going to fall apart today.
That's what he said.
It's a black day.
The moon is in Mars or something.
He said there were omens.
Omens, George! Pass me the chocolates.
Where are they?! He said I should stay inside or bad things will happen to me.
Not these.
The truffles, you useless woman! And we should all stay here.
No golf.
Stay here in this sanctuary with me.
Except you.
You can go wherever you like, Nurse Copling.
You're annoying today.
I hope bad things happen to you.
Darling, you said you were looking forward to going to the golf club.
You were going to wear your new dress, which everyone was going to admire.
Darling, they're expecting you.
Yes, they're expecting me to lie dying on the floor so they can stand around laughing at me whilst I lie dying! Thanks for coming, Frayn.
No problem.
I have to be at the golf club by 3.
I'll get her there as soon as I can.
Is she in her room? Yeah, follow the noise.
(Sobs) George! Is that Dr Frayn? He said a black day, Johnny, and you know how sensitive I am.
Is that your 'magic' medicine? Yes.
Oh.
Mmm.
That works for me, it settles me.
I know.
George brought some hyacinths in from the greenhouse, thinking that would settle me.
But nothing settles me like you, Johnny.
Will you stay close to me at the golf club? Yes, of course.
Will you watch over me all the time? MISS MARPLE: So that afternoon, Sir Henry, most of Little Ambrose turns up at the golf club.
And I learn from Dermot that George Pritchard's brother, Lewis, is a penniless writer and married to Mary Pritchard's sister, Philippa.
Two brothers have married two sisters? Yes, and that afternoon something very strange was going on between the brothers.
George! What happened to your nose? You need to give me 20 quid.
I owe Pilger 20 quid.
I haven't got it.
What? He did that to you? Yeah.
I was walking here, he draws up in that car.
He says things will get a lot worse if I don't pay.
(Sighs) If you need money, you're going to have to go through Mary.
No! She needs to know the money is going to get to her sister and not some bloody bookmaker! Oh, George, George.
Are you really that much under her thumb? I know you like carrying a big wad around, more than most people earn in a month.
I know you can pay this.
And we don't need to tell her.
Next time don't bother asking me.
You go to Mary.
Sorry.
Sorry I'm late.
Did you bring the fruit pies? No, no.
I'm afraid I didn't.
I ran out of time.
Not to worry, not to worry.
I just hope we've got enough to go around.
Hazel's an artist, Miss Marple.
We have to allow her a little dreaminess.
Hello.
Jane Marple.
Nice to meet you.
Are all these people admiring my dress, Johnny? Yes, they are.
What was George speaking to my sister's useless husband about? Was it money? He handed over about L20.
It'll be for the bookmakers again.
Right.
And where is George now? Where is he? He's with Reverend Milewater.
Is he? Well, I bet I can tell you what that's about.
The cost, well, it escalates every day.
The diocese think they can make funds available by the end of the year.
But by that time, the whole thing could have collapsed completely.
I hope it does, the miserable place.
Darling.
How much are they after this time, George? I mean, you people are shameless.
We have been back here two years and already we've forked out to redevelop the golf course, the cricket pavilion, dig out the culverts.
It's like being stuck in a nightmare village of Oliver Twist, going, 'More! More! More!' Well, come on! Tell us how much you've cost by messing up those renovations? Well, it's in the region of Because you're not going to get any, and I'll tell you why.
Because I hate that miserable little church.
I hate the way it denies the true old patterns of the world, the horoscopes and the auras and all of the true things! I hate the way it bores people to death every Sunday through this little failure of a preacher.
Oh, ask everyone here.
They all think you're boring.
(Laughs) They all think you're a waste of space.
So no money.
Well, I am done now, so you can all stop gawping.
Shall we go outside to perform the ceremony for the new captain? Just ignore her, Reverend.
She's an awful woman.
If she can say one spiteful thing, she can say a hatful.
She makes her husband's life misery, too, by all accounts, if that's any consolation.
God forgive me, but if George Pritchard were to brain his wife with a hatchet, there's not a soul in this village that wouldn't acquit him.
Couldn't you have stopped her? No one can stop her, darling.
You can.
Maybe she's right.
Maybe people are beginning to sponge off them.
Wish me luck with the speech.
Ladies and gentlemen.
Since George Pritchard came to Little Ambrose and bought Summerleigh from my late father, we've a lot to thank him for.
The cricket pavilion, the work on the back nine and many other small projects that have improved our community are down to George's generosity.
So it's a pleasure to invite him to accept the captaincy of our club, taking over from the many years service of my father, and to perform the ceremonial drive off the first tee.
Let's see if he can beat our captain's record held by our ladies' captain, Mrs Hartopp, at 183 yards.
A phenomenal distance, considering she's a woman.
(Laughter) I'll do well to beat that.
Lewis, are your kids out spotting? Yeah, they're down there.
They're being very optimistic.
Are you worried, Mrs Hutton? You're not worried, are you, love? She's seen him play.
Ahem.
Oh.
And it's the trees by the river.
Do I get a second go? ALL: No.
My kids will never find that, George.
They'd be here for years.
Come out looking like Rip Van bloody Winkle.
BOY: Dad! Dad! Call the police! Dad! Call the police! Oh, God.
Is he dead? Come here.
Come here, Michael.
Turn him over.
Who is it, George? Oh, my goodness.
Scratches on the neck to indicate a struggle.
I'd say the murderer was a man, wouldn't you, Doctor? I'd say a man.
Is he local? No.
Dead maybe an hour, a bit longer.
Killed upstream, dumped in the river.
No jacket.
Nothing in his pockets.
Nothing to immediately identify him, anyway.
Oh, we have a name, Detective Somerset.
We know who he is.
And did Eddie Seward say where he'd come from? I presumed London.
His coat was Saville Row.
And to be on the 10:25 bus from Fothersby meant he'd most likely arrived on the 8:05 from Paddington.
Right.
And it was an impulsive visit, Detective Somerset.
I believe he'd only decided to make the journey that morning.
He told you that, did he? No, no.
He had no travel bag.
And did he say why he was headed to Little Ambrose? Yes.
He said he was here to 'force the moment to its crisis'.
Well, that could mean anything.
No, no.
It's from a poem about a man called Prufrock who's trying to summon up the courage to ask a woman to marry him.
Is it? Inspector, I couldn't help noticing when I saw the body that the bottom half of the tie that killed him was missing.
You had a good look, did you? You can learn so much if you're lucky enough to see the body.
Um Can I just ask if the other part of his tie was found on or near him? Well, that's a police concern, Miss Marple.
Yes, I Inspector, you've just had a phone call from a certain lady who would like to see you rather urgently.
Um And the scratches on his neck, I wonder, were they made by the dead man or by a possible assailant? Again, Miss Marple, that's a matter that should only concern the police.
And what's the name of this certain lady? Mary Pritchard.
I suggest you wear a helmet.
This was death foretold.
No-one took me seriously and it's about time you all started.
I don't want those pills.
I want your 'magic', Dr Frayn.
You know I can't take pills without mayonnaise.
Mrs Pritchard, I was told you had something urgent to tell me.
That's what she said.
I'm being burgled.
You are not being burgled! Jewellery goes missing from this room.
Yes, it does.
My emerald ring, for one.
That diamond brooch.
Snuff boxes from the hall tables spirited away.
Now you're in the village, Inspector.
You'll take me seriously and put your efforts into this crime, as well.
Mrs Pritchard, I have a capital crime here.
I was told you had something to say about the murder of Eddie Seward.
That was Eddie Seward? Yes, did you know him? Oh, I knew him.
You did, too, didn't you, George? Just before I left the Yard, we investigated an 'Edward Seward' because his wife went missing.
That's right.
And that's what Detective Somerset found out after a quick phone call.
He was a member here, you know? Rich as Croesus, he was.
Inherited a mining fortune.
Never did a day's work in his life.
I believe we would have been in the same society events as Eddie Seward, but we weren't friends, I wouldn't have recognised him.
Business associates? No.
Would you like a drink, Inspector? Or are you alright with tea? No, no, thanks.
Tea is fine.
Of course.
So, from what I can gather, he would finance ventures, some of them nefarious? Yes, well, I steer clear of financiers like that.
Tea, Mr Pritchard? Yes.
Thank you, Hester.
No, thanks.
I set up the airline with contacts I had in the air force.
Good.
Oh, um Where were you between 11:30 and the events at the golf course this afternoon? I was here.
Thank you.
Hello.
I've been looking for you.
How are you? I have been here for 40 years, Jane.
And the whole thing's going to fall down around me.
You'll raise the money.
Is this where you write? Yes, I try to get inspiration from these things.
The seven deadly sins.
Yes, and I think we all know who 'gluttony' is.
Oh, I try to see the good in people, Jane.
But that woman has not got an ounce of it in her.
Never has had.
Someone ought to teach her a lesson.
Dermot No, I mean it.
She grew up in this village.
Did you know that? No, no.
She was very pretty.
And George Pritchard was her sister's fiancee.
They met when they were in the RAF during the war.
And Philippa was so in love with him.
I've never seen anybody so in love.
And Mary stole him.
This is George.
Hello.
She broke her sister's heart.
Philippa married the other brother out of desperation, I suppose, I don't know.
And Mary's been such a terrible wife to George.
She makes him live here so that she can play the lady of the manor, when he needs to be in London.
She bullies him.
Bullies everyone.
I think Eddie Seward deserved to die.
That's a terrible thing to say.
We knew him in London, Philippa.
He was a piece of work.
Drunk and violent.
How do you know that? I met his wife.
The one who disappeared.
When? At one of those hideous balls on Park Lane where everyone dresses up as if Edward VII was still on the throne.
WOMAN: Are you alright? Penelope Seward.
She was quiet, didn't want to talk.
But she was angry.
She said she couldn't go back to the ball because she had a huge bruise on the side of her face where he'd hit her.
Oh, and that wasn't the worst.
She had scars on her arms where she said he'd stubbed out his cigars when he was drunk.
She said if she stayed one more day with him I'll kill him.
Now maybe she has.
Oh, Mary.
MISS MARPLE: Obviously, the discovery of Eddie's body had spread unease through the village that night.
Hi, Dad.
Hello.
Hello, Daddy.
That's a nice sound.
It's what I like to hear.
How's the book going? It's going fine.
Dad, who do you think killed that man? Look, children.
Don't mess Can you just take these pots off the table?! If you go and put your pajamas on, I'll be up in a minute.
I'll take that.
This body down the club would make a good story.
Yeah, a potboiler.
Well, sometimes pots need to boil, don't they? Otherwise no-one eats.
What does that mean? I've put this week's groceries on the tab again.
That's four weeks we owe now.
Can you talk to your brother, Lewis? I'm sure he Philippa! Philippa! Everything's going to be fine.
L20, but I don't want to pay it off yet.
I want you to put this on Flavius the Great.
Towcester, 2:15 tomorrow.
Do you know your history? Flavius, named, I presume, after Flavius Belisarius, was the only Roman general who never lost a battle.
He never lost.
Hello.
I thought you'd gone, darling.
Well, Mary asked me if I'd hang around in case she had a relapse.
A relapse of what? Actually, I was waiting for you.
Would you like to go for a drink? Yes, a drink would be nice after today.
Good.
34, blonde.
Can I have a photograph sent because I think she might be here? MAN: I'll look it up.
Either that or Eddie Seward came to see George Pritchard, which Pritchard denies.
MAN: Eddie Seward, George Pritchard.
This could be a high-profile case, Bill.
Yeah, I'm aware of that.
If I can wrap this up quickly it could be my ticket back to London.
Then that stuff will be forgotten.
(Knocking) Hang on one moment.
Yes, dear? Something I forgot to say, Inspector.
Eddie Seward was a drunk and that much was obvious.
But from his behaviour on the bus this morning I don't think he'd been drinking today.
Interesting, but could you walk away now, because I'm on confidential police business here? Can I just ask, if I may, if you think the scratches on his neck were self-inflicted or the result of a fight? My friend, Sir Henry Clithering, you see, says you can always tell if it's self-inflicted by looking under the fingernails.
You know Sir Henry Clithering? Scotland Yard? Eddie Seward was a drunk, wasn't he? He disappeared from a drying-out clinic at about 5:00 yesterday afternoon.
As I thought.
And I think his wife must be down here somewhere, don't you? Yes.
Well, if you need any help, Inspector, do let me know.
MAN: Who on earth was that? You don't want to know.
But I'll bet George Pritchard knows more about Eddie Seward than he's letting on.
Sir Henry.
Thank you.
So both you and Somerset were right.
Penelope Seward was at Little Ambrose.
Yes, yes, yes, but wait.
I have to tell this right.
And this is where it becomes tangled, like Mrs Challinor's wool, remember? Mrs Challinor's wool? Because the next morning, while the whole house was out, Mary Pritchard had a visitor.
Now, whenever she heard of a new mystic or fortune-teller, she couldn't resist arranging for a reading.
The one she had scheduled to call that morning was a fortune-teller who called herself 'Zarida'.
Mm! Zarida.
Come in, come in.
Yesterday I had the most horrific horoscope and it all came true.
I am so in tune with the spiritual I cannot come into this room.
I feel evil and danger.
What are they doing here? Blue hyacinths are a warning, Mary Pritchard.
If you see blue hollyhocks, they will mean danger.
Danger And blue geraniums will mean your death.
I'm going to die.
You're not, darling.
Warning, then danger, then death.
You certainly got your money's worth this morning, didn't you? I was foretold Eddie Seward's death.
Now I've been foretold my own.
Look, you don't get blue hollyhocks.
They're pink and they're yellow.
So I think it's fair to say that you're going to be with us forever, Mary.
You know blue has always been repellent to me, George! It is a pity food isn't blue.
Who brought the hyacinths in? Mr Pritchard.
Now, are you going to host the drinks tonight? You know the golf lot are coming round.
I think I might be dead by this evening.
Enough! Enough of this spiritual poppycock! George And the crackpots that you listen to! I hate this, Mary.
I hate it! Everything I've ever done you've ruined.
You ruin every day of my life.
I'm scared, Georgie Well, I'm not scared of you anymore.
Now you stop this nonsense.
You get out of bed, you go downstairs, you host this evening, you do it well.
Because I'm warning you, I've had enough! Do you see there, Jane? That great big crack? Yes.
Have there been any new arrivals in the village over the last couple of years, women in their 30s? Well, there's been a couple of them, haven't there, Hes? Mm.
They've had a change of nurse up at Summerleigh.
Nurse Copling came with excellent references, didn't she, Hes? She did, yes.
Well, I'm new, of course, Miss Marple.
Been here a year now.
Oh, well, of course, that makes three of them.
And if only Dr Frayn would eventually get round to asking you to marry him, you'd be with us a little longer, wouldn't you? If he ever does.
Why would Eddie Seward's body wash up at the golf course? Is there anything upriver from there? Well, only an old water mill, but it's practically abandoned.
Why? What are you thinking, Jane? I think that Eddie came to Little Ambrose to find his wife.
I imagine he was going to tell her that he'd cleaned himself up and was going to force the moment to its crisis and ask her to take him back.
But instead she killed him and dumped his body in the river? Well, perhaps.
Miss Marple I heard George Pritchard lie to the police yesterday.
Where were you between 11:30 and the events at the golf course this afternoon? I was here.
Thank you.
But he wasn't.
He was absent from Summerleigh the whole time.
Who was the third woman who arrived? Um, Hazel Instow.
She's lovely.
What do you know about her? I came to Little Ambrose, I'd say 18 months ago, for the peace and quiet.
And before that? I lived in Alexandria.
I love the antiquities.
It had always been a dream of mine to paint in Egypt.
How long did you live there? A number of years.
My sister is married to the British Consul.
I'm afraid I never knew this Mr Seward, Inspector, so I can't really help you.
Of course.
And before Egypt? London.
May I ask, is it possible to make a living doing this? A small one, yes.
There's a gallery in Chelsea which takes the occasional work, but it's a vocation rather than a profession for me, Detective.
Oh.
Oh.
Ah.
How much would he fetch? Oh, no.
He's not going anywhere.
That's just a sketch for a commission from the golf club.
When I paint it up they're going to hang George in the clubhouse .
.
in a manner of speaking.
Sorry.
Is she coming down, Caroline? No, Mrs Pritchard.
Hazel, will you perform hostess duties for George tonight? No, you.
Please.
So what puzzles me is this - fortune-tellers are usually out for what they can get.
From what I can see, they just say what Mrs Pritchard wants to hear.
This Zarida, she seems to be frightening her with no advantage to herself.
I don't see the point.
How did Mary hear of Zarida? Susan Carstairs, the nurse before me, put her on to her.
Why does that not surprise me? Nurse Carstairs was really into this sort of thing.
She sent this letter.
She left about six months ago.
It was all very sudden.
She sent this Sorry, Hester.
But she sent this recommendation out of the blue last week.
Did Mrs Pritchard make the appointment herself? No, I rang Zarida at her request.
I'm going to ring this Zarida now, ask her what she's playing at.
Why did Nurse Carstairs leave so suddenly? We have a steady flow of staff here, I'm afraid.
My sister isn't the easiest person to work for.
Is she not in? The number's discontinued.
Going to catch you! No running indoors, Peter.
Please.
Boys.
George.
Ah.
Jonathan.
Welcome.
Come through.
My wife's nerves have got the better of her this evening and she won't be joining us.
Pity.
Hazel.
Hello.
Evening.
Excuse me.
Sorry to intrude, Pritchard, but I'd like a quick word with your employees Nurse Copling and Miss Milewater.
Whatever for? Just routine.
You can use my study.
Thank you.
Hey, these are for later, you little rascal.
Can I have three, please? Thank you.
Mrs Pritchard, I took a bottle of Dr Frayn's magic medicine from your sister's bedroom.
Whatever for, Caroline? You should taste it.
So you've been living with your uncle for over a year now? That's right.
And where did you live before? What was the address? Strathleven Mansions, Bayswater.
Did you live alone? Were you married? Not married, no.
You don't think I'm that dead man's wife, do you, Inspector? It's just procedure, Miss.
I think Mrs Pritchard might need to see you, Doctor.
Excuse me.
Thank you.
You're a novelist, aren't you, Mr Pritchard? That's right, yes.
How is the book going, Pritchard? You've been working on that for as long as you've been here, haven't you? It's a very long book.
What's it about? Well, it's an historical novel.
It's based on The Princes In The Tower.
In many ways, it's the best story Shakespeare never wrote.
Didn't he? Yes, what we don't tell Lewis is Shakespeare did actually write it.
He didn't.
He referred to it, he didn't dedicate a whole work to it.
And what would you know about Shakespeare anyway, George? Nothing.
You're right, of course.
Is everyone alright for drinks? Thank you.
Lewis is nearing the end of it now, actually, Reverend.
Excuse me.
Yes? We saw you talking to the policeman.
Yes.
We found it by the river.
Oh.
We were making a den.
Well, very good.
Oh, Inspector.
Yes? I think the children have found where Eddie Seward died.
Mrs Pritchard's asked if Dr Fray.
.
.
if it's possible to have a tray of food sent up? What is the meaning of this, Jonathan? You have the medicine.
We were looking for that.
Why is it filled with water? Because your sister's not ill, Mrs Pritchard.
She is ill.
She is, Doctor.
She's nauseous every day.
She has had a succession of viruses and she catches everything going.
The only sickness she has is in her head, Nurse.
My sister is definitely ill! And, therefore, the treatment that makes her feel better is also in her head.
There has been something seriously wrong with Mary for years, Dr Frayn.
And specialists have not been able to get to the bottom of it.
The only thing wrong with her is that she overeats.
And that's as much the fault of people like you who pander to her every taste with ridiculous amounts of food, Philippa.
She's lost her confidence, she's become agoraphobic and she imagines all kinds of ailments in order to keep your attention.
Oh, George.
The hollyhock, it's blue, look! Shh.
But that's impossible.
The hollyhock on the wallpaper turned blue? Well, that's what Mary said.
By the time they'd calmed her down and got some sense out of her, the hollyhock was pink.
Which particular hollyhock are we talking about? No, it was blue! I saw it turning blue! I am in danger! Just calm down.
Shh.
Come on.
DERMOT: You mean she imagined it? That's what people thought.
But she didn't think so.
And neither do I, not now.
I think someone was trying to scare that woman to death.
What type of wallpaper was it? Well, that evening, Sir Henry, I tried to find out exactly where it was from.
I designed it, Miss Marple.
Yes, my sister was almost bed-bound last summer and didn't want to miss the garden, so had it brought into her room, as it were.
And George commissioned me to design a wallpaper from the flowers in the garden.
He was very specific about the flowers that he wanted.
It's very adventurous.
Primroses and buttercups and foxgloves and hollyhocks, all blooming together.
I call it blooming madness.
Thank you, Hester.
My pleasure, Philippa.
This is Susan Carstairs putting the frighteners on her majesty upstairs.
I don't know how, but I'm sure of it.
The previous nurse? What makes you say that? I didn't want to say this in front of Philippa, because I think she still holds a candle for George Pritchard, don't you, Caro? I do.
But Nurse Carstairs definitely left Summerleigh under a cloud.
What sort of cloud? A saucy cloud.
I was hanging around here one night.
I wasn't being nosy, Jane, but let's say there was a bit of design to my hanging around because I had suspicions.
That's it.
And swing.
(Gasps) Again.
And swing.
Again.
Swing.
Again.
She left soon afterwards, overnight.
I think she saw George as a main chance, saw herself as the second Mrs Pritchard.
And when George realised that, he got rid of her.
Did Mary know of the affair? I don't know.
But I reckon Susan Carstairs herself was Zarida and scaring George's wife is her way of getting revenge.
EDDIE SEWARD: I love nature, don't you? I love the bareness of the trees.
All right.
Thank you, children.
If you could just go with the constable now.
Come on now.
Let's get you home.
So, this is where he was thrown in the river.
I wonder if he was killed here, as well.
Or took his own life.
No, this is murder, Miss Marple, clear as day.
I mean there's no note.
Where's the note? And I've seen murder got up to look like suicide many times.
When people take their own lives, Inspector, sometimes they try and do it in a significant place.
What's significant about here to Eddie Seward? It's beautiful.
And he told me that coming through the tunnel of his alcoholism he was taking great strength from nature, that he was finding God in it.
Yeah, yeah.
If he was committing suicide, why didn't we find him hanging from that tree? Because the tie hadn't supported his weight for long, had torn, and the body had fallen from where it was hanging.
So he fell in the river and just floated downstream? That's a wonderful explanation.
Can you think of another? Yes.
His wife killed him and made it look like suicide.
But what if the scratches on his neck were not the result of a fight, but his own hands trying to save himself? If he's committing suicide, why would he try to stop it? Because, as my friend Sir Henry Clithering says, sometimes people pull out of their suicides.
Inspector, surely you know that.
No, no.
I don't buy it.
This is still a major murder case.
Inspector, why are you no longer working in London? Why are you down here? Well, if you know Sir Henry I imagine you'll find out about it.
There was an incident.
Involving drink? Involving drink, yes.
I was on duty, complaints were made and I was told to sort myself out.
What was in Eddie's wallet? Money, a business card with his club address on it, tickets for various things.
May I see? I'm going to go to London and try to trace his movements between the time that he checked out of the drying-out clinic and the time he came here.
See if he met up with anyone.
Good idea.
Thank you.
Um, Inspector, I don't think it's connected to this, but I believe that someone is trying to scare Mary Pritchard.
Perhaps you It wouldn't take much to set that woman off, Miss Marple.
And I agree.
I don't think it is connected.
Magical flowers.
I mean, honestly.
Hello.
What's wrong? Susan Carstairs.
You've slept with her since I've lived here.
That's not true.
You were seen, George, don't lie.
Why? Do you not love me enough? Of course I love you.
Then why? Are we not risking enough for each other, George? I did it because Because she was there.
She was there, and you're not, not like that.
I want to be with you, but you won't let me.
We talk and talk in circles about how much we want to be together, but .
.
you never show that you really want me.
It's always meeting like this.
I love you.
I love YOU.
I'm so sorry.
I'd do anything for you.
You know that, don't you? MAN: Hello.
Oh, hello.
Is that the Fettiplace auction house? So do you think I should go to the police, Reverend Milewater? Do you think I should tell them about Dr Frayn and how he's failing in his hypocritical duties? Hippocratic! I think it's theft, Miss Marple, don't you? Charging them all this money for nothing but water.
Don't be so stupid, Philippa.
It's 'Hippocratic', after Hippocrates, the Greek physician.
Not 'hypocritic' .
.
after everyone in this village.
He won't be the first doctor to prescribe a placebo for a patient.
And your sister feels better after the treatment, doesn't she, Philippa? It's just deceitful.
When I was in the air force Oh, here we go.
Back when you were in the air force when you met George .
.
when you fell in love with him.
During the war there was this girl, Miss Marple.
She used to do this placebo thing with the black market.
She'd water down perfumes and whisky and things .
.
pass off poor-quality nylons for top brands.
We used to call her 'the wasp' because you'd get stung if you went near her.
She had this obsession with money, this voracious greed for it and I think Dr Frayn is the same.
And I think he should be drummed out of the medical profession like the wasp was drummed out of the services.
Now, that looks good.
Oh, it is, and it's not for you.
It's to cheer Mary up.
So what would the police do if I went and complained? Very little, I'm afraid.
During the drinks yesterday, did you go upstairs and talk to Mary? You see everything, Jane, don't you? Well, I thought if I might speak to her alone, use what remains of the Milewater charm, I could bring her round to giving us some money.
And? Lewis got there before me.
Well, if you don't give me the money, they're going to come back to the village.
They'll hurt Philippa, they'll hurt our children.
They're going to take everything we've got.
Everything in that cottage is owned by George and me! You haven't earned a penny in your life! The only way you'll be worth anything is if George and I die.
You know, Mary you are an evil bitch! Please go now! George? I'm going, I'm going.
George! Does he need money because of his gambling on the horses? I imagine so.
Philippa speaks to me sometimes about it, how much it worries her.
Look, do you mind if we just stop here for a moment, Jane? Just stop in this village of mine? Dermot? I walk here every day Look, I have some work to do for Sunday.
I really must work.
Maybe you don't see everything, Jane.
MISS MARPLE: That evening, Sir Henry, as I stood in the centre of that quiet, pleasant English village, I thought of all the tensions that lay in the foundations of the lives that lived there.
They'll be back in the morning demanding money.
We haven't got it! Then we'll get the money! We haven't got the money! We will get the money.
Where? I promise.
And I thought of the one woman who was going to sleep that night in genuine fear of her life.
Help me.
Protection of the spirits of the wind and the MISS MARPLE: But little did I realise how right she was to be scared In my own time.
And please stop ringing me here.
.
.
and how she was not going to see the morning.
Mary? Mary? Oh, no.
No George? What is it? Look at the geranium, Sir.
At first sight it's shock, syncope, which has caused the blood vessels in the nose to have hemorrhaged.
You say one of the flowers on the wallpaper has turned blue? Well, it has.
It's pink again now.
I don't know.
I don't think it was.
The place is madness.
We don't know what we saw.
You've got to get that detective to investigate the fortune-teller and Nurse Carstairs, Mr Pritchard.
There's something terribly wrong about the way she frightened your wife.
Yes.
Thank you, Caro.
Can you leave us alone, please? There had now been two suspicious deaths within 36 hours, you see? As news of Mary's death raced through the village people found themselves asking terrible questions.
Well Is it true? Is she dead? Yes.
How? They think she died of shock.
People don't die of shock, George.
Was it you? Did you kill her? Did I kill your wife? Yes.
How can you say that to me? How can you? Go away! Go away! It was definitely blue, Jane, despite what George has said.
But how? It's not damaged or anything, it's just wallpaper.
MISS MARPLE: Everyone in Little Ambrose was thrown by the events of that morning, Sir Henry, even Nurse Copling.
What am I going to do, Hester? You'll be alright.
But this will make me unemployed again.
I thought it was going to be a permanent position.
I know Mrs Pritchard was difficult, but I felt at home here, I was making friends.
You've still got those friends, Caro.
We're not going to go away.
Nursing must be a very peripatetic kind of life, quite lonely at times.
Have you been in it long? Since the war, when we all did our bit.
I served over at Duxford.
And then Reverend, you don't look very well.
Would you like to sit down? I'm sorry.
Can I get you a glass of water? No, I'll do it.
It must be something I ate.
Where are your family, Caro? I don't have any, Miss Marple.
Oh.
Have you a gentleman friend? No.
Mr Pritchard .
.
tried the same thing with me as he did with Nurse Carstairs, Miss Marple.
He tried to teach me a golf swing, but I wouldn't do it, I wouldn't do what he wanted.
And if you ask me, I think he's still in touch with Susan Carstairs.
I heard them talking on the telephone once.
I think George Pritchard's a bad man.
And the way he carries on I think he must be.
Mr Edward Seward has been staying at the club off and on, but he wasn't here on Thursday night.
When was he last here? Oh.
Two, three weeks ago.
Let's see.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Go back, go back.
What's that name? That is Mr George Pritchard, Sir.
Is he a member here, too? Yes.
Yes, I did know Eddie Seward.
We moved in the same circles for a while.
He was It was resentment.
I was seen as new money, whereas him and his ilk were blue-blood and made sure you knew it.
Why didn't you tell me you knew him before? Because he turned up dead on my doorstep and I didn't want to be dragged into it.
I was never close to him, I didn't like him.
He was a hopeless alcoholic and a thug around women.
This man that you weren't close to lent you half a million pounds three years ago for your airline to develop haulage routes into Italy and Greece, a venture that was not successful.
Yes, but I paid Eddie Seward back.
Every farthing.
You'll find that detail in your documents as well, Inspector.
Where were you the morning Eddie Seward came to Little Ambrose, George? At Summerleigh, like I told you.
But your housekeeper, Hester Milewater, says that's another lie.
I've had enough of this.
Sit down, Sir.
Look, am I under arrest? Sit down.
I didn't see Eddie Seward that morning.
I haven't heard from him for two years.
I don't know why he was here or where his wife is.
I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Inspector.
My wife died this morning and I have some things that I have to attend to.
About time you arrived.
Yes? Hello? Oh Oh, that's an excellent likeness, Hazel.
Oh, you have a very distinctive style.
Yes, people have often said that about the work, Miss Marple.
And what, if I may ask, have been your favorite subjects? Well, I like portraiture, but my real love is, well, has always been nature.
I like to think that you can see God in nature.
Hi, Hes.
Got your message.
Why didn't you just come round to the surgery? I want an explanation, Jonathan.
You're the one who's been stealing from the house, aren't you? The snuff boxes, the carriage clock, jewellery.
No, not jewellery.
Why did you do it? Because that was my parents' stuff.
Pritchard took advantage of my father when he was in a fix.
He drove down the price on Summerleigh.
He died with nothing to his name.
But it's not yours anymore, Jonathan.
I want to get money to marry you, Hes.
What? Well, that's why I put up with that insufferable woman for so long.
She was my most lucrative patient, Hes.
I don't want money.
I want you, don't you know that? Oh, you must take all that stuff back or that detective will be on to you.
I thought that place was abandoned.
It is.
So why is there a light on? He found you through one of your paintings, didn't he, Hazel? Who? Your husband, Eddie Seward.
I imagine he'd looked for you for two years, knowing he'd driven you away, maybe to suicide, sinking deeper into his tunnel of alcohol and guilt.
And then, quite by chance, he recognised one of your paintings at Fettiplace, the art dealers in London.
Lot 172.
And even though you'd changed your name, he recognised it was your hand.
MAN: Hello? Anyone there? Hello? Zarida.
There's no-one here.
Jonathan.
Call the police, Hazel.
If your husband found you here it's only a matter of time before they do.
They'll understand, Penelope.
But who was it? The former nurse, Susan Carstairs.
Pritchard's mistress? And six months pregnant.
With George Pritchard's tie tight around her neck.
She'd been installed in the Mill House by George, after he made her leave Summerleigh.
Detective Somerset found evidence that she had dressed up as Zarida.
He found Mary's missing jewellery on her fingers and he also found George's fingerprints all over the place.
Suddenly he had three suspicious deaths and one missing persons inquiry on his hands, all somehow tangled around George Pritchard.
But how? And why? I want you to keep everything you've seen to yourself.
Can I rely on you both? Detective Somerset decided not to release news of Susan Carstairs' death, but to have George watched while he interviewed Hazel, who had just rung the police station and admitted she was Penelope Seward - news that was already round the village.
Philippa? Philippa? What? I suppose you've heard about Hazel.
Oh.
Yes, yes.
Caroline and I were just talking about it.
Caroline? Hello.
Hello, Miss Marple.
We think she must have had some kind of thing over my sister.
Or Mrs Pritchard recognised her as Penelope Seward.
She recognised her, yes.
We think she must have killed my sister somehow.
I don't think so.
I don't think Hazel's a murderer.
Then who's been doing this, Miss Marple? Who else could have killed these people? And on this Sunday morning we remember in our prayers Mary Pritchard, a member of our community who died yesterday.
I Forgive me for saying this.
God teaches us that life is valuable.
It is not to be wasted.
God, when he judges Mary's life, I fear will judge it to be wasted.
God asks us to live our lives in service to Him, not dabbling in fancies and superstitions.
I'm sorry to say this, Mr Pritchard, but God teaches us to live our lives so that we can try to be good to one another.
Reverend Milewater Philippa, sit down.
Human beings should not be mean and poisonous.
I think she was murdered.
(Congregation murmurs) Philippa, we should leave.
No, George.
She was murdered by that woman, I know she was.
Let's leave.
(I saw her.
) Early yesterday morning coming back from Summerleigh.
Why would Hazel want to murder Mary? Because you were having an affair with her, George.
Did you think I wouldn't notice that? Did you think I wouldn't see? And she murdered her husband, too .
.
because the day he died she was late at the golf club.
Sorry.
Sorry I'm late.
Where had she been if not killing him so she could be with you? Where had she been? I did see my husband that morning.
He asked me to accept him back.
Where did this take place? Here.
He just turned up and said he'd changed.
And that he loved me.
And that he'd always loved me.
But I told him I would never go back to him.
Never go back to him.
Are you in on it, too, George? Because you're free to marry her now, aren't you? Was that always your plan? To let this .
.
this wasp come and live in this happy place and then let her sting? Shut up, Philippa! Before you say something you'll really regret.
Did Pritchard follow your husband? No.
How do you know? Were you with him the whole time? George told me he didn't and I have faith in him.
Even though you didn't know about his affair with Susan Carstairs.
I have faith in him.
The pregnant Susan Carstairs.
Who was found strangled yesterday evening with one of George Pritchard's ties.
Don't you talk to her like that.
Is that the truth, Pritchard? What are you going to do? Write a book? Because if you do it will take you 20 years.
What page are you on of your current magnum opus? Every talent that you've had, every break, you've wasted it or gambled it away.
Oh, look.
I see your friends are here.
Well, at least I had the good sense to marry the decent sister, George.
What did you say? You heard me! That's enough.
You've spent your entire life leeching off me! I've lent you money, I've supported you and you've resented it all! All of it! I'm so sorry.
Everyone, I'm .
.
I'm sorry.
Hey, George.
Was that the real you? Eh? Here.
Take it.
Take it.
Take it all.
Pay off your debts.
I have to speak to the police.
You're in no state to speak to anyone, Dermot.
It's just something that I ate.
But Philippa, she's got it all wrong.
What? The morning Mary was found dead, Hazel was not on her way back from Summerleigh.
She was coming to see me.
Hazel is a devout woman.
She takes the vows of marriage very seriously.
She was conflicted about her marriage and George's.
You knew about her and George.
Well, she used me as a confessor.
I was bound to silence.
Though that morning she was very distressed, having heard of George's affair with Nurse Carstairs.
She didn't know whether she could trust him anymore.
She loved him so much .
.
and he had saved her.
Oh.
So much sin, Jane.
And in such a small place as this.
Where are you going? To find you.
Are you lying again? Before the police arrive, I need to hear the truth from you, George.
You painted the wallpaper, you designed it, you .
.
you did some sort of trick.
Did you kill Mary and Eddie? You just had to be a bit more patient, that's all.
I would've come to you, I would've taken care of you.
I promised I would.
I'd have found the strength to leave Mary.
Did you kill Susan Carstairs? What? They know she was Zarida.
Just tell the truth! Darling, let's leave, let's go.
Let's go.
Don't hurt me, George! Come on.
Come on! Get your hand off me! George! He made a full confession, didn't he? Yes.
That he'd killed all three - Eddie, Mary and Susan Carstairs herself, the blackmailer who was trying to ruin him unless he made her his wife.
But you weren't convinced.
On the surface, of course, his confession had to be true.
But the only reason for it to be false was if he were .
.
protecting Hazel.
Yes.
He was 'taking the fall', as they say in American books, for the one woman he really loved.
George Arthur Pritchard.
You are charged with the wilful murders of Edward St John Hillier Seward, Mary MISS MARPLE: But suddenly this morning I knew I'd been wrong and that I had to stop the hearing because, Henry, the truth of these murders is quite extraordinary.
Do you plead guilty or not guilty? Guilty.
Yes, yes! Please inform Mr Justice Carmichael that some new evidence has just come to light which has a strong bearing on the case he's hearing.
Mrs Challinor's knitting box? That's right, My Lord.
Sir Henry understood the allusion.
Did he? And the strand of wool that seemed most knotted to me, that was the key to untangling all the half-knitted jumpers of Mrs Challinor's grandchildren Just pull your strand, Miss Marple.
We're waiting.
was if you were planning to kill someone, My Lord, would you trust to scaring them to death? Wouldn't you be better making a more secure plan than that, like poisoning them? Are you suggesting that Mary Pritchard was poisoned, rather than scared to death? Undoubtedly.
By her husband? No.
No.
George Pritchard has admitted to these crimes because he thinks he's protecting the woman he loves.
Of all the seven deadly sins, My Lord, George Pritchard is, I think, vanity, the sin from which so many others arise.
It's led him into foolish relationships with other women and led, I think, to the gluttony of his wife, who, faced with a philandering husband, took to her bed in order to maintain some sort of hold over him.
No-one took me seriously and it's about time you all started.
And it also led to the dreadful wrath of the woman he spurned all those years ago to go off with her prettier sister.
When Reverend Milewater became ill, he said, 'It was just something I ate'.
And he was right, wasn't he, Philippa? He'd eaten something you'd prepared for Mary.
Now that looks good.
Oh, it is, and it's not for you.
It's to cheer Mary up.
You'd been poisoning her for years, hadn't you? Sick Day after day, dish after dish.
Making life hell for the sister who ruined your dream of marrying the handsome young pilot you loved more than anyone else in the world.
I didn't kill Mary, George.
I just wanted to punish her.
But someone had worked out what you were doing, hadn't they, Philippa? And when Mary died, they scared you into thinking you were responsible Yes.
.
.
into making desperate accusations against George and Hazel to deflect attention away from you.
Are you in on it too, George? Because you're free to marry her now, aren't you? Was that your plan? She told me they would hang me for what I'd done.
And she scared you into getting rid of all the poison you'd used.
Didn't you, Caroline? Caroline and I were just talking about it.
Caroline? My Lord, do you know how a wasp trap is made? I do.
Well, it struck me today how much cyanide of potassium crystals resemble smelling salts.
What do you mean? I suggest, My Lord, that Caroline Copling made Mary desperately anxious through her performance as Zarida the fortune-teller.
(Breathes shallowly) And on the night of Mary's death, Caroline had swapped the smelling salts for cyanide crystals.
Because it was the cyanide that killed Mary Pritchard.
On discovery of Mary's body, Caroline Copling would have had to have acted quickly in the few moments she had in the room alone.
Using the smelling salts she turned the geranium blue.
She then returned them and removed the cyanide crystals.
But how did the flowers turn blue? Well, My Lord, smelling salts are alkaline, and I think a nurse with a bedridden patient uses litmus paper, don't they, for those little tests they do where blue paper turns red with acid, and vice versa with alkalines.
How ingenious, then, to paste red litmus paper over a red flower, near to the bed, of course, where she knew Mary would use her salts and the strong ammonia would turn the flower blue.
And then remove the litmus paper afterwards .
.
knowing it wouldn't bear close scrutiny.
Why? Why would I want to kill Mary Pritchard? Because I think you knew the Pritchards from before, didn't you, when you were in the air force? I learnt my trade during the war, you know, when we all had to do our bit.
I served over at Duxford.
And seeing that George was now a millionaire, you thought you'd change your appearance and name and come and see how you could get a piece of it.
This is nonsense.
Sit down, Miss.
Thank you, Henry.
I thought it was odd the way Philippa used the word 'wasp' in church.
Was that always your plan? To get this wasp to come and live in this happy place and then let her sting? Shut up, Philippa! Such an odd term to use when she'd used it just one day previously to describe the girl in the air force who was in the black market.
We used to call her 'the wasp' because you'd get stung if you went near her.
She had this obsession with money.
And that wasp was you, wasn't it, Caroline? How easy it must have been for you to enlist the greedy Susan Carstairs into your scheme to scare Mary, then make it look as though she was Zarida before disposing of her when she was no longer needed .
.
to further incriminate George Pritchard in the string of deaths.
She wanted money.
She said with Mary dead and George hanged, Lewis and I would inherit the lot.
And she wanted half of it, otherwise she'd tell the police I'd poisoned her.
That is a complete lie.
You cannot deny it.
You said you'd worked hard and had nothing.
You deserved it, you deserved the money.
Because you are 'envy', aren't you, Caroline? You saw George Pritchard's wealth and you wanted it for yourself, whatever the cost.
Caroline Copling, you are being arrested for the murder of Mary Pritchard No! .
.
and Susan Carstairs.
No! No! No! Anything you say will be taken down and used as evidence against you.
No! No! No! No! No! And the murder of Eddie Seward? No, Inspector, that was always suicide.
The sad end of another love that curdled into bitterness.
Well, Jane, I must come and visit you next time, visit the wasp traps.
It would be lovely to see you.
Are you alright, Miss Marple? Yes, yes.
It's just been quite a day.
Well, as you said to me once, Jane, nothing's settled until it's settled right.
No.
No, it isn't.
Well Goodbye, Jane.
Goodbye.
Closed Captions by CSI
(Sighs) You'll have to stop ringing me here, please.
No, she's upstairs, in bed.
Look, I said I'll do it, and I will, in my own time.
Now please stop ringing me here.
The protection of the spirits of the wind, the earth, the fire and the water around me.
And I beg you spirits not to let evil cross the boundary into this room tonight.
Spirits, please help me.
Help me, please.
Ah, Caro.
Tell Hester I'll take breakfast in the study this morning, please.
Yes, Sir.
Mrs Pritchard? Mary? Mary! Mary! For goodness sake.
Oh, no.
No George? What is it? Mr Pritchard.
You should see this.
Look at the geranium, Sir.
It's the wasp season already, Miss Marple.
Oh, so I see.
I hope you're killing them humanely, John.
Nasty little predators.
What's the point of a wasp, Miss Marple? I've never worked it out.
I don't know.
I'm sure they have their place.
The garden's going to look wonderful again this year, Miss.
I think so.
Especially if we can get rid of these blighters.
Oh.
Are you alright, Miss Marple? Yes.
MAN: Hello? Hello.
Yes.
I wonder, is it possible to speak to Detective William Somerset? Yes, I believe he has a hearing in front of the Old Bailey today.
MAN: Your name, please? Yes.
My name is Jane Marple.
MAN: One moment, please.
Detective Somerset? There's a telephone call for you, Sir.
It's a Miss Jane Marple.
Oh, for goodness sake.
No, I don't want to talk to her.
Tell her to go away.
I've got a murderer to hang.
Only put it more politely than that.
He won't come to the phone? MAN: Perhaps you could call back later, Madam.
Goodbye.
Oh, Jane.
Jane MAN: Scotland Yard.
Hello, yes.
I wonder, could you tell me where I can find Sir Henry Clithering? I'm terribly sorry, but as I've explained to you, this is a gentlemen's club.
Yes, I know.
But I have travelled some distance already today.
I need to see Sir Henry Clithering on a matter of some urgency.
Jane! Oh, what is it? Oh! Well, it's this, Sir Henry.
Excuse me.
They're going to hang the wrong person for murder.
Thank you so much.
I think you'd better come through.
But Sir Henry, ladies are not allowed beyond the desk, Sir.
I'm a trustee.
Make an exception.
Excuse me.
Thank you.
You need to stop the hearing, Henry, or there will be terrible consequences.
Are you familiar with the case? Yes, but I retired from Scotland Yard some time ago, you know? I carry no authority there.
But you can get to the people in authority, whereas I can't, and I need to.
Calm down, Jane.
Have you ever known me to be wrong, Sir Henry? In all the years you've known me? No.
(Chuckles) Well, I was wrong here.
I was there when it happened and I've got it wrong.
Do you remember when old Mrs Challinor died in St Mary Mead? Mrs Challinor was murdered? No, no, no.
But when she died, she had a knitting basket that was full of abandoned projects and they were so entangled that one simply couldn't unravel them.
Well, that's how I think of this case, this Blue Geranium murder.
It became so knotted that it was difficult to tell one thing from the other.
Tell me what happened, Jane.
And then tell me why it's wrong.
I'd been invited to the West Country to visit a friend, Dermot Milewater.
He lives in a village called Little Ambrose.
And to get there, you have to catch a bus from the train station in Fothersby.
There was one other person on the bus.
And he was in a mood to talk.
I love nature, don't you? I love the bareness of the trees and the clouds.
Yes, yes, I do.
'My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky.
' Wordsworth.
Yes, yes.
And I don't mind saying that I've been through a tunnel, Mrs? Marple.
Miss Marple.
Eddie Seward, or just Ed or Eddie.
Eddie.
Eddie.
As I came through this tunnel, I saw a crocus.
Saw it out the window.
An early white crocus.
And it was beautiful.
It was terrifically beautiful.
And I thought I've never really seen nature as being beautiful before.
And I should have done.
I I should have done.
And then my heart leaped up, like in the Wordsworth.
It jumped.
Do you think God is in nature, Miss Marple? I think he is.
I think he shows us how terrifically beautiful .
.
the world could really be.
Are you going to Little Ambrose, Mr Seward? I'm going to force the moment to its crisis.
What moment to what crisis? And surrounded by such beauty I .
.
I feel I will.
I feel I can do it, yes.
Yes.
Jane! Jane! Oh! Oh, I'm sorry I'm late.
Hello, Dermot.
But I come bearing gifts.
They're beautiful.
Thank you.
Well, it's been too long, Jane.
Yes, yes, it has.
Excuse me.
Mr Seward, do you know where you're going? Uh, yes Thank you.
It's a beautiful village.
Um Oh, what a beautiful day I have a wonderful feeling Everything's going my way.
Oh.
Hello, darling.
You're up.
Will you be writing? Yes, of course.
Now you know full well they're not for you.
She can't eat them all, can she? There once was a man called Daniel Lambert, the fattest in England Don't be mean about my sister.
I'm not.
And when he died, the undertakers had to smash through the window at the front of the house to get his corpse out because he was so fat he didn't fit through his own front door.
Am I talking to myself again? I am, you know? I am talking to myself.
Now, let me see.
Hm Hello! You must be Miss Marple.
Yes.
Jane, this is Hester.
This is my niece, Robert's daughter.
No! I remember you when your father had the parish at St Mary Mead.
You were this tall.
I remember St Mary Mead very fondly.
Is it still as pretty? It is.
But this is, I think, the prettiest village I know.
And with a much more impressive church.
Yes, well, as impressive as it may be, it might not be here for much longer.
We've had some trouble with subsidence on the south wall.
Uncle Dermot's raised funds to dig out the foundations.
It was a botched job, Jane.
They completely ruined it.
Can't the diocese help? No.
But we have a plan.
There's a generous millionaire in the village now.
Mr Trans-Europa Airlines, who bought Summerleigh at auction when Major Frayn died, lock, stock, and barrel and all the contents.
Hester's cook at Summerleigh now.
(Laughs) Yes.
And our plan is that today, when he's made captain of the golf club, we're praying he'll be in a benevolent mood.
Where is she, Philippa? She says honk the horn all you like, but it's giving her a migraine.
I've only honked it twice.
And, anyway, she's decided she's not going to come.
Why not? Here, let me help you on your bike.
No.
No thanks, George.
She's had her horoscope read this morning over the telephone.
Oh, no.
And she wants you to ring Dr Frayn.
Things are going to fall apart today.
That's what he said.
It's a black day.
The moon is in Mars or something.
He said there were omens.
Omens, George! Pass me the chocolates.
Where are they?! He said I should stay inside or bad things will happen to me.
Not these.
The truffles, you useless woman! And we should all stay here.
No golf.
Stay here in this sanctuary with me.
Except you.
You can go wherever you like, Nurse Copling.
You're annoying today.
I hope bad things happen to you.
Darling, you said you were looking forward to going to the golf club.
You were going to wear your new dress, which everyone was going to admire.
Darling, they're expecting you.
Yes, they're expecting me to lie dying on the floor so they can stand around laughing at me whilst I lie dying! Thanks for coming, Frayn.
No problem.
I have to be at the golf club by 3.
I'll get her there as soon as I can.
Is she in her room? Yeah, follow the noise.
(Sobs) George! Is that Dr Frayn? He said a black day, Johnny, and you know how sensitive I am.
Is that your 'magic' medicine? Yes.
Oh.
Mmm.
That works for me, it settles me.
I know.
George brought some hyacinths in from the greenhouse, thinking that would settle me.
But nothing settles me like you, Johnny.
Will you stay close to me at the golf club? Yes, of course.
Will you watch over me all the time? MISS MARPLE: So that afternoon, Sir Henry, most of Little Ambrose turns up at the golf club.
And I learn from Dermot that George Pritchard's brother, Lewis, is a penniless writer and married to Mary Pritchard's sister, Philippa.
Two brothers have married two sisters? Yes, and that afternoon something very strange was going on between the brothers.
George! What happened to your nose? You need to give me 20 quid.
I owe Pilger 20 quid.
I haven't got it.
What? He did that to you? Yeah.
I was walking here, he draws up in that car.
He says things will get a lot worse if I don't pay.
(Sighs) If you need money, you're going to have to go through Mary.
No! She needs to know the money is going to get to her sister and not some bloody bookmaker! Oh, George, George.
Are you really that much under her thumb? I know you like carrying a big wad around, more than most people earn in a month.
I know you can pay this.
And we don't need to tell her.
Next time don't bother asking me.
You go to Mary.
Sorry.
Sorry I'm late.
Did you bring the fruit pies? No, no.
I'm afraid I didn't.
I ran out of time.
Not to worry, not to worry.
I just hope we've got enough to go around.
Hazel's an artist, Miss Marple.
We have to allow her a little dreaminess.
Hello.
Jane Marple.
Nice to meet you.
Are all these people admiring my dress, Johnny? Yes, they are.
What was George speaking to my sister's useless husband about? Was it money? He handed over about L20.
It'll be for the bookmakers again.
Right.
And where is George now? Where is he? He's with Reverend Milewater.
Is he? Well, I bet I can tell you what that's about.
The cost, well, it escalates every day.
The diocese think they can make funds available by the end of the year.
But by that time, the whole thing could have collapsed completely.
I hope it does, the miserable place.
Darling.
How much are they after this time, George? I mean, you people are shameless.
We have been back here two years and already we've forked out to redevelop the golf course, the cricket pavilion, dig out the culverts.
It's like being stuck in a nightmare village of Oliver Twist, going, 'More! More! More!' Well, come on! Tell us how much you've cost by messing up those renovations? Well, it's in the region of Because you're not going to get any, and I'll tell you why.
Because I hate that miserable little church.
I hate the way it denies the true old patterns of the world, the horoscopes and the auras and all of the true things! I hate the way it bores people to death every Sunday through this little failure of a preacher.
Oh, ask everyone here.
They all think you're boring.
(Laughs) They all think you're a waste of space.
So no money.
Well, I am done now, so you can all stop gawping.
Shall we go outside to perform the ceremony for the new captain? Just ignore her, Reverend.
She's an awful woman.
If she can say one spiteful thing, she can say a hatful.
She makes her husband's life misery, too, by all accounts, if that's any consolation.
God forgive me, but if George Pritchard were to brain his wife with a hatchet, there's not a soul in this village that wouldn't acquit him.
Couldn't you have stopped her? No one can stop her, darling.
You can.
Maybe she's right.
Maybe people are beginning to sponge off them.
Wish me luck with the speech.
Ladies and gentlemen.
Since George Pritchard came to Little Ambrose and bought Summerleigh from my late father, we've a lot to thank him for.
The cricket pavilion, the work on the back nine and many other small projects that have improved our community are down to George's generosity.
So it's a pleasure to invite him to accept the captaincy of our club, taking over from the many years service of my father, and to perform the ceremonial drive off the first tee.
Let's see if he can beat our captain's record held by our ladies' captain, Mrs Hartopp, at 183 yards.
A phenomenal distance, considering she's a woman.
(Laughter) I'll do well to beat that.
Lewis, are your kids out spotting? Yeah, they're down there.
They're being very optimistic.
Are you worried, Mrs Hutton? You're not worried, are you, love? She's seen him play.
Ahem.
Oh.
And it's the trees by the river.
Do I get a second go? ALL: No.
My kids will never find that, George.
They'd be here for years.
Come out looking like Rip Van bloody Winkle.
BOY: Dad! Dad! Call the police! Dad! Call the police! Oh, God.
Is he dead? Come here.
Come here, Michael.
Turn him over.
Who is it, George? Oh, my goodness.
Scratches on the neck to indicate a struggle.
I'd say the murderer was a man, wouldn't you, Doctor? I'd say a man.
Is he local? No.
Dead maybe an hour, a bit longer.
Killed upstream, dumped in the river.
No jacket.
Nothing in his pockets.
Nothing to immediately identify him, anyway.
Oh, we have a name, Detective Somerset.
We know who he is.
And did Eddie Seward say where he'd come from? I presumed London.
His coat was Saville Row.
And to be on the 10:25 bus from Fothersby meant he'd most likely arrived on the 8:05 from Paddington.
Right.
And it was an impulsive visit, Detective Somerset.
I believe he'd only decided to make the journey that morning.
He told you that, did he? No, no.
He had no travel bag.
And did he say why he was headed to Little Ambrose? Yes.
He said he was here to 'force the moment to its crisis'.
Well, that could mean anything.
No, no.
It's from a poem about a man called Prufrock who's trying to summon up the courage to ask a woman to marry him.
Is it? Inspector, I couldn't help noticing when I saw the body that the bottom half of the tie that killed him was missing.
You had a good look, did you? You can learn so much if you're lucky enough to see the body.
Um Can I just ask if the other part of his tie was found on or near him? Well, that's a police concern, Miss Marple.
Yes, I Inspector, you've just had a phone call from a certain lady who would like to see you rather urgently.
Um And the scratches on his neck, I wonder, were they made by the dead man or by a possible assailant? Again, Miss Marple, that's a matter that should only concern the police.
And what's the name of this certain lady? Mary Pritchard.
I suggest you wear a helmet.
This was death foretold.
No-one took me seriously and it's about time you all started.
I don't want those pills.
I want your 'magic', Dr Frayn.
You know I can't take pills without mayonnaise.
Mrs Pritchard, I was told you had something urgent to tell me.
That's what she said.
I'm being burgled.
You are not being burgled! Jewellery goes missing from this room.
Yes, it does.
My emerald ring, for one.
That diamond brooch.
Snuff boxes from the hall tables spirited away.
Now you're in the village, Inspector.
You'll take me seriously and put your efforts into this crime, as well.
Mrs Pritchard, I have a capital crime here.
I was told you had something to say about the murder of Eddie Seward.
That was Eddie Seward? Yes, did you know him? Oh, I knew him.
You did, too, didn't you, George? Just before I left the Yard, we investigated an 'Edward Seward' because his wife went missing.
That's right.
And that's what Detective Somerset found out after a quick phone call.
He was a member here, you know? Rich as Croesus, he was.
Inherited a mining fortune.
Never did a day's work in his life.
I believe we would have been in the same society events as Eddie Seward, but we weren't friends, I wouldn't have recognised him.
Business associates? No.
Would you like a drink, Inspector? Or are you alright with tea? No, no, thanks.
Tea is fine.
Of course.
So, from what I can gather, he would finance ventures, some of them nefarious? Yes, well, I steer clear of financiers like that.
Tea, Mr Pritchard? Yes.
Thank you, Hester.
No, thanks.
I set up the airline with contacts I had in the air force.
Good.
Oh, um Where were you between 11:30 and the events at the golf course this afternoon? I was here.
Thank you.
Hello.
I've been looking for you.
How are you? I have been here for 40 years, Jane.
And the whole thing's going to fall down around me.
You'll raise the money.
Is this where you write? Yes, I try to get inspiration from these things.
The seven deadly sins.
Yes, and I think we all know who 'gluttony' is.
Oh, I try to see the good in people, Jane.
But that woman has not got an ounce of it in her.
Never has had.
Someone ought to teach her a lesson.
Dermot No, I mean it.
She grew up in this village.
Did you know that? No, no.
She was very pretty.
And George Pritchard was her sister's fiancee.
They met when they were in the RAF during the war.
And Philippa was so in love with him.
I've never seen anybody so in love.
And Mary stole him.
This is George.
Hello.
She broke her sister's heart.
Philippa married the other brother out of desperation, I suppose, I don't know.
And Mary's been such a terrible wife to George.
She makes him live here so that she can play the lady of the manor, when he needs to be in London.
She bullies him.
Bullies everyone.
I think Eddie Seward deserved to die.
That's a terrible thing to say.
We knew him in London, Philippa.
He was a piece of work.
Drunk and violent.
How do you know that? I met his wife.
The one who disappeared.
When? At one of those hideous balls on Park Lane where everyone dresses up as if Edward VII was still on the throne.
WOMAN: Are you alright? Penelope Seward.
She was quiet, didn't want to talk.
But she was angry.
She said she couldn't go back to the ball because she had a huge bruise on the side of her face where he'd hit her.
Oh, and that wasn't the worst.
She had scars on her arms where she said he'd stubbed out his cigars when he was drunk.
She said if she stayed one more day with him I'll kill him.
Now maybe she has.
Oh, Mary.
MISS MARPLE: Obviously, the discovery of Eddie's body had spread unease through the village that night.
Hi, Dad.
Hello.
Hello, Daddy.
That's a nice sound.
It's what I like to hear.
How's the book going? It's going fine.
Dad, who do you think killed that man? Look, children.
Don't mess Can you just take these pots off the table?! If you go and put your pajamas on, I'll be up in a minute.
I'll take that.
This body down the club would make a good story.
Yeah, a potboiler.
Well, sometimes pots need to boil, don't they? Otherwise no-one eats.
What does that mean? I've put this week's groceries on the tab again.
That's four weeks we owe now.
Can you talk to your brother, Lewis? I'm sure he Philippa! Philippa! Everything's going to be fine.
L20, but I don't want to pay it off yet.
I want you to put this on Flavius the Great.
Towcester, 2:15 tomorrow.
Do you know your history? Flavius, named, I presume, after Flavius Belisarius, was the only Roman general who never lost a battle.
He never lost.
Hello.
I thought you'd gone, darling.
Well, Mary asked me if I'd hang around in case she had a relapse.
A relapse of what? Actually, I was waiting for you.
Would you like to go for a drink? Yes, a drink would be nice after today.
Good.
34, blonde.
Can I have a photograph sent because I think she might be here? MAN: I'll look it up.
Either that or Eddie Seward came to see George Pritchard, which Pritchard denies.
MAN: Eddie Seward, George Pritchard.
This could be a high-profile case, Bill.
Yeah, I'm aware of that.
If I can wrap this up quickly it could be my ticket back to London.
Then that stuff will be forgotten.
(Knocking) Hang on one moment.
Yes, dear? Something I forgot to say, Inspector.
Eddie Seward was a drunk and that much was obvious.
But from his behaviour on the bus this morning I don't think he'd been drinking today.
Interesting, but could you walk away now, because I'm on confidential police business here? Can I just ask, if I may, if you think the scratches on his neck were self-inflicted or the result of a fight? My friend, Sir Henry Clithering, you see, says you can always tell if it's self-inflicted by looking under the fingernails.
You know Sir Henry Clithering? Scotland Yard? Eddie Seward was a drunk, wasn't he? He disappeared from a drying-out clinic at about 5:00 yesterday afternoon.
As I thought.
And I think his wife must be down here somewhere, don't you? Yes.
Well, if you need any help, Inspector, do let me know.
MAN: Who on earth was that? You don't want to know.
But I'll bet George Pritchard knows more about Eddie Seward than he's letting on.
Sir Henry.
Thank you.
So both you and Somerset were right.
Penelope Seward was at Little Ambrose.
Yes, yes, yes, but wait.
I have to tell this right.
And this is where it becomes tangled, like Mrs Challinor's wool, remember? Mrs Challinor's wool? Because the next morning, while the whole house was out, Mary Pritchard had a visitor.
Now, whenever she heard of a new mystic or fortune-teller, she couldn't resist arranging for a reading.
The one she had scheduled to call that morning was a fortune-teller who called herself 'Zarida'.
Mm! Zarida.
Come in, come in.
Yesterday I had the most horrific horoscope and it all came true.
I am so in tune with the spiritual I cannot come into this room.
I feel evil and danger.
What are they doing here? Blue hyacinths are a warning, Mary Pritchard.
If you see blue hollyhocks, they will mean danger.
Danger And blue geraniums will mean your death.
I'm going to die.
You're not, darling.
Warning, then danger, then death.
You certainly got your money's worth this morning, didn't you? I was foretold Eddie Seward's death.
Now I've been foretold my own.
Look, you don't get blue hollyhocks.
They're pink and they're yellow.
So I think it's fair to say that you're going to be with us forever, Mary.
You know blue has always been repellent to me, George! It is a pity food isn't blue.
Who brought the hyacinths in? Mr Pritchard.
Now, are you going to host the drinks tonight? You know the golf lot are coming round.
I think I might be dead by this evening.
Enough! Enough of this spiritual poppycock! George And the crackpots that you listen to! I hate this, Mary.
I hate it! Everything I've ever done you've ruined.
You ruin every day of my life.
I'm scared, Georgie Well, I'm not scared of you anymore.
Now you stop this nonsense.
You get out of bed, you go downstairs, you host this evening, you do it well.
Because I'm warning you, I've had enough! Do you see there, Jane? That great big crack? Yes.
Have there been any new arrivals in the village over the last couple of years, women in their 30s? Well, there's been a couple of them, haven't there, Hes? Mm.
They've had a change of nurse up at Summerleigh.
Nurse Copling came with excellent references, didn't she, Hes? She did, yes.
Well, I'm new, of course, Miss Marple.
Been here a year now.
Oh, well, of course, that makes three of them.
And if only Dr Frayn would eventually get round to asking you to marry him, you'd be with us a little longer, wouldn't you? If he ever does.
Why would Eddie Seward's body wash up at the golf course? Is there anything upriver from there? Well, only an old water mill, but it's practically abandoned.
Why? What are you thinking, Jane? I think that Eddie came to Little Ambrose to find his wife.
I imagine he was going to tell her that he'd cleaned himself up and was going to force the moment to its crisis and ask her to take him back.
But instead she killed him and dumped his body in the river? Well, perhaps.
Miss Marple I heard George Pritchard lie to the police yesterday.
Where were you between 11:30 and the events at the golf course this afternoon? I was here.
Thank you.
But he wasn't.
He was absent from Summerleigh the whole time.
Who was the third woman who arrived? Um, Hazel Instow.
She's lovely.
What do you know about her? I came to Little Ambrose, I'd say 18 months ago, for the peace and quiet.
And before that? I lived in Alexandria.
I love the antiquities.
It had always been a dream of mine to paint in Egypt.
How long did you live there? A number of years.
My sister is married to the British Consul.
I'm afraid I never knew this Mr Seward, Inspector, so I can't really help you.
Of course.
And before Egypt? London.
May I ask, is it possible to make a living doing this? A small one, yes.
There's a gallery in Chelsea which takes the occasional work, but it's a vocation rather than a profession for me, Detective.
Oh.
Oh.
Ah.
How much would he fetch? Oh, no.
He's not going anywhere.
That's just a sketch for a commission from the golf club.
When I paint it up they're going to hang George in the clubhouse .
.
in a manner of speaking.
Sorry.
Is she coming down, Caroline? No, Mrs Pritchard.
Hazel, will you perform hostess duties for George tonight? No, you.
Please.
So what puzzles me is this - fortune-tellers are usually out for what they can get.
From what I can see, they just say what Mrs Pritchard wants to hear.
This Zarida, she seems to be frightening her with no advantage to herself.
I don't see the point.
How did Mary hear of Zarida? Susan Carstairs, the nurse before me, put her on to her.
Why does that not surprise me? Nurse Carstairs was really into this sort of thing.
She sent this letter.
She left about six months ago.
It was all very sudden.
She sent this Sorry, Hester.
But she sent this recommendation out of the blue last week.
Did Mrs Pritchard make the appointment herself? No, I rang Zarida at her request.
I'm going to ring this Zarida now, ask her what she's playing at.
Why did Nurse Carstairs leave so suddenly? We have a steady flow of staff here, I'm afraid.
My sister isn't the easiest person to work for.
Is she not in? The number's discontinued.
Going to catch you! No running indoors, Peter.
Please.
Boys.
George.
Ah.
Jonathan.
Welcome.
Come through.
My wife's nerves have got the better of her this evening and she won't be joining us.
Pity.
Hazel.
Hello.
Evening.
Excuse me.
Sorry to intrude, Pritchard, but I'd like a quick word with your employees Nurse Copling and Miss Milewater.
Whatever for? Just routine.
You can use my study.
Thank you.
Hey, these are for later, you little rascal.
Can I have three, please? Thank you.
Mrs Pritchard, I took a bottle of Dr Frayn's magic medicine from your sister's bedroom.
Whatever for, Caroline? You should taste it.
So you've been living with your uncle for over a year now? That's right.
And where did you live before? What was the address? Strathleven Mansions, Bayswater.
Did you live alone? Were you married? Not married, no.
You don't think I'm that dead man's wife, do you, Inspector? It's just procedure, Miss.
I think Mrs Pritchard might need to see you, Doctor.
Excuse me.
Thank you.
You're a novelist, aren't you, Mr Pritchard? That's right, yes.
How is the book going, Pritchard? You've been working on that for as long as you've been here, haven't you? It's a very long book.
What's it about? Well, it's an historical novel.
It's based on The Princes In The Tower.
In many ways, it's the best story Shakespeare never wrote.
Didn't he? Yes, what we don't tell Lewis is Shakespeare did actually write it.
He didn't.
He referred to it, he didn't dedicate a whole work to it.
And what would you know about Shakespeare anyway, George? Nothing.
You're right, of course.
Is everyone alright for drinks? Thank you.
Lewis is nearing the end of it now, actually, Reverend.
Excuse me.
Yes? We saw you talking to the policeman.
Yes.
We found it by the river.
Oh.
We were making a den.
Well, very good.
Oh, Inspector.
Yes? I think the children have found where Eddie Seward died.
Mrs Pritchard's asked if Dr Fray.
.
.
if it's possible to have a tray of food sent up? What is the meaning of this, Jonathan? You have the medicine.
We were looking for that.
Why is it filled with water? Because your sister's not ill, Mrs Pritchard.
She is ill.
She is, Doctor.
She's nauseous every day.
She has had a succession of viruses and she catches everything going.
The only sickness she has is in her head, Nurse.
My sister is definitely ill! And, therefore, the treatment that makes her feel better is also in her head.
There has been something seriously wrong with Mary for years, Dr Frayn.
And specialists have not been able to get to the bottom of it.
The only thing wrong with her is that she overeats.
And that's as much the fault of people like you who pander to her every taste with ridiculous amounts of food, Philippa.
She's lost her confidence, she's become agoraphobic and she imagines all kinds of ailments in order to keep your attention.
Oh, George.
The hollyhock, it's blue, look! Shh.
But that's impossible.
The hollyhock on the wallpaper turned blue? Well, that's what Mary said.
By the time they'd calmed her down and got some sense out of her, the hollyhock was pink.
Which particular hollyhock are we talking about? No, it was blue! I saw it turning blue! I am in danger! Just calm down.
Shh.
Come on.
DERMOT: You mean she imagined it? That's what people thought.
But she didn't think so.
And neither do I, not now.
I think someone was trying to scare that woman to death.
What type of wallpaper was it? Well, that evening, Sir Henry, I tried to find out exactly where it was from.
I designed it, Miss Marple.
Yes, my sister was almost bed-bound last summer and didn't want to miss the garden, so had it brought into her room, as it were.
And George commissioned me to design a wallpaper from the flowers in the garden.
He was very specific about the flowers that he wanted.
It's very adventurous.
Primroses and buttercups and foxgloves and hollyhocks, all blooming together.
I call it blooming madness.
Thank you, Hester.
My pleasure, Philippa.
This is Susan Carstairs putting the frighteners on her majesty upstairs.
I don't know how, but I'm sure of it.
The previous nurse? What makes you say that? I didn't want to say this in front of Philippa, because I think she still holds a candle for George Pritchard, don't you, Caro? I do.
But Nurse Carstairs definitely left Summerleigh under a cloud.
What sort of cloud? A saucy cloud.
I was hanging around here one night.
I wasn't being nosy, Jane, but let's say there was a bit of design to my hanging around because I had suspicions.
That's it.
And swing.
(Gasps) Again.
And swing.
Again.
Swing.
Again.
She left soon afterwards, overnight.
I think she saw George as a main chance, saw herself as the second Mrs Pritchard.
And when George realised that, he got rid of her.
Did Mary know of the affair? I don't know.
But I reckon Susan Carstairs herself was Zarida and scaring George's wife is her way of getting revenge.
EDDIE SEWARD: I love nature, don't you? I love the bareness of the trees.
All right.
Thank you, children.
If you could just go with the constable now.
Come on now.
Let's get you home.
So, this is where he was thrown in the river.
I wonder if he was killed here, as well.
Or took his own life.
No, this is murder, Miss Marple, clear as day.
I mean there's no note.
Where's the note? And I've seen murder got up to look like suicide many times.
When people take their own lives, Inspector, sometimes they try and do it in a significant place.
What's significant about here to Eddie Seward? It's beautiful.
And he told me that coming through the tunnel of his alcoholism he was taking great strength from nature, that he was finding God in it.
Yeah, yeah.
If he was committing suicide, why didn't we find him hanging from that tree? Because the tie hadn't supported his weight for long, had torn, and the body had fallen from where it was hanging.
So he fell in the river and just floated downstream? That's a wonderful explanation.
Can you think of another? Yes.
His wife killed him and made it look like suicide.
But what if the scratches on his neck were not the result of a fight, but his own hands trying to save himself? If he's committing suicide, why would he try to stop it? Because, as my friend Sir Henry Clithering says, sometimes people pull out of their suicides.
Inspector, surely you know that.
No, no.
I don't buy it.
This is still a major murder case.
Inspector, why are you no longer working in London? Why are you down here? Well, if you know Sir Henry I imagine you'll find out about it.
There was an incident.
Involving drink? Involving drink, yes.
I was on duty, complaints were made and I was told to sort myself out.
What was in Eddie's wallet? Money, a business card with his club address on it, tickets for various things.
May I see? I'm going to go to London and try to trace his movements between the time that he checked out of the drying-out clinic and the time he came here.
See if he met up with anyone.
Good idea.
Thank you.
Um, Inspector, I don't think it's connected to this, but I believe that someone is trying to scare Mary Pritchard.
Perhaps you It wouldn't take much to set that woman off, Miss Marple.
And I agree.
I don't think it is connected.
Magical flowers.
I mean, honestly.
Hello.
What's wrong? Susan Carstairs.
You've slept with her since I've lived here.
That's not true.
You were seen, George, don't lie.
Why? Do you not love me enough? Of course I love you.
Then why? Are we not risking enough for each other, George? I did it because Because she was there.
She was there, and you're not, not like that.
I want to be with you, but you won't let me.
We talk and talk in circles about how much we want to be together, but .
.
you never show that you really want me.
It's always meeting like this.
I love you.
I love YOU.
I'm so sorry.
I'd do anything for you.
You know that, don't you? MAN: Hello.
Oh, hello.
Is that the Fettiplace auction house? So do you think I should go to the police, Reverend Milewater? Do you think I should tell them about Dr Frayn and how he's failing in his hypocritical duties? Hippocratic! I think it's theft, Miss Marple, don't you? Charging them all this money for nothing but water.
Don't be so stupid, Philippa.
It's 'Hippocratic', after Hippocrates, the Greek physician.
Not 'hypocritic' .
.
after everyone in this village.
He won't be the first doctor to prescribe a placebo for a patient.
And your sister feels better after the treatment, doesn't she, Philippa? It's just deceitful.
When I was in the air force Oh, here we go.
Back when you were in the air force when you met George .
.
when you fell in love with him.
During the war there was this girl, Miss Marple.
She used to do this placebo thing with the black market.
She'd water down perfumes and whisky and things .
.
pass off poor-quality nylons for top brands.
We used to call her 'the wasp' because you'd get stung if you went near her.
She had this obsession with money, this voracious greed for it and I think Dr Frayn is the same.
And I think he should be drummed out of the medical profession like the wasp was drummed out of the services.
Now, that looks good.
Oh, it is, and it's not for you.
It's to cheer Mary up.
So what would the police do if I went and complained? Very little, I'm afraid.
During the drinks yesterday, did you go upstairs and talk to Mary? You see everything, Jane, don't you? Well, I thought if I might speak to her alone, use what remains of the Milewater charm, I could bring her round to giving us some money.
And? Lewis got there before me.
Well, if you don't give me the money, they're going to come back to the village.
They'll hurt Philippa, they'll hurt our children.
They're going to take everything we've got.
Everything in that cottage is owned by George and me! You haven't earned a penny in your life! The only way you'll be worth anything is if George and I die.
You know, Mary you are an evil bitch! Please go now! George? I'm going, I'm going.
George! Does he need money because of his gambling on the horses? I imagine so.
Philippa speaks to me sometimes about it, how much it worries her.
Look, do you mind if we just stop here for a moment, Jane? Just stop in this village of mine? Dermot? I walk here every day Look, I have some work to do for Sunday.
I really must work.
Maybe you don't see everything, Jane.
MISS MARPLE: That evening, Sir Henry, as I stood in the centre of that quiet, pleasant English village, I thought of all the tensions that lay in the foundations of the lives that lived there.
They'll be back in the morning demanding money.
We haven't got it! Then we'll get the money! We haven't got the money! We will get the money.
Where? I promise.
And I thought of the one woman who was going to sleep that night in genuine fear of her life.
Help me.
Protection of the spirits of the wind and the MISS MARPLE: But little did I realise how right she was to be scared In my own time.
And please stop ringing me here.
.
.
and how she was not going to see the morning.
Mary? Mary? Oh, no.
No George? What is it? Look at the geranium, Sir.
At first sight it's shock, syncope, which has caused the blood vessels in the nose to have hemorrhaged.
You say one of the flowers on the wallpaper has turned blue? Well, it has.
It's pink again now.
I don't know.
I don't think it was.
The place is madness.
We don't know what we saw.
You've got to get that detective to investigate the fortune-teller and Nurse Carstairs, Mr Pritchard.
There's something terribly wrong about the way she frightened your wife.
Yes.
Thank you, Caro.
Can you leave us alone, please? There had now been two suspicious deaths within 36 hours, you see? As news of Mary's death raced through the village people found themselves asking terrible questions.
Well Is it true? Is she dead? Yes.
How? They think she died of shock.
People don't die of shock, George.
Was it you? Did you kill her? Did I kill your wife? Yes.
How can you say that to me? How can you? Go away! Go away! It was definitely blue, Jane, despite what George has said.
But how? It's not damaged or anything, it's just wallpaper.
MISS MARPLE: Everyone in Little Ambrose was thrown by the events of that morning, Sir Henry, even Nurse Copling.
What am I going to do, Hester? You'll be alright.
But this will make me unemployed again.
I thought it was going to be a permanent position.
I know Mrs Pritchard was difficult, but I felt at home here, I was making friends.
You've still got those friends, Caro.
We're not going to go away.
Nursing must be a very peripatetic kind of life, quite lonely at times.
Have you been in it long? Since the war, when we all did our bit.
I served over at Duxford.
And then Reverend, you don't look very well.
Would you like to sit down? I'm sorry.
Can I get you a glass of water? No, I'll do it.
It must be something I ate.
Where are your family, Caro? I don't have any, Miss Marple.
Oh.
Have you a gentleman friend? No.
Mr Pritchard .
.
tried the same thing with me as he did with Nurse Carstairs, Miss Marple.
He tried to teach me a golf swing, but I wouldn't do it, I wouldn't do what he wanted.
And if you ask me, I think he's still in touch with Susan Carstairs.
I heard them talking on the telephone once.
I think George Pritchard's a bad man.
And the way he carries on I think he must be.
Mr Edward Seward has been staying at the club off and on, but he wasn't here on Thursday night.
When was he last here? Oh.
Two, three weeks ago.
Let's see.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Go back, go back.
What's that name? That is Mr George Pritchard, Sir.
Is he a member here, too? Yes.
Yes, I did know Eddie Seward.
We moved in the same circles for a while.
He was It was resentment.
I was seen as new money, whereas him and his ilk were blue-blood and made sure you knew it.
Why didn't you tell me you knew him before? Because he turned up dead on my doorstep and I didn't want to be dragged into it.
I was never close to him, I didn't like him.
He was a hopeless alcoholic and a thug around women.
This man that you weren't close to lent you half a million pounds three years ago for your airline to develop haulage routes into Italy and Greece, a venture that was not successful.
Yes, but I paid Eddie Seward back.
Every farthing.
You'll find that detail in your documents as well, Inspector.
Where were you the morning Eddie Seward came to Little Ambrose, George? At Summerleigh, like I told you.
But your housekeeper, Hester Milewater, says that's another lie.
I've had enough of this.
Sit down, Sir.
Look, am I under arrest? Sit down.
I didn't see Eddie Seward that morning.
I haven't heard from him for two years.
I don't know why he was here or where his wife is.
I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Inspector.
My wife died this morning and I have some things that I have to attend to.
About time you arrived.
Yes? Hello? Oh Oh, that's an excellent likeness, Hazel.
Oh, you have a very distinctive style.
Yes, people have often said that about the work, Miss Marple.
And what, if I may ask, have been your favorite subjects? Well, I like portraiture, but my real love is, well, has always been nature.
I like to think that you can see God in nature.
Hi, Hes.
Got your message.
Why didn't you just come round to the surgery? I want an explanation, Jonathan.
You're the one who's been stealing from the house, aren't you? The snuff boxes, the carriage clock, jewellery.
No, not jewellery.
Why did you do it? Because that was my parents' stuff.
Pritchard took advantage of my father when he was in a fix.
He drove down the price on Summerleigh.
He died with nothing to his name.
But it's not yours anymore, Jonathan.
I want to get money to marry you, Hes.
What? Well, that's why I put up with that insufferable woman for so long.
She was my most lucrative patient, Hes.
I don't want money.
I want you, don't you know that? Oh, you must take all that stuff back or that detective will be on to you.
I thought that place was abandoned.
It is.
So why is there a light on? He found you through one of your paintings, didn't he, Hazel? Who? Your husband, Eddie Seward.
I imagine he'd looked for you for two years, knowing he'd driven you away, maybe to suicide, sinking deeper into his tunnel of alcohol and guilt.
And then, quite by chance, he recognised one of your paintings at Fettiplace, the art dealers in London.
Lot 172.
And even though you'd changed your name, he recognised it was your hand.
MAN: Hello? Anyone there? Hello? Zarida.
There's no-one here.
Jonathan.
Call the police, Hazel.
If your husband found you here it's only a matter of time before they do.
They'll understand, Penelope.
But who was it? The former nurse, Susan Carstairs.
Pritchard's mistress? And six months pregnant.
With George Pritchard's tie tight around her neck.
She'd been installed in the Mill House by George, after he made her leave Summerleigh.
Detective Somerset found evidence that she had dressed up as Zarida.
He found Mary's missing jewellery on her fingers and he also found George's fingerprints all over the place.
Suddenly he had three suspicious deaths and one missing persons inquiry on his hands, all somehow tangled around George Pritchard.
But how? And why? I want you to keep everything you've seen to yourself.
Can I rely on you both? Detective Somerset decided not to release news of Susan Carstairs' death, but to have George watched while he interviewed Hazel, who had just rung the police station and admitted she was Penelope Seward - news that was already round the village.
Philippa? Philippa? What? I suppose you've heard about Hazel.
Oh.
Yes, yes.
Caroline and I were just talking about it.
Caroline? Hello.
Hello, Miss Marple.
We think she must have had some kind of thing over my sister.
Or Mrs Pritchard recognised her as Penelope Seward.
She recognised her, yes.
We think she must have killed my sister somehow.
I don't think so.
I don't think Hazel's a murderer.
Then who's been doing this, Miss Marple? Who else could have killed these people? And on this Sunday morning we remember in our prayers Mary Pritchard, a member of our community who died yesterday.
I Forgive me for saying this.
God teaches us that life is valuable.
It is not to be wasted.
God, when he judges Mary's life, I fear will judge it to be wasted.
God asks us to live our lives in service to Him, not dabbling in fancies and superstitions.
I'm sorry to say this, Mr Pritchard, but God teaches us to live our lives so that we can try to be good to one another.
Reverend Milewater Philippa, sit down.
Human beings should not be mean and poisonous.
I think she was murdered.
(Congregation murmurs) Philippa, we should leave.
No, George.
She was murdered by that woman, I know she was.
Let's leave.
(I saw her.
) Early yesterday morning coming back from Summerleigh.
Why would Hazel want to murder Mary? Because you were having an affair with her, George.
Did you think I wouldn't notice that? Did you think I wouldn't see? And she murdered her husband, too .
.
because the day he died she was late at the golf club.
Sorry.
Sorry I'm late.
Where had she been if not killing him so she could be with you? Where had she been? I did see my husband that morning.
He asked me to accept him back.
Where did this take place? Here.
He just turned up and said he'd changed.
And that he loved me.
And that he'd always loved me.
But I told him I would never go back to him.
Never go back to him.
Are you in on it, too, George? Because you're free to marry her now, aren't you? Was that always your plan? To let this .
.
this wasp come and live in this happy place and then let her sting? Shut up, Philippa! Before you say something you'll really regret.
Did Pritchard follow your husband? No.
How do you know? Were you with him the whole time? George told me he didn't and I have faith in him.
Even though you didn't know about his affair with Susan Carstairs.
I have faith in him.
The pregnant Susan Carstairs.
Who was found strangled yesterday evening with one of George Pritchard's ties.
Don't you talk to her like that.
Is that the truth, Pritchard? What are you going to do? Write a book? Because if you do it will take you 20 years.
What page are you on of your current magnum opus? Every talent that you've had, every break, you've wasted it or gambled it away.
Oh, look.
I see your friends are here.
Well, at least I had the good sense to marry the decent sister, George.
What did you say? You heard me! That's enough.
You've spent your entire life leeching off me! I've lent you money, I've supported you and you've resented it all! All of it! I'm so sorry.
Everyone, I'm .
.
I'm sorry.
Hey, George.
Was that the real you? Eh? Here.
Take it.
Take it.
Take it all.
Pay off your debts.
I have to speak to the police.
You're in no state to speak to anyone, Dermot.
It's just something that I ate.
But Philippa, she's got it all wrong.
What? The morning Mary was found dead, Hazel was not on her way back from Summerleigh.
She was coming to see me.
Hazel is a devout woman.
She takes the vows of marriage very seriously.
She was conflicted about her marriage and George's.
You knew about her and George.
Well, she used me as a confessor.
I was bound to silence.
Though that morning she was very distressed, having heard of George's affair with Nurse Carstairs.
She didn't know whether she could trust him anymore.
She loved him so much .
.
and he had saved her.
Oh.
So much sin, Jane.
And in such a small place as this.
Where are you going? To find you.
Are you lying again? Before the police arrive, I need to hear the truth from you, George.
You painted the wallpaper, you designed it, you .
.
you did some sort of trick.
Did you kill Mary and Eddie? You just had to be a bit more patient, that's all.
I would've come to you, I would've taken care of you.
I promised I would.
I'd have found the strength to leave Mary.
Did you kill Susan Carstairs? What? They know she was Zarida.
Just tell the truth! Darling, let's leave, let's go.
Let's go.
Don't hurt me, George! Come on.
Come on! Get your hand off me! George! He made a full confession, didn't he? Yes.
That he'd killed all three - Eddie, Mary and Susan Carstairs herself, the blackmailer who was trying to ruin him unless he made her his wife.
But you weren't convinced.
On the surface, of course, his confession had to be true.
But the only reason for it to be false was if he were .
.
protecting Hazel.
Yes.
He was 'taking the fall', as they say in American books, for the one woman he really loved.
George Arthur Pritchard.
You are charged with the wilful murders of Edward St John Hillier Seward, Mary MISS MARPLE: But suddenly this morning I knew I'd been wrong and that I had to stop the hearing because, Henry, the truth of these murders is quite extraordinary.
Do you plead guilty or not guilty? Guilty.
Yes, yes! Please inform Mr Justice Carmichael that some new evidence has just come to light which has a strong bearing on the case he's hearing.
Mrs Challinor's knitting box? That's right, My Lord.
Sir Henry understood the allusion.
Did he? And the strand of wool that seemed most knotted to me, that was the key to untangling all the half-knitted jumpers of Mrs Challinor's grandchildren Just pull your strand, Miss Marple.
We're waiting.
was if you were planning to kill someone, My Lord, would you trust to scaring them to death? Wouldn't you be better making a more secure plan than that, like poisoning them? Are you suggesting that Mary Pritchard was poisoned, rather than scared to death? Undoubtedly.
By her husband? No.
No.
George Pritchard has admitted to these crimes because he thinks he's protecting the woman he loves.
Of all the seven deadly sins, My Lord, George Pritchard is, I think, vanity, the sin from which so many others arise.
It's led him into foolish relationships with other women and led, I think, to the gluttony of his wife, who, faced with a philandering husband, took to her bed in order to maintain some sort of hold over him.
No-one took me seriously and it's about time you all started.
And it also led to the dreadful wrath of the woman he spurned all those years ago to go off with her prettier sister.
When Reverend Milewater became ill, he said, 'It was just something I ate'.
And he was right, wasn't he, Philippa? He'd eaten something you'd prepared for Mary.
Now that looks good.
Oh, it is, and it's not for you.
It's to cheer Mary up.
You'd been poisoning her for years, hadn't you? Sick Day after day, dish after dish.
Making life hell for the sister who ruined your dream of marrying the handsome young pilot you loved more than anyone else in the world.
I didn't kill Mary, George.
I just wanted to punish her.
But someone had worked out what you were doing, hadn't they, Philippa? And when Mary died, they scared you into thinking you were responsible Yes.
.
.
into making desperate accusations against George and Hazel to deflect attention away from you.
Are you in on it too, George? Because you're free to marry her now, aren't you? Was that your plan? She told me they would hang me for what I'd done.
And she scared you into getting rid of all the poison you'd used.
Didn't you, Caroline? Caroline and I were just talking about it.
Caroline? My Lord, do you know how a wasp trap is made? I do.
Well, it struck me today how much cyanide of potassium crystals resemble smelling salts.
What do you mean? I suggest, My Lord, that Caroline Copling made Mary desperately anxious through her performance as Zarida the fortune-teller.
(Breathes shallowly) And on the night of Mary's death, Caroline had swapped the smelling salts for cyanide crystals.
Because it was the cyanide that killed Mary Pritchard.
On discovery of Mary's body, Caroline Copling would have had to have acted quickly in the few moments she had in the room alone.
Using the smelling salts she turned the geranium blue.
She then returned them and removed the cyanide crystals.
But how did the flowers turn blue? Well, My Lord, smelling salts are alkaline, and I think a nurse with a bedridden patient uses litmus paper, don't they, for those little tests they do where blue paper turns red with acid, and vice versa with alkalines.
How ingenious, then, to paste red litmus paper over a red flower, near to the bed, of course, where she knew Mary would use her salts and the strong ammonia would turn the flower blue.
And then remove the litmus paper afterwards .
.
knowing it wouldn't bear close scrutiny.
Why? Why would I want to kill Mary Pritchard? Because I think you knew the Pritchards from before, didn't you, when you were in the air force? I learnt my trade during the war, you know, when we all had to do our bit.
I served over at Duxford.
And seeing that George was now a millionaire, you thought you'd change your appearance and name and come and see how you could get a piece of it.
This is nonsense.
Sit down, Miss.
Thank you, Henry.
I thought it was odd the way Philippa used the word 'wasp' in church.
Was that always your plan? To get this wasp to come and live in this happy place and then let her sting? Shut up, Philippa! Such an odd term to use when she'd used it just one day previously to describe the girl in the air force who was in the black market.
We used to call her 'the wasp' because you'd get stung if you went near her.
She had this obsession with money.
And that wasp was you, wasn't it, Caroline? How easy it must have been for you to enlist the greedy Susan Carstairs into your scheme to scare Mary, then make it look as though she was Zarida before disposing of her when she was no longer needed .
.
to further incriminate George Pritchard in the string of deaths.
She wanted money.
She said with Mary dead and George hanged, Lewis and I would inherit the lot.
And she wanted half of it, otherwise she'd tell the police I'd poisoned her.
That is a complete lie.
You cannot deny it.
You said you'd worked hard and had nothing.
You deserved it, you deserved the money.
Because you are 'envy', aren't you, Caroline? You saw George Pritchard's wealth and you wanted it for yourself, whatever the cost.
Caroline Copling, you are being arrested for the murder of Mary Pritchard No! .
.
and Susan Carstairs.
No! No! No! Anything you say will be taken down and used as evidence against you.
No! No! No! No! No! And the murder of Eddie Seward? No, Inspector, that was always suicide.
The sad end of another love that curdled into bitterness.
Well, Jane, I must come and visit you next time, visit the wasp traps.
It would be lovely to see you.
Are you alright, Miss Marple? Yes, yes.
It's just been quite a day.
Well, as you said to me once, Jane, nothing's settled until it's settled right.
No.
No, it isn't.
Well Goodbye, Jane.
Goodbye.
Closed Captions by CSI