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00:01Yeah?
00:04Yeah?
00:30Oh, God.
01:00Oh, my God.
01:30I don't get any lighter.
02:00Oh, my God.
02:29One, five, eight.
02:32Just there, sweetheart.
02:35Ta.
02:35All right, let's get him.
02:40Come and get your paper.
02:46Hold that, would you?
03:09What do you make of it?
03:18Looks old.
03:19It is.
03:20Fairly indifferent Jacobean poetry, calfskin binding, worth a couple of bob.
03:25What are these brown spots on the pages?
03:28It goes straight to the heart of the matter, Mr.
03:31Jack.
03:32It's just Jack.
03:34That's called foxing.
03:36Jack, just Jack.
03:37It's what time does to books.
03:39To all of us.
03:41In the profession, we say it's slightly foxed.
03:43Interested?
03:46You know, there's a mistake.
03:48A mistake?
03:50Well, isn't there?
03:53Above the door, the sign.
03:54What about it?
03:55Well, it's wrong, isn't it?
03:58There's no apostrophe in books.
04:00There is.
04:01No, there isn't.
04:01There is.
04:02There isn't.
04:02There is.
04:03There isn't.
04:03There is if your name is Book and you own the shop, which it is and I do.
04:06My name's Book.
04:07Books, books.
04:09Confusing, I know.
04:10Or is it handy?
04:11I can never decide.
04:12Anyway, I'm Book and I run a bookshop.
04:14This one, obviously.
04:15You must be here about the job.
04:17Tea?
04:17Tea?
04:17Not quite there yet.
04:38I'm trying to make ginger snaps.
04:41How much?
04:42Where were you dragged up?
04:44One for each person and one for the pot.
04:47Now, where have we got to, Jack?
04:54Just Jack.
04:56This is dog, book, dog, job.
05:01I have a little hobby on the side and I find it's taking me away from the shop more and more.
05:06So, I require assistance.
05:17Oh, God.
05:24Oh, that's better.
05:26I must have tea.
05:27Without tea, I am merely unreconstituted dust.
05:30Look, this isn't really my sort of gaff.
05:38I mean, I thought they'd maybe send me to a factory or something.
05:41They?
05:44You know where I've come from, don't you?
05:47You know that I was...
05:48No need to mention it again.
05:49What are you hoping for now you've got the job, Jack?
05:52Just Jack.
05:53I just want to keep my head down.
05:55You know, try and get back to norm...
05:57Wait, I've got the job.
05:59Normality is overrated.
06:01Yes, you've got the job.
06:03If you want it.
06:05Darling, you must come at once.
06:08Oh.
06:09Uh, Trotty, this is Jack.
06:10Just Jack.
06:11Jack, this is Trotty, my wife.
06:14Hello.
06:16Hello.
06:17Well, what is it?
06:18The bombsite.
06:19The man carrying the bombsite.
06:20You know where Enkerman Street used to be?
06:21Oh, yes, that one.
06:22What of it?
06:23Well, they found something.
06:25In suspicious circumstances.
06:29My favourite kind of circumstances.
06:43Oh, yes, that one.
07:13No.
07:14Let it run.
07:15You know where Andkinois was by entering?
07:35I got this one.
07:38I got this.
07:40I got this one.
07:41I was wondering if we'd be seeing you.
08:04Like a bad penny, Sergeant.
08:05Yeah, well, you know my feelings.
08:07You've made them exquisitely plain.
08:08But as you know, I do have a special letter from Churchill.
08:12Yeah.
08:14It's good to cover them up.
08:17All right.
08:19Oh, hello, Book.
08:21Mrs. Book, I thought this might be up your street.
08:23Almost literally.
08:24Start at the beginning, Inspector, and leave nothing out,
08:26especially if it's salacious, gory, or vaguely scandalous.
08:29Bit of a puzzle.
08:30Mr. Baysart here was starting to clear away the rubble
08:33from this old bombsite the other day.
08:34Incommon Street caught it in 44, didn't it?
08:37Yes, sir. Terrible pounding.
08:39Do you remember that raid, sir?
08:41How could I forget?
08:42Trotty and I ended up cheek-by-jowl in the Anderson Shelter
08:45with the man from the Prudential Insurance Company.
08:48He had lovely fingernails.
08:49Terrible halitosis.
08:51Those shelters weren't built for sharing.
08:53War's over, Mr. Baysart.
08:55Quite so, sir, but I still like to patrol my route.
08:58For old time's sake.
09:00And to keep an eye on old Brenda there.
09:03My trusty searchlight.
09:04Well, here he was trying to clear away the rubble
09:07when, lo, what does he find?
09:09Lo, what?
09:10Ah.
09:19Heavens to Betsy.
09:22Tossed together like a skeletal salad.
09:24How many?
09:24It's hard to tell because they're all jumbled up.
09:26Ten or twelve, I'd say.
09:28Quite why Mr. Baysart didn't tell the authorities
09:29about his discovery forthwith is another matter.
09:32He didn't?
09:33No.
09:34Some kiddies who were playing here let us know.
09:36As I was saying, I have a theory.
09:38Well, obviously they copped it in the raid, didn't they?
09:41What do you think, Jack?
09:44Me?
09:44You.
09:44Er, yeah, that's what must have happened.
09:53Air raid killed them.
09:55Died two years ago and now they're all rotted away.
09:59That would be a logical assumption.
10:01Is this?
10:02So you don't think they died in an air raid?
10:05If you recall, Inkeman Street was already empty, wasn't it, Mr. Baysart?
10:08Scheduled for demolition.
10:10So nobody was living here, in which case...
10:13Who are they?
10:14Well, anybody, surely.
10:16Anybody could have taken shelter from the bombing in one of the empty houses.
10:19A dozen of them.
10:20What about clothes?
10:21Clothes?
10:22All flesh is grass.
10:24The raid was only two years ago.
10:26Even if the bodies had rotted away, their clothes would still be intact.
10:29I think Mr. Baysart and I are thinking along similar lines.
10:40Well, that would appear to be the clincher.
10:47What do you think?
10:51The unmistakable bonds of King Charles II.
10:54Oh, does it have a date on it, too?
10:581665.
11:01Plague pit, yeah?
11:03So it would seem...
11:04A what?
11:05Plague pit?
11:06The Great Plague.
11:09London's burial grounds were overflowing, so they dug these great big pits and dumped
11:14all the corpses in them.
11:16I'm a bit of an archaeologist.
11:19On the side, strictly amateur, you understand?
11:22So why didn't you tell us straight away when you found them?
11:25Well, I knew I'd never get a chance like this again.
11:29I just wanted a bit of time to excavate them.
11:33Fascinating stuff.
11:34I really am very sorry, Inspector.
11:40Yes, well, no harm done, I suppose.
11:42Not sure about that.
11:44These skeletons might still be lively.
11:46What?
11:46You mean, it's still captured?
11:48The jury, as they say, is out.
11:50But I think it's very unlikely.
11:52Do you mind if I hang on to this?
11:54You're welcome to it.
11:55Right, Mr. Book?
11:56Oh, hello, Nora.
11:58Why, I'm not surprised to see you here.
11:59Did you know that back then they used to use great catapults to toss plaguey corpses into besieged cities to deliberately affect people?
12:08That's horrible, Nora.
12:11I know.
12:11And a split infinitive.
12:13Even more horrible.
12:17Might be worth a bit, too.
12:21Sergeant, get this.
12:22It's not taken care of in a prompt hour, would you like.
12:25With care.
12:27Where to, sir?
12:28At the morgue, I suppose.
12:30Get Dr. Golder to take a shifty.
12:32See if there's any chance they're still infectious.
12:34Yes, sir.
12:34Thank you, Book.
12:36Any time, Inspector.
12:40Sergeant.
12:43Why can't you collect stamps like normal people?
12:54Oh, dear.
13:04Are you all right?
13:16Yeah.
13:19It's all just a bit, uh, being coppers.
13:25I've, uh, been away, you see, and...
13:28Oh, yes, I, I know.
13:30I find it being very nice.
13:31You can tell me all about it when you're ready.
13:33Hey, let me take this.
13:35Well, you must stay with us, mustn't you?
13:36Now that you've got the job.
13:38I have the premises next door.
13:40Book has his books.
13:41I have my wallpaper.
13:42And there is a darling little attic room between the two.
13:45Why are you helping me like this?
13:47Why not?
13:50I've got an old hard cap.
13:55Suicide, I heard.
13:56Heard?
13:57Uh, from your colleague over there.
13:59Oh, love his ruddy guts for garters.
14:01This goes against all the rules of...
14:03All right, Sergeant.
14:04All right.
14:05Mr. Book's always welcome to give us the benefit of his wisdom.
14:08As you know...
14:09Yes.
14:11Yes.
14:14Bad business, but very bad.
14:15Oh, sod.
14:18But, look, Morris has a point.
14:19This is a plain, ordinary suicide.
14:21I mean, I can be flexible, as you know.
14:23When something a little bit more...
14:24Recherche, outré, anything with an acute accent.
14:29Unusual comes along.
14:31Like our barbed friends, the skeleton.
14:33This is a meat and potatoes job.
14:35You know, the Sergeant and I are perfectly capable of...
14:37Who found him?
14:39Charwon.
14:39A hated dredge.
14:41Pretty shook up, she is.
14:43Dredge?
14:44Rings a little bell.
14:45Which she's been doing for hard cut for donkeys.
14:49Ding dong.
14:51Was it a note?
14:52No, no, no.
14:52How did he do it?
14:55Prussic acid.
14:56It's not...
14:57Nasty.
14:59And intriguing, don't you think?
15:07Mr. Harker.
15:08Right, sir.
15:09Looks like suicide.
15:10Oh, how dreadful.
15:13Well, I'd better get on.
15:14Too much excitement for one day.
15:17Jet, nip back to the shop, would you?
15:19There's a pile of newspapers.
15:21Third stack on the right as you come in.
15:23Charing Cross dispatch.
15:24Underneath two volumes on Eleanor of Castile and the Wilting Espadistra.
15:29Fetch them for me, would you?
15:35Okay.
15:36Oh, and put the kettle on again.
15:38We're going to have company.
15:39Oh, well, seeing as it's from him.
15:57Oh, I brought a coffee and walnut cake round for Mr. Harkup.
16:02You might as well have it.
16:05This is your usual char day?
16:07Yes.
16:08Every week, regular as clockwork.
16:10But I only saw him yesterday.
16:11Pop round to get some bandages.
16:13Bandages?
16:14Oh, my son, he was injured in the war.
16:17He needs constant attention.
16:19The dressing.
16:20What time did you see Mr. Harkup?
16:23Six.
16:24Six-ish, I think.
16:26Oh, it doesn't seem possible.
16:28Him standing there all full of life and then...
16:32Finding him lying there like that.
16:34You're doing very well.
16:36And was he?
16:38Was he what?
16:39Full of life when you saw him.
16:41In good spirits, I mean.
16:43Well, to be honest, he seemed a little down.
16:45No way, he'd want to go and do an horrible thing like that to himself.
16:51Any vices?
16:54Vices, sir?
16:55We must investigate all angles, alas, dear lady.
17:00Man of very regular habits he was.
17:02Church every Sunday.
17:04Kept his accounts in very neat order.
17:06I think that was the soldier in him.
17:09He did play dominoes.
17:11Dominoes?
17:12Every Monday and Thursday night.
17:13In the ball with Mr. Baceheart and some others.
17:16Does that count as a vice?
17:18I hardly think so.
17:20Do you have any family?
17:27My mother always said if you can't see anything nice about someone, don't open your trap.
17:32So there was bad blood then?
17:36There's a daughter, isn't there?
17:38Some estrangement?
17:40I wouldn't like to say.
17:41No, don't seem right.
17:45What with Mr. H not cold in his grave.
17:47Heavens, this cake.
17:49Yes?
17:50It's superb.
17:51Oh, too kind, sir.
17:53But then I'd expect nothing less.
17:55Oh, why'd you say that?
17:57From Miss Lyons' Corner House, 1921.
18:00Oh, I fancy you knowing that.
18:04It was 1922, though.
18:06My mistake.
18:06Oh, how the dickens?
18:08Oh, I store off a lot of little tidbits like that, mostly useless.
18:13Must have been a lovely experience.
18:15Oh, yes.
18:17Oh, I've never felt so glamorous.
18:19I've got a new hat and the Lord Mayor winked at me.
18:24Winked.
18:25Fancy.
18:25Worked there for years, I did, at the Corner House.
18:29So I got very good with the baking.
18:32Mr. H used to love my pineapple upside down.
18:35You know, it really would be most helpful to know why he and his daughter, Sarah, uh,
18:41Lor, Lor Mary?
18:42Marula.
18:42Marula, that's right.
18:44Why he and Marula no longer saw eye to eye.
18:46Well, seeing as you've been so kind, sir.
18:51Very good of you.
18:52She was a cow.
18:54Oh.
18:55A right horrible, money-grabbing little cow.
18:58I see.
18:59Apple of his eye, she was, after his wife passed on.
19:03But she knew how to twist him round her little finger.
19:07Nothing was too much for his little princess.
19:09And then she has the gall to run off with him.
19:14Him?
19:14Oh, Mickey.
19:17Mickey Hall.
19:18It's a right and there do well.
19:19Up to all sorts in the war spivvy stuff.
19:21You know, Black Market.
19:23He's a motor mechanic.
19:25They've got a garage out Marlen way.
19:27Marlen.
19:28Charming.
19:30And now Marula will inherit the lot.
19:35Don't seem right, do it?
19:37No, it, um, don't.
19:40Thanks for the cake.
19:44What the hell do you think you're doing?
19:47Just being neighbourly, Sergeant?
19:50Uh, your witness, I think.
19:53Hello again.
20:05Oh, hello, Book.
20:07I just wondered if I could have a little nosy round before I head out.
20:11See if I can help at all.
20:13Head out?
20:13Oh, Mrs. Book and I are often pleasure-bent.
20:16The new boys, babysitting.
20:18Oh, for the dog?
20:20Dog.
20:20There's no definite article.
20:22Off to the pictures?
20:24Rerunning a Sandra Dare at the Rialto.
20:26The opera.
20:27Fat ladies singing.
20:30Speaking of which, may I, um...
20:32There's a daughter, but Mrs. Dredge says they didn't get on.
20:42So I gather.
20:44Yeah, we're endeavouring to trace her.
20:46She has a garage at Mile End.
20:50Oh, right.
20:52Thanks.
20:52Thanks.
20:52Funny, aren't they?
21:14Mrs. Bliss goes in for something similar.
21:16A little, a little make-nacks.
21:18Not quite the same, I think.
21:20These are jade.
21:21Rather fine.
21:22Mr. Harcup was obviously a connoisseur.
21:34Do you think it was suicide?
21:55Do you have doubts?
21:57I do.
21:58What's your theory?
22:00Evening, gentlemen.
22:01Evening.
22:02Oh, Eric.
22:03Black Lamb and Grey Falcon.
22:05What?
22:05That book for Sheila.
22:06It's arrived.
22:07Oh, smashing.
22:08Do you come over tomorrow for a...
22:10Righto.
22:10Wait a whistle?
22:11Oh, no, no, thank you.
22:12I was never keen on him myself, Harcup.
22:17God forgive me.
22:19Bit of a little Hitler.
22:20Still, poor bugger.
22:22Stop it himself like that.
22:23Hmm.
22:24So, so...
22:26What's your theory?
22:27Patience, Inspector.
22:29Patience.
22:30The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
22:33Polstoy.
22:34Oh, I couldn't get into him.
22:35I tried that one, you know, where she chucks herself in front of a train.
22:39No?
22:39No.
22:41What?
22:42Inspector.
22:43There you go.
22:52There you go.
22:52Too much?
23:21No, not at all.
23:22You look amazing.
23:26I meant the walls.
23:28Oh.
23:29Book says it's enough for unto good taste, but I don't know.
23:32I think it has a certain something, don't you?
23:35I'm good at knocking things together.
23:37I always have been.
23:40Wardrobes, wireless sets, heads.
23:43I was in the land army.
23:44Gin?
23:45What?
23:47Oh, yeah, please.
23:51So you're going out, then?
23:52My dear, we're always going out.
23:55Well, one has to live, doesn't one?
23:57Especially after the time we've all had.
23:59There's some chops in the larder, I think.
24:01Your room's up at the top.
24:02I've aired the sheets.
24:03You're, I mean, thank you.
24:13Better go and unpack.
24:22Well?
24:23Well?
24:24Well?
24:24Well?
24:25I know that look.
24:42You're on to something.
24:44Nonsense.
24:45It's really the happy look of a contented man.
24:47I have my lovely wife, my lovely shop, my lovely dog.
24:51What more could a man ask for?
24:53Broad.
24:54Three things, then.
24:56Mr. Harkup collected Chinese jade figures of exceptional quality.
25:00But dust is eloquent, as someone once said.
25:04Dust doesn't lie.
25:06One of the figures has been replaced with a bit of cheap trash, a chess piece.
25:10But the larger outline remains clear.
25:13Mrs. Dredge hasn't cleaned in a while, despite what she said.
25:16Secondly, Mr. Harkup has a small lump on the back of his head.
25:21Not caused by him falling, I don't think.
25:24Or probably a blow with a blunt instrument.
25:27A blunt instrument that didn't break the skin.
25:29And yet there is blood on the back of Mr. Harkup's scalp.
25:33Thirdly.
25:33Yes.
25:35Darkly I listen.
25:37For many a time I have been half in love with easeful death.
25:41Called him soft names in many amused rhyme.
25:45To take into the air my quiet breath.
25:50Pardon?
25:51Why would a chemist, with every known gentle poison in the shop,
25:55choose to kill himself with something as horrible as prussic acid?
26:03Well, Puck, there you are, then.
26:07Yes, Trotty.
26:08There we are.
26:12It's murder.
26:15Book?
26:21Book.
26:41Book?
26:42Mrs. Book, be careful.
27:12Mrs. Book, be careful.
27:42Shop.
27:44Ah, good morning.
27:50How can I help?
27:53Oh, well, I'm...
27:55I'm after a book.
27:56You are very much in the right place.
27:58What do you think, young man?
28:00What would suit the lady best?
28:01Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Henry James?
28:04Do you have the new Georgette Heyer?
28:07Oh.
28:09Well, I've read all her other ones.
28:11Me too, and what a smasher she is.
28:13But that would be a new book, Miss...
28:15Mrs. Goodwin.
28:17Mrs. Goodwin.
28:18Jean.
28:19Jean.
28:20We're not really going for those, do we?
28:23We should try foils.
28:25It's a bit of a trudge,
28:27with my feet being what they are.
28:29I have the perfect alternative.
28:30One who was spinning romantic yarns when Miss Heyer was still in the cradle.
28:34Probably.
28:35Oh, well, if you think that...
28:36Shh!
28:37I mean, if you'd recommend...
28:38Shh!
28:39Beg your pardon?
28:40Sure.
28:41Sorry.
28:42Thinking.
28:43Ortsi.
28:44Never heard of him.
28:45Her.
28:46Baroness.
28:47Hungarian.
28:48The Scarlet Pimpernel.
28:49Oh, I've heard of that.
28:50French Revolution.
28:51It's a delight.
28:52You won't regret it.
28:53When you've finished, come back and I'll find you the sequel.
28:56Oh, that's very good of you.
28:58Well, what do I owe you?
28:59Oh, let's call it a bob.
29:00Hang on.
29:01Feet.
29:02Feet, feet, feet.
29:03Feet.
29:04Oh.
29:05Oh, that's very good of you.
29:06What do I owe you?
29:07Well, let's call it a bob.
29:08Hang on.
29:09Feet.
29:10Feet, feet, feet.
29:11Feet.
29:12Feet.
29:13Feet.
29:14Feet.
29:15Feet.
29:16Feet.
29:17Feet.
29:18Feet.
29:19Ah.
29:20This is free.
29:23Oh, I couldn't possibly.
29:25Oh, it's nothing.
29:26But sending you off happily on the bus without further bunions is a price above rubies.
29:32Wouldn't you agree, Jean?
29:35Cheer, bye.
29:37Come on, woman.
29:39I never make any money like that, will I?
29:43Hey-ho.
29:44Now then, Jack.
29:45Excited to start the day?
29:46There's a whole world of learning in here.
29:48All human life.
29:49And some inhuman.
29:50Still got that coin.
29:51What?
29:52Oh, uh, yeah.
29:53Yeah, of course.
29:54Good.
29:55I don't mean to pry, Mr. Book, but, um, what exactly is it you do?
29:58I would have thought that was obvious.
29:59Yeah.
30:00Yeah, of course.
30:01Good.
30:02I don't mean to pry, Mr. Book, but, um, what exactly is it you do?
30:04I would have thought that was obvious.
30:05I sell books.
30:06Yeah, but that's not all, is it?
30:07Yesterday.
30:08Out there, the bomb site.
30:09A chat with a charlady.
30:10Yes.
30:11Well, is that, like, your...your hobby?
30:13I mean, the way you talk to those coppers, where they let you roam around that pit.
30:19Are you, like, some sort of advisor to them or something?
30:34I mean, why should they listen to you?
30:36They frequently don't more fool them.
30:39I did the inspector a favour once during the war.
30:42He hasn't forgotten.
30:44Also, I have a special letter.
30:46A letter from Churchill.
30:47Yeah, the cop has said that.
30:49A letter saying what?
30:52It's a chaotic world, Jack.
30:56I have a system.
30:58Sometimes people like me to give an opinion on things.
31:01Impose a little order.
31:03That's all.
31:04You can read all sorts of things.
31:06As well as books.
31:09This...this is your system?
31:13Yes.
31:14What's wrong with it?
31:17Well, they're not in any kind of order.
31:21I...
31:22Cataracts of denial.
31:25Diseases of the eye and their treatment.
31:28Cataracts.
31:29Eye disease.
31:30Logical.
31:31The guillotine.
31:33A practical guide.
31:34The life and death of Alfred Martin's gent.
31:37Coins of the realm.
31:38I mean, there's no system.
31:39There's no system at all.
31:40Well, it's all up here, isn't it?
31:43How best to explain.
31:45Alfred Muttings was a career criminal.
31:47Very successful forger in his day, which was Queen Victoria's day.
31:50Extraordinary chap in his field.
31:52He was a coiner.
31:53A forger of coins.
31:54But his luck ran out of Paris and they chopped off his head.
31:57Which is why all those books are clumped together, you see?
31:59Yeah, but that's...
32:02I mean, that's silly.
32:06Nevertheless.
32:09Well, I shall leave you to, er...
32:12Hold the fort.
32:29...
32:30Slightly foxed.
32:32Slightly foxed.
32:37Slightly foxed.
32:39Says it all.
32:40I'm home.
33:09Morning.
33:10Yeah. Can I help you?
33:12I've come to collect an order.
33:14Right-o. What's her name?
33:17Sheila Well Beloved.
33:24Hello. Jack.
33:27Yeah?
33:28I'm Nora. We've got lots to talk about.
33:40The End
33:45Thank you, Miss. Again, very sorry for you.
33:48Can I go now?
33:49What if you wouldn't mind just answering a few questions?
33:51Ah.
33:52Um, would you just come with me, please, Miss?
33:56Fascinating.
33:58Where better to hide a tree?
34:00Than in a forest.
34:01And these are markings.
34:04Indeed.
34:06Oh, look.
34:07Oh, hello.
34:08Just checking in on those skeletons with Dr. Calder here.
34:11Ah, yes.
34:12Any risk of infection?
34:13Quite safe on that, Count Inspector.
34:15However...
34:16Ah.
34:17Loose lips drop slips, as they say in the knicker trade.
34:20Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, would we?
34:22Surprise?
34:24Anyway, back to the case in hand.
34:26This is Miss Marula Harcup.
34:28Oh, my dear child, I'm so very sorry.
34:31A few questions, you said.
34:34Do you mind if I tag along?
34:41Oh, don't forget that blood test, will you?
34:43On its way.
34:49Sorry about that.
34:51There you go.
34:52Black lamb and grey falcon.
34:54Sounds interesting.
34:56Ta.
35:04Getting the hang of it?
35:05Slowly.
35:07So, who are you?
35:09Nora.
35:10I live across the road in the Turkish restaurant.
35:12Help out in the shop sometimes.
35:14So, erm...
35:16Do you know him well then, Mr and Mrs Book?
35:19Yeah.
35:21And do you know about his little hobby?
35:23Bloody hell.
35:25Yes.
35:26It's all I think about.
35:29Isn't all that...
35:30I mean...
35:32Isn't that...
35:33Unhealthy?
35:35I should think so.
35:36What do your mum and dad think?
35:38Don't have any.
35:41What do you mean?
35:43Well, it was the war, wasn't it?
35:46Everyone lost someone.
35:49I lost them.
35:51Sorry.
35:54What happened?
35:55So...
35:57How are you getting on anyway?
35:58With the books?
36:00Mr and Mrs.
36:02It's not quite what I expected.
36:06What is his Christian name, by the way?
36:09What do you think?
36:11Cookbook?
36:12Scrapbook?
36:13Mucky book?
36:15Gabriel.
36:17Ah.
36:19Like the angel?
36:21Archangel, I think you'll find.
36:23They're a dream.
36:24Both of them.
36:25Such sweethearts.
36:28So...
36:30What's the real story?
36:31I think I'm hard.
36:32I'm not sniffling, boo-hooing, all over the shop.
36:38I mean, it's just not the way I'm made.
36:40So there.
36:42Your father.
36:44I'm sorry that he's dead.
36:46Of course I am.
36:47He was my dad.
36:48In spite of everything.
36:50He didn't make it easy to, um...
36:52To love him, though.
36:53Can you think of any reason why he'd want to take his own life?
36:55None.
36:56None.
36:57None.
36:58None.
36:59None.
37:00None.
37:01None.
37:02None.
37:03None.
37:04None.
37:05None.
37:06None.
37:07None.
37:09None.
37:10None.
37:11None.
37:12None.
37:13None.
37:14None.
37:15None.
37:16None.
37:17No, he was nicely set up with his shop and...
37:20Well, Mum had left him a few bob when she died.
37:23You don't think your estrangement...
37:25No.
37:26Nothing to do with that.
37:27He wasn't the type to get all emotional.
37:30Maybe that's where I get it from.
37:33I mean, he made it very clear that he didn't approve of, um...
37:39me and Mickey.
37:41But, um, he'd hardly have gone and killed himself in a fit of the glums about it.
37:44He just... he weren't the type, as I say.
37:46Tell us about Mickey.
37:51What's to say? He's my fella.
37:55How is his war?
37:58Why do you ask that?
37:59Well, we know how much our father appreciated the armed forces.
38:02always wears metal ribbons with great pride.
38:05Yes, well...
38:06Mickey wasn't lucky.
38:07His eyes, they're not... they're not good.
38:11I say that's why he ended up with me.
38:14I mean...
38:15He wouldn't have been much good against Jerry with eyes like his.
38:19Dad didn't like that.
38:20Thought he was a shirker.
38:22That was the start of it.
38:23What was the finish?
38:27Well, Dad was convinced that Mickey was thieving from him.
38:30Cash?
38:32Morphine.
38:35Mickey got up to some shady business during the war.
38:39Just stockings, cigarettes, small stuff.
38:42Dad had, um...
38:44just got it into his head that Mickey was bad.
38:45And he'd noticed morphine had gone missing.
38:48Yes.
38:50Wouldn't speak to us.
38:52But you've had a bit of news, haven't you?
39:00I thought a little one might be the thing that brung us back together.
39:04What's all this about?
39:05Why are you so interested in Mickey if...
39:07Dad has gone and...
39:09topped himself?
39:16Stories?
39:18Detective stories.
39:20That's what I want to write.
39:22I've got so many ideas.
39:24It's...
39:25such an exciting new world out there.
39:29Everything's all smashed up.
39:31The whole world.
39:32No one knows what to do anymore.
39:34Well, I do.
39:36The war turned everything upside down.
39:38Shook it up.
39:40That's great.
39:41There's no going back to how things used to be.
39:43Including murders.
39:44After soldiers in Britain have come home...
39:47with pistols they stole from dead Nazis.
39:50The country's a washroom.
39:52So?
39:54So...
39:56We only seem civilised in this country because we're not armed.
39:58Think of all that...
40:00throbbing, suburban passion.
40:03Husbands having affairs with secretaries.
40:06Ladies having affairs with their chauffeurs.
40:09All those contested wheels and domestic rows.
40:12People used to kill each other...
40:15by boiling down arsenic from their wallpaper.
40:18Now they just have to reach for a lugar.
40:22Pow pow pow!
40:23Pow pow pow!
40:31What did happen to your parents?
40:34You're supposed to be telling me your story.
40:37I'm an orphan too.
40:41I never knew my mum.
40:44I've got a picture of my dad.
40:46That's all.
40:49I'm sorry.
40:51I'm sorry.
40:54It's alright.
40:59I should erm...
41:00Yeah.
41:01It was nice to meet you.
41:02It was an incendiary.
41:06What?
41:07An incendiary.
41:12Set the roof on fire.
41:15In the Blitz.
41:19Mum got me out and...
41:21went back for Dad.
41:23Then the roof fell in.
41:26I just...
41:29sat there...
41:31in the garden...
41:32looking at the house.
41:34Just...
41:36felt...
41:38sort of numb.
41:39The ARP warden found me.
41:45Then...
41:46my uncle took me in.
41:48So...
41:50now I have to help him out.
41:52With the restaurant.
41:55But you'd rather be.
41:59Much more exciting over here, innit?
42:09I gave up pleasure for Lent.
42:31I gave up Lent.
42:34Pleasure.
42:40Well...
42:44What's your answer?
42:46I told you before...
42:48I'm just a bookseller.
42:50I sell books again...
42:51like I did before the war.
42:53This would be...
42:56for old times sake.
43:00And we did help you find...
43:02him.
43:04Very kind of you.
43:06How's all that working out?
43:09It's complicated.
43:12Well, yes.
43:13I imagine it is.
43:16Delicate.
43:19And we wouldn't want anything to go wrong.
43:22Now would we?
43:24Now would we?
43:54We don't want anything to...
44:10We would want anything to go for?
44:12And we?
44:13so what do we make of him hmm jack put him in the attic room like mrs rochester only slightly more
44:35butch has it ever occurred to you that you are such a bibliophile because of your name
44:40nominative determinism hmm i mean if you've been called butcher you might be slicing up choice
44:49cuts of meat flensing that's the word removing fat from a carcass wonderfully descriptive word
44:58flensing i should endeavor to bring it back well i wish you joy with that yes you could be slipping
45:03me black market chops under the counter like mr well beloved much more useful than books these
45:09days i could have been an archer or a baker or a chandler speaking of which farewell my lovely
45:17oh you're going out again you're so sharp you'll cut yourself crime fiction american customer put
45:24in a request i know it's here somewhere i saw a lady in the lake recently anyway jack
45:30oh definitely promise definitely promise and he didn't try to flog that coin
45:36so jail hasn't made him a wrong gun for life touch wood
45:41and the uh other matter
45:48it's too soon to tell him
45:53what was so special about the other people in the lake you see youD
46:14What was so special about your book?
46:24Nothing really, it's just about some chaps at school playing cricket.
46:30And what do you think of Carol Darley?
46:32Wait, you've read Tim?
46:34Started it.
46:35When?
46:36After I saved it from the incinerator.
46:38Look, what's your name?
46:47Bajova.
46:49That's a funny name.
46:58Stratford Perry.
47:01But my friends call me Trotty.
47:04You're splendid.
47:06You owe me.
47:07I do.
47:08So when I get into trouble here, will you help me out?
47:14Let us make a solemn pact.
47:29Put your strong arms around me, Carol, and raise me a little.
47:33I can talk better so.
47:35Carol bowed his head without a word and kissed him.
47:43And thus, their friendship was sealed.
47:54Good night, Mrs. Book.
47:55Good night, Mr. Book.
47:57Good night, Mr. Book.
48:11The daughter, the spiv, the char, the warden.
48:17Who gave Harkup the ruddy poison?
48:23Who gave Harkup the ruddy poison?
48:34Absent friends.
48:37Absent friends.
48:38Absent friends.
48:39I'll see you in the next.
48:49I'll see you in the next.
49:03Bye.
49:04Sir, you never believe it.
49:18It takes a lot to surprise me, Mark.
49:21What? Why is it?
49:23We've got the chemist's wheel through, sir.
49:24Yeah?
49:25Daughter doesn't get a bean.
49:27No?
49:28No.
49:29No, he does.
49:34Oh, the char.
49:39Mrs. Ada Dredge.
49:58No!
49:59No!
50:00No!
50:04No!
50:10No!
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