What the dickens...?
Who left the butter out to melt, for goodness' sake?
- Let's say for a minute I'm God. - Why would we ever say that?
I'm God and you're Adam.
How are we going to go about finding your Eve, Sidney?
God didn't find Eve. He made her.
Whooo!
Made her? I never did fathom that.
Why a rib?
Why not something you wouldn't miss, like a... a bit of hair?
Or a toe?
And the toe, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman.
Man cannot live by bread alone, if you get my meaning, Sidney.
I never fail to get your meaning, Geordie.
Ohh!
Dickens!
You're not getting any younger.
Those looks of yours will fade. You'll get a paunch.
YOU can talk.
Hair will stop growing on your head and start growing out of your ears.
It's most disconcerting when that happens.
Come on, girls! We're going!
Yeah, what is it with the ear hair?
It's penance. For your sins.
- One day you'll look back, sad and alone... - Hairy ears.
.. hairy ears, and think, 'If only I'd let Geordie find me a girl.'
- It's a woman he needs, not a girl. - Oh, fine! Find me a woman!
- All right, then. - Good.
I will.
Excellent.
* Onward Christian soldiers
* Marching as to war
* With the cross of Jesus
* Going on before...
My lovely boy!
Are you drunk?
- I've had two perries! - You're drunk!
* Marching as to war...
Oh, Christ on a bike!
It's your day off. You're not going in.
Phil, it's my day off. I'm not going in.
- Sidney John Chambers? - Yes.
An allegation of sexual assault has been made against you.
You're not obliged to say anything, but what you say may be put in to evidence.
Can't keep you away, can we?
- Married yet, Mr Chambers? - No.
- Got yourself a girl? - No.
I bet they're flinging themselves at you.
- Lucky bastard. - Who's made this allegation?
Straight down to business, is it?
Abigail Redmond?
- What's she said? - Pretty little thing. Nicely developed.
- Don't tell me you haven't looked. - What's she said?
Her father came across her diary.
All sorts about you in there, apparently.
Tell him what's in there.
Well according to her father,
you told Abigail she was beautiful. Took her to the pictures.
You put your hand under her blouse.
That's not true.
Then there's the sneaking about, the hotel rooms.
Ask him about the hotel rooms.
Did you ever take Miss Redmond to the Allen House Hotel?
No!
- Did you force her to perform sexual acts? - No!
Did you have intercourse with her?
No.
You always make out you think the best of people.
Do you know what I think?
I think you're as judgmental as the rest of us.
You judged Abigail Redmond.
Deemed her an easy target. Then you bedded her.
That's...
She's lying.
- She's lying! - Why lie in a diary?
I don't know. Ask Abigail!
No-one's seen her since this morning, Sidney.
Her or her diary.
Wouldn't happen to know where she is, would you?
No.
Bring me a Bible, I will swear on it.
I don't think there's any need for that sort of rigmarole.
I'm satisfied, are you?
Pleasure as always, Mr Chambers.
- Margaret. - Constable.
Nice arse on her, that one.
- For a secretary. - Hearing's not too bad either.
Mr Chambers. We won't be needing you any further.
Sign here, please.
- Bible stories? - Bible stories! I mean, really!
- If you don't want it, don't take it. - Doesn't even have the good bits.
'Then went Samson to Jerusalem and saw there an harlot...
.. and went in unto her.'
- Abi! - Samson went to Gaza, not Jerusalem.
Have you ever been unto a harlot?
Have you lain with a woman?
You always take things too far.
Have you read it? The diary?
- No. - Has Benson?
Has anyone?
Just the father.
So I was arrested on hearsay? Is that what you're telling me?
Why is she doing this?
No one'll believe it. If it's her word against yours.
Yes, they will. There's no smoke without fire.
- Isn't that the way these things work? - You have a visitor.
Sam?
Bloody hell! How are you?
Good! Good to see you.
- Geordie, this is Sam Milburn. - Oh. Any relation to Jackie Milburn,
- the footballer? - You're not the first to ask.
I get it all the time.
Starting to wonder if I should lie, save the looks of disappointment.
A little rebellion now and again's no bad thing.
I learnt that from Sidney.
The Archdeacon's heard. He's sent you to check up on me.
He can be an insufferable arse sometimes.
- Sometimes? - The merest hint of scandal,
he's all over it like a rash.
I'm finding Abigail.
Mr Chambers! Come and dance!
He's too old to dance.
- Where's Abigail? - How old are you, Mr Chambers?
Is this one of her jokes?
- Where is she? - She went to get the photographs.
- What photographs? - Had them done with that bloke who takes the school portraits.
Yeah. Yeah, that's the one.
It's Daniel Marlowe's studio.
Abi?
Jesus, Sidney!
She's 15!
It's hard to tell these days.
Does God forgive anything?
How bad do you have to be before he won't forgive you?
I'd say pretty bad.
And what if you can't forgive yourself?
Abigail! Get in the car!
Don't make me go home.
What are you afraid of?
Your mother's waiting.
Abigail, what are you afraid of?
Neighbours saw Marlowe last night. Leaving in a hurry, by all accounts.
- No sign of the diary? - No. Nothing.
He squeezed so hard, the bastard nearly broke her collar bone.
Right. I want to know who he's working for,
who he's shagging, shoe size if it helps us find him.
I let her down.
Only you would think that.
It's her parents.
Oh, shit.
Sidney! They don't want to see YOU!
- Sir! - My daughter's missing. I need to talk to him.
She was afraid to go home, Geordie. She was afraid of him.
Oi!
- What's he done? - He's done nothing. You leave him.
He had nothing to do with this.
Mr Redmond, we found Abigail.
Oh, God.
- I'm so sorry. - Don't say it. I'm not ready.
- Oh, my God! - I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
More visitors?
You'd best make yourself presentable.
Did you ever meet the Rector of Stiffkey?
- I don't think so. - I can't say I did.
As you know he had a rather hands-on way of dealing with fallen women.
Sadly had to be defrocked.
Would you believe, after that, he preached from inside a cage of lions?
Archdeacon, I have work to do, so...
And such good work you've been doing. It hasn't gone unnoticed.
No, what I'm trying to say in a roundabout sort of way...
is that in my opinion we were too hasty with Stiffkey.
I believe we should always make a presumption of innocence.
Sidney is innocent. The police let him go.
- That's as maybe. - There's no case for him to answer to.
We'll stand by him. Absolutely.
But until...
tongues have stopped wagging,
perhaps Sam could pop in now and again.
Who knows? Maybe he'll even learn a thing or two.
Why would you presume that I'm innocent?
- The girl was a liar. - Shouldn't we wonder why?
Shouldn't we ask why she lied?
I suggest your time would be best spent praying for her family.
- If you could take the funeral. - Of course.
- You've done nothing wrong. - There's Abi's friends.
Someone should be there to counsel them.
- Me? - Well, they're just kids, Leonard.
I-I was scared of kids when I was one.
Just do it, will you?
None of this is your fault, Sidney.
Vicarage.
'Three guesses what I came across in our files.
You weren't the only bloke her dad accused.'
Gary!
A few months back, I drove her home.
And that's all you did? Drive her home?
He was being a gentleman. Next thing, the police are here.
What did they accuse you of?
Kissing her.
- Hurting her. - It was all lies.
That girl was wicked.
Gary's a good boy.
You are such a good boy.
She came on to me, I swear. She was all over me.
- Then when her dad found us... - Did you fancy her?
- Maybe you were just friends. - We were. Good friends.
What about Daniel Marlowe? Abigail good friends with him too?
I dunno. I barely said two words to the fella.
Look, her dad's a jealous bastard. That's what it comes down to.
I seen the way he looks at her.
Do you think he... hurt her?
He didn't take care of her.
That's all I know.
Someone needed to take care of her.
Good boy, my arse.
When it comes to a man and a woman, it's never about friendship.
That's not true.
- You and Amanda. - We were friends.
- Oh, bollocks you were. - We were!
- Your husband in? - He's working.
We're keen to find Abigail's diary. If you wouldn't mind.
You can tell me to go.
I would never hurt your daughter, Agatha.
When Abi was little,
I'd imagine all the way she was gonna die in such detail that I'd wonder...
Maybe it wasn't dread making me think these things.
Maybe I wanted something to happen.
- I'm a bad mother. - Of course you aren't.
I didn't know her.
- I didn't even know she kept a diary. - You didn't read it?
Harding said no mother should see what was on those pages.
She was not an easy child.
She was too beautiful.
She was far too beautiful.
So you never saw this diary?
- No. - Do you believe that there was one?
Why would my husband lie?
I read everything you did.
I know everything you made her do.
I didn't touch her, Mr Redmond.
Did you enjoy yourself?
Did you enjoy taking her virginity?
Did you enjoy making her a woman?
- Did you? Did you? - Stop it! Stop it!
- For God's sake! - Get out! Get out!
Abigail kept a chair against her bedroom door.
- Do you have children? - Uh-huh.
Then you know.
You do all you can to keep them from harm.
Even if that means searching their room,
reading their thoughts.
Did you ever touch your daughter?
Why would you say that? Why would you even think it?
- Did you ever touch her? - No!
Mr Redmond. If you're lying to me...
I loved her.
There's no diary. He's covering his own arse.
I'd put money on it.
At a sad time...
such as this, I find the Bible provides great comfort.
I wondered if you wanted to read it together?
Or if you had any questions?
What's a French letter, Mr Finch?
Any questions about the Bible.
- Do you believe in heaven? - Absolutely.
Is Abigail there?
No doubt. I think of it as a field of sunflowers.
She'll be walking through them with Jesus by her side.
Perhaps you'd like to have a go at reading, Gary.
Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 4
is a particular favourite of mine.
What's a pansy, Mr Finch?
Are you a pansy?
'Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted.'
What does it matter anyway? What does any of it matter?
- Perhaps you'd like to continue, Rose. - We're all going to hell. All of us.
- 'Blessed are the meek...' - 'Blessed are the meek.'
You're going to hell. I'm going to hell.
- Abigail is going to hell. - Say that again!
She's with the devil.
- No, boys. Boys, stop it. - Don't say that!
Easy now, there we go. That's it.
It was a success, then?
All I asked him to do was read Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 4.
- Go on. - I feel sick!
Not on the floor!
- It's his. - Lying bastard.
Gary!
Tommy, why would Abigail be going to hell?
- Why would YOU when it comes to that? - It's my fault.
What is?
That she's dead.
I found it.
On the meadows.
On the meadows?
Is that so?
Dirty pictures. Very well thumbed this, isn't it?
I saw it was Abigail.
- And I knew the bloke who does the school pictures took them. - Daniel Marlowe.
So I went round there. I told him Abi was 15
that he shouldn't make her be in her birthday suit.
That's what I told him, and he blew his top.
Got a lead on Marlowe. Publishers on Warham Road.
You won't tell my mum, will you?
Tell her what? You found it on the meadows.
Police.
- Where's Daniel Marlowe? - I don't know.
- I know he works here. Where is he? - I don't know!
Where's he hiding? Eh?
I take it a bribe won't be enough this time.
Shut up, you bastard.
- I'm arresting you on suspicion of murder. - What?
You're not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so,
but what you say may be put into writing and given in evidence.
15 years old. I barely remember what that was like.
It was abysmal.
Bad skin, bad hair.
And just when you're discovering the opposite sex.
I'm sure you didn't have any problems in that arena.
I'm sure you didn't either.
Next you'll be telling me I've got a nice arse like this lot.
Don't worry, I won't be doing that.
You don't think it's nice, then?
I'm teasing you.
'This luscious lollipop could sugar any man's tea.
Cuddly Candy Sweet loves the outdoors even when it's chilly.'
The prose isn't up to much, is it?
I don't think the prose is high on their list of priorities.
Wouldn't do to tell them most of those girls didn't want their photograph taken!
I've got to send Abigail's belongings back to her parents.
Why didn't you say you knew Abigail?
Why didn't you just say?
She spoke to me in confidence.
- About what? - I'm not gonna do that. I'm not you.
- What do you mean? - You've broken confidences.
- Only when I thought it necessary. - I can't break the rules like you do.
- I don't break the rules! - Yes, you do.
- I love my job, Sidney. - So do I!
I believe in the Church and believe in the sanctity of confession.
People trust us.
And the way I see it, if we betray that trust, well...
.. then we're all buggered.
Abigail was pregnant.
- Who was the father? - She wouldn't say.
She tried to tell you first. Do you know that?
She didn't trust you to keep it to yourself.
According to whom?
According to whom was she pregnant?
- I was told in confidence. - When has that ever stopped you?
- Not this time. - You are joking, aren't you?
You can't always expect me to tell you everything.
I believe in the Church.
I believe in the sanctity of confession.
Please, just trust that I have good reason.
You know who the father is?
No. And that's the truth.
Geordie! I'm sorry!
She was 15 years old.
I didn't know that. I didn't know.
One of her pals came to you. Boy called Tommy.
I didn't know before that. I swear to you.
- So why did you run? - When I knew she was underage.
- Not because you killed her? - No.
- Do you get into scrapes with these girls? - No.
- Do you have intercourse with them? - No. - Do you get them pregnant? - No!
She told me she was 18. Who was I to argue?
Abigail came to ME.
So she whipped off her kit and she begged you to take them?
A child did that?
She wanted to be famous. That's what she said.
I just took some photographs. That's all I did.
I wish to God I'd sent her on her way.
Marlowe didn't go round the houses. He didn't exaggerate.
It was down the line. Yes. No.
Sorry.
I always thought he was a kind man. Very courteous.
So did I. Will you charge him?
Well, Benson's pushing for it. Murder. Sexual assault.
Sorry.
'I take it a bribe won't be enough this time?'
What do you make of that?
- Marlowe's bought his way out of an arrest before. - For what?
He's divorced, I believe.
Left his wife some years back.
- No sign of a lady friend? - No.
Not a LADY friend...?
He's a pansy.
Ah, once you look, they're everywhere.
- Crawling out the bloody woodwork. - Well, that puts a dampener on our theory that HE got her pregnant.
- If only we had that diary. - There is no diary, Sidney.
- You don't know that for certain, Geordie. - It's a fiction.
Like God, the angels and the multitude of the heavenly... whatsits.
Hosts. Heavenly hosts.
I'll be polishing the brasses.
God help those poor brasses.
I'm sorry if we upset you.
All those men looking at those pictures of her.
All you men talking about her like she's a puzzle to be solved.
That's not what we were doing.
All she wanted was someone to help. She wanted help, Sidney.
- I don't understand. - She'll have been desperate.
Not enough money to find a man in a back room somewhere.
She'll have heard the stories, though.
Eat this. Drink that.
Do as you're told and it'll get the job done.
Poor lamb.
She just wanted help.
Whoever was with her held her down.
And gave her turpentine to drink.
They were trying to abort her child.
She was with child.
Oh, Jesus.
We're so close to the truth, Mr Redmond.
- So if there's anything you've failed to mention... - I can't breathe!
- Don't walk from me. - I wouldn't harm my little girl!
- She wasn't a little girl. - You think I didn't notice that?
The way grown men looked at her?
She grew up.
I didn't know what to do.
I didn't know how to take care of her any more.
I didn't know.
- Bible stories? - Bible stories. I mean, really!
It doesn't even have the good bits.
All I asked him to do was read Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 4.
Why carry a book with you if you can't read?
Gary!
Move! I'll do it!
- I'll do it! Move! - You were the only one who helped her! - I'll do it!
You were the only one who cared, Gary.
I'll do it! I'll do it. Move! Please!
I'll do it. Move! Please! Let me go!
Let me go...
I came across her.
Over the dell.
She was crying.
What's wrong? Hey, hey, hey. What's wrong?
'She told me about the baby.'
It wasn't yours?
Did she say who the father was?
I never asked.
See, I'd heard about turpentine. That it took a while.
She wanted it gone.
'She said we needed a place where no-one would be.
She told me not to stop, no matter what.'
She was choking and I kept on going.
It wasn't gonna help her otherwise, was it? I had to keep on going!
- I didn't know it would go like that. - It was an accident.
- I didn't know! - She asked for your help. Tell the police that.
Abigail said God can forgive anything.
Yes.
- Even this? - Even this.
Look after it for her.
'Sometimes I feel like there's no-one who'll listen to me.
I want to dig a big hole and scream into it
until there's nothing left to scream.'
She comes to you. She's in the family way.
- We've all been there, haven't we? - Course we have.
- It's how I got my wife. - It's how most of us got our wives.
She tells you you're having a baby...
I never slept with her! It wasn't mine.
- And you say, 'Let's get rid of it.' - It wasn't bloody mine!
'He said I was the most beautiful woman he'd laid eyes on.
That I was so talented, I could be as famous as Grace Kelly.'
It was an accident!
- You keep saying that, Gary. - Because it was.
Held her down, did you?
Forced her jaw open. Little girl like that.
Poured that poison in.
'He's awfully handsome for a vicar.
My Reverend.'
Enough.
Ah, the bastard's long gone.
Sidney...
Give me a moment.
Where's Sam?
We've removed him from his parish with immediate effect.
- Where to? - I'm not sure it's helpful to go into detail.
- You know what he's done? - I'll make certain he atones for his sins.
Atones for his sins? He got a child pregnant!
A child is stretching it somewhat, wouldn't you say?
It's a terrible thing, there's no doubt about that,
but if you give a girl an apple, what will she do but eat?
You're complicit. You are complicit in her death!
Know your place, Sidney.
It's you who should know yours.
This is a matter for the police now.
And I look forward to assisting with your investigations.
Where's Sam?
Where is he?
I've known Sam for such a long time. I just...
- I honestly thought I could trust him. - Mm-hm.
- Protecting your own, is that it? - He was a friend.
Do you know how hard it is to find these people once they disappear?
Oh, because you never make mistakes?
- What's that mean? - What was happening in that interview?
Are you gonna tell me how to do my job now?
You feel sorry for him, don't you? Gary Bell.
- Abi asked for his help. - He fancied her. He was jealous.
- No, that's not how it was. - Are you sure about that?
She struggled. There were bruises,
but he carried on forcing her to drink that stuff until she took her last breath.
And when they hang the bastard,
I won't feel one ounce of sympathy.
They can't hang him. He's 17.
18 last month. He knew exactly what he was doing.
And you knew exactly what YOU were doing bringing him to the station...
Are you all right, Geordie?
I'm fine.
I won't let him hang.
I will not let that happen.
You're a little early, Mr Marlowe.
- I have an awful lot to atone for. - Then you'd be in the right place.
We could pray together if you like.
I'm not sure if I remember how.
It's about pausing, really.
Being still.
Being... thankful.
- The light's beautiful. - It is, isn't it?
I want so much to be a better man.
'Where no counsel is, the people fall,
but in the multitude of counsellors, there is safety.'
A community only works if we look after one another.
It is our responsibility to look after each other.
'To be there in times of need.'
Because even the strongest amongst us
may be carrying unspeakable burdens.
We cannot turn our backs on them.
We cannot leave them to struggle alone.
We cannot do that.
Abigail wasn't the devil.
We let her down.
We all did.
Mrs Hopkins.
It's quite ridiculous, isn't it?
I bet you can hear your own echo.
Oh, you can. I've tried.
I've taken to drinking martinis. I'm like Dorothy Parker,
only without the wit. Or the hair.
It's not even 11.
'Never mix, never worry.'
I learned that from you.
I didn't think you read my letters.
I didn't. Not at first.
It's funny. Somehow just writing them was comfort enough.
I've missed you, Amanda.
I'm so glad you said that first.
Promise me you're not lonely.
Don't you worry about me.
- Valentine Lyall? - 46. - Suicide?
I'd be screaming blue murder.
It's about the death of your colleague.
- I hear it was an accident. - So everyone stresses.
Leave this alone, old boy. You're out of your depth.
I hear you're playing Cupid.
'This is bigger than us.'
Sidney is one of the most trustworthy people I know.
If that's what you believe, then you'll want to keep him alive.