Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996–1998): Season 1, Episode 5 - A High Profile - full transcript

Oh, yes, it is!

That's ten this week!

Would you credit it! They're
everywhere! You can't get away from 'em

Sweets to the sweet!

Oh, my God, what is it? Get rid
of it. It's putting us off our food!

I'm not talking to that!

I'll do it.

Bugger off, you!

I've been doing the accounts.

And? If you had to pay for
office space, telephone, book-keeper

you'd be bankrupt
several times over.



You've forgotten the Italians' £300.

Gone! The 1,500 you got way back
when you first started - long gone.

Too long between jobs. I can't cut Geoffrey's
wages. He gets no more than pocket money as it is.

We could put another advert in the paper, just a
little one, well-crafted and in a good position.

Except they'd want cash.

They would... after last time.

I won't give up, Robert.

I'm not asking you to give up, Hetty. We
need a higher profile, that's what it is.

Oh, yes! Oh, yes!
Magnificent offer!

Don't miss your opportunity.
For one day only in this town.

Discretion guaranteed.
Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Oh, yes!

You could have brought me
one of those!

It wouldn't be suitable. You lack freedom
of movement. You'd get ketchup on your chin.

Cheeky! I'd take over from you, but me shoulders
aren't wide enough. The straps'd keep slipping.



Excuse me.
Are you free for a consultation?

"Oh, too smart for his own good, that one,"
they used to say. A wonderful brain.

I was shopping and I saw your board and I thought
if I don't do something now, I never will,

so I ran after you. It's foolish.

Impulse.

Reg won't have him in the house. Reg is
your husband? Yes. He's a dental surgeon.

He just won't put up with Michael
any more. Well, you can't expect it.

I hate dentists. It's the label,
you see. We never call it schizophrenia.

We used the expression "nervous breakdown", but
everyone knew and it was bad for the practice.

What you're asking people to pay
for bridgework these days.

And Michael not being Reg's own son.

Oh, just talking about him, I can't keep
still. Could you take it more in order?

I was three months' pregnant
when we married.

We couldn't have
children of our own.

Reg never...

I mean, he never blamed.

He was a father to Michael. He was so proud.
School exams, university, encouragement always.

"You drive that boy too hard,"
I'd say. "Oh, not a bit of it."

Have you something more recent, a snapshot,
something smaller? No, there's nothing recent.

Michael changed, you see.

When he first went into hospital
we thought they'd make him better.

And he was, but... not the same.

Not like himself.

He'll never be that.

There's things...

you can't explain to people - not getting out of
bed in the morning, washing and getting dressed.

He didn't see the necessity. "I'm not going
anywhere," he'd say. It's a point of view. Yes, it is.

Reg didn't understand it.

He'd always pushed Michael. He'd say, "You have
to push that boy or he won't get anywhere."

It wasn't a happy atmosphere.

And then you moved away,
sold up, came here, started again?

Uhm... not at once.

Michael got sick again? Right.

And when he came out of hospital,
Reg wouldn't have him home.

They found him a bedsitter
but he'd come over to see me and...

If he didn't want to leave, you
can't put him out in the street.

But your husband did?

Mm-mm.

It was only the once
but it brought on...

The symptoms got... Worse?

Mmm.

Talking silly and stopping people
in the street.

Wandering into places.

He tried to walk through glass once.

It was just a mistake, I think.

And the canal.

That was in the paper.

And Reg said,
"He's beyond our help.

"He's not our responsibility.
We do more harm than good."

And we moved... and came here.

What happened to Michael's
real father? Oh...

He was hit by a train.

It could have been an accident.

They said not.

He was a gentle man.
Never put himself forward. Shy.

He was like Michael in that way.

We met at evening class.

Reg never held him against me.

I owe Reg a lot.

But I just keep thinking, wondering.

It's not that I want Michael back.
I know I can't have him back.

I just...
have to know he's all right.

You see?

'It's starting! It's starting!'

What time is it, children?

It's PLAYTIME!
Oh, no, it isn't!

Oh, yes, it is!
Oh, no, it isn't!

Oh, yes, it is!

I'm only going away
for a couple of days!

You could be back tonight.

It's two and a half hours each way
and there'll be contacts to interview.

The Wainthropp Detective Agency doesn't skimp.
We've a reputation to think of. What about us?

There's food in the freezer.
Geoffrey can cook. Only hotpot.

There's nourishment in hotpot. If you were
on a desert island, you'd be glad of it.

I should come with you.
You'll be at the public library.

I wouldn't show my ignorance in front of a dentist's
wife but we know nothing about schizophrenia.

Find out all there is to know.
I'll have to go or I'll miss me bus.

I always thought of myself
as the field operative.

He's gone. Gone where? I don't know.

And when? I don't know. You don't seem to know
much. Not as much as I'd like, no. But you're his...

Community psychiatric nurse. At 18 years old! 28,
and fully qualified, but thank you for your concern.

His mother told me he needs
an injection every fortnight. Right.

So if he's just taken off... Then he's not having
it. Won't he get ill? He will get ill, probably.

I'm sorry. We'd better start again.
We've got off on the wrong foot.

What do I tell his mother? She
knows. If she did, why would I be here?

I informed the family as soon as I knew myself.
Why would she ask me to come if she already knew?

I spoke to the stepfather, asked him
to tell us if Michael turned up.

He couldn't have told her. That
doesn't surprise me. Don't blame him

SHE will. Probably.
But it isn't easy for families.

They EXPECT to worry,
but it's the little things.

Personal neglect, bed's never made and bits of food
left on the carpet. It wasn't a good atmosphere.

Stepfather disapproving.
Mother over-protective.

If he'd have managed independence... But did he
really try? His mother said he kept coming back home.

Mind you, we had to push our Derek out,
then he went to Australia.

How CAN our people be independent when there is nowhere
for them to live that won't make them ill again?

A bedsit, one-roomed flat in a run-down
tower block. No chance of any work.

Day after day of nothing to do but listen to
your own thoughts. They can come here. Yeah.

It's a drop-in centre. A cheap meal,
meet people, talk, get your medication.

Art therapy, occupational therapy, group therapy.
We're great on therapies, if they're cheap.

Did Michael come here regularly for therapies
and such? He had off and on periods.

Times he'd come in, times he didn't.
You thought I'd know when he went?

Yes. He was having one of his off periods.
That's OK. He doesn't have to come in.

He missed an injection. I wrote. He didn't reply. I
went to see him. He wasn't in. Nobody had seen him.

I told the family. That's all?

There's nothing else I CAN do.
You could have told the police.

He hasn't committed a crime. But
without his injection, he'd be ill.

He can't be forced to take it.
He has a right to refuse.

I'd like to see this room
you've found him.

We'll have to go to the town hall
for a spare key.

Won't the caretaker have a key?
You never see one these days.

Don't mistake me, Mrs Wainthropp.
I do want you to find Michael.

I'm afraid he may have reached what
we call the rational suicide stage.

What? He knows
he'll always be on medication.

He sees the empty days stretching ahead of him, always
the possibility of a relapse, little chance of work.

Any work he gets will be well below his capacities.
It's a bleak future. He may decide he doesn't want it.

I see.

Are you sure you'll be OK,
Mrs Wainthropp?

I would come with you but I'm needed
at the Centre. I'll be all right.

Gone bad in 'ere, has it?

He never used to wash up much
at t'best of times. Who are you?

I'm Todd from next door. I used to clean up a
bit meself at one time, but Michael never did.

Never thought of it.

Since he went away, I've not been
able to get in. You from t'Social?

Wainthropp Detective Agency. I'm
acting for the family. You what?

His mother's paying me to find out
how Michael's getting on.

He's not getting on. He's not here.

We used to play chess.

He taught me, but...
Oh, he were a funny sort of chap.

Still, I miss the company.

You don't play chess yourself,
I suppose? No.

Did he say where he was going?

No. Not a word.

Police, please.

What about the skeleton?
Was it part of his illness?

I don't think so. He took a lot of trouble
doing it. He were quite proud of it, I think.

It's not meant to be frightening.

And he went off Monday last week?

Aye, that's right. I knocked at door.
Special knock, same as always.

Then he'd answer,
but this time he didn't.

He could have been dead.
He'd have been found eventually.

They always are. But you were
his friend, maybe his only friend.

I wouldn't say that, no. You're
making assumptions. You're presuming.

He'd got no friends.

Neither have I.

You came in every day.
You tidied up.

Well, we were neighbours.
I like to keep tidy.

But he didn't talk much.

We'd play chess. Sometimes
I'd get him a bit to to eat, but.

We both had t'same problem, you see.
Getting through the day.

What do you think you're doing,
hanging around?

Sunnysands.

Allerton Road.

Don't tramp in sand on the carpet.

We've a Neighbourhood Watch here,
you know.

Sometimes THEY ask YOU questions.

Different stories.

There's always a skeleton.

Do you need help?
Something to eat, like? A bed?

I can take you to the Sally Ann.

Ann.

Man.

Can.

Gran.

Man, can...

One.

Why didn't you take him in?
He's not committing an offence.

He's a loony. Standing there for
hours. Who knows what's in his mind?

I can't do anything. If it gets in
the papers, it's YOUR responsibility.

You were right!

I didn't need an overnight bag.
I'd better get the Dubonnet.

"Rational suicide" he said.

These people,
they have a language all their own.

They would have.

All this talk about community care.
There's no money provided.

That flat was a pigsty!

They need looking after. They do.

That poor woman.

What am I gonna tell her?

You say there was a skeleton? Yes.

Well, there was nothing like it
in his room at home.

It wasn't all part of his...? Oh, no. It was
all muddled up, of course, but different things.

He had it all worked out.

I had quite a long talk with
the nurse at the drop-in centre.

Ian? Yes.

He told me he'd phoned to let you
know that Michael had disappeared.

No!

He said your husband took the call.

Excuse me.

I want a word.

Excuse me.

You knew he'd gone!

Yes. And you never told me?
I didn't want to upset you.

Well, now you have. Did you tell me when you
hired a detective? Out of my own savings.

I'm sorry about this. It won't take
a moment and it'll hardly hurt at all!

Please continue your investigation.
I'll find a way to pay you...

if I have to steal gold fillings
out of the patients' teeth!

Mr Wainthropp!

Case conference. If I don't get
this done now, I'll be all behind!

You know how she is. This stuff
doesn't come out of the horse free!

I'll spell it out.

If his injections were working, he'd want to go to
his mum's, so he could be searching for her. Where?

Anywhere. He doesn't know
where she's moved to.

He disappeared a fortnight ago but he missed the
injection before that, so the symptoms could be back.

This is heavy stuff. I don't
understand most of the words.

What symptoms?

Seeing things, hearing voices,
delusions.

Like thinking you're Hercule Poirot?
Try to be more helpful, Robert.

If he's still in control - and trying to
find his mum - we don't know where he'd try.

If the symptoms had come back and he was hearing
voices, he might go where the voices told him to go.

Either way, we can't win.

I'm sure that skeleton's in it somewhere. I've
a feeling in me bones about that skeleton.

You pong, you know that?

Pong?

Wrong.
Right.

Song.

No way. Now piss off!

Isolated. Sullen or moody.
Sometimes hostile.

No job, nowhere to go.

No friends. Poor concentration.

Wanders off the point. Conversation
becomes difficult. Letters are easier.

Reliant on routine.
Upset by change. Say that again.

Upset by change. No. "Conversation
becomes difficult..." Letters are easier.

So?

Who did he write to?
And who wrote back?

Geoffrey.

That's right spooky!

Come on.

Sutton, Surrey.

Stoke-on-Trent.

Another from Sutton, Surrey.

Stoke.

Stoke-on-Trent.

We've got a few more trips to make,
Geoffrey.

I've got ten pen pals.
French, German. Darlene's American.

She's a born-again Christian at the moment. It's
her third time. Makes her letters very monotonous.

People shouldn't be born again more than once.
Yuri's Russian. He can't afford to write very often.

And Michael? Michael's in a special sub-group.
Mentally challenged. I've two of them.

I haven't heard from him lately. I hate
writing letters. A word processor helps.

You can send the same letter
to each one.

Geraldine!
Come in, Mother.

Thank you.

Isn't she wonderful? A network of
positive thoughts across the world.

We're all so proud of her.
Yeah, you must be.

I know it's confidential, but did
Michael write about his state of mind?

Was he thinking of going anywhere? Wondering
where his mum might be? Any suicidal thoughts?

I think there's something wrong
with your coffee.

Unless it's cocoa. Oatcerola. Essence
of oats fortified with every known vitamin!

Just let it cool.
The cactus likes it.

Now... Michael.
Any clue to his intentions?

We represent the family. We have to
find him. Sorry, there's nothing.

I keep my correspondence general.

If you let pen friends get too
personal, you'll be sucked in.

I've known Michael a long time. I
worked in the library near his home.

He was a reading boy - three books
a day sometimes. We had great chats.

Aileen!

I can't come now, Father.
I'm with someone.

Then three years ago, when Mother fell ill -
both parents were ill but Mother didn't last -

I gave up work and came back south.
But you kept in touch with Michael?

He'd already had his first breakdown.
Aileen!

It seemed important to keep up some
kind of contact with his past life.

I said I'm busy, Father!

I can't go every time he calls.
I'd be up and down all day!

Has there been anything unusual
in Michael's letters recently?

Just... the poems.

What poems? Scraps, really.

But interesting.

They do art therapy at that drop-in
centre. Would they do poetry as well?

Bound to.

"Lions when sick
look for a place to die.

"Birds crouch in corners."

Breaks off there, but there's quite a cadence,
don't you think? A bit morbid. Here's another one.

"Old bones is a merry fella
Comes into every story

"Sinbad, Aladdin or Cinderella

"Old bones takes all the glory."

Old bones?

Death, I suppose.

The skeleton... with the scythe.

He certainly comes into every story.

There was a skeleton painted
on the wall of Michael's flat.

I'll have to go up this time.

Would you mind if I copied these?
No. Not at all. I won't be a moment.

"Old bones is a merry fella
Comes into every story

"Sinbad, Aladdin and Cinderella

"Old bones takes all the glory."

Michael wrote that?

Is it anything to do
with the skeleton?

I asked you about it.
You said you had no idea.

Does this give you any idea
where he might have gone?

No. No, none.

"Comes into every story."

Does that mean anything?

No. No, it doesn't mean anything.

Go in?

Shut me up.

Can I help you?

'Worthless, useless...!'
Leave me alone!

I've wasted your time. No. I was
silly to think you could find him.

I CAN find him, with your cooperation.
I can't afford to pay for a long enquiry.

It has something to do with that
poem. Thank you for all your trouble.

Geoffrey!

Get over here with the scooter as soon as you can.
I'm not giving up. That woman knows something.

The phone box across the road.

Follow that cab.

SHE knows where he's gone.

But she's no experience.
She'll make a mess of it.

There must be somebody in that ticket
office you were at school with. Oh, right.

Freedom.

Staverton Sands. There's a train
in ten minutes. No, it's too soon.

And anyway, she'd see us.

We'll let her have the evening
to sort herself out and go tomorrow.

Mrs Wainthropp, I have to say,
we can't afford to work for nothing.

No, you're right... but there's
more than one way to skin a rabbit.

Mr Townsend? Yes? A
lady wants a word. It's urgent.

Just have a rinse, Mrs Cooper.

Hetty Wainthropp. I think you should
know your wife has gone to Staverton Sands.

How much do you need?

Seven days' daily rate
and reasonable expenses.

Very well.

I require strict confidentiality,
you understand. Nothing to come out.

'You get nothing for nothing
in this world!'

No!

Don't care a bit, don't care a skunk
Don't care a pot Not till he's done.

Oy!

What's your game?

'Just bone idle, always has been!
Out of sight, out of mind.'

'It's all inside!
It's all inside!

'Inside! Inside! Inside!

'Inside! Inside! Insi...'

I should be out there digging.

Oh, don't go on so, Robert!

There's only Brussels sprouts in the
allotment just now and you hate sprouts.

You grow sprouts because
all the other allotments grow 'em.

So let them live out their sprouty
lives while you stay by the phone.

She never understood about gardening.

Your husband gave me this address.

He said you used to come here with Michael every
summer, just the two of you. He never had time.

You stayed two weeks and always
in this boarding house. Am I right?

It's a private hotel now.
Will you be taking luncheon?

What about this skeleton
that came into every story?

It did. It was the marionettes.

Michael loved them. We went every day. They
did all the traditional pantomime stories.

Sinbad, Aladdin and Cinderella.

The skeleton came into them all.

He couldn't be kept out. He was
so cheeky and disrespectful.

He was Michael's favourite.

'Oh, no, it isn't! No, it isn't!

'Oh, no, it isn't!
Oh, yes, it is! Oh, no, it ISN'T!'

'Useless! Useless! Useless!'

You're bound to find him!
He's been seen. Seen?

There have been complaints. The pier.
The esplanade. The floral clock.

The scenic features of the town.
He'd be there, loitering.

Did he come here? Yes. For hours
in the rain. Peering in the windows.

He'd been happy here. If I'd known
who he was I'd have asked him in.

We can't be sure it's him. No,
but it's the best lead we've had so far.

We'll start with the seafront.
We can go three different ways.

Geoffrey, you try the pier. I'll go this
way. And we'll all meet back here later.

Ooh!

So much of this job is leg work!
I shall have to keep in trim.

Mainly, it's not the illness that makes them act
strange, it's the drugs they take to control it.

Why didn't he go to Blackpool?
There'd be more to do in the evening.

Dubonnet's a great comforter
at a time like this.

We'll tackle the police and such
tomorrow.

We've GOT no jurisdiction.

If he's not in immediate need of care... He
was eating from litterbins. It's not a crime.

He needed care, you won't deny that.
Not OUR care, Mrs Wainthropp.

We try to make it homely here.
Long-stay or fly-by-night, all are welcome.

You saw him hovering outside?
He might have wanted to come in!

We don't drag people in. We've no resources and
no authority. People come when THEY'RE ready.

He walked away. Why didn't
you go after him?! Thank you.

It's out of season. No occupancy to speak of. Just
a few regulars on social security, that's all.

You have caravans empty. Locked.

They could be broken into.
I'd notice it, wouldn't I?

He could be hiding, lying low. I
go round every day trying the doors.

When? When I feel like it.

If you felt like it now,
maybe I could go with you.

Lad, don't go in!

Sorry?

I did try to warn you.

Try to sleep. I will.

Goodnight, Hetty. Thank you.

Goodnight, Hilda.

We'll have some new ideas
by morning.

She'll sleep, I hope.

We need to talk.

Now, we know WHY he came here. He was trying to
find something he'd lost. You can't KNOW that.

I do know it. You're not allowing for his disordered
thoughts. If his symptoms are back, there's no logic.

It's nothing to do with logic. If he decided
he couldn't find what he was looking for,

he might have gone back to where he came from.
They'd have told his stepfather. He'd have told us.

Forget logic. It's feelings in
this case. That's your department.

Yes, it is.

Those bits of poems.

Do you remember what they said?

I brought them with me.

"Old bones"?
Yes, but the other one.

"Lions when sick
look for a place to die

"Birds crouch in corners."

He's in a bad state.

He may not last.

"Lions when sick
look for a place to die."

Feelings.

He came back and he was rejected.

So he's given up.

Look for a place to curl up and die.

We've been asking in public places.

He's found somewhere private.

Somewhere where nobody would come
across him. Somewhere he felt safe.

Go on.

Somewhere he was happy... before.

Come on.

The marionettes, where were they?

Where exactly did they
hold the marionette show?

Where's the door?

It's here.

The glass has been smashed.

It's locked. Geoffrey, put your
hand through. Mind yourself.

It's open. No!
Let Geoffrey go in first.

He's in here. Michael!

I think he's dead.

Fetch the police.

Oh, Michael!

Somebody beat him up.
It's murder and you know it.

The beating didn't kill him. He died
of cold and a lack of nourishment.

If he hadn't been beaten up, would he have gone there
to die? There's signs of a struggle at the jetty.

We had problems there before.
Some boat owners...

There's been vandalism. You can't blame them.
Somebody's got a weapon with Michael's blood on it.

Now, you find that somebody or you can take it
from me there'll be one big, very public fuss!

Schizophrenia.

Anything like that, I couldn't manage,
Robert, I couldn't manage at all.

If it were me?

You're too old. Couldn't happen.
If it were Geoffrey?

He's not our son.

Who else would look after him?

Subtitles by Dorothy Moore
BBC Scotland 1996