First broadcast 26th November 1992.
The suspicious drowning of an anonymous old woman on an estate prompts the Lord to invite his cousins, the Rumpoles, for the weekend, and he asks Horace to represent him at the inquest.
Leo McKern ... Horace Rumpole
Marion Mathie ... Hilda Rumpole
Abigail McKern ... Liz Probert
Denis Lill ... Mr. Bernard
Patrick Ryecart ... Lord Richard Sackbut
Geraldine Alexander ... Lady Rosemary Sackbut
Jackson Kyle ... Hon. Jonathon Sackbut
John Nettleton ... Dr. Hugo Swabey
Alan Rowe ... Dr. Malkin
Stuart Golland ... Mr. Tonks
Faith Brook ... Mrs Petronelli
John Horsley ... Lord Plunger Plumpton
Roger Brierley ... Mr. Cursitor
Donald Pickering ... Gavin Bastion
Christina Greatrex ... Pippa Bastion
Andrew Henry ... Tarquin Yarrowby
Lucy Bayler ... Annabel Yarrowby
George Malpas ... Old Arnie
Peter Benson ... Walter 'The Wally' Wilkinson
Ray Armstrong ... Prison Officer
Charles Edwards ... Police Officer
Tony Melody ... Saggers
Jo Kendall ... Castle Guide
Mark Collingwood ... Police Sergeant
The suspicious drowning of an anonymous old woman on an estate prompts the Lord to invite his cousins, the Rumpoles, for the weekend, and he asks Horace to represent him at the inquest.
Leo McKern ... Horace Rumpole
Marion Mathie ... Hilda Rumpole
Abigail McKern ... Liz Probert
Denis Lill ... Mr. Bernard
Patrick Ryecart ... Lord Richard Sackbut
Geraldine Alexander ... Lady Rosemary Sackbut
Jackson Kyle ... Hon. Jonathon Sackbut
John Nettleton ... Dr. Hugo Swabey
Alan Rowe ... Dr. Malkin
Stuart Golland ... Mr. Tonks
Faith Brook ... Mrs Petronelli
John Horsley ... Lord Plunger Plumpton
Roger Brierley ... Mr. Cursitor
Donald Pickering ... Gavin Bastion
Christina Greatrex ... Pippa Bastion
Andrew Henry ... Tarquin Yarrowby
Lucy Bayler ... Annabel Yarrowby
George Malpas ... Old Arnie
Peter Benson ... Walter 'The Wally' Wilkinson
Ray Armstrong ... Prison Officer
Charles Edwards ... Police Officer
Tony Melody ... Saggers
Jo Kendall ... Castle Guide
Mark Collingwood ... Police Sergeant
Category
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TVTranscript
00:00This is Rumpole and the family pride. This is Rumpole going to stay with distant relatives
00:10of Hilda, Lord Sackbutt who owns a large country estate and he finds himself rather unusually
00:17mixing with the aristocracy. There is a murder, a woman is found drowned in the lake clutching
00:26a photograph. They think that it's Lord Sackbutt's mother and that he killed her because she
00:33came to claim her estate, she's having disappeared for years. It's about family secrets, where
00:43members of the family are, the secrets that can come up any day of disappeared relatives
00:49and the pride of the English aristocracy which Rumpole has to penetrate to get to the truth
00:57in this particular episode.
01:19Muzzy, don't be silly!
01:46Woof, woof, woof, woof!
02:16Woof, woof, woof, woof!
02:45Very extraordinary, the French Uffingtons have got together again.
02:48Walter Wilkinson, known as the Wally, wants to confess to a triple murder at the Tower Bridge Magistrates.
02:56Walking to Beddow Street, Nick uninvited.
02:59His much-publicised romance with Lady Fiona Armstead is apparently over.
03:03Made a confession statement.
03:05And here's Harry, French Uffington, with his lovely wife Myrtle enjoying a joke at the Save the Starving Ball at the Dorchester Hotel.
03:13Sixty-year-old man, no fixed address. They thanked him very much.
03:17Washed him down, locked him up.
03:20Lord Lux has put on weight.
03:23Don't you remember how slim and handsome he was on the polo field?
03:27Oh, please, Hilda, do you know any of these people?
03:29Well, of course, you can read all about them in Debbie's diary.
03:32No, you can read all about them, Hilda. I can't read all about them.
03:36Well, perhaps you should, Rumpole. You might learn about gracious living.
03:40You might learn not to blow on your tea to cool it down.
03:43I'm in a hurry. What do you expect me to do, fan it with my hat?
03:49Ah, here it is.
03:52What is?
03:53What I've been looking for. Sackbutt Castle.
03:56Oh, really? Well, what are you going to do with it now you've found it?
03:59Home of the Sackbutts since the 14th century.
04:02Romantic setting near Weldyke in the north of England.
04:06Extensively building in 1815.
04:08The 17th Baron, Richard Sackbutt,
04:11occupied the private wing of the castle with his young second wife,
04:15Rosemary, née Whiston.
04:18Whiston?
04:19Yes.
04:20You see, it's not all about people you've never heard of, Rumpole.
04:23What, you mean this Rosemary Sackbutt whatnot?
04:27But born Whiston.
04:29Whiston, yes, yes, that's your lot.
04:31Exactly.
04:32Uncle Freddy's son was the hunger for Whiston who went into assorted chemicals.
04:37Rosemary's his youngest.
04:39She's my first cousin, once removed.
04:42Once removed to castle.
04:43Oh, Rumpole, I bet no one at Sackbutt Castle eats breakfast with their hat on.
04:48Bye-bye, Hilda.
04:50No wonder they didn't invite us to the wedding.
04:56I came over as soon as I heard.
04:58Oh, Matthew, you're here.
05:00Excellent, I say.
05:02Anything you can tell us about the time of death?
05:05Well, she's been in the water.
05:07Rigour not fully established.
05:10I'd say, well, less than nine hours.
05:13Anyway, you'll get the post-mortem results as soon as possible.
05:16I'm sure I will.
05:18Sergeant, we want all the personal effects sent over to the coroner's office.
05:22Aye, sir.
05:23Anyone been able to make an identification?
05:25It's early days as yet, Dr. Swaby.
05:28He wants everything done yesterday.
05:31All right, Simon.
05:33Carry on.
05:36This must be distressing for you, my lord.
05:39I thought it right that, as the well-dyed coroner,
05:42I should make my inquiries as soon as possible.
05:44Swaby.
05:46I must ask you, then, you've seen the body?
05:49Of course I've seen it. My boy found it.
05:52Can you help us? Anyone you can recognize?
05:55No.
05:57Of course not.
05:59No one I've ever set eyes on before.
06:03Thank you.
06:13Meslis Probert.
06:15What are you doing in these marble halls?
06:17Prosecution junior, Rumpole. Sam Ballard's leading me.
06:20Oh, that would seem to provide the slender hope of acquittal.
06:24Please don't try to be funny, Rumpole. I'm just not in the mood today, OK?
06:28Yes, OK. See you in court.
06:30Yeah.
06:34Do you have a Walter the Wally Wilkinson on the premises?
06:38You've come to see our triple, have you, Mr Rumpole?
06:40Yeah.
06:41Well, we're feeling just that little bit chuffed having him here.
06:44It's not every day you get a triple murderer walking with his hands up.
06:47Your solicitor's down there already. You know your way down, sir.
06:50Oh, yes, I know the way down. Thank you.
07:04Oh, your brief's arrived, Walter. You've got all you want, have you?
07:08This tea. I wouldn't call it tea. Borrow it back in the halls.
07:12Oh, well, we're just putting on a new brew up.
07:14Here, you wouldn't like a couple of biscuits with this, would you, Walter?
07:17I wouldn't say no.
07:18So you're all right for smokes, then?
07:20Mr Bernard obliged.
07:22All part of the service.
07:23Oh, by the way, Percy, anything in the papers about my case?
07:26Ah, just the general background, you know, the house, victims, all that.
07:31Today's will be in the standard.
07:33Save us one, would you?
07:34Yeah, no probs.
07:36Thanks, Percy.
07:37Well, you seem to be getting the four-star treatment.
07:40Well, I'm on a triple now, Mr Rumpole.
07:43Something out of the ordinary. Very serious crime indeed.
07:46Naturally, they respect you for it.
07:49We're going for a hack, Jonathan. Coming?
07:51No, thanks.
07:52Come on, old man. Do you good to ride out?
07:55No, thanks awfully.
08:02I don't know what's the matter with that boy.
08:04Oh, probably hasn't recovered from finding that...
08:07That's a good question.
08:09I don't know.
08:10I don't know.
08:11I don't know.
08:12I don't know.
08:13I don't know.
08:14I don't know.
08:15I don't know.
08:16Probably hasn't recovered from finding that thing.
08:19Must have been terrible for him.
08:23Terrible for all of us.
08:29Sergeant sent them round to us, sir.
08:31Accidental death, that's what the police decided.
08:34Fell in wild tiddly. They're taking no further interest.
08:37Are they not?
08:38All her worldly goods, apparently.
08:41Not too poor to afford gin and cigarettes, Thomas.
08:44No doubt the old lady needed a bit of something to cheer her up, sir.
08:47Oh, yes.
08:48And called them cups of tea when she begged for them in the street.
08:53That's the first question we ask ourselves in the coroner's office.
08:57What you got there, Thomas?
08:59Never the old lady's make-up, is it, sir?
09:01I'll take charge of that, thank you.
09:04There's a picture postcard.
09:08And a coach ticket.
09:10London, Victoria to Leeds.
09:13I knew she came from the south.
09:15Old folk up here have got more pride.
09:19Hmm.
09:21It's not a picture postcard, Thomas.
09:25It's a photograph.
09:28A very old photograph, indeed.
09:34Sir, it's up to the old bailiff, Mr Rumble.
09:37Yes, thank you. We'll work on it.
09:40Well upon the day, Miss Liz.
09:42Walter the Wally on the trial before his peers.
09:45His peers. I wonder if we can find twelve sleepers in cardboard boxes.
09:49After a week of you fighting over every scrap of evidence.
09:52Oh, client's instructions. Do you think I tried too hard?
09:55Perhaps I was over-impressed with a triple murder.
09:58Everyone else seems to be.
10:00Oh, by the way, have you seen young Inchcape lately?
10:03We're co-defending in an affray.
10:05No, I haven't seen young Inchcape, as you call him.
10:07Perhaps you'd better find him for yourself.
10:09Oh, dear, Miss Probert.
10:11Liz, Liz, what on earth's the matter?
10:13Nothing's the matter. Absolutely nothing's the matter.
10:16You don't usually burst into tears when you won a case.
10:19I'm not bursting into tears at all.
10:21Why should you assume that I'm bursting into tears just because I'm a woman?
10:25Must be my contact lenses.
10:27Somebody in chambers upset your contact lenses, have they?
10:31Anything wrong between you and young Inchcape?
10:33Oh, God. That's just you all over, isn't it?
10:36Just stereotypical male vanity.
10:39I'm a woman, so if I'm upset, it must be about a man.
10:42Men are the only things that women have got to be upset about, aren't they?
10:47Can I offer you a stereotypical male handkerchief?
10:50No, thank you.
10:53Oh, all right. It is about bloody day, Inchcape.
10:56I'm sorry. What's he done?
10:58It's not what he's done. It's what he is.
11:01What he's been in secret all these years.
11:04He's been in secret all these years and he never even bothered to tell me about it.
11:09Secretly married, is he?
11:11I can cope with that.
11:13This is... this is really unmentionable.
11:17It's... it's awful.
11:20Always not worth bothering about.
11:24Mr Rumpole, your wife is on the telephone in the police room.
11:28Oh, how very appropriate. Thank you.
11:32Excuse me, please.
11:39Rumpole. Rumpole, it's come at last.
11:42On paper with the sackbug crest.
11:45What?
11:48It's a letter from Rosemary, of course.
11:50They want to see us.
11:53The splendour falls on castle walls
11:56and snowy summits old in story.
11:59The long light shakes across the lakes
12:02and the wild cataract leaps in glory.
12:14Rumpole, luggage.
12:17Rumpole, luggage.
12:26Anyone would think we were besieging this place for a year.
12:29But we don't want to be caught wearing the wrong things, do we?
12:32It's an imposing entrance, Rumpole.
12:34It's a pity we don't have an imposing entrance at Oxford mansions.
12:47Good afternoon.
12:49We are the Rumpoles.
12:51You'll have to leave that stuff here.
12:53Very gladly.
12:55Now, the rest of you is over there.
12:58Over here, my hearty.
13:00Come along, love.
13:02What else does she call us for a party, Rumpole?
13:05Excuse me.
13:07No one you know.
13:11The portrait on the right,
13:13thought to be by Van Dyck,
13:15is of Elizabeth, wife of the 7th Baron,
13:18who was kept locked in her boudoir
13:20after she became overly familiar with the steward.
13:25If you would all like to follow me,
13:27we will now go up to the long gallery
13:30and to the state bedrooms.
13:36Is the family about?
13:38Lord and Lady Sackbutt are in residence, yes.
13:41They occupy the west wing,
13:43which was built as a family mansion in the year 1825.
13:47Come along, my party.
13:49Come along, Rumpole.
13:51Oh, madam, that is closed to the public.
13:54We are not the public.
14:03In the first state bedroom,
14:05we shall find a complex bed
14:08and a complex bed...
14:19We are the Rumpoles.
14:21We've been invited for the weekend.
14:27It's your mother. I mean, it's Rosemary.
14:30They're not back yet, I'm afraid. There's only me.
14:33I am Hilda Rumpole, and this is my husband.
14:39Good afternoon, sir. I'm Jonathan Sackbutt.
14:42Horace Rumpole.
14:44Rosemary is my cousin, you know.
14:46Once removed.
14:47Oh, Rumpole, don't let's go into all that right now.
14:50Aunty Hilda!
14:51Rosemary! There you are, at last.
14:53Oh, I'm sorry.
14:57Richard's driving the horse box back from Weldyke Show.
15:00I took the car.
15:01I was terrified of keeping you waiting.
15:04You must be Uncle Horace.
15:06You must be Uncle Horace.
15:08I have no alternative.
15:11Jonathan, I hope you've been entertaining the Rumpoles.
15:14Not really.
15:20Richard's son?
15:21Yes, Richard's son by his...
15:24Well, anyway, Richard's son.
15:27Let's see if we can rustle up some tea.
15:30You would like a cup of tea, wouldn't you, Uncle Horace?
15:33Ah, well, if you have anything in the way of a bottle of red.
15:37Nothing of any particular distinction.
15:39Peasant's claret would be perfectly acceptable.
15:41Rumpole?
15:42No, Aunty Hilda.
15:43Let Uncle Horace have what he wants.
15:45We're going to spoil him.
15:47Oh, do come and sit down.
15:49You must be exhausted after all those absolutely splendid court cases you do.
15:55Splendid cases. Walter the Wally Wilkinson.
16:00Rosemary says they've invited Old Lord Plunger Pumpton.
16:04Why Plunger? Was he a high-diver or something?
16:07He used to gamble terribly.
16:09You really should keep up with Debbie's diary.
16:14Hugo Swaby, our local coroner.
16:17He's enjoying every minute of it.
16:20Bouncing around like a terrier on heat.
16:22You've seen him out hunting, haven't you, Plunger?
16:25Absolutely everything wrong with him, Rumpole.
16:28He comes out like a dog's diller.
16:30That should give him a deep understanding of foxes.
16:34Don't suppose he ever got near enough to see a fox.
16:37He comes out with a string on his top hat.
16:39Has no one ever told him?
16:41And the red coat, when no one's asked him to wear such a thing.
16:45No, darling, that's not the point.
16:47The point is the red coat with flat buttons.
16:50Imagine that, Mrs Rumpole.
16:52Yes, of course, flat buttons.
16:54Very extraordinary.
16:56Flat, shiny buttons with no hunt crest on them
16:59means that he's got the whole thing off the peg from Mossbrooks.
17:03Oh, is, er...
17:05Is that a serious offence?
17:07I suppose it depends on what you think is serious in this world.
17:10Ah, well, I only deal in murder and robbery
17:13and such like trivial pursuits.
17:16It's the first time I've heard of the crime of flat buttons.
17:21We had a rather nasty accident here, Rumpole.
17:25Some old cramp woman managed to drown herself in the lake.
17:29There's probably going to be a pain in the neck about it, Richard.
17:32Oh, well, you know what he's like.
17:34Wants to get his name in the papers, make a state trial of it.
17:37He thinks he's going to discover all sorts of things
17:39that aren't there to be discovered.
17:41It's just a bore, quite honestly.
17:43Terrible bore when it's nothing to do with you at all.
17:45I don't see that makes you responsible or anything.
17:47After all, most people have got a lake of some sort, haven't they, Rumboy?
17:51Ah, er, not too many around the Gloucester Road, I'm afraid.
17:57Talking of state trials,
17:59darling Uncle Horace was telling me
18:01about an absolutely sensational one he did yonks ago.
18:04In a bungalow, wasn't it, Uncle Horace?
18:07The, er, Penge bungalow murders.
18:09Yes, that was an extraordinary case.
18:11I was quite young at the time, a white wig as a matter of fact.
18:14I won it alone and without a leader.
18:17Where is Penge, actually?
18:19I don't know, really.
18:21Isn't it somewhere near Bognor?
18:25Rosemary, shall we, um...
18:27Oh, yes, well, er, shall we leave the men to their...
18:30Murder cases, apparently.
18:32Are we at the museum?
18:34Later.
18:39By the way, Rumboy,
18:41can you get your gamekeepers to eat rook?
18:44Rook?
18:45Well, now that you mention it,
18:47I don't believe I've ever really tried.
18:49When I was a boy, gamekeepers pretty well lived on rook.
18:52Their wives used to make them up into pies.
18:54Won't find a woman who'll do that today.
18:57No.
18:59As a matter of fact, I don't have any gamekeepers
19:02or rooks either, for that matter.
19:04That's odd. I thought you said you could have placed in Gloucester.
19:08Horace.
19:10Rosemary's been telling me
19:12that you've had a great deal of success in your cases.
19:16Well, I have acquired a certain reputation
19:18around the Brixton cells.
19:20This is the first time I've been famous in a castle.
19:23And a good many of these cases have dealt with, um...
19:27Well, dead people.
19:29Dead people, do you mean?
19:31Yes.
19:34Well, dead people.
19:36Dead people, yes.
19:38Contrary to popular opinion,
19:41I've always found I can tell you quite a lot.
19:44I wonder if you'd be free for a chat tomorrow sometime,
19:47if you're still available for business, that is.
19:50Oh, always.
19:52Always available.
19:54Good.
19:56That's very good.
19:58Well, shall we join the ladies?
20:00Yes, let's join them
20:02and make one huge, enormous lady.
20:21I need never have suffered this blunt execution.
20:26We wore the wrong things.
20:28But they never said a word.
20:30Did you notice that, Rumpo?
20:32They never referred to it, not once.
20:34Well, sweet of them to invite us, wasn't it?
20:36Why do you think they did?
20:38Well, we're family, aren't we?
20:41No, Hilda, not because we're family.
20:44Not even to make up for not inviting us to the wedding.
20:47Richard Sackbutt is in trouble.
20:49At least he's got that in common with Walter the Wally Wilkinson.
20:53His lordship needs a good brief.
20:57Oh.
20:59That's Richard's father.
21:01Did amazingly brave things in the war.
21:04Looks exactly like Richard, doesn't he?
21:07No portrait of Richard's mother.
21:10Rosemary, as we miss the wedding, I wonder, have you any photographs?
21:13Oh, yes, absolutely loads of them.
21:18Here we are.
21:20Take a pew. Thank you.
21:23Ah.
21:25Oh, do you remember him?
21:34The collection of arms covers several centuries in Europe,
21:39as well as specimens from India, Persia and Africa.
21:44The suits of armour hanging on the walls date from about 1580.
21:50They were probably worn by...
21:53Mr Rumpole, Dr Hugo Swaby.
21:57I'm the well-dyed coroner.
21:59Oh.
22:00We met briefly, I don't know if you recall,
22:02when you came up to Leeds on that stabbing in the old people's home.
22:06Of course, I remember you gave some rather interesting evidence
22:09on the direction of stab wounds.
22:11Well, thank you, thank you very much.
22:13One is sometimes able to throw a little light in dark corners.
22:18Well, seeing the sights of the North Country, are you?
22:22No, as a matter of fact, we are guests of the sacraments.
22:26Oh, you're privileged.
22:28I've never been invited into the private apartments,
22:32strange as it may seem,
22:34into the Holy of Holies,
22:36though I go out with the hunt
22:38and I'm pretty well known in the neighbourhood.
22:41His Lordship invited me.
22:45His Lordship invited you, did he?
22:47I imagine it was his wife.
22:49No, it must have been his Lordship.
22:51Women don't take decisions in the sackbut clan.
22:54Come to think of it, it may have been rather an intelligent move
22:58with the inquest coming up.
23:00Oh, yes, I heard about that.
23:02Some old bag lady tumbled into the lake.
23:04Yes, one of the homeless, I believe.
23:07Homeless, is that what she was?
23:09Or was she looking for a home?
23:13All these suits of armour,
23:15maximum protection and nothing much inside them.
23:20Typical sackbut.
23:22Have you come here to see my client?
23:24Oh, is his Lordship that already?
23:27He has asked me to represent the family at the inquest, yes.
23:31Really, that will be fun.
23:35There's just one thing you might be asking your client to explain.
23:39Oh, yes, what's that?
23:41An old photograph found in the dead lady's possession.
23:45It shows a woman holding a baby out there on the castle terrace
23:50and a man in uniform.
23:52Now, there's no doubt who the man is.
23:54Your client's father.
23:56There's absolutely no mistaking the sackbut features.
23:59How very interesting.
24:01Yes, isn't it?
24:02Have you any other little treats in store?
24:05Wait and see, Mr Rumpole.
24:07Just you wait and see.
24:09Just you wait and see.
24:15Is that her, what you saw, Mr Saggers?
24:18Yes. Yes, I think so.
24:21You think so?
24:27No. Correction, I'm sure.
24:32Thank you.
24:39This is the place?
24:41Just here.
24:42Thank you.
24:48Yes, I've been talking to the coroner.
24:51He doesn't seem to like you very much.
24:53No. I have to say, the feeling's entirely mutual.
24:59Well, now, how about telling me what's really worrying you?
25:03What do you mean?
25:05Why ask for the expert advice of Rumpole of the Bailey
25:08just because some old bagwoman slips and drowns herself in your lake?
25:12I mean, it's very sad, of course,
25:14but that's hardly a threat to your peace of mind, I should think.
25:17Well, we're open to the public.
25:19People may say we're not safe.
25:22Nonsense.
25:23You're not responsible for tramps in the night.
25:26What's the real problem?
25:28And what's making the Grand Inquisitor of Weldyke
25:31so self-importantly excited?
25:34Perhaps...
25:35Well, it's entirely a family matter.
25:38Well, tell me.
25:40I'm used to hearing about family matters.
25:42Murder's a family matter nine times out of ten.
25:45Murder?
25:47Who said anything about murder?
25:49No one yet.
25:51But dear old Dr Swaby's simply bursting to come out with it.
26:05Have you got anything suitable for wearing in a cardboard box?
26:08Are you going to take up residence in one, Uncle Horace?
26:11No, but I've got a client who may have to go back to one
26:14if I can spring in from the nick.
26:16Come along, Rumpole, they're just about to start the dog show.
26:19A bring-and-buy sale and a dog show?
26:21Can Rumpole survive this excitement?
26:25Well done, Flunchy Poo.
26:27Thank you very much, Pippin.
26:29Don't drink it all at once.
26:35Well, congratulations.
26:37Oh, thank you very much.
26:39Booson and I win it every year.
26:41God knows what I'm going to do when the filthy dogs are gone.
26:44Well, congratulations.
26:46Oh, thank you very much.
26:48Booson and I win it every year.
26:50God knows what I'm going to do when the filthy dogs are gone.
26:53God knows what I'm going to do when the filthy dogs snuffed it.
26:56Bottle of Cherry Buns, presented by Dr Swaby.
26:59It's rubbish. Come on, drink the stuff.
27:01Oh, well, we might get something more bearable over there.
27:04Oh, that's a bright idea of yours, Rumpus.
27:06You have this sort of do, do you?
27:08You're pleasing, Gloucester.
27:17I hear my old friend Horace Rumpole
27:20is presenting the family an inquest, my lord.
27:23Yes.
27:24I do think that's wise of you.
27:26Extremely wise.
27:29I hardly think it's worth his trouble.
27:31I imagine it'll be no more than a formality.
27:33Oh, you imagine that, do you?
27:35Well, of course, we haven't heard all the evidence yet.
27:50Interesting, isn't it?
27:52People looking like their... well, like their dogs.
27:55Or their fathers, of course.
27:57Richard, for instance.
27:59Like his father? Oh, Richard is the spitting image of Robert.
28:02He was a damn fine fellow, Robert.
28:05Had a bloody good war, too.
28:07Peace didn't treat him quite so kindly.
28:10Came back home to find all sorts of things wrong.
28:13A lot of pheasant covers cut.
28:15Rooks out of control.
28:17Labour government.
28:19Something seriously dicky with the roof.
28:22Things not so marvellous on the domestic front, either.
28:26Oh.
28:27Did you know his mother?
28:29Well, it depends what you mean by know.
28:31Not in the biblical sense, old boy.
28:34I was probably in the minority.
28:36No, she seemed a very nice woman to me.
28:38She was a bit affected.
28:40She used to call Richard Riccardo,
28:42a sort of Italian accent.
28:44Or was it Riccardino?
28:47Of course, he hated it.
28:49What was her name? Margaret. Maggie.
28:51Maggie, we used to call her.
28:53Then she ran off and married an Italian.
28:55What happened to her in the end?
28:57In the end? In the end, she died.
29:00Are you sure of that?
29:02Oh, yes. There were lots of rumours about her coming back to England,
29:05but I never believed any of them.
29:12I suppose I was about nine.
29:15Yes, I was just nine.
29:17My prep school.
29:19Message came through.
29:21Headmaster wants to see you in his study after prayers.
29:25Well, you knew what that meant.
29:28You got that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach
29:32and sweaty palms.
29:35Anyway, I knocked on his door,
29:38and there he was, snowy.
29:40Snowy Slocum.
29:42Tall fellow with a shock of white hair.
29:45He told me to close the door.
29:47Walked up to his desk,
29:49and he said,
29:51Sackbert, I know you're going to take this like a man.
29:54Of course, then I knew exactly what I was in for.
29:58And then he said,
30:00I've just had your father on the telephone, Sackbert.
30:03And he's asked me to let you know I'm afraid your mother's dead.
30:07Do you know what I felt, Rumple?
30:09An enormous kind of relief
30:12that he wasn't going to beat me.
30:15Did your father tell you how she died?
30:18Not really.
30:20When I got back from the holidays,
30:23my father said, I suppose,
30:25Slocum gave you that message about your mother,
30:27and I told him yes.
30:29I don't think we really discussed it much after that.
30:33But didn't you make any sort of inquiry?
30:37No.
30:38Why not?
30:40I don't think my father would have wanted me to.
30:43Have you any idea how old your mother would be if she were alive now?
30:48Not really. 60-something.
30:50In her 60s.
30:52Has it never occurred to you that
30:55she might try to get in touch with you?
30:58You mean come back from the dead?
31:01Well, something like that, I suppose.
31:04No.
31:07It's a wonderful evening you're giving this opera, Erna.
31:10That fellow was dreadfully overweight
31:12with the addiction after you left.
31:15Rumple, I think I've got a young relative in your chambers.
31:19Oh, really?
31:20David Luxton, son of my cousin Bertie.
31:23Grandson of the old Lord Chancellor.
31:25Lord Luxton's son?
31:26No, no, no, he's not in Rumple's chambers.
31:28No, no, he doesn't use the family name.
31:30He didn't want to trade on his legal connections,
31:32so he picked a name from a poem he learned at school,
31:35something about a rock with a bell on it.
31:38Inchcape!
31:39That's it.
31:40Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock,
31:42O Christ, it is the Inchcape rock.
31:44David Inchcape.
31:45Son of the Lord.
31:47He must be an honour.
31:49Well, yes, I suppose he is.
31:51An honour?
31:52Will Miss Liz ever forgive him?
31:59The trouble with going to the opera
32:01is you keep tripping over all these people
32:03tucking up for the night.
32:04Yes, terribly inconsiderate of them.
32:06I suppose they really must enjoy it.
32:09Oh, yes, of course.
32:10It's their annual holiday.
32:11They've been saving up for a nice warm spot
32:13over the kitchen ventilator.
32:15What a heavenly evening, Richard.
32:17Mr Rumple!
32:19Uh, excuse me.
32:21Mr Rumple!
32:26Mr Rumple, I recognise you, sir.
32:29I see your picture in the paper
32:31when you were defending Walter the Wally
32:33on that big murder case.
32:35What on earth's happened to your husband?
32:37Do you think he needs some help?
32:39I'm afraid he's met a threat.
32:41Let's go, shall we?
32:48Wally was with me that night, Mr Rumple.
32:51We was all down under the Hungerford Bridge.
32:53But Wally got himself into a bit of an argument
32:56that night with Bronco Billington.
32:58Now, I know he don't look it,
33:00but Wally is strong when he's roused up.
33:03And he left poor old Bronco flattened.
33:06So we went off sharpish round Centrepoint
33:08where there were still places.
33:10Next day, I read in the paper about this triple murder.
33:14Wally was with me all that night, Mr Rumple.
33:16Straight up he was.
33:18Only thing, he thought he'd done for poor old Bronco,
33:22who'd never had good health at the best of times.
33:25And had he?
33:26Lord bless you, no!
33:28Bronco was down at the cut waterloo Thursday midnight
33:31singing his head off on a bottle of meth.
33:37Many thanks.
33:39Here.
33:42Don't waste it all on cups of tea.
33:50You must have been sure of her death.
33:53Otherwise you might have had a claim on the estate.
33:55Not really, Mr Rumple.
33:57Richard's father had started divorce proceedings
33:59before his mother left England.
34:01She never appeared again,
34:02and so the case went through undefended.
34:04As she was no longer married to the late Lord Sackbut,
34:07she would have had no claim.
34:08Did Richard know that?
34:09I don't think we ever discussed it with him.
34:11I'm sure his father did.
34:13Who did she go off with?
34:14An Italian prisoner of war.
34:15I believe she met him when he was working on one of the farms.
34:18I suppose she misconducted herself
34:20and joined him somewhere in Italy.
34:23Oh, did you do as I asked, Mr Casseter?
34:26Of course. We always obey counsel's instructions.
34:29Though I must say, in all humility,
34:31I can't understand why Richard didn't allow us,
34:33his family solicitors, to conduct the inquest.
34:36Well, perhaps he thought you were too much of a gentleman
34:38to deal with a really obnoxious coroner.
34:41And may I remind everyone,
34:43this is a solemn proceeding,
34:45the coroner's court.
34:47We have the duty, you and I, members of the jury,
34:51to inquire into the mysteries of death.
34:55And I hope we may do so without interruption.
34:58Dr Malkin, please continue.
35:01She was a woman in her late 60s,
35:03in poor general health.
35:05I came to the conclusion
35:07that death was probably caused by a blow to the head
35:10with some blunt instrument,
35:12before the body entered the water.
35:14I didn't think that it was a case of death by drowning
35:17because, well, there was no water in the lungs.
35:19So death might have been caused by a deliberate attack.
35:22A blow to the head by some assailant.
35:25I thought it might.
35:26Struck before the body was put into the lake.
35:30Yes.
35:31Which would make this an unlawful killing.
35:34Or, to use a word with which the jury might be more familiar,
35:38murder.
35:39I can't rule that possibility out, no.
35:42Dr Malkin.
35:43Mr Rumpel.
35:44Mr Rumpel.
35:46Do you wish to apply to ask the pathologist a question?
35:49A good many questions.
35:51Then I shall grant your application.
35:54Very generous, sir.
35:56Dr Malkin, in a case of this sort,
35:59is it not possible for death to occur
36:01due to a sudden cardiac arrest?
36:05It has happened in the case of drunken sailors falling off ships.
36:08It has happened, yes.
36:10And in such a case, there might be no water in the lungs?
36:13Perhaps not.
36:14Now, we know that this woman had
36:16an almost empty gin bottle in her possession.
36:19And you found a high level of alcohol in her blood, did you not?
36:22Oh, fairly high.
36:23Fairly high.
36:24So, it remains a possibility
36:26that this unfortunate woman
36:28may have died due to heart failure.
36:32It's...
36:34It's possible, yes.
36:36Now, dealing with the blow to the head,
36:38there were a number of branches on the bank, were there not,
36:41and a tree stump on which traces of blood were found.
36:44Yes.
36:45Would you rule out the possibility
36:47that this unfortunate woman,
36:49having drunk more gin than was good for her,
36:51slipped and fell into the lake,
36:54striking her head on the tree stump as she fell?
36:56I can't rule that out altogether.
36:59Thank you, Dr Malkin.
37:01It seems that we may have reached
37:03a sensible interpretation of the facts.
37:08Dr Malkin, we gather from your evidence
37:10that this blow to the head might have been accidental,
37:13or it might have been deliberate.
37:15Is that right?
37:16Quite right, sir.
37:17Thank you, Dr Malkin.
37:19We'd now like to ask Mr Saggers a few questions.
37:37Oh!
37:39Yes, as soon as possible, Mr Cursiter.
37:41Quick as greased lightning. Up you go.
37:43Mr Tonks, the photograph, if you please.
37:49Mr Saggers, when did you first see the lady in that photograph?
37:53The lady in the lake?
37:55It was the day before they found her, sir.
37:58She came into the castle entrance and wanted to go in.
38:02But she wasn't with any of the groups that had already paid.
38:04I asked her for the two pound.
38:06She said she hadn't got it, but she wanted to see His Lordship.
38:11I told her that wouldn't be possible.
38:12Well, I didn't think she was anyone His Lordship would want to see.
38:16Well, then she just sort of wandered off.
38:19And what time was that about?
38:22Just before four o'clock, sir, because I was going off on my tea break.
38:26Continue, Mr Saggers.
38:29Well, then, as I was passing the formal garden,
38:32that's where the long border, the white border, they call it,
38:35runs down to the statue.
38:37Well, I saw them then.
38:40You saw who, Mr Saggers?
38:42The old lady and His Lordship.
38:45And what were they doing?
38:47Just talking, sir.
38:49I saw them, then went off for my tea.
38:52Have you any questions, Mr Rumple?
38:54Mr Saggers, before you went off for tea,
38:56how long did you see these two together?
38:58Perhaps half a minute.
39:00I didn't stop to look at them.
39:01How far away were they?
39:03You say at the end of the long border, what, 50 yards?
39:06Yes, about that, sir.
39:07It was the afternoon. Was the sun behind them?
39:11I think it was.
39:13Then you couldn't see Lord Sackbutt's face clearly, could you?
39:17I know it, I saw, Mr Rumple.
39:20To be quite honest with you, I've got no doubt about it.
39:25He's going to tell a lie.
39:28What?
39:29Richard Sackbutt did speak to that old lady,
39:32but he's going to lie about it.
39:34But you would never do a thing like that.
39:37Why not? Because he's a lord, because he lives in a castle.
39:41I tell you, Hilda, people have been lying in this place
39:43ever since the Wars of the Roses.
39:45Lying and locking up their wives.
39:50Because their fathers did it.
39:58The first time I saw the old lady was when her body was found in our lake.
40:01I had never set eyes on her before that.
40:03My lord, I remember you told me that at the time,
40:05and no doubt others heard you.
40:07But you have heard Mr Sagger's evidence.
40:10Is Mr Sagger's lying?
40:13I'm not saying that, I'm saying Sagger's is mistaken.
40:16I didn't speak to the old lady that afternoon.
40:19Very well.
40:20The jury will have to make up their minds who is telling the truth.
40:25Lord Sackbutt, when you were a boy,
40:27your mother left your father.
40:30I fail to see what that has got to do with this case.
40:33Bear with me, my lord. I think it may have a great deal to do with it.
40:37At that time, did your father tell you that your mother was dead?
40:42She was dead, yes.
40:44But how did you know that?
40:45Because my father said so.
40:47Did it ever occur to you that your father was so angry with your mother
40:51that he pretended she had died
40:54so that you wouldn't try to see her again?
40:56It never occurred to me that my father would tell a lie, Dr Swaby.
40:59Lord Sackbutt, do you not know that there have been many rumours
41:03in your family and in the town
41:06that your mother didn't die, as your father said,
41:09but was still alive many years later?
41:12This is intolerable.
41:15Lord Sackbutt is here to give evidence, not to deal with tittle-tattle.
41:19Please, Mr Rumpole, don't excite yourself.
41:22You've reached an age when that might be injurious to your health.
41:25Mr Thomas, the photograph, please.
41:31Now, we've heard evidence that this photograph
41:33was found in the old lady's possession.
41:35Let's look at it, shall we?
41:37Is that the terrace of Sackbutt Castle?
41:40Yes.
41:41And is the man in it your father, as he was in the late 1940s?
41:46It is my father, yes.
41:48Oh, I'm so very much obliged.
41:50Now, there is also a woman with a baby.
41:53Is that woman your mother?
41:55I really can't say.
41:57You mean to say you can't remember what your own mother looked like?
42:01Not altogether clearly, no.
42:04Well, I suggest to you that it is a family group,
42:07your father, your mother and yourself as a very young child.
42:12I suppose that is a possibility.
42:14Or a probability.
42:16Now, can you tell the jury
42:20why this old lady had that photograph in her possession
42:24when she came visiting Sackbutt Castle?
42:27How can my client possibly answer that?
42:30Then let me suggest an answer to assist Lord Sackbutt.
42:34Could it be because she was the lady your father,
42:38in a fit of wounded pride, had given out as dead?
42:41I object to that.
42:43Is this an inquest, or are we telling each other fairy tales?
42:47There is not the slightest scrap of evidence.
42:50Oh, yes, there is, Mr. Rumpole.
42:52There is a photograph.
42:54Now, if this old lady was the dowager lady Sackbutt,
42:58fallen on evil days...
43:00If?
43:01She'd hardly be a welcome visitor at the castle, would she?
43:04After all that time, come no doubt with a claim for money.
43:08Didn't it occur to you, my lord, that she might be better dead
43:13as your father had wished so many, many years ago?
43:31This way, please.
43:38Mr. Rumpole, you've asked me to take the evidence of this witness.
43:42This is...
43:43Petronelli, sir.
43:45This is Petronelli.
43:47Though I have no idea what light she can throw on this dark subject.
43:51Oh, then let me help you out.
43:53What was your name before you married Senior Petronelli, madam?
43:57Lady Margaret Sackbutt.
44:00Lady Margaret Sackbutt, sir.
44:03And your son is?
44:06Richard.
44:07It's many years since you saw him.
44:10I'm afraid it is a great many years.
44:13While you were married to Senior Petronelli,
44:16I think you lived in Como.
44:18Yes, my husband had a hotel there.
44:21When he died, I decided to sell it and come back to England.
44:25To where in England?
44:27To London. I live in Southwark.
44:30Mr. Thompson,
44:33would you look at this photograph, please?
44:36Since you have lived there,
44:38have you become interested in a charity that deals with homeless people?
44:42There seem to be so many in that part of London.
44:46We give them meals, try to find them beds,
44:49even invite them home sometimes.
44:54That's Bertha.
44:56Bertha?
44:58When I first met her, she was sleeping at the back of Waterloo Station.
45:02I let her stay with me one night when we couldn't find her a bed anywhere else
45:07and we began to talk.
45:09She told me about her husband who'd been a builder and gone bankrupt,
45:14been sent to prison for some reason.
45:17I don't know why, I told her about Sackbutt Castle and my son.
45:24I never really talked about it to anyone else, but with Bertha,
45:28it seemed it wouldn't matter.
45:30So she stayed the night in your house.
45:33Did she leave the next morning?
45:35I never saw her again.
45:37Was there anything missing after she had gone?
45:41Well, yes, a photograph I'd shown her when we were talking.
45:45I kept it in a desk, not on display or anything.
45:50When Bertha went, that went with her.
45:53Mr. Tonks.
46:01Is that the photograph?
46:05Yes, it is.
46:07One final question.
46:09Did your son Richard ever hit you over the head with a blunt instrument
46:13and push you into a lake?
46:15No. No, he never did that to me.
46:19Even if he thought I deserved it.
46:29Accidental death.
46:31Hilda, the jury in the Sackbutt Castle case
46:34has returned a verdict of accidental death.
46:38You said that Richard was lying.
46:40Oh, yes.
46:42Bertha waylaid him in the garden.
46:45She told him that she had news for him, probably asking for money.
46:49He didn't believe her and sent her away,
46:51so she wandered round Weldyke the rest of the afternoon
46:54and then returned to the castle in the evening,
46:56full of gin and unsteady honour pins.
47:00Splash!
47:02Now, it really was an accident.
47:04But why did he lie?
47:06Oh, I don't know, Hilda.
47:08Perhaps he had a secret fear that Bertha was his mother.
47:11After all, he hadn't seen his mother for 30 years.
47:14But recognising her would make his father a liar.
47:19The father who could do no wrong.
47:22So he just pretended he didn't have the faintest idea who she was.
47:26Well, that wasn't very nice of him.
47:28Luckily, his mother reads the Daily Telegraph.
47:31Why, luckily.
47:33Oh, didn't I tell you?
47:35I asked Bonnie Bernard to put an advertisement in all the posh newspapers.
47:39Ricardino wants to see Mother very urgent ring this number.
47:43Poor woman.
47:47Oh, poor woman.
47:49Which one?
47:54Yes, Rumpole.
47:56Oh, Miss Liz!
47:58Oh?
48:00You're offering no evidence against Walter the Wally Wilkinson.
48:03Why not pray?
48:05Oh, they found who did it.
48:07Well, you'll have to buy me a celebratory plonk at Pomeroy's, won't you?
48:12Bye.
48:17Do you know why the Wally confessed to a triple murder, Hilda?
48:22Snobbery. Pure snobbery.
48:25He thought he'd done in an old dosser called Bronco Billington,
48:28but he didn't want to be potted for something so down-market,
48:31so he put his hands up for a smart triple murder.
48:35That way, he could join the upper crust at Pentonville Prison
48:39and be treated like a lord by all the screws.
48:47Rumpole?
48:49Yes?
48:51I don't think we'll go to Sackbuck Castle again.
48:55Oh, I don't think we'll be asked.
49:04There we go.
49:06Liz, I wanted to tell you,
49:09I know all about the Honourable David Luxter, otherwise known as Dave Inchcape.
49:14Honourable? Don't remind me. It makes me feel sick.
49:17Well, he comes from a pretty dodgy background, you know.
49:20He's got a Lord Chancellor Luxter as a grandad.
49:24Instead of having a decent upbringing in a one-parent family in Camden,
49:28he's the son of a lord.
49:30In other words, he was a deprived child.
49:33A what?
49:35They all are, Liz, all the lords and ladies and the marquises and whatnot
49:39that figure in Debbie's diary in the Coronet magazine.
49:44They turn their sons out of home at a tender age.
49:47They put them in the care of some young offender's institution like Eaton.
49:51They tell them lies. They tell them their mother's dead.
49:55The dice are loaded against the young Inchcapes of this world.
49:59I suppose he has been discriminated against.
50:02One of the outcasts of society, I'd say.
50:05I shouldn't have withdrawn my support.
50:07Replace it, Liz.
50:09Prop the poor bloke up.
50:11It's a bloody unjust world, Rumpole.
50:14All your years in the law, you've only just discovered that.
50:21♪
50:51♪
51:21♪