Season 3 Episode 3 | 1h 22m 53s | Video has closed captioning.
When the Master of Gresham College, an amateur astronomer, is found dead at the foot of the Oxford Observatory stairs, Lewis (Kevin Whately) and Hathaway (Laurence Fox) find that the finger of suspicion points at not just family, but students, teachers, and staff of the University.
Aired: 08/28/11
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I'm Alan Cumming, and this is Masterpiece Mystery!
Next, the thing you've all been waiting for--
dark matter and black holes.
Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.
Help me.
HATHAWAY: Stargazing.
Astrophysics.
That's hardly an alibi.
Why do I need an alibi when I haven't even got a motive?
MAN: Wicked!
I know all about it!
Police!
I didn't kill him.
Next time we ask you a question,
which we will, don't lie.
You disgusting waste of space!
(gunshot)
Is there anything else you're not telling us?
Inspector Lewis, tonight on Masterpiece Mystery!
Captioning sponsored by VIEWERS LIKE YOU
(thunder)
When a small black disc moves across the face of the sun
above Oxford's dreaming spires,
Inspector Lewis probably sees it as a sign
that he needs to clean his sunglasses.
But to the astronomers in town, it's time to party.
It's Super Bowl Sunday in the sky.
It's the transit of Venus,
when the planet Venus moves across the face of the sun
like an eclipse.
Lewis is informed that it happens
twice in eight years every 122 years... or so,
according to a book published in 1639.
Whatever.
But can the transit of Venus
cause some overexcited astronomer to commit murder?
That is the question that a down-to-earth police inspector
has to ask when he's working in this ancient city
of heavenly contemplations.
Lewis better remember to clean his shades.
(bells tolling)
(birds chirping)
(bicycle wheels clicking)
(bell rings, gunshot)
(gunshot)
(quiet chatter)
Whoa!
Name, please.
Hobson.
First name?
Laura.
That's correct.
Thank you.
Clarinet.
Sagittarius.
Favorite color: blue.
Gwenny?
Mm?
Bulb's gone.
I do want everything right for Malcolm.
Well, you know where they are.
I'll do it, Sir Arnold.
Oh, you're too kind to an old man.
Sir?
It's Malcolm Finniston for the rehearsal.
You're...
you're not on my list, Mr. Finniston.
Temple?
There was a porter in my day called Temple.
Um... Ted Temple.
My father, sir.
How is old Ted?
He's not what he was.
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
Sir?
Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.
How long since your last confession?
Help me.
I don't bite.
Not unless I have to.
Right, let's see what you're made of.
(orchestra playing The Planets by Gustav Holst)
It's a terrible thing to do.
The sooner the better.
Tonight, then.
So I'll be all clear for Friday.
Friday, 3:15...
When I'll have an excess of joy.
(orchestra continues playing)
(beeps)
(switch clicks)
(low rumbling)
(orchestra playing brighter theme)
(music ends)
Give yourselves a bravo.
Bravissimo, Malcolm, surely.
Bravissimo!
FINNISTON: And just watch the penultimate marking.
It's accelerando, not poco piu mosso, Lady Raeburn.
It's still Gwen to you.
(chuckles)
Right.
Until tomorrow.
WOMAN: Temple?
Temple...
Temple, have you seen the Master?
He hasn't been home yet.
All right, Babs.
Good morning, Babs.
Morning.
Oops!
I'll come back later.
Try knocking next time.
I did, as it happens.
Not loud enough, clearly.
JEZ: Sorry, Babs.
Don't talk to her like that.
Why not?
It's not a mortal sin, is it?
I am seriously late.
Professor Andrew Crompton, Master of Gresham College,
took a tumble and hit his head.
Suspicious?
Signs of a struggle
and his face is scratched.
HOBSON: He fell backwards down the stairs, by the look of it,
and bumped his way down, but the fatal impact
was probably the wound to his right temple.
When he hit the floor?
Yes.
I was at Gresham College yesterday.
Oh, practicing for your concert?
Rehearsing, yes.
Is there a difference?
What about these scratches?
Someone's clawed at him.
I practice alone; together we rehearse.
Attack?
Defense?
I'm not Mystic Meg.
More like Acker Bilk.
Who?
He played the clarinet, too.
Back in the olden times.
"Angular separation."
Physics?
"Luminosity" is astrophysics.
Stargazing.
Next...
the thing you've all been waiting for:
dark matter and black holes.
Oh, glad you could join us, Jez.
Yeah, sorry.
JEZ: Can someone lend us some paper?
NEWS REPORTER: Police were called to the observatory
early this morning when the body was discovered
by a cleaner.
It is understood the death of Professor Andrew Crompton
is being treated as suspicious.
Mr. Temple?
Ted?
Dr. Ransome.
Who's this?
Hello, Ted.
He's a naughty, wicked man.
I know all about it.
NEWS REPORTER: ...at Gresham College since 1997.
He was 56.
Have you heard about Crompton?
What?
He's dead.
When?
How?
He fell down the observatory stairs yesterday
and smashed his head.
Thanks.
You liked him, didn't you?
Yeah.
And he liked me.
God, that's sad.
BABS: I can come back any time, Mrs. Crompton.
Thank you, Mrs. Temple.
Let's keep things as normal as possible,
shall we?
Are you all packed for your move?
Nearly.
Roger's very organized.
I imagine he is.
(phone ringing)
Hello?
Thank you, Mr. Temple.
Send them over, would you?
It's the police.
Anything you need, you just ask, all right?
ISOBEL: Was he murdered?
Why do you say that?
I doubt the police would send a senior detective
and a sergeant for tea and sympathy
after an accident.
And he had no reason to take his own life,
so I'm assuming the involvement of a third party.
It's a possibility we have to consider.
Someone killed Andrew?
LEWIS: When did you last see him?
Late afternoon, briefly.
I spent the evening here alone and I went to bed early.
When I woke up he hadn't come home.
What would he have been doing at the observatory?
He was a keen amateur astronomer.
The department kindly let him use the telescope.
Did he let you know that's where he'd be last night?
No, but that wasn't unusual.
We weren't joined at the hip.
Can you think of anyone he might have been meeting?
He preferred his heavenly contemplations to be solitary.
Do you know anyone who might have wanted to hurt him?
No.
Might this be his?
It's not his writing.
You'd better ask Gwen Raeburn, senior lecturer in astrophysics.
That's her.
We spent the occasional weekends on our narrow boat
with the Raeburns.
Cramped but cozy.
Is that Arnold Raeburn, then?
It is.
The composer.
Oh, Raeburn, right.
LEWIS: We'll keep you informed, Mrs. Crompton.
(quiet chatter)
Gwen Raeburn?
Yes?
We're police officers looking into Professor Crompton's death.
Inspector Lewis.
Sergeant Hathaway, Lady Raeburn.
It's unbelievable.
Andrew was...
some people are irreplaceable, aren't they?
We found this in the observatory
and wondered if you recognize it.
It's Jez Haydock's, he's one of my students.
He was missing it earlier.
Do you know where we might find him?
I saw him going out.
Would you like me to give him that back for you?
Temple, sir, head porter.
You're all right, Mr. Temple.
If you do see him, would you give us a call?
Pleased to oblige.
Mr. Haydock's an exemplary young man, if you want my opinion.
Not sure that we do, Mr. Temple.
No, of course not.
Excuse me.
Any idea what caused him to fall?
Not yet, no.
Well... good-bye.
Ah...
Oh, sorry.
You might have told me she was Lady Raeburn.
It didn't seem important.
No, it wouldn't to you.
Isobel...
Thank goodness for you two.
We'll postpone the concert, of course.
Certainly not.
The Planets-- how appropriate.
You could give the performance in his memory.
Good girl.
HATHAWAY: Do you know anything about astronomy, sir?
I bet you do.
I don't, as it happens.
Wonders'll never cease.
Other than a few obvious snippets--
Copernicus, say, or the revival of heliocentrism.
It's not all astronomy in here, anyway.
Listen.
"The splendid sight
again shall greet our distant children's eyes."
Perhaps Jez is an aspiring writer.
I wonder if that's what Lady Raeburn was so interested in
when we showed her it.
You mean Gwen?
You've got a...
Yeah, that's it.
Be honest, you'll never get around
to sorting this lot out yourself, will you?
Not now.
You're costing us more from next month, you old sod.
Say something, Dad.
Where's my son?
There's Halley's comet, of course.
Edmond Halley; he lived in Oxford.
New College Lane.
That I didn't know.
Just an obvious snippet.
(cell phone rings)
Yeah, Lewis.
Did he?
Right, thanks.
We've got a witness,
says he saw Crompton less than two hours
before we think he died.
One of your lot.
FATHER FRANCIS: He started coming to Mass three months ago.
I noticed him, but I had no idea who he was until I saw this.
And yesterday was his first confession?
Yes.
What time was that?
Say, 8:00 when he arrived.
There were quite a few waiting,
so by the time he left, it would have been around 9:00.
Did he have much to confess?
A considerable amount, yes.
Which, of course, I am unable to share with you.
I understand that.
Thank you.
I'm not sure my Inspector will.
You must explain to him, then,
the difference between the confessions I hear
and those he does.
Mine are voluntary.
And privileged.
Did Professor Crompton say anything outside
of the confessional?
He did say something as he went.
About an excess of joy on Friday.
"On Friday at 3:15, I'll have an excess of joy."
LEWIS: "An excess of joy."
What the hell does that mean?
What was he planning on Friday
that was going to make him so joyful?
That's all he said.
I'm running a check on this Jez Haydock before we speak to him.
HATHAWAY: Anything?
Jeremy Michael Haydock,
cautioned for cannabis possession last year.
Half a joint's worth.
Nothing else.
Crompton must have said more than that, surely?
Only under the sanctity of the confessional.
Oh, for crying out loud.
No, these things matter, so he's completely within his rights.
And this is the 21st century.
We're investigating a possible murder.
And he's constrained by his priestly conscience.
If his priestly conscience obstructs my investigation,
I'll crucify him.
You said Jez Haydock's back?
I'll take you over, sir.
Are there developments?
Mr. Finniston!
Sir Arnold and Lady Raeburn are expecting you.
Luncheon at high table.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
And there's post for you.
Here?
I'm staying at the Old Parsonage.
By hand.
I didn't see who left it.
Right.
(cell phone rings)
Oh, excuse me.
Roger Temple.
(sighs)
Mrs. Leeming.
Well, it's not the best time.
Well, what's that in round figures?
How much?
How was Mrs. Crompton when you saw her, Doctor?
Dr. Ransome, Inspector.
Is Mrs. Crompton okay?
She's not ill.
I am her GP, but her friend more.
Ella Ransome.
Inspector Lewis, Oxfordshire Police.
Sergeant Hathaway.
Doctor.
Isobel said...
(quietly): She said that you think Andrew was murdered.
Would that surprise you?
Yes.
Well, yes, of course it would.
If I can help in any way.
Thanks.
Oh, Mr. Temple, I wanted to drop by later
and have a word with you about your father.
Will you both be in?
Anytime after 7:00, Doctor.
This way, gentlemen.
KATE: Malcolm Finnistonwas here
in the 1970s,
and Sir Arnold was his tutor.
Hello?
And now he wants to be top feller
of some big American orchestra?
Yeah, he's in the running for music director
for the Pacific Symphonia.
Sir Arnold's on the board.
We're very nearly sold out.
Good.
Well, I should hope so.
Don't be so vain.
The Oxford Concert Ensemble has a very loyal following.
RAEBURN: I think you'll have to concede,
my darling, that Malcolm is responsible
at least for some of the box-office boom.
All right, some.
(chuckling)
"Jupiter" was on the stodgy side last night.
It was only our first rehearsal with the maestro.
Well, I'll soon gee you up.
The bassoonist wasn't bad.
Is that her boyfriend?
Yes.
He's one of my astrophysics lot.
Interesting boy.
Devout Catholic.
But, um, a bit uncomfortable in Oxford.
MAN: Please stand.
STUDENT: Benedic, Domine,
dona tua quae de largitate sumus sumpturi, et concede...
Is that today's specials?
ut illis salubriter nutriti tibi debitum
obsequium praestare valeamus...
Toad in the hole and spotted dick.
Amen.
I'll fetch Mr. Haydockfor you.
More discreet.
It's only a glorified canteen, for God's sake.
Ta.
I only realized this morning.
You know about the Master?
Bad, yeah.
You never said where you found this.
You never said where you lost it.
The observatory?
I was there yesterday.
When?
Dinnertime, latest.
Around half twelve.
What about last night?
Where were you then?
Here, studying.
HATHAWAY: You're sure?
He called me from here, if you must know.
And you are?
Kate Cameron.
I'm reading law and my father's a judge.
Bully for him.
So I know a little about how the police are meant to behave.
And how is that?
KATE: You told him once where you were;
his asking a second time tends towards oppressive questioning.
Could we have a word, Miss Cameron?
No, no, that's very useful, thank you.
What did you say to her?
She wasn't doing you any favors
with her impression of Lady Muck.
You're not doing yourself any favors, either.
Your swipe card was used at the observatory last night.
10:29, sir.
Which fits the estimated time of our suspicious death, Jez,
when you and Kate told us you were here.
I lied.
It's what you do when the busies ask you a question
where I'm from.
Kate doesn't know.
And what were you doing at the observatory?
Chatting with Prof. Crompton.
I went to fetch a book.
What were you talking about?
The transit of Venus;
when you can see the planet Venus crossing in front
of the sun.
Anything more down-to-earth?
Did he mention something that was happening
on Friday afternoon?
No.
And it was just you and him there?
Just us, honest.
Right, that's all for now.
Next time we ask you a question-- which we will--
don't lie.
Nice t-shirt.
Well, that's the charity shop stuff
ready to take in the morning.
Can the home do that,
just put up Ted's care fees just like that?
We'll manage.
He's not having second best.
(car door closes)
That'll be the doctor.
TEMPLE: Hello, Doctor.
How's my dad?
He's not doing too well, I'm afraid.
Hi, Doctor.
TEMPLE: Dad's getting worse.
It's what happens, I'm afraid.
Look, you may find Ted saying unpleasant things.
Don't be hurt by them, will you?
Oh...
How do you mean?
This morning he was insisting that you, Mrs. Temple,
had a long-standing sexual relationship with the Master.
What on earth put that idea into his head?
The wires get crossed is the best way of explaining it.
Oh.
TEMPLE: Thanks, Doctor.
Thank you for telling us.
We... we must get on.
Yeah.
Good-bye.
(laughs)
Oh, don't!
It's horrible!
No, Dad's right.
Crompton was having a bit of naughty on the side,
but not with you, dear.
I know it wasn't, thank you.
Isn't she lucky Dad's confused?
What, the Master and Dr. Ransome?
I've seen them at it, sort of.
I should tell the police.
Well, why do you always have to get involved with everything?
Duty, sense of.
I'll pop that stuff along to the charity shop now,
leave it on the doorstep.
Save time in the morning.
Thy return Posterity shall witness.
Years must roll away...
but then at length...
the splendid sight again shall greet
our distant children's eyes.
LEWIS: What makes someone turn to religion?
Imminent death?
There is that.
But Professor Crompton didn't know
he'd be pushed down those stairs.
Did his wife know he'd started attending St. Anne's?
We'll be asking her,
and talking to some close friends of theirs, too,
the Raeburns.
So, he used his swipe card to enter the observatory at 9:30.
Jez Haydock uses his round about an hour later.
Then no other card holders between
Professor Crompton arriving and his body being discovered.
No, but there was also an entry phone,
so either one of them could have buzzed someone up.
Any useful DNA or prints?
No matches on either.
There's a Gwen Raeburn here with a swipe card.
Is she one of the friends?
Senior lecturer on Jez's course.
And what do we make of Jez?
Well, I reckon he's just a nice lad, trying his best...
probably.
"Certainly" would be better.
Ma'am.
KATE: Try to understand...
Please!
JEZ: Just go, yeah?
Who told you?
Can't I just explain?
Don't waste your breath.
Go on.
Go.
If you won't...
Jez!
All right?
Morning.
Jez, hold on a minute.
Good for him.
Narrow escape.
What?
Ah, it's just... her type, you know?
Oh, how dreadful, Mrs. Temple.
Yes, I quite understand.
Yes, good-bye.
Our head porter was mugged last night.
Oh, we didn't hear anything about that.
Oh, he wasn't badly hurt,
so he got himself home and didn't bother to report it.
Have you news?
Just more questions, I'm afraid.
Fire away.
Did you know your husband had been attending
St. Anne's church?
Church?
Andrew?
I think not.
He was most definitely lapsed.
Well, according to the priest,
he'd been going there regularly for the last three months.
Oh.
So that's where he disappeared to.
Oh, dear me.
I'd started to think he was having an affair.
But that's where he was.
Why, though?
I was hoping you might know.
It's a complete surprise.
Had he mentioned anything about this Friday afternoon?
An appointment, specifically at 3:15?
No.
I'm going to miss him like hell.
(playing "Song Without Words" by Felix Mendelssohn)
(music ends)
Thank you for waiting.
It was easy, sir.
It was a favorite piece of Andrew's we'll be playing
at his memorial,
although we're a little bit rusty performing together.
I understand you and the Master were very close,
and Mrs. Crompton, too.
RAEBURN: Oh Lord,
we all go back a frighteningly long way.
GWEN: Arnold and I met and married
when I was a very junior lecturer.
In fact, it was the Master who introduced us.
Andrew was the most marvelous man, you know.
So good with all the undergraduates.
And, of course, his passion for astronomy endeared him to me.
Would you say it was a happy marriage?
Why?
I understand that you're friends,
but it's something we have to ask.
Rock solid.
Boringly so.
Like us.
And just for the record, Tuesday night, you were where?
You mean you want our alibis?
At home, together, after rehearsals.
TV and takeaway.
Thai.
He's mad for his sticky rice.
(chuckles)
Incidentally, did you ever reunite Jez and his notebook?
Sorry, but Arnold, we're awaited by a media frenzy.
Oh Lord, yes.
Local TV are doing us live,
so there's no way out of it.
Gwenny, darling, come along.
We did, yeah.
GWEN: Did what?
Return Jez's book to him.
Oh!
Good.
Lucky getting Malcolm Finniston for your concert.
Arnold nurtured his talent as a student.
Malcolm's simply returning the favor.
Oh, nice surprise.
Is Roger here?
Won't be long.
Coming in?
Ta.
What is it?
Want some home cooking?
RAEBURN: And Isobel Crompton has insisted
that we go ahead with the concert
in memory of her late husband.
The Master, you know, was a very special man
to all of us.
Indeed.
Now, Sir Arnold, both you and Lady Raeburn knew
Mr. Finniston more than a quarter of a century ago.
RAEBURN: A quarter of a century?
25 years sounds kinder.
GWEN: Much kinder.
INTERVIEWER: And you're off soon to Seattle to take over the baton, so to speak,
of the Pacific Symphonia.
FINNISTON: Well, that's yet to be confirmed,
so for now I'm...
Thieves, robbers, burglars!
Burglars, robbers, thieves!
Robbers!
Burglars!
Naughty!
Wicked!
I know all about it!
Ted!
Ted!
Police!
How serious do you think Mrs. Crompton was
about the Master having an affair?
I'm not sure.
LEWIS: You're wondering if Gwen Raeburn's tears
were for more than just an old friend?
Uh-huh.
There's definitely something in that notebook;
she asked me whether we'd returned it to Jez.
I should have thought.
Don't worry, sir, I did.
I ran off a copy.
You're not so green as you're cabbage-looking, are you?
What?
Tell me if you think this is a really, really bad idea.
HOBSON: What do you take me for?
Undercover clarinet?
I'm too busy getting the notes in the right order
to spy for you.
Not spy, Laura.
Just keep your eyes open.
HATHAWAY: And your ears.
Oh, ears too now, is it?
Have you got your tickets yet?
For the performance?
(orchestra warming up in background)
It's in a good cause.
So that's, um, two each?
Top price?
Done.
Quite.
Stolen, Mrs. Leeming?
What does he think is missing?
Can I get back to you?
All in order?
Yup.
That eye looks tasty.
I heard you got in a spot of bother last night.
Oh, it was a couple of kids.
They wanted my phone, so I told them to P off,
and one of them threw a lucky punch.
But they didn't take it?
Eh?
Your phone.
Oh, they sort of melted off into the dark
after they walloped me.
Do you not want to report it?
No, it was something and nothing.
Up to you.
Bye, gentlemen.
(cell phone beeping)
RAEBURN: Malcolm?
Do you have a second?
Um... yeah, yeah.
Roger's ever so grateful to the Master
for nudging us up the waiting list for the flat.
Andrew was very fond of your husband.
And every penny counts now, with Ted.
Poor old Ted.
It must be difficult.
It's not him anymore.
He looks the same, but it's not him.
Has the police come up with anything?
Only questions, no answers.
Dr. Ransome's coming over.
Well, you need friends at a time like this.
Yes, and the thing with Ella is, selfishly,
she's my friend, not Andrew's and mine.
They scarcely knew each other,
which means her grief is for me, not him.
(orchestra playing "Jupiter" theme from The Planets)
Now, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!
Will you play it.
Don't scratch it.
It all sounded splendid to me, Malcolm.
Well, with respect, Arnold, you're there and I'm here.
FINNISTON: Right.
The anacrusis, please, eight bars after andante maestoso,
and this is "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity,"
so jolly yourselves up, please, for God's sake, all of you.
(orchestra resumes playing)
Apologies, Arnold.
Apology accepted.
Gwen?
Gwen?
Are you okay, Kate?
No.
GWEN (whispering): What is it?
Well, look.
It's a bluff, isn't it?
Well, how do I know?
Do something.
Well, I can't...
Hi.
Hi, Gwen.
(conversing quietly)
(door closes)
RAEBURN: I'm back!
Darling?
Darling?
(gunshot)
(second gunshot)
(gasping)
It's all right.
It's all right, it's all right.
Ambulance!
Call an ambulance!
According to my watch, life was extinct at 3:48.
But you didn't see anyone?
No, only the Master's wife.
Whoever did it must have run back through
and left the other way as I went in.
There was a door open.
The room's unoccupied.
We think they must have hid there and waited.
Look, I'll get you a lift home.
No, I'm fine.
I'm not arguing.
Can you take Dr. Hobson home, John?
Any sign of a weapon?
Well, we know what it was.
Two spent cartridges, .22 caliber.
Small bore?
There's a gun club in the basement.
A what?
HATHAWAY: It's not exactly Fort Knox.
Sir.
HATHAWAY: Everything's still in place.
So it was one of those fired the shots
and then the killer put it back?
So it would seem.
I've alerted ballistics.
Mm.
Okay, lads.
What about access to the gun store?
This lock's not been forced.
Well, officially, keys are kept
by designated gun club officers
and then signed out to members who want to use the range.
And unofficially?
Membership's short-term thing.
Students come and go, keys are lost, forgotten and replaced.
So there could be several of them floating about
from over the years.
Is there an official spare set?
Porters' lodge.
If getting hold of the weapon was easy,
the killer still had to come down a corridor
or across a quad, past windows, in broad daylight,
carrying a rifle without being noticed.
I mean, how the hell would you do that?
Here comes our little helper.
TEMPLE: Inspector?
Mr. Temple?
I...
I could have some information for you, sir.
(door opens)
TEMPLE:Terence,
would you give us a few moments, please?
Course.
Thank you.
(door closes)
Dr. Ransome had a secret,
and so did the Master.
Their secret was each other.
What, they were having an affair?
I found out by accident.
Three months back, the Master asked me
to call him a taxi for the station.
This was in front of Mrs. Crompton.
But I knew the driver, and he told me
that actually the Master went to Dr. Ransome's flat.
Hardly proof of an affair, Mr. Temple.
She picked him up in her car once
when he told Mrs. Crompton he'd be lecturing.
And Tuesday afternoon I saw them coming out of his boat together.
Tuesday?
That night, dead.
And now so's Dr. Ransome.
(door opens)
I got you a cheese and pickle, Rog,
what with all this going on.
Thanks, dear.
My wife, Babs.
She scouts here.
Did you see or hear anything when Dr. Ransome was shot?
Well, I heard the kerfuffle.
I was cleaning my nephew's room.
(clicking his tongue)
Oh, sorry, it just slipped out.
Your nephew?
BABS: Jeremy Haydock.
Jez's mum's Babs' sister, but we don't say.
Why not?
I don't think it matters, but Rog...
You know what they're like... well, some of them.
He'd never hear the end of it
if they knew his auntie and uncle were college servants.
We liked Dr. Ransome.
She was very good with Ted.
My dear old dad.
He was head porter here before me.
Dr. Ransome was the GP at his care home.
Is there anything else?
LEWIS: No.
Thanks.
You must sign that tenancy today.
I will.
Panic ye not.
We're moving into a college flat next week,
going up in the world.
The Master fixed it for us.
About the spare set of keys for the rifle range...
I thought you'd ask that.
I keep them locked up.
Spare key to the door and of the gun store.
INNOCENT: Are the two killings linked,
or is this head porter
letting his imagination run away with him?
In my experience, head porters don't need imagination.
They've got a nose for unfortunate secrets.
Oh?
What did they catch you at, then?
HATHAWAY:Nothing.
You must have been
a very well-behaved student, James.
Or very lucky.
Just careful.
Rifle club membership list.
Anyone of interest?
Kate Cameron...
That's Jez Haydock's girlfriend?
Yeah.
Isobel Crompton...
Ah?
So if Temple's right,
that puts her in the frame for both murders,
as the betrayed and vengeful wife.
I suppose it's possible that she could have fired off the shots
and then rushed back to make it look
like she'd just come out of her house,
but the timing'd be tight.
Plus she'd have to return the rifle.
That's what I don't get.
No one noticed.
Could Mrs. Crompton have been at the observatory
on Tuesday night?
She doesn't have an alibi,
but the only person we can definitely place at the scene
is Jez, and he did lie to us.
People obstruct the police for all sorts of reasons.
Like your priest, for example.
My priest?
Yeah, if he'd tell us what was going on in Crompton's mind,
we might be getting somewhere.
Now, boys...
I never knew Dr. Ransome.
She was a college doctor.
Yeah, and I'm dead healthy.
Look, you can see where we're coming from, can't you, Jez?
You lied to us about being at the observatory.
I explained that.
You didn't tell us you were related to Mr. and Mrs. Temple.
You didn't ask.
You still kept it a secret.
Only because Rog wanted me to.
Is there anything else you're not telling us?
Where were you when Dr. Ransome was killed?
Just walking... thinking.
Well, that's hardly an alibi.
Why do I need an alibi when I haven't even got a motive?
(sighs)
What really happened to the Master, Jez?
Maybe he just fell.
How long had you known Dr. Ransome?
Ten years, since she became my GP and then my friend.
And your husband?
Well, he'd met her a few times through me,
but she wasn't his doctor.
Why?
When I said he'd been visiting St. Anne's Church,
you said you wondered whether he'd been having an affair.
I wasn't being serious.
In any case, he hardly knew Ella Ransome.
And she wasn't the sort.
Now, if you'd said Gwen Raeburn,
it might have been a different matter.
Might it?
She had quite a reputation in the old days.
But Andrew wasn't having an affair, was he...
unless you count Mother Church as the other woman?
Um, since you're here,
perhaps I should report something.
I'm sure someone's been in.
May I?
Of course.
Andrew's books have been disturbed.
ISOBEL: Nothing's missing as far as I can tell.
So that writing in Jez's notebook is from a poem.
"Thy return Posterity shall witness.
"Years must roll away, but then at length
the splendid sight again shall greet our distant children's eyes."
"Jeremiah Horrocks and the Transit of Venus."
Can we borrow this?
Bedtime reading.
And full of astronomical snippets.
LEWIS: What is it you're performing again?
The Planets?
That's right.
One of them's not Venus, by any chance, is it?
Second movement.
"Venus, the Bringer of Peace."
Why?
Wish I knew.
Thanks.
Kate Cameron apparently was very angry
just before the shooting.
Angry or desperate.
When I asked her what was wrong, she just walked out.
She'd just had a bust-up with Jez-- we saw that.
And what about Lady Raeburn?
You mean Gwen?
Well, she left rehearsal
in a bit of a state, too, just before Kate.
But I sort of know what that was about--
text that Finniston received.
It seemed to upset both of them.
Well, Finniston goes way back with the Cromptons
and the Raeburns.
I don't suppose you...
How on earth would I know what the text was about
unless I managed to snaffle Finniston's phone for a second
when he left it lying around,
scrolled through to the message,
made a note of it and the number it came from?
Genius.
Seconded.
"Revenge is sweet."
077 900 458.
(dialing)
(cell phone ringing)
Oh, it's yours, Temple.
Night, Mrs. Crompton.
Roger Temple, hello?
Hello?
(phone beeps off)
All ready for tonight?
Just one final rehearsal to iron out
any remaining nasties, don't you think, darling?
Yes.
SERVER: Finished, sir?
Not quite, I hope.
Do I detect an atmosphere?
Morning, sir.
Good read?
Instructive.
The transit of Venus was first predicted and observed
by this Jeremiah Horrocks in 1639,
which is a tiny coincidence, if nothing else.
Is it?
The names-- Jeremiah Horrocks, Jeremy Haydock.
Well... stretching a point.
Well, and Horrocks was a chippy, working-class,
student astronomer from Liverpool.
Was he?
Studied at Cambridge, though, not Oxford.
Nobody's perfect.
What did Crompton say in the church?
"Friday at 3:15 I shall have an excess of joy."
Look at this that he's marked.
It's Horrocks's description
of a friend of his watching Venus cross the Sun.
LEWIS: "He stood for some time motionless,
scarcely trusting his own senses through excess of joy."
(knock at door)
With the head porter looming large on your radar,
I wondered if this might be of interest.
It's a call logged yesterday about a theft
at Branksfield sheltered accommodation.
The complainant's a Ted Temple.
Ah, that's Roger Temple's dear old dad.
Have we attended, ma'am?
On two Priority Points out of ten?
What do you think?
I think we should top up the points.
Thanks, ma'am.
You remember some photos?
No, doctor.
No, I'm...
I'm not a doctor.
I said before.
Dr. Ransome's not here.
No, Dr. Ransome...
She can't come today.
Should I tell the Master's wife?
Tell her what, Ted?
About Marilyn Monroe?
Look...
Yeah.
Bye, Ted.
Thanks.
Because Ted said the photos were stolen, they had to call us.
Then they found out it was just Roger Temple
having a clear-out of a cupboard.
(cell phone rings)
Family snaps or what?
It's Hobson.
Hello?
Well, did he say why?
Okay, thanks.
Arnold Raeburn's just given Malcolm Finniston
the heave-ho from the podium.
Bad feeling all round.
You said head porters have a nose for unfortunate secrets.
Like father, like son?
There you are, sir.
Who's your date for tonight?
My date?
Chief Super.
Yours?
No takers.
We know how to live, don't we?
HATHAWAY: Mr. Finniston?
Isn't it a bit late in the day to be changing conductors?
Well, that's showbiz,
as I've been explaining to Mrs. Crompton,
although I think she's secretly rather pleased
that Arnold's taken over.
Do you remember the head porter here
when you were an undergraduate?
Ted Temple?
His son's the head porter now.
Yes.
I never went to university, but my sergeant here tells me
that head porters pick up all sorts of tittle-tattle.
I had a one-night thing with a newly married lecturer.
Gwen Raeburn?
And we took some rather explicit souvenir photos
that went missing from my room.
Did Ted Temple steal them, by any chance?
That's what I suspected, but it was the last day of finals,
too late to do anything about,
too soon to be worth Ted's while to blackmail me.
Until his son got his hands on them.
Yes.
The night before last I gave him a black eye
instead of the money he wanted and took the photos back.
Unfortunately he'd held on to a couple
and passed them to Arnold in revenge.
And that's why he's conducting tonight.
Mm, and won't be endorsing my appointment
as music director of the Pacific Symphonia.
It was 30 years ago.
LEWIS: Hold on, please, Mr. Temple.
Perks of the job?
TEMPLE: Do you know how much
college servants get paid?
Babs is near enough on the minimum wage.
Yeah, you're on a better whack.
Just.
In Dad's time, there wasn't even such a thing
as a minimum wage.
You had to come to a beneficial arrangement
with the undergrads
and turn a blind eye to their naughties,
or you'd never make a decent living.
That depends on your definition of "decent."
Why did the Master fix it for you to get a college flat?
They're like gold dust, those tenancies.
He valued my loyal service.
And did he value your beneficial arrangement,
keeping quiet about seeing him with Ella Ransome?
It's too late to prove that now.
What happened at that observatory?
Did you ask him for money as well as the flat?
Did he get angry with you?
No!
I didn't kill him.
I was on duty all evening.
You can check.
We know we can.
Is Finniston pressing charges?
Probably not.
It's a pity, though.
Can I go?
(knock at door)
Do we wait for him?
No.
We find him.
Friday, 3:15.
Whatever Crompton expected to happen in...
half an hour's time,
I'll take an educated guess
it was happening at the observatory.
(buzzer sounds)
Hello?
What's going on?
We're waiting for Venus to cross the Sun
in the shape of a little black dot
that will appear on that card.
What, at 3:15?
Jeremiah Horrocks established
the transit of Venus occurs twice in eight years
every 122 years.
The next transit of Venus isn't due for a good two years.
Why are you here, then?
Andrew developed a...
an eccentric theory
that Horrocks's predictions were flawed.
It's like a debt of honor to the Master because we loved the guy.
Come on.
Come on.
It's not going to happen, you know.
No.
It never could, Jez.
You know the science.
So that's what you were looking for
on the narrow boat, Andrew Crompton's theory?
Yes.
Because you'd already spotted something in Jez's notebook.
Me and him had done some calculations,
kept it private.
I didn't want people laughing at him.
It was only me he trusted.
He thought I...
he sort of thought...
Jeremiah Horrocks all over again.
Kind of.
The reincarnation of a 17th-century astronomer.
Dead crazy, I know.
He was losing his mind.
No.
Yes.
So sad.
So sad.
I didn't want to believe it at first,
but there's no other way to explain it.
Come on, Jez.
LEWIS: Crompton's wires were crossed, like Ted Temple's!
That's why he was seeing Dr. Ransome in secret,
not because they were lovers,
but because he realized he was losing his mind.
Get onto Dr. Ransome's health center, see what they knew.
JEZ: Do you ever think you're in Disneyland here?
Like it's not real?
LEWIS: On a good day.
You always been into planets and stars and that?
Since I was a kid.
Dad said, "Look at the Man in the Moon,"
and I said, "That's not a man, it's mountains."
He must be proud.
He hopped it when I was six.
Ironic, Mam says.
Her the steady sister marries a chancer,
and wild child Babs ends up with boring old Rog.
I thought Rog was mad when he said
not to let on I was family,
but after a week or so I was better off
keeping me mouth shut.
It's still a bit snobby, Oxford, but it's getting better.
No, that's okay, it's just Rog is a prat
and I don't need the association, know what I mean?
Babs is different.
What about Kate?
The Creature from Planet Posh?
You had a bust-up yesterday?
The big one.
Why?
(sighs)
Oh, God.
Why, Jez?
Eh?
Because she's a killer.
His delusion about Jez and the transit of Venus...
not just a harmless eccentricity?
He had a brain tumor.
It was that.
The test results came in on the Monday
and we think Dr. Ransome told him the following day.
Perhaps that's what she wanted to see me about
when she was shot.
Did she say she was coming
for something in particular?
No, just to see me, but...
but thinking back, she did ask me
if there was going to be anyone else around,
as if she wanted to tell me something.
It explains the church, too.
This priest, what's his name?
Father Francis.
What's he like?
I only met him once.
I hope he's kind.
Here are the details of Dr. Magnani.
He's more than happy for you to go and speak with him.
Did he say what would have happened to Andrew
if he hadn't been killed?
The tumor was aggressive and advanced... inoperable.
In a very strange way, that's a comfort.
(cell phone rings)
I'm sorry... sorry, Mrs. Crompton.
Embarrassing for you, sir.
Oh, very embarrassing.
That's like saying Mozart was "rather promising."
To be...
cuckolded!
Three months into one's marriage by one's protégé,
and only finding out about it 30 years later
when I am sent the gruesome details by a failed blackmailer.
Still...
I...
I've made my peace with Gwen.
Mr. Finniston says you've blocked his new post.
I'll let him think so for a while, but I can't really
without the other members of the board asking awkward questions.
But I'm here because of the shooting yesterday.
When I filled in the witness questionnaire,
I was so upset
that I neglected to say something
which may be of importance.
What's that?
Just before Dr. Ransome was killed, I saw her arguing
with someone in the orchestra.
Who?
The bassoon.
The name?
Um, Kate Cameron.
She's an undergraduate.
LEWIS: We know Miss Cameron.
LEWIS: She was already angry before she left the rehearsal,
according to Dr. Hobson.
Think Jez is serious about her being a killer?
He wasn't joking.
Here we are.
Kate Cameron.
"Left rehearsal and went straight to my room.
I did not see Dr. Ransome or anyone else."
I was pleased that your husband had decided
to return to the church.
Don't take this the wrong way, Father, but...
he wasn't in his right mind.
He had a brain tumor.
You knew.
What else did he tell you that he didn't tell me?
I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to reveal
what the penitent may confess.
The penitent?
(crying): He was my husband.
I'm sorry.
Look, there she is.
HATHAWAY: Kate?
Sorry.
What?
You filled in a witness questionnaire
after Dr. Ransome was shot.
Yes.
In which you said you went straight back
to your room after rehearsal and didn't speak to anybody.
So?
You were seen arguing with Dr. Ransome.
Who saw me?
Why did you lie?
I was upset.
About splitting up with Jez?
Yeah.
And what's that got to do with Dr. Ransome?
Can we go somewhere?
(knock at door)
Father Francis for you, ma'am.
Just before term started...
I had an abortion.
Jez wouldn't have liked that.
Is that why he finished with you?
He said I'd killed his unborn child.
Wonderful, isn't it,
how people pick and mix morality to suit themselves?
I mean, sex outside marriage, whoopee.
But when it comes to dealing with the consequences...
LEWIS: Yeah.
Here, Kate.
(sniffles)
Did Dr. Ransome arrange this termination?
Yeah.
She said I should tell Jez,
that it was the right thing to do,
but I didn't want to.
I knew how he'd be.
So how did he find out?
He wouldn't say.
I thought Dr. Ransome had gone ahead and told him
without asking me and...
that's why I was angry, but...
but she denied it.
I was so horrible to her.
And then she was killed.
And then I realized I was wrong and she didn't tell Jez.
How do you know?
There was a letter from her with the appointment and I...
I'd tucked it in a book and forgotten it,
but today I noticed it somewhere else.
Jez must have found it.
Who cleans your room, Kate?
What?
Who's your scout?
Is it Mrs. Temple?
Yeah.
(knock at door)
WOMAN: Kate, time to go.
I'm coming.
Yeah, go on.
I'll, uh, have that back, though.
You think Mrs. Temple found the letter and told Jez?
I reckon.
Why not Jez himself?
And why wouldn't he say?
If he was angry and finishing their relationship anyway,
he'd hardly be worried about admitting
that he'd been snooping.
Point is, was he angry enough?
To shoot an abortionist?
This is Oxford, England, not Oxford, Mississippi.
(cell phone rings)
Mm.
Yes, ma'am?
Okay, we'll meet you by the Porters' Lodge.
YOUNG MAN: "Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
"creep in our ears;
"soft stillness and the night
become the touches of sweet harmony."
(orchestra begins Holst's The Planets)
This is Inspector Lewis.
Have you decided to cooperate at last, sir?
Well done.
Inspector!
Thank you for coming, Father.
Are you going to tell me what Andrew Crompton said or not?
No, but what I can tell you
is that Jez Haydock came to see me... for advice.
Jez?
He overheard an argument that night in the observatory.
I told him to follow his conscience.
(The Planets continues)
LEWIS: Jez must be here somewhere.
You disgusting waste of space!
Get off me!
(music continues as men struggle)
He's the one who...
I'm warning you, Mr. Finniston.
Make yourself scarce.
He's there.
Jez!
Tell them what you told me
about the Master and your aunt.
(orchestra continues playing)
Yeah, see what I mean?
It would have been the next best thing to invisible.
Stand the rifle up in there, maybe chuck a cloth over it.
It wouldn't get a second glance.
LEWIS: Neither would she.
Mrs. Temple?
Just a sec, if it's all the same.
Gun club.
HATHAWAY: Luckily, with no guns.
Ah.
Ma'am?
Forensics had done, so I authorized their return.
I'll get backup.
Oh, no, no.
No, Mrs. Temple, not that.
I've had enough.
Jez can explain.
He can't tell us everything.
I can try and work it out,
but I don't want to get it wrong.
That wouldn't be fair to Mrs. Crompton.
Thanks.
No, okay, okay.
Did you find a spare key
to the gun store?
Yeah.
You and the Master.
Years.
Since right back when Ted Temple
was the head porter?
Mm, yeah.
I never knew old Ted knew.
He must have seen Andy and me together.
Andy thought I was lovely.
And exciting.
You knew about his tumor?
BABS: Mm.
When he touched me,
it was getting harder to feel me, that's how he put it.
And then these odd ideas he kept having, he knew they were daft.
Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Ransome told him
that there was nothing more that the hospital could do for him.
Out, please!
No.
He can stay.
Father Francis told Andy that he should clear the slate, so...
he said that we was going to tell his wife everything
and just be with her and not with me.
I couldn't take it.
So what happened?
I hung on to him
and he tried to get me off him
and then he was just falling down the stairs and...
Did you tell them
that you came to the observatory to get a book
and you heard us arguing?
Yeah.
I should've let you own up like you wanted,
but... but I said don't, because...
Well, she didn't mean to kill him, so it's not murder, right?
Did she tell you she killed Dr. Ransome?
What?
JEZ: Why?
Well, Rog said that it was his duty
to tell the police about her and Andrew.
You knew we'd question her, she'd deny it,
and she might put two and two together?
Mm.
Especially after what Ted told her about Andy and me.
So I phoned her up to see what she knew and...
and out it all came.
And she said that she was going to have to tell you and...
and Mrs. Crompton.
So you stopped her.
Andy thought you were ever such a clever boy
with all your stars and planets.
Come on.
Time to go, eh?
Yeah.
I've had enough.
Tell your mum sorry.
No!
(applause)
(shouts of "bravo!")
(applause continues)
(sobbing)
(police sirens in distance)
Well?
She'll live.
Thanks to Hathaway.
James?
Robbie'll sort him out.
Ready to go?
Yeah, we're fine.
I was looking forward to that concert.
Do you think we'll be able to get our money back?
Worth a try.
Although, actually,
I'm more of a Wagner man myself,
especially if the conductor's Knappertsbusch.
Bless you.
Next Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org
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