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2025 S01E02 >>> https://dai.ly/xa4u9ho
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00:00Mew?
00:03Mew?
00:33Mew?
01:00Mew?
01:01Mew?
01:03Mew?
01:04Mew?
01:05Let's do it.
01:53They don't get any lighter.
02:26A bit lost, love.
02:30158.
02:32Just there, sweetheart.
02:33Bye.
02:34Bye.
03:08Hold that, would you?
03:15What 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?
03:27It goes straight to the heart of the matter, Mr.
03:30Jack.
03:32It's just Jack.
03:34That's called foxing.
03:35Jack, just Jack.
03:37It's what time does to books.
03:39To all of us.
03:40In the profession, we say it's slightly foxed.
03:43Interested?
03:44What?
03:45You know there's a mistake.
03:48A mistake?
03:50Well, isn't there?
03:52Above the door, the sign.
03:54What about it?
03:56Well, 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 isn't.
04:03Your name is Book and you own the shop, which it is and I do.
04:06My name's Book.
04:07Book's books.
04:08Confusing, 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?
04:33Not quite there yet.
04:38I'm trying to make ginger snaps.
04:41How much?
04:43Where were you dragged up?
04:44One for each person and one for the pot.
04:52Now, where have we got to, Jack? Just Jack.
04:55This is dog, book, dog, job.
05:00I have a little hobby on the side and I find it's taking me away from the shop more and
05:05more.
05:05So, I require assistance.
05:20Oh, God.
05:24Oh, that's better.
05:25I must have tea.
05:26With our tea and merely unreconstituted dust.
05:35Look, 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?
05:43You know where I've come from, don't you?
05:47You know that I was...
05:48No need to mention it again.
05:50What are you hoping for now you've got the job, Jack? Just Jack?
05:53I just want to keep my head down, you know.
05:56Try and get back to normal...
05:57Wait, I've got the job.
05:59Normality is overrated.
06:01Yes, you've got the job.
06:02If you want it.
06:04Darling, 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 bomb site.
06:19The man clearing the bomb site.
06:20You know where Inkeman 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.
06:43What's that?
07:00I see, what's
08:01I was wondering if we'd be seeing you.
08:03Like a bad penny, Sergeant.
08:05Yeah, well, you know my feelings.
08:06You've made them exquisitely plain.
08:08But as you know, I do have a special letter from Churchill.
08:12Yeah.
08:19Oh, hello, Book.
08:21Mrs. Burke, 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 from this old bomb site the other day.
08:34Inkeman Street courted in 44, didn't it?
08:37Yes, sir.
08:38Terrible 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.
08:47He 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.
09:02My trusty searchlight.
09:05Well, here he was, trying to clear away the rubble,
09:07when Lowe, what does he find?
09:09Lowe what?
09:10Ah.
09:19Heavens to Betsy.
09:21Tossed together like a skeletal salad.
09:23How many?
09:24Well, it'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?
09:43Me?
09:44You.
09:48Uh.
09:50Yeah, that's what must have happened.
09:53Air raid killed him.
09:55Died two years ago, and now they're all rotted away.
09:59That would be a logical assumption.
10:01There's this.
10:02So you don't think they died in an air raid?
10:04If you recall, Inkerman Street was already empty, wasn't it, Mr. Baysart?
10:08Scheduled for demolition.
10:10So nobody was living here, in which case...
10:12Who 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?
10:21All flesh is grass.
10:24All 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.
10:44Well, that would appear to be the clincher.
10:46What do you think?
10:51The unmistakable bonds of King Charles II.
10:54Oh, does it have a date on it, too?
10:591665.
11:01Plague pit, yeah?
11:02So, it's him.
11:04A what?
11:05Plague pit.
11:06The Great Plague.
11:08London's burial grounds were overflowing, so they dug these great big pits and dumped
11:14all the corpses in them.
11:16I, I'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, I knew I'd never get a chance like this again.
11:29I just wanted a bit of time to excavate them.
11:33Oh, fascinating stuff.
11:37I really am very sorry, Inspector.
11:40Yes, well, no harm done, I suppose.
11:42Not sure about that.
11:43These skeletons might still be lively.
11:46What?
11:46You mean, it's still catching?
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.
11:55All right, 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
12:04into besieged cities to deliberately affect people?
12:09That's horrible, Nora.
12:10I know.
12:11And a split infinitive.
12:13Even more horrible.
12:17I'd be worth a bit, too.
12:21Sergeant, get this long taken care of in a prompt area, do you know?
12:25With care.
12:26And where 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.
12:36Anytime, Inspector.
12:40Sergeant.
12:42Why can't we collect stamps like normal people?
12:54Oh, dear.
13:14Are you all right?
13:16Yeah.
13:19It's all just a bit, uh...
13:22me and Coppers.
13:25I've, uh...
13:26been away, you see, and...
13:28Oh, yes, I know.
13:30I've found it been very nice.
13:31Tell 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, I 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?
13:48I don't expect...
13:49I'll get this...
13:50I'll get this...
13:50I'll get this...
13:52What about Harcup?
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, all 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.
14:17But, look, Morris has a point.
14:19This is a plain, ordinary suicide.
14:21I mean, I can be flexible, as you know.
14:23Weren't something a little bit more...
14:25Recherche, outre, 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 phoned him?
14:39Charwund.
14:39Hader Dredge.
14:41Pretty shook up, she is.
14:43Dredge?
14:44He brings a little bell.
14:45She's been doing the Harcup for donkeys.
14:49Ding dong.
14:50Was it a note?
14:52No, no, no.
14:52How did he do it?
14:54Prussic acid.
14:57Nasty.
14:59And intriguing, don't you think?
15:06Mr. Harcup.
15:08Great, sir.
15:09Looks like suicide.
15:10Oh, how dreadful.
15:13Well, I'd better get on.
15:14Too much excitement for one day.
15:17Jack, knit back to the shop, would you?
15:19There's a pile of newspapers, third 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?
15:35Oh, and put the kettle on again.
15:38We're going to have company.
15:46Oh, well, see, it's from him.
15:58Oh, I brought a coffee and walnut cake round for Mr. Harcup.
16:02You might as well have it.
16:05This is your usual char day?
16:07Yes, every 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.
16:16He needs constant attention.
16:19The dressing.
16:20What time did you see Mr. Harcup?
16:23Six.
16:24Six-ish, I think.
16:25Oh, 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.
16:47Although I'd want to go and do an horrible thing like that to himself.
16:50Any vices?
16:53Vices, 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.
17:08He did play dominoes.
17:10Dominoes?
17:11Every Monday and Thursday night.
17:13In the ball.
17:14With Mr. Baseheart and some others.
17:16Does that count as a vice?
17:17I hardly think so.
17:20Do you have any family?
17:27My mother always said if you can't say 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?
17:39I wouldn't like to say, no.
17:43Don't seem right.
17:45What with Mr. H not cold in his grave.
17:47Heavens, this cake.
17:49Yes?
17:49It's superb.
17:51Oh, too kind, sir.
17:52But 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.
18:06How about Dickens?
18:08I store up a lot of little tidbits like that, mostly useless.
18:12Must have been a lovely experience.
18:15Oh, yes.
18:16Oh, I've never felt so glamorous.
18:19I've got a new hat and the Lord Mayor winked at me.
18:24Winked.
18:24Fancy.
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.
18:34You know, it really would be most helpful to know why he and his daughter, Sarah Lormere?
18:42Marula.
18:42Marula, that's right.
18:43Why he and Marula no longer saw eye to eye.
18:48Well, seeing as you've been so kind, sir.
18:51Very good of you.
18:52She was a cow.
18:54A 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?
19:15Mickey.
19:16Mickey Hall.
19:18It's a right and there do well.
19:19Up to all sorts in the war.
19:20Spivvy stuff, you know.
19:21Black Market.
19:23He's a motor mechanic.
19:24They've got a garage out mile-end way.
19:27Mile-end.
19:28Charming.
19:29And now Marula will inherit the lot.
19:34Don't seem right, do it?
19:36No, it, um, don't.
19:40Thanks for the cake.
19:45What the hell do you think you're doing?
19:47Just being neighbourly, Sergeant?
19:50Uh, your witness, I think.
20:04Hello again.
20:05Oh, hello, Book.
20:07I just wondered if I could have a little nosy round
20:09before I head out.
20:11See if I can help at all.
20:13Head out?
20:14Oh, Mrs. Book and I are often pleasure-bent.
20:16The new boys, babysitting.
20:18Up for the dog.
20:19Dog.
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...
20:37There's a daughter that Mrs. Dredge says they didn't get on.
20:42So I gather.
20:44We're endeavouring to trace her.
20:45She has a garage at Mile End.
20:50Oh, right.
20:51Thanks.
21:11Funny, aren't they?
21:13Mrs. Bliss goes in for something similar.
21:16A little, little make-macks.
21:17Not quite the same, I think.
21:20These are jade.
21:21Rather fine.
21:24And this one...
21:32Mr. Harcup was obviously a connoisseur.
21:53Do you think it was suicide?
21:55Do you have doubts?
21:56I do.
21:58What's your theory?
21:59Evening, gentlemen.
22:00Evening.
22:01Oh, Eric.
22:02Black Lamb and Grey Falcon.
22:05What?
22:05That book for Sheila, it's arrived.
22:07Oh, smashing.
22:08Er, do you come over tomorrow for me?
22:10Righto.
22:10Wait a whistle.
22:11Oh, no, thank you.
22:13I was never keen on him myself.
22:15Harcup.
22:17God forgive me.
22:19Bit of a little Hitler.
22:20Still, poor bugger.
22:21Stop it himself like that.
22:23Mm.
22:24So, so...
22:26What's your theory?
22:27Patience, Inspector.
22:28Patience.
22:29The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
22:33Tolstoy.
22:34Oh, I couldn't get into it.
22:35I tried that one, you know, where she chucks herself in front of a train.
22:38No?
22:39No.
22:41Book.
22:42Inspector.
22:52There you go.
23:03There you go.
23:17Too much?
23:20No, not at all.
23:23Er...
23:24I mean, you look amazing.
23:26I meant the walls.
23:28Oh.
23:29Book says it's an affront to 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...
23:37I always have been.
23:40Wardrobes, wireless sets, heads.
23:42I was in the land army.
23:44Gin?
23:45What?
23:46Oh, yeah, please.
23:50So you're going out, then?
23:52My day, 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.
24:01Yours runs up at the top.
24:02I've heard the sheets.
24:08You're...
24:09I mean...
24:21Better go and unpack.
24:36Well?
24:37Well?
24:40I know that look.
24:43You're on to something.
24:44Nonsense.
24:45Really the happy look of a contented man.
24:47I have my lovely wife, my lovely shop, my lovely dog.
24:50What 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.
25:03Dust doesn't lie.
25:05One 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.
25:23Or probably a blow with a blunt instrument.
25:26A blunt instrument that didn't break the skin.
25:28And yet there is blood on the back of Mr. Harkup's scalp.
25:33Thirdly...
25:33Yes?
25:35Darkly, I listen.
25:36For many a time, I have been half in love with easeful death.
25:41Called him soft names, and many amused rhyme.
25:45To take into the air, my quiet breath.
25:49Pardon?
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?
26:02Well, Doc.
26:04There you are, then.
26:06Yes, Trotty.
26:08Here we are.
26:12It's murder.
26:40It's murder.
26:40Book?
26:42Mrs. Book.
26:44Be careful.
27:14Be careful.
27:42Shop.
27:47Ah, good morning.
27:52How 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?
28:05Do you have the new Georgette Heyer?
28:08Ah.
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.
28:16Mrs. Goodwin.
28:17Jean.
28:18Jean.
28:19We're not really going for those, do we?
28:23We should try foils.
28:25It's a bit of a trudge, with 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...
28:37Shh.
28:37I mean, if you'd recommend...
28:38Shh.
28:39Beg your pardon?
28:40Sure.
28:41Sorry.
28:41Thinking.
28:42Ah.
28:53Ortsy.
28:54Never heard of him.
28:55Her.
28:56Baroness.
28:56Hungarian.
28:58The Scarlet Pimpernel.
28:59Oh, I've heard of that.
29:01French Revolution.
29:03It's a delight.
29:04You won't regret it.
29:06When you've finished, come back and I'll find you the sequel.
29:09Oh, that's very good of you.
29:11What do I owe you?
29:12Oh, let's call it a bob.
29:14Hang on.
29:15Feet.
29:16Feet, feet, feet.
29:18Ah.
29:21This is free.
29:23Oh, I couldn't possibly...
29:25Oh, it's nothing, but sending you off happily on the bus without further bunions is a price
29:31above rubies, wouldn't you agree, Jean?
29:36Cheerio-bye.
29:38Come on, woman.
29:41I'll never make any money like that, will I?
29:46Hey-ho.
29:48Now then, Jack, excited to start the day?
29:51There's a whole world of learning in here.
29:54All human life, and some inhuman.
29:57Still got that coin.
29:59Well, oh, uh, yeah.
30:01Yeah, of course.
30:02Good.
30:04I don't mean to pry, Mr. Book, but, um, what exactly is it you do?
30:11I would have thought that was obvious.
30:13I sell books.
30:15Yeah, but that's not all, is it?
30:18Yesterday, out there, the bomb site.
30:20A chat with a charlady.
30:21Yes.
30:22Well, is that, like, your...
30:25Your hobby?
30:27I mean, the way you talk to those coppers, where they let you roam around that pit, are you
30:32like 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.
30:50A letter saying what?
30:53It's a chaotic world, Jack.
30:56I have a system.
30:58Sometimes people like me to give an opinion on things, impose a little order, that's all.
31:04You can read all sorts of things, as well as books.
31:11This, this is your system?
31:13Yes.
31:14What's wrong with it?
31:16Well, they're not in any kind of order.
31:21Cataracts of denial.
31:25Diseases of the eye and their treatment.
31:28Cataracts.
31:29Eye disease.
31:30Logical.
31:32The guillotine, a practical guide, the life and death of Alfred Mutting's gent, coins
31:38of the realm.
31:38I mean, there's no system.
31:40There's no system at all.
31:41Well, it's all up here, isn't it?
31:43How best to explain.
31:45Alfred Mutting's was a career criminal, a very successful forger in his day, which was
31:49Queen Victoria's day.
31:51Extraordinary chap in his field.
31:52He was a coiner, a forger of coins.
31:54But his luck ran out of Paris, and they chopped off his head, which is why all those books
31:58are clumped together, you see?
31:59Hey, but that's...
32:02I mean, that's silly.
32:06Nevertheless.
32:09Well, I shall leave you to, uh, hold the fort.
32:30Slightly foxed.
32:35Slightly foxed.
32:39Says it all.
33:08Morning.
33:09Yeah, uh, can I help you?
33:12I've come to collect an order.
33:14Uh, right-o.
33:15Um, what's the name?
33:16Sheila Well Beloved.
33:23Hello.
33:25Jack.
33:26Yeah?
33:27I'm Nora.
33:28We've got lots to talk about.
33:45Thank you, Miss.
33:46Uh, again, very sorry for you.
33:48Can I go now?
33:48Well, if you wouldn't mind just answering a few questions.
33:52Um, would you just, just come with me, please?
33:55My sir, Miss.
33:55Hmm, fascinating.
33:58Way better to hide a tree?
33:59Than in a forest.
34:01And these 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.
34:16Loose 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.
34:33Do you mind if I tag along?
34:41Oh, don't forget that blood test, will you?
34:43Well, let's wait.
34:48Sorry about that.
34:51There you go.
34:52Black lamb and grey falcon.
34:54Sounds interesting.
34:56Tull.
35:03Getting the hang of it?
35:05Slowly.
35:06So, who are you?
35:09Nora.
35:09I live across the road in the Turkish restaurant.
35:12Help out in the shop sometimes.
35:14So, um, do you know him well then, Mr and Mrs Bug?
35:19Yeah.
35:20And do you know about his little hobby?
35:23Bloody hell, yes.
35:25It's all I think about.
35:28Isn't all that, I mean, isn't that...
35:32Unhealthy?
35:34I should think so.
35:36What do your mum and dad think?
35:38I don't have any.
35:40What do you mean?
35:42Well, it was a war, wasn't it?
35:46Everyone lost on one.
35:48I lost them.
35:51Sorry.
35:54What happened?
35:55So, how are you getting on anyway with the books, Mr and Mrs?
36:03It's not quite what I expected.
36:06What is his Christian name, by the way?
36:08What do you think?
36:10Cookbook?
36:12Scrapbook?
36:12Mucky book?
36:13Gabriel.
36:16Gabriel.
36:18Like the angel?
36:19Archangel, I think you'll find.
36:22They're a dream.
36:23Both of them.
36:24Such sweethearts.
36:28So,
36:29what's your real story?
36:45To put anything, I'm hard.
36:48I'm not sniffling, boo-hooing all over the shop.
36:53I mean, it's just not the way I'm made.
36:55So, there.
36:57Your father.
36:59I'm sorry that he's dead.
37:01Of course I am.
37:02He was my dad.
37:04In spite of everything.
37:08He didn't make it easy to, um,
37:11to love him, though.
37:12Can you think of any reason why he'd want to take his own life?
37:15None.
37:16No, he was nicely set up with his shop and...
37:19Well, Mum had left him a few bob when she died.
37:23You don't think you're a strangement?
37:25No.
37:25Nothing 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...
37:36He didn't approve of, um...
37:38Me and Mickey.
37:40But, um...
37:41He'd hardly have gone and killed himself in a fit of the glums about it.
37:44He just...
37:44He weren't the type, as I say.
37:46Tell us about Mickey.
37:51What's to say?
37:52He's my fella.
37:55How was his war?
37:58Why do you ask that?
37:59Well, we know how much our father appreciated the armed forces, always wore his metal ribbons with great pride.
38:04Yes, well, Mickey wasn't lucky.
38:07His eyes, they're not...
38:08They're not good.
38:11I say that's why he ended up with me.
38:14I mean, he wouldn't have been much good against Jerry with eyes like his.
38:18Dad didn't like that.
38:20Thought he was a shirker.
38:22That was the start of it.
38:23What was the finish?
38:26Well, 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 stocking cigarettes, small stuff.
38:42Dad had, um...
38:43Just got it into his head that Mickey was bad.
38:45And he'd noticed Morphine had gone missing.
38:48Yes.
38:49Wouldn't speak to us.
38:51But you've had a bit of news, haven't you?
38:59I mean, I thought a little one might be the thing that brung us back together.
39:03What's all this about?
39:04Why are you so interested in Mickey if...
39:06If Dad has gone and topped himself?
39:16Stories?
39:17Detective stories.
39:19That's what I want to write.
39:21I've got so many ideas.
39:23It's such an exciting new world out there.
39:28Everything's all smashed up.
39:30The whole world.
39:31No-one knows what to do anymore.
39:33Well, I do.
39:35The war turned everything upside down.
39:37Shook it up.
39:38That's great.
39:39It's now going back to how things used to be.
39:42Including murders.
39:43Including murders.
39:44Half the soldiers in Britain have come home with pistols they stole from dead Nazis.
39:49The country's a washroom.
39:51So?
39:52So, we only seem civilised in this country because we're not armed.
39:58Think of all that throbbing, suburban passion.
40:03Husbands having affairs with secretaries.
40:06Ladies having affairs with their chauffeurs.
40:08All those contested wills and domestic rowels.
40:13People used to kill each other by boiling down arsenic from their wallpaper.
40:18Now they just have to reach for Luger.
40:30What did happen to your parents?
40:33You're supposed to be telling me your story.
40:39I'm an orphan too.
40:42I never knew my mum.
40:44I've got a picture of my dad.
40:48That's all.
40:50I'm sorry.
40:53I'm sorry.
40:54It's alright.
40:58Yeah, I should, um...
41:00Yeah.
41:01It was nice to meet you.
41:02It was an incendiary.
41:05What?
41:10An incendiary.
41:13Set the roof on fire in the Blitz.
41:18Mum got me out and went back for Dad.
41:24Then the roof fell in.
41:27Then the roof fell in.
41:28I just sat there in the garden looking at the house.
41:33Just felt sort of numb.
41:42The ARP warden found me.
41:44Then my uncle took me in.
41:47So now I have to help him out with the restaurant.
41:54But you'd rather be.
41:58Much more exciting over here, innit?
42:26I gave up pleasure for Lent.
42:31I gave up Lent.
42:34Pleasure.
42:41Well.
42:44What's your answer?
42:46I told you before, I'm just a bookseller.
42:49I sell books again like I did before the war.
42:53This would be...
42:56for old times' sake.
42:59And we did help you find him.
43:04Very kind of you.
43:07How's all that working out?
43:10It's complicated.
43:13Well, yes.
43:14I imagine it is.
43:17Delicate.
43:20And we wouldn't want anything to go wrong.
43:23Now, would we?
43:24Mother.
43:26Time.
43:45WeSTO.
43:46We abundance.
43:46We love you.
43:48We love you.
43:50Please.
43:50Turn the glass off.
43:51What you do?
43:51We love you.
43:52Stay.
43:53Don't you?
43:54We want you?
43:54Time.
43:54What you want you?
43:54Of course.
44:26So, what do we make of him?
44:29Jack, put him in the attic room.
44:32Like Mrs Rochester, only slightly more butch.
44:36Has it ever occurred to you that you are such a...
44:39Bibliophile?
44:40Because of your name?
44:42Nominative determinism.
44:44I mean, if you've been called butcher, you might be slicing up choice cuts of meat.
44:52Flenzing, that's the word.
44:54Removing fat from a carcass.
44:56Wonderfully descriptive word, flensing.
44:59I shall endeavour to bring it back.
45:00Well, I wish you joy with that.
45:02Yes, you could be slipping your black market chops under the counter like Mr Well Beloved.
45:06Much more useful than books these days.
45:09I could have been an archer, or a baker, or a chandler.
45:15Speaking of which, farewell, my lovely.
45:17Oh, you're going out again.
45:18You're so sharp you'll cut yourself.
45:21Crime fiction.
45:22American.
45:23Customer put in a request.
45:24I know it's here somewhere.
45:26I saw a lady in the lake recently.
45:28Anyway, Jack.
45:30Oh.
45:32Definitely promise.
45:33Definitely promise.
45:34And he didn't try to flog that coin.
45:37So jail hasn't made him a wrong gun for life.
45:40Touch wood.
45:44And the, uh, other matter?
45:51It's too soon to tell him.
46:20What was so special about your life?
46:22Your book?
46:24Nothing really.
46:25It's just about some chaps at school playing cricket.
46:29And what do you think of Carol Darley?
46:32Wait.
46:32You've read Tim?
46:34Started it.
46:35When?
46:36After I saved it from the incinerator.
46:43Book.
46:44What's your name?
46:47Bajova.
46:50It'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.
47:10So 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,
47:31and raise me a little.
47:33I can talk better so.
47:40Carol bowed his head without a word and kissed him.
47:42And thus, their friendship was sealed.
47:54Good night, Mrs. Book.
47:56Good night, Mr. Book.
48:13The daughter, the spiv, the char, the warden.
48:17Who gave Harkup the ruddy poison?
48:34Absent friends.
48:35Come here.
48:39Bye.
48:55Bye.
48:56Bye.
48:58Bye.
48:58Bye.
48:59Bye.
48:59Bye.
49:00Bye.
49:00Bye.
49:01Bye.
49:02Bye.
49:17Sir, you never believe it.
49:18It takes a lot to surprise me, Mark.
49:21What? Why is it?
49:22We've got the chemist's wheel through, sir.
49:24Who?
49:25Daughter doesn't get a bean.
49:27No?
49:28No.
49:29Well, he does.
49:36Oh, the charm.
49:39Mrs. Ada Dredge.
49:49Move!
49:58Move!
50:30Transcription by CastingWords
50:40Transcription by CastingWords
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