Silent Witness (1996–…): Season 11, Episode 1 - Apocalypse: Part 1 - full transcript

Pilot. Came down
just inside our area.

Just wondering whether
it could be pilot suicide.

Do we cope with the dead better
than we cope with the living?!

Just a piece I was asked to write.

Didn't mean to pry.
Why change the habit of a lifetime?

They asked you...
They asked me to write it, yes.

I didn't somehow force it
into the magazine, if that's...

No. Have you ever
written a piece for them?

Three. Right, well,
you know how it all works.

No wonder you made this
a mystery tour.

Come on, you'll love it.



I've got a friend who might
be flying a display today.

Who's that? School friend.

Well, if you point him out...
He might be in Afghanistan.

That concludes presentation two
of our e-seminar

on advances in forensic pathology.

We have time for questions
before the next presentation,
from Professor Leo Dalton.

Yes? I have a question
from Dr Robert Murray.

May I say how much I'm looking
forward to Professor Dalton's
presentation? He is an old friend.

My question is this -
how can old academic warhorses

like Professor Dalton and his team

go on competing against the private
sector in forensic pathology?

Just a question. For all of us.

I didn't know you were a petrolhead.

I'm not a petrolhead.
I like cars, but...



it takes afterburners
to really turn me on.

Ah, so you're an airhead?

I grew up wanting to fly.
Why didn't you?

Peter Pan never met his Tinkerbell?

I was diagnosed with atrial septal
defect as a baby. Never knew that.

Stuff she doesn't know - well, well!

A heart murmur stopped you flying?

Stopped me doing lots of things.
Started a few as well.

Made me very interested in hearts.

I'm flattered. By what? You choosing
to share your fantasies with me.

Your unfulfilled flying fantasies.

He was trying to make me look bad.

'He was trying to be provocative.'

You didn't brief him
to stir things up, did you, Jean?

Just a little controversy
to add some spice?

'Absolutely not, Leo. You were great.

'You always raise the level
and that's what gets to Murray.'

Yeah, well. I was glad to take part.

'Thanks, Leo.'
Bye.

Do you have anything else
wrong with you? No.

Did you ever have mumps?
Shall I just fill in a questionnaire?

Well, ask me a question then.
No, no.

HELICOPTER ROTORS WHIRR

What the hell is that noise?

WHIRRING GETS LOUDER

I think he's in trouble.

HELICOPTER ROARS OVERHEAD

ENGINE WHINES

Get in the car!

SCREAMING

I'm about a mile north of the A345
junction with Ridmead Road.

A very large helicopter
has come down.

Stay on the line.

Are you OK?

My name is Dr Harry Cunningham.

I was just passing... I think
this is a major, major incident.

Yeah, come quickly.

It's...there's a lot of smoke.

I'll get closer and try to tell you
what's going on. Wait a second.

Casualties... Is there anyone here?
Double figures. Multiple.

Hazards from aviation fuel, multiple.

Lots of burns, I would imagine...

Fuel... It's all right, I fell over.

INAUDIBLE OVER ROARING FIRE

Harry!

SCREAMING AND WAILING

Go, go,
the ambulances are coming, go.

FEEBLE SHOUT

Harry!

Hello?

Harry! I'm Harry,
what's...what's your name?

Stay with me.

Stay with me.
Stay with me. Stay with me!

Survivor! It's not my...fault.

It's not your fault.
It's not your fault. Help is coming.

Andrew, stay with me. No, no, no!

SIRENS WAIL

I'm Dr Alexander.

We were on the road there.

There are body parts everywhere.
How close were you?

It came right over us. Did you see
or hear an explosion, pre-impact?

Not pre-impact.

Yankee Delta Control
to Yankee Delta One. Over.

Confirm air crash at Ridmead.

Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on.

Come on.

Help!

OK...

Harry!
Vasha!

My friend, Vasha. Vasha!

Vasha! Are you all right?

Vasha! Give me a description
of her! A description!

Vasha! Vasha!

Harry!

Sierra Oscar...

So what's the story?
He's in the fire.

Who are you?

I want you to come away from here.

The pilot's dead.

Get him away from here.

I need to talk to you.

I'm Dr Cunningham. I'm a pathologist.

Sir, we need you over here.

Miss?

I've lost someone.

Sorry, I'm a pathologist.

You're probably not going to be
wanted for a while. We called it in.

Our control's going in
that building up there.

You might want to base yourself
nearby. Excuse me?

These people living here.
Who are they? Detainees.

Asylum failures.
What'll happen to them?

They'll be got off the site
any time.

Harry?

Hey!

Hey!

Please...
I can't, I'm sorry, I can't.

You'll stay in there.

THEY PLEAD IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Sorry, guys...

PHONE VIBRATING

Fold, sorry.

What's up?

Leo, turn the TV news on.

Wait a second, will you?

TV: ..has crashed at the Ridmead
Detention Centre outside London.
Where are you?

I'm there, Leo, with Nikki.

Have you been paged?

I haven't been paged.

Where is this? 'Outside London.'

Is it on our patch?

I haven't been called.
PAGER BEEPS

Wait a second.

Er, I have to phone the Home Office.

'They've arrested me.'

What did you just say?
They've arrested me.

Ha...

TV: Representatives from the MoD
and RAF are currently on site...

No, it's impossible to make anyone
out in all this smoke. Dr Murray.
Dr Nikki Alexander, pathologist.

You're a pathologist? Yeah.

I'm from the Pathology
Partnership Practice.

Who sent for you? Sir...

Sorry.

OK.

This site is sealed, sir.

Take me to whoever's in charge,
will you?

MoD's in charge, sir.

All right. Take me to the MoD.

Leo Dalton, pathologist.

Home Office. I'm Colvin, MoD.

APM Renshaw, RAF. This is
Ministry of Defence property.

I understand the site
is leased to the Home Office.

I also understand that my team are
already here, can I see them, please?

Dr Harry Cunningham,
Dr Nikki Alexander, where are they?

Help me!

Help!

Leo, thank Christ!

Are you detaining one of my team?

Pending your arrival.
I don't understand.

He was found on the flight deck.
The site had been cleared once.

I was looking at the flight...

The site is restricted
for security reasons.

Absolutely no need
for this bollocks!

Harry, what have you landed us in?

What, another joke?

Do you drive around at weekends
looking for things to happen?

What were you doing on the
flight deck? Where's Nikki?

What were you both doing there
anyway? We were on a picnic.

Pathologist.
Who's your bronze commander?

There's a pathologist here already.

What? Dr Murray.

Professor Dalton.

What brings you
all the way out here?

He must be on call
for the local coroner.

I'm not going to work with that man.
You know him? Oh, yes, I know him.

I'm looking for the coroner.
You've found her - Patricia Darlow.

Leo Dalton, pathologist.

Dr Murray is...

I was called by the Home Office. It's
their facility. I have a pathologist.

We're here to help.

Oh, OK, I understand
that your mortuary's full.

We'll set up a temporary one.
Nobody likes that in this situation.

I have facilities. This is my site.

We can bring the bodies up to London.

Into another coroner's jurisdiction?
This is a major incident.
We have to stay flexible.

The rules are very tight. We can't
tie up the public mortuaries.

Have you asked the police what
they prefer? We can cope!

Where are you going to get
a forensic anthropologist from?

Are you a forensic anthropologist?
No, I'm not, but she is.

Can we speak? Yes, of course.

Where the hell have you been?

He was detained.

Do you know how many bodies
are out there, roughly?

Um, 20-something.

The inmates were
pushing these at me.

They've been cleared,
none too nicely.

But they're only asylum seekers.
Asylum refusals awaiting removal.

This is some kind of
a secure holding centre.

Once you've ascertained that the
survivors are OK, then I become the
senior medical officer on site.

If the RAF claim the wreck site
as theirs, I don't want
to get into a fight.

The air accident people
will be here soon
and we all have to work together.

Harry... What? Can't I go outside?

Can we just stay together?

Where were you? I looked everywhere.

I was on the flight deck.

I found the pilot. He said it wasn't
his fault. He survived?

No.

He knew my name.

How? No idea.
Are you all right?

Dr Murray, as far as he's concerned,
has said we can have the site.

Words to that effect.

The coroner's put us in charge.
We start as soon as the sun's up.

We've got four hours
before we can start identification.

Try and get some sleep.
I'm not tired.

Lie down. You'll be surprised
how tired you are.

Did you sleep?

Couldn't.

He wasn't trying to land.
He'd have been vertical if he was.

He was in a dive. Must have been
something wrong with the helicopter.

Maybe he saw a runway.
Helicopters don't...
Don't need runways.

But you need to be clear
of overhead power

and he'd need a hard piece
of ground, right? Yeah.

Where's Leo?

Did you get any sleep?

Some, thanks.

Did you not have your phone on
last night, Harry?

I called you twice.

Better get changed.

Did you see how these people
were living?

I know.
The camp was officially segregated.

It seems they were meeting outside
for sex.

Security may have found that was
the only way to manage the place.

Female, 19? No, not seen her.

Rotor damage. Blade fragment severed
the spinal column.

Quick, anyway.

AAIB?

That's me. Leo Dalton.

Almost finished our plot. Consistent
with rotor damage along three tracks.

There, there and there.
This is Dr Nikki Alexander.

John Sayer.
Air Accident Investigation Branch.

How soon will you move the wreckage?

Why? There could be victims
underneath it. Of course.

Er, we'll let you know.

Why exactly did they detain Harry
last night?

Um, I don't know.

I was told that they found him
in the remains of the flight deck.

He wouldn't move.

We were doing a survive check.

We'd split up so I didn't see.

Have the police come back with
the inmates' names yet?

They'll need immigration for that.

Had to get them out of bed, I expect.

They should be here
when they start lifting.

RADIO: ..from the accident last night
when an RAF helicopter crashed
at a site near Ridmead.

The site was apparently
being used as a removal centre

for failed asylum seekers.

A Home Office spokesman
has yet to confirm

the number of detainees
at the camp - a former RAF base.

The RAF insists they are
dealing with an accident

involving one of their aircraft,
not a criminal event.

They say the aircraft was not
attempting a landing at the base...

The AAIB needs a report, too.

Can we go first? We don't want them
disturbing anything. Sure.

There must be at least
one other body.

Hold it!

Not her? No, male.

Photograph, please.

Last one then.

Do you know if it was air crew?

His clothing's burned away
but it doesn't look like it.

What did you say?

I asked if he was more air crew. Why?

We're not separating the bodies.

Yeah, I made an agreement.

The RAF are taking the air crew.
There were two pilots.

One pilot was killed instantly
when he was thrown clear.

They're focusing on the other pilot.

The bodies are never separated
on a site.

We bent the rules a little to
take the victims into the coroner's
jurisdiction. We never do it!

Calm down, will you?
Why did you agree?

The RAF are aviation
medicine specialists.

If the system wasn't under strain,
they'd handle all of this.

We will not get into a tug of war
about this. Harry...

What's the matter with him?

We assume he's not air crew.

We take him.

Why were you both out here
in the first place?

It wasn't a date
if that's what you're thinking.

Harry said something about a picnic.

Harry wanted to take me
to an air show.

Did you know that he grew up
wanting to be a pilot?

It's a relief to know that he
grew up. No, I didn't know. Leo...

You saw the way he walked off.

He might be in shock.

In which case,
I'd have to get him off site.

He's a pathologist attending
a major incident.
Why should he be in shock?

Not everyone who attends
a major incident watches it happen
in front of them.

Well, you're not in shock.
I didn't find the pilot.

What happened with the pilot?

I think Harry was with him
when he died.

Ah!

Keep an eye on him, will you?

I'll see you later in the mortuary.
Yep. You know where it is?

Hey!

Hey!

Shit!

You've got blood on your hair.

There.

Can you cut it out?

Did you try and resuscitate
the pilot? Yep.

Not too much.

It's starting, see?

REPORTER: Minister!

What's starting?
She's going to say, "Pilot error."

..except to pay tribute
to the rescue services,
who've done a wonderful job.

It's too soon to say, but it looks
like it might well be pilot error.

Minister...
No, that's all I have to say.

Is there a connection between
this accident and one in Iraq?

REPORTERS SHOUT QUESTIONS

What's going on?

That was a great dinner, by the way.

Thanks.

We were on our way to dinner
last night?

Oh, right, yeah.

Can you remember what we were doing?
Yeah.

Are you OK to drive?
Why wouldn't I be?

RADIO: The camp was holding failed
asylum seekers pending removal
from the United Kingdom.

The helicopter was a new type
which the RAF said had
an excellent safety record.

How can a new type
have an excellent safety record?

It's an upgrade.

Same platform. New avionics.

Leo Dalton, pathologist.
The coroner's officer?

OK. Take him down.

Follow me.

Thanks. OK.

Why are we here again?
We have to sign off the victims
or they can't be moved.

Everyone's gone.

Leo Dalton. Was the coroner here?

They were all here, they've gone.
I'm the coroner's officer.

We've come from Ridmead. I know.

We're here to sign your papers.

Mrs Darlow did explain to you.

In here, please.

We've used site,
not mortuary numbers. Understood.

This lot ran over a landmine.
Came in yesterday.

Harry!

So this is a military mortuary?

A military PM suite.

We're not allowed to use
the hospital's facilities.

I'll need all your signatures.

I don't know how we'd have coped.

I'm glad to help.

Iraq? Afghanistan.

Can you give us a minute?

Yeah, sure.

He said my name.

The pilot?

I thought it was my friend.

Harry...

Did you say anything?

I said...

Stay with me, stay, stay, come on.

I said, er...

I have a very close-knit team.

RADIO: ..no reasons
to ground the helicopter,

which is in active service with
the RAF in Iraq and Afghanistan...

..said that, while it was a
tragic accident, it had indeed
contributed to a bad week...

..and that any terrorism could
almost certainly be ruled out...

..and whether there was any
connection between the camp
being a former RAF base...

Yeah, there was a wallet with my
credit cards and maybe ?20 in cash.

Mmm-hmm, that's all.

The account number I gave you.

No, I don't think the
PIN numbers were with the wallet.

OK. Thanks.
What's happened to your wallet?

Doesn't matter.
What were you looking at?

Military air accidents
involving helicopters.

The last time a British one of these
went down, we had the same thing,

the minister making statements
about pilot error before anything
could be established.

You can't have a conspiracy to
cover up an aircraft accident.

It would involve too many people.

You're not a secret
conspiracy theorist...

You don't need to be to stuff
responsibility for things they get
wrong down the chain of command

onto the shoulders of people
who cannot answer back,
especially if they are dead.

Like this pilot.

You call that politics?

Call it what you like,
it doesn't matter.

So you're back to whether we treat
the dead worse than the living.

Harry?
I'm busy, Leo.

Harry! Let it go, Harry.
You have a job to do.

For Christ's sake, get off my back!

The dead have rights,
Leo, and as you've observed,

they're connected to us
in a great number of ways.

TV: The bodies of four
British soldiers killed

by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan
were returned to the UK yesterday.

Lieutenants Michael Ashford and
Brendan Lee and Sergeants Geoffrey
Kilroy and Anthony Bride

were killed when their Land Rover
was hit by an IED,
an improvised explosive device.

It is one of the most
deadly terrorist weapons being used

against coalition forces.
PHONE RINGS

The question of whether the army
has the right equipment to deal
with the threat they face...

Hello?

I thought you might be overseas.

Listen, I really need to see you,
today if possible.

Yeah?

Hold on.

OK, yeah, I know it.

OK, I'll see you then.

Harry Cunningham! Simon Kilbert!

Your hair looks shorter.
You just look terrible.

A board of enquiries convene
at the first possible moment after
an accident, often the same day.

They'll be calling you if you're
an eyewitness. They already have.

Is it an exclusively RAF enquiry?

The RAF handles its
own investigations.

They make a recommended finding
to high command, who can overrule it.

Wasn't there a stink
about a recent finding?

Yeah, and they're not allowed to
bring in verdicts of gross negligence
against dead air crew anymore.

There was a minister on site
talking about pilot error.

How could she know that?
She couldn't.

So, why say it?

The RAF has to send a signal to
any squadron operating the aircraft

within hours of an accident
in case they need to ground the type.

So, she was told to blame the pilot

so they don't have to
ground planes in theatre?

Simon? I'm not a politician,
so I can only assume.

They'd have to stop or curtail
troop movements in combat zones.

Pilot error is what they say
whenever there's no evidence
for anything else.

Mechanical failure, et cetera.

It doesn't necessarily mean
the pilot made a mistake,

it just excludes mechanics,
navigation and hostile action.

Did you know
Flight Lieutenant Malcolm?

I flew with him.
He was a friend, great guy.

Loved sailing.

Said he had to choose between a wife
and a boat, and he was sticking
with the boat for the time being.

And a good pilot?
Yeah, one of the best.

Bear in mind he was authorised
to fly air displays.

What was he like?

Meticulous, but he was the squadron
expert on electronic warfare.

He flew by the book. Unless it was
a special forces job,

then he flew by the
seat of his pants, brilliantly.

And you did that with him?

Many times.

Listen, Harry, even the best pilots
make mistakes.

You don't believe that Andrew
flew into level ground

on routine transit
back to base from an air show?

I don't know what he did,
but we sign up and we take the risks.

When things go wrong,
we end up with the responsibility,
not the people flying desks.

And we live with that.

Some of us'll end up dead,
and we live with that, too.

Pilots don't complain,
even dead ones.

So I'll undermine the armed services
by trying to protect
Malcolm's reputation?

We don't ask to be singled out.

How will you
protect his reputation, Harry?

Do you know what caused him to go in?

When I heard a politician
saying what she said
without any investigation...

It pissed you off. You could say.

I admire the work you do just as much
as I think you admire the work I do,

but neither of us works magic, Harry.

No-one expects us to.

I thought it was you
when I found him.