Dickensian (2015–2016): Season 1, Episode 17 - Episode #1.17 - full transcript

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

(PEOPLE TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

(DOG BARKING)

(HORSE NEIGHING)

BUCKET: Mr Venus,
I wish to solicit your opinion.

Sudden emergency, Mr Bucket,

I'll meet you outside
Jacob Marley's residence.

It's rather exciting, this new method.

Try to catch this devil in the detail.

Are you excited?

I have two days
before I resume my former office.



Two days to get my man for this murder.

The clock is ticking,

I do not have time to be excited.

(BABY CRYING)

- (CRYING CONTINUES)
- (GASPS)

(SIGHS)

(FRANCES SHUSHING)

(BABY CRYING SOFTLY)

(DOOR LOCKING)

JOHN: This, this!
The actual true facts right here,

how Inspector Thompson cornered
and caged the savage killer of Marley.

Ain't right that such a thing
be made to entertain.

It's grubby, it's nasty.

And I don't want to hear it, John,
if it's all the same to you.



Well, it ain't right they ever dragged
you in, Mr C, just ain't right at all.

Now how could that Bucket
ever put you in the fray?

I said I don't want to hear it, John.

Heard enough about it.
The murderer's been got.

There's no more to be said.

COMPEYSON: Footman.

He's never to present
himself here again.

You never want to set eyes on his face.

Nor hear his blandishments now,
or ever in the future.

Mary, wait!

I'll tell him myself.

You smile, sir. Why?

I always smile when I see you.

Is something amiss?

I know about her.

- Her?
- Your lady friend. I know.

You have this all so very wrong.

- Oh, I don't believe I do.
- Lf you will allow me to explain...

Everything that comes out of your mouth

is a filthy lie
and I want no more of them.

Very well, Miss Havisham,
I will return when you are calmer.

You will not return, not to this house,

and if you should,
I will call the constables.

So... Where is your smile now, sir?

You need to eat something.

What are you doing?

Well, I keep thinking
I can hear her cry for me.

Every time I think I hear her cry,
there's milk.

FRANCES: Here, let me.

- (BABY CRYING)
- Oh, gosh!

Oh, God! There it is again.

Can you really not hear anything?

I have to go out today,
to make arrangements.

HONORIA: Of course, to bury her.

Maybe then I'll stop thinking
I can hear her cry for me.

Maybe I'll always think it.

FRANCES: It'll pass.

I'll try not to be too long.

Can you find somewhere
pretty for her to lie?

Perhaps near a tree,
somewhere peaceful.

I'll do my best.

(CHURCH BELL RINGING)

- Morning, Daisy.
- Morning, Emily.

(JAMES SNORING)

JAMES: Have I been here all night?
(GRUNTS)

EMILY: Uh, looks that way, sir.

(SIGHS) Tell the landlord
I want another bottle of rum.

Will you do something for me, sir?

Will you, uh, pass on the respects of
the Cratchit family to your young lady?

My daughter Martha says that Ms Honoria
is much missed at the dressmakers.

I told her, she's looking after
her poorly aunt,

and family always comes first, but...

- Sir?
- Yes.

Yes, it does.

Family comes first.

Above everything else.

Oh, thank you, Mrs Cratchit.

- I haven't done anything.
- You've made me see sense.

(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

(DOG BARKING)

- (BABY CRYING)
- (FRANCES SHUSHING)

Mr Bucket.

This was your "some emergency"?

(GASPS) This is Madame Snuggles,
belongs to the glove stretcher's wife.

A beloved companion of many years,
has an infestation of moth.

Then are irrefutable certainties
to this case, Mr Venus.

Marley is killed by a blow
to the temple.

A splinter from the murder weapon
is embedded in his scalp.

Your thoughts on such a weapon,
Mr Venus?

Oh, a practised felon,

a professional cutthroat
takes care of the tools of his trade.

What use is to him,
a cosh that splinters?

The accused in the cells waiting
to hang used a metal cudgel.

I feel, Mr Venus,

that this murder weapon
is an item a man might just pick up.

Something meant for a purpose
other than the cracking of skulls.

What else are we certain of?

That when the blow was struck, uh,
the killer and Marley were face-to-face.

And the blow itself?

Not one that I would associate
with a powerful man.

There was force, yes,
but it is glancing.

Almost fearful.

A fraction of an inch
and Marley could still be alive.

I would call it an unlucky blow.

Unlucky for Jacob Marley.

(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

The killer strikes and runs.

He doesn't stop to take Marley's watch,

which is still ticking away
on his corpse.

And it's a good expensive watch.

He panics.

So, another certainty.

The killer is not a hardened criminal,
because they do not panic.

Then what are they doing at night
by the docks,

which is the haunt
of malefactors and cutthroats?

Marley was a dark man,

at home in dark places.

But the killer...

Do you remember what I said to you
early on in this case?

- Money never lies.
- (BELLS TINKLING)

Debt is the black heart of this crime.

I feel it.

To the murder site.

(WATER SPLASHING)

Do you think you've been clever?

I don't know what you're talking about.

- You told her about Sally.
- No, I didn't.

Of course, it was you,
you snivelling wretch.

I told her nothing.

But I'm delighted if she's found out
that you are actually married,

because it's over, isn't it?
You're finished.

You think I can't come back from this?

How often has my sister
begged for me to come home?

Perhaps it's time I did just that.

I'll buy her a gift,
a pineapple perhaps.

She adores pineapple.

It will remind her
of our childhood trips

with our father
to the glasshouses at Kew.

I would apologise for being such a fool,

and she would forgive me,
and we'd be together again.

Brother and sister in Satis House.

Arthur and Amelia Havisham.

United...

Against you.

(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

- (SHUSHING)
- (BABY CRYING SOFTLY)

(CONTINUES SHUSHING)

(KNOCK AT DOOR)

James.

- Where's Frances?
- She's out.

Good, not that it would matter
because I would still do this.

Frances sent you a note last night.
Did you get it?

No, I threw in the fire unread.
I knew what it would say.

Honoria, marry me.

I want to be your husband.

I want to be the father of our child.

I want it more than anything else
in the world.

What are we waiting for?

Your father's blessing? My promotion?

All that matters is
that we love each other.

Oh, I forgot to kneel. Wait.

My beautiful girl, (BREATHING HEAVILY)

Be my wife.

James, do I look different to you?

You look tired.

The note you threw in the fire said,

"The baby was coming,
and a doctor was needed."

The baby?

She was born dead, James.

Our daughter was born dead.

(BABY GURGLING)

JAMES: Where is she?

The baby?

Can I see her?

Frances is making arrangements for her.

She'll say prayers.

Give her flowers.

She was very beautiful.

Esther Frances.

Esther.

A good name, I like it.

James, this is the end now.

What do you mean?

For us.

It's the end, this is goodbye.

Honoria, my sweetheart...

Terrible things happen.

Babies are lost and people grieve,
but they go on.

Well, that is people.

It is not me.

I want you to leave now, it's over.

You don't mean this.

You don't want this,
it's just the shock.

- Please go.
- Honoria...

- No, do not.
- You are my world.

(BREATH TREMBLING)
My heart's blood, I love you.

And I loved you so much.

All I could see was you.

But now all I can see is her face.

This is a judgement on us, James.

Because of us,
she can't even be buried properly.

She has to be hidden away
like some dirty little secret.

Lying there all alone.

A little girl in the dark.

And it's because of us.

We both died
with our daughter last night.

We are ghosts of the people
we used to be.

It is ended.

I want you to go.

Go.

(SNIFFLES) And never come back.

I am nothing without you.

I am nobody.

Goodbye, Captain Hawdon.

(WHIMPERING)

(ESTHER CRYING)

(CRYING STOPS)

FRANCES: She is so hungry.

She had nothing yet. Nothing at all.

Her name is Esther.

Esther Fran...

Just Esther.

(ESTHER CRYING)

(HAMMERING)

(HISSING)

(HORSE SNORTING)

(INHALES)

She's not in. I already knocked.

Might I ask how you got this address?

I drove by here, saw you embrace her,
this woman of yours.

What is she, your mistress?

You share these squalid lodgings,
so your wife perhaps?

I do hope you married her,
at least that would be decent.

Seems you have already
decided what she is.

It's the money, isn't it?

You thought, "Here's some
poor rich woman I can play."

Well, you leap to so many conclusions,

it would be dishonourable
for me to contradict you.

Because you cannot contradict me.
You are a fraud.

SALLY: Meriwether?

What's she doing here?

- She knows about me.
- She does.

And since you live together,

I suppose for the sake of good manners,
I should call you Mrs Compeyson.

Missus?

Oh, no! I am Miss, Miss Compeyson.

I'm his sister.

Would you step into my carriage?

Not you.

(HORSE SNORTING)

(CARRIAGE DOOR OPENS)

SALLY: It's an ugly tale, Miss Havisham.

I lost my heart to a bad man.

I ran away with him.

He was cruel.

Cast me aside.

I could have ended up a street woman.

I thought I might throw myself
from a bridge at Blackfriars

and let the river take me.

(GULPS) But my brother
searched for me...

Found me and kept me safe.

But I saw him embrace you.

Oh, but you have a brother, do you not?

Do you and he never embrace?

We used to.

Once.

Why did he say nothing to me about you?

I told him he shouldn't.

Someone of your standing, your status,

associated with one such as myself...

A woman banished by good society.

I told my brother
you'd drop him in an instant.

(EXHALES) I'm sorry.

I'm terribly sorry.

(CARRIAGE DOOR CLOSES)

She believed me. She's tricky though.

Hard work.

Is that what you like about her?

It's the money I like.

Well, you never told me
she was beautiful.

This should have been
finished weeks ago.

You're delaying.

You want to get in her bed.

Now we had a deal.

Anything but that,
you don't get in her bed.

You are imagining things.

(SOBBING)

(AMELIA GASPS)

Why are you here?

You should hate me.

Why don't you hate me?

(SOBBING CONTINUES)

(KNOCKING)

Satis House.

BUCKET: This is the exact spot
where Jacob Marley lost his life.

Put Madam Snuggles down
a moment, Mr Venus,

I require your assistance.

You are in debt to Jacob Marley.

Why have you come here
at night to meet him,

instead of at his house
or his place of business?

'Cause this meeting is secret.

I want it to be secret.

I don't want to be seen
by anyone I know.

I'm ashamed.

I'm desperate.

I'm scared.

Why have you come?

Perhaps I've come to ask you
for more time.

To pay...

But perhaps I want to ask you, beg you,

please, to be lenient.

To be kind.

I'm Jacob Marley.

I enjoy your desperation.

I enjoy your shame and fear,

that is meat and drink to me.

Why should I be kind?

Well, perhaps I have a family?

Little ones.

I don't care.

I lent you a shilling.

But now it's pounds and pounds.

And every day it gets worse,
and I enjoy that because now I own you.

There is not one part of your life
I don't control.

The boots on your feet.

The clothes on your back.

Every mouthful of drink.

Every bite of food.

Every waking moment.

The roof over your head.

The bed you lie down on.

Because whether you go destitute or not
is at my say so.

There is nowhere you are free from me.

Every brick and every stick is mine.

Your life!

The life of your loved ones is mine.

All of it!

Crushed by the debt you owe to me.

And that gives me pleasure.

- So why should I be kind?
- Quiet!

(BELLS TINKLING)

Exactly so, Mr Venus.

Our killer is an ordinary man pushed
to the very limit of what was bearable.

And he snapped.

ARTHUR: Don't announce me.

I want to surprise her.

(COMPEYSON AND AMELIA GIGGLING)

(AMELIA LAUGHING)

You haven't touched your cordial,
Mr Venus.

I'm worried about this man.

BUCKET: The killer?

He's just ordinary.

Driven to a terrible act, but ordinary.

And now with you
so hard on his tail, I...

I fear for him.

You have a gentle heart, my friend.

But there must and will be justice.

And I will pursue it to my dying breath.

But consider what that justice
would be for his kind, though.

It is the hangman's noose
for him, Mr Bucket.

An ordinary man.

Mr Venus, the killer
took a weapon with him.

He went to meet Marley
with malice aforethought.

Premeditation.

So, he might have been ordinary once.

But now he is a murderer.

Pies, gents.

Thank you. Mmm...

(KNOCK AT DOOR)

(DOOR OPENS)

- Inspector.
- Mrs Cratchit.

I was passing.

Might I come in?

Oh, I'm baking, it's a terrible mess.

I don't mind mess.

- (DOOR CLOSES)
- Quite the family industry.

(CHUCKLES) Well, everyone pitches in,

the little ones, Bob, Mr Cratchit.

He's quite a dab hand in the kitchen.

He's got a sure touch with pastry.

What's that?

It's evidence, Mrs Cratchit.

This piece of wood was removed
from Jacob Marley's scalp.

It came from the cosh that killed him.

Well, I've been looking for that weapon.

And now I've found it.

Mrs Cratchit,
when your husband comes home,

I'm going to have to take him away.

Why?

BUCKET: Because your husband,
who has such a sure touch with pastry,

is going to be rearrested
for the murder of Jacob Marley.

(CHEERFUL WHISTLING)

(WHISTLING CONTINUES)

It wasn't Bob, it was me.

I killed Marley, it was me.

(WHISTLING STOPS)

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)