The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1986–1988): Season 2, Episode 1 - The Devil's Foot - full transcript

Almost there.

What does a Harley Street
specialist know about my health?

Listen, Holmes, Doctor Moor Agar
insists you have a complete rest

if you wish to avoid
an absolute breakdown.

The sea air will do
you the world of good.

You should have
traveled alone, Watson.

Nonsense. You're on holiday.

Why it's wonderful,
Holmes, wonderful!

The views are spectacular.

Well we're looking at the most dangerous
piece of coastline in the country.

Your friend is a natural
historian I presume?



An old acquaintance
from my college days.

I'll see to the luggage.

Thank you.

Good day to you, sir.

I thought as we were
going to be neighbors

for the next few weeks. I ought to
say a few words of welcome.

How very kind.

And of course I've
long wanted to meet.

Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
It is indeed a pleasure, sir.

Thank you but I'm
Doctor John Watson.

Come in.

This is my good friend
Sherlock Holmes.

A thousand apologies,
I should have realized.

Do come in Mr. Roundhay.



Very stupid of me.

How did you know my name?

You have an interest in
archeology do you not?

Why yes.

Deduce, Watson, go on.
Deduce.

You've got mud on the
points of your shoes

and beneath your knees

and on the fingers
of your right hand...

Splendid, splendid.

Which indicates that you've knelt on
the ground for a length of time.

Oh Watson, you're coming
along marvelously.

You're a left-handed gardener.
You're a student of archeology.

You've published a paper over theories
surrounding the neolithic burial rites.

You are the Reverend Francis
Roundhay, vicar of the parish...

Astonishing, sir.

Please sit down.

But left-handed?

The hand with which
you hold the troll.

Exactly right. Precise in every
detail but how sir? How?

Vicar, vicar vie...
the parish magazine has...

The village is nearby?

Oh yes just along the coastal path.

It's secluded but it
caters for all our needs.

I suppose is that the
nearest habitation?

No, no, the Tregennis Estate
is about a mile inland.

Very nice people

and I'm sure they'll extend to you
some fine Cornish hospitality.

However, I've imposed enough
upon you for one day.

Perhaps you'd care to come and
have dinner with me

one evening at the vicarage.

Oh then we should impose
upon you and your family?

Oh no alas, I have no family I live
alone except for Mr. Tregennis,

who has a suite of
rooms in the house.

But does he not
live on the estate?

A family dispute.

His sister and two brothers live
there but he chooses to live apart.

Do you know dinner
at the vicarage

is a splendid idea.

We must arrange a date...

Yes, well of course gentlemen.
Good day to you.

Good morning.

Cornish hospitality.

Weathered pitted slabs of granite.

Ancient tombs scattered throughout
the lengthened breath of this peninsula.

Like the sea.

I suppose death is always with us.

Quite so.

Quite often during those days in
Cornwall, Holmes would stride out alone.

The mystery and
glamour of the place

with its sinister atmosphere
of forgotten nations

appeal to the imagination
of my friend.

He spent much of his time in
long walks and solitary meditation.

One morning however,

my friend's convalescence
was violently interrupted.

Gentlemen I urge you
to consult the police.

Holmes is a sick man.

Yes but getting better
all the time, Watson.

This is a matter of some emergency.

Mr. Holmes. Mr. Holmes.

We can only regard it
as a special Providence

that you should chance
to be here at this time,

for in all England, you are
the one man we truly need.

I tried to explain to
Mr. Tregennis and Mr. Roundhay

that you're in convalescence.

Yes I'm sure they'll be very
sympathetic. Please sit down.

Thank you.

The fact is as I've explained
to Doctor Watson,

the most extraordinary and tragic affair
has occurred here during the night.

You have my full attention.

Perhaps I had better
say a few words first.

This is Mr. Tregennis
of whom I spoke.

Now Mr. Tregennis spent last night

in the company of his brother,
George and Owen,

and his sister Brenda at their
house of Tredannick Wartha.

He left them, playing cards
around the dining table in

excellent health and spirits.

But on his return this morning

he discovered a truly
bizarre state of affairs.

All three both alive and dead,
retained upon their faces

an expression of the utmost horror.

Dead?

A convulsion of terror.

It was dreadful to look upon.

Was there any sign of
anyone else in the house?

Only Mrs. Porter,
cook and housekeeper.

She had slept deeply and
heard no sound in the night.

Is anything missing, disarranged?

Nothing, Mr. Holmes.

What could possibly frighten
a young woman to death

and two strong men
out of their senses?

Yes what indeed.

Well I'm sure, Holmes,
that the local police

would have reached
some conclusions.

However, erroneous they may be.

Holmes.

Think. Tell me about
last night, Mr. Tregennis.

Well Mr. Holmes.

I supped there,
as the vicar has said

and my elder brother George

proposed a game of
whist afterwards.

It was a quarter-past
ten when I moved to go.

Who let you out?

Mrs. Potter had gone to bed
so I let myself out.

The window of the room in
which they sat was closed,

but the blind was not drawn down.

There was no change in door
or window this morning,

nor any reason to think that any
stranger had been to the house.

Yet there they sat,

driven clean mad with terror.

I'll never get the sight of that room
out of my mind so long as I live.

Yes, the facts are most remarkable.

Mr. Tregennis do you have
any theory of your own

which might account for them?

It is devilish.
Devilish, Mr. Holmes.

It is not of this world.

Well the matter is beyond humanity.
It is certainly beyond me.

I trust so, Holmes.

Now think. Think very carefully
Mr. Tregennis,

about the evening that
you spent together.

Does anything stand
out in your memory

which might throw some
light upon this tragedy?

There is nothing, Mr. Holmes.

Were they nervous people?

Did they ever show any
sign of apprehension?

Not to my knowledge, Mr. Holmes.

Then there's nothing in
which you can assist me.

There is one thing occurs to me.

As I sat at the table my
back was to the window,

and my brother George

he being my partner at cards,
was facing it

I saw him once look
hard over my shoulder,

so I turned round
and looked also.

The blind was up
and the window shut,

but I could just make out
the bushes on the lawn,

and it seemed to me for a moment

that I saw something
moving among them.

I couldn't even say if
it was man or animal,

but I just thought
I saw something there.

Did you not investigate?

Well the matter
passed as unimportant.

Did you have any
premonition of evil?

None that I was aware of.

How did you hear the terrible news
so early this morning?

I am an early riser. Generally take
a walk before breakfast.

This morning I had hardly started

when Doctor Richard overtook me
in his carriage.

Mr. Tregennis.

I've just heard an urgent message
from your sister's house.

What's happened?

I'm not quite sure, sir,
but you'd better come with me.

She's been dead at least six hours.

No signs of violence.

But how?

I've never seen the like, Mr. Tregennis.
Not in all my years has a...

You all right?

I've got you. Here. Over here.
There we go.

We nearly got him on
our hands as well.

Where are you going Holmes?

Tredannick Wartha without delay.

With your permission, Mr. Holmes.
I'll go on ahead.

Thank you vicar, quickly otherwise
we'll be there before you.

Holmes, I must protest.

Save your protestations for later,
Watson. Much later!

I gather you were divided
in some way from your family.

Oh yes sir, Mr. Holmes.

Well the matter is past
and done with.

All was forgiven and forgotten
and we were the best of friends.

We were a family of
tin-miners at Redruth,

but we sold out our
venture to a company,

and so retired with
enough to keep us.

I won't deny there was some bad feeling
over the division of the money.

It stood between us
for a number of years.

Nevertheless.

You decided not to leave Cornwall?

I supposed I entertained some hopes
of returning home one day.

Holmes!

Holmes, stand back!

My brothers.
They're taking them to Helston.

It's a lovely house, Mr. Tregennis.

It's a very sad house.

This is the window through which
you saw the shadow form.

Approximately what distance
was it from the glass?

I'd say not less than ten feet.
With a guess,

about here.

There's no sign of a forced entry.

And the window, of course,
would have remained locked.

My sister made sure of that.
Even in Cornwall...

So dreadfully sorry.

It's quite all right, Mr. Holmes.

An accident.

Thank you.

Could you let Mrs. Porter
know I'm back?

I should like to
meet the housekeeper.

Of course.

Oh but please try to avoid
causing further distress.

Death is always distressing,
Mr. Tregennis.

Ah, the chairs.

Well they must have been moved
after the police left the house.

That one here, Mr. Holmes.

One over there. This one here.

This one over here.

Has anything else been moved?

All is as I remember it.

You must understand there was a
great deal of fuss and confusion

when I arrived this morning.

Things may have been moved without
thought given to their significance

in a criminal investigation.

Criminal? That is
a very interesting word.

So you no longer subscribe to the
theory of a supernatural explanation?

I don't know.

Where were people sitting?

I sat here facing Georgie,
my brother George.

Brenda sat next to me.
Owen across from her.

Oh that's curious.

What?

I mean from this position

the figure outside of the window
must have been well over six feet.

I can only tell you
what I saw Mr. Holmes.

Ah, this is my housekeeper,

Mrs. Porter.

I'd like you to meet
these gentlemen, my dear.

She was so beautiful.

So beautiful.

She is still very upset.

We're all very upset Mr. Roundhay.

Come and sit down.

I will not stay in this house
one moment longer than I have to.

So I shall rejoin my family...

But you're part of our family.

The family Tregennis is dead, sir.
Dead or as good as.

I'm still alive.

Mrs. Porter.

Excuse me now, Mrs. Porter.

My name is Sherlock Holmes

and I'd like you to tell
me all that you know.

Mr. Holmes is a detective.

He's going to try and find out what
happened to Brenda, don't you worry.

Please, leave nothing out.

I can tell you very
little, Mr. Holmes.

Ah, you've been cheating.

I am not cheating.

Owen will you tell your dearest
sister to play by the rules.

Well she's your sister too.
You tell her.

But she's on your side.

It's rather late and I do have to
get back to the vicarage.

Mortimer you must stay
here for the night.

Oh please say you will.

Well?

Don't force him to stay
if he doesn't want to, Brenda.

Oh really.

I thought we'd put an
end to our squabbling.

Mortimer is just as much my
brother as you and Georgie.

Don't worry, dear brother.
I know where I'm not welcome.

Why visit us at all,
You disowned us,

or have you have forgotten?

It will be all right now, Beth,
if you wish to retire.

Is Mr. Tregennis
staying with us tonight?

Why? Do you also object to my
presence, Mrs. Porter?

Mortimer!

I want to know should
I air your room, sir?

Sorry.

Thank you, Beth.
That'll be quite all right.

Mr. Tregennis will not be staying.

Very good, Miss Brenda.

Is it customary to have a fire in
the room at this time of year?

It was a cold and damp
night, Mr. Holmes.

Well I must say I...
I thought it was rather humid.

Oh I suffer with a mild blood disorder,
feel the cold on even warm nights.

I know how you feel.

Ah, Mrs. Porter,

was the door to this room closed
when you left this morning?

Oh certainly, sir,

Nightingale as they
sing in the valley below.

As they sing...

When they were covered
I threw wide the window

to let in the morning air.

Then I run down to the lane and
sent a farm lad for the doctor.

And the rest I think you know, sir.

Mrs. Porter's right.
She's very beautiful.

Yes but something's missing.

Tregennis is lying about a mild blood
disorder. I'll state my reputation on that.

Was he?

Watson. Watson.

Look at this.

That's very unusual.

It won't do! It won't do!
Three people grievously stricken

by some conscious or
unconscious human agency.

Now, when exactly
did this event occur?

They're finished playing cards.

It was past their usual hour
for bed.

The panel of the chairs had not
been pulled back from the table.

Then it must have been

only moments after
Tregennis left the house.

Exactly.

Your conscious, of course,
I've managed to obtain

a clear impress of his foot.

Yes I guess something...

Haven got a sample print.

I could pick out his
tracks among the others

and follow his boots.

For the length of his stride
he returns swiftly to the vicarage.

Tregennis disappeared then

almost instantly some other person
affected the card players.

How can we reconstruct
that person?

But is there any
evidence really, Watson

that anyone did creep
up to that window?

The only suggestion
comes from Tregennis,

who says that his brother reacted
to some movement in the garden.

Then how was this impression
of horror conveyed?

You're Mr. Sherlock
Holmes the detective.

And you are Doctor
Leon Sterndale,

the great lion-hunter and
famous African explorer.

Have you made any progress?

Some.

The county police
are utterly at fault.

Tell me what you know about the
fate of the Tregennis family.

What is your interest,
Dr. Sterndale?

My claim to be taken
into your confidence

is that during my
many residences here.

I have come to know this family
of Tregennis very well.

Indeed upon my Cornish mother's side
I may call them cousins.

So their strange fate has naturally
been a great shock to me.

Do you know of anything that could
help us out in the inquiry?

Nothing at all.

I may tell you that I had
got as far as Plymouth

upon my way to Africa
when news reached me.

I came straight back here
to help in any way I can.

Did you lose your boat?

I will take the next.

That is friendship indeed.

I tell you they were relatives.

Did your baggage go on with boat?

Some of it, but most of it
remained in the hotel.

Well surely this
event could not have

found its way into the
Plymouth morning papers.

No, sir. I received a telegram.

From whom?

You are very inquisitive, Mr. Holmes.

It is my business.

The vicar, Mr. Roundhay sent it
recalling me to...

I see.

May I ask if your suspicions
point in any particular direction?

Well I can hardly answer that.

Then I'm wasting my time.

To work the brain without sufficient
material is like racing an engine,

it cracks itself to pieces.

Wait for me at the cottage.

Where are you going?

Cheer up, Watson!

Sea air, sunshine, patience,
all will be revealed.

Mr. Holmes. Mr. Holmes.
Mr. Holmes.

Mr. Holmes, we are devil
ridden, Mr. Holmes.

My poor parish is devil-ridden...

What has happened?

Dead about three hours I'd say.

Same symptoms exactly
as Brenda Tregennis.

Limbs convulsed, fingers contorted

as though he died from a
very paroxysm of fear.

That it should happen under my roof.

Has his bed been slept in?

Oh yes, most definitely.

Who opened this window?

My housekeeper, she was the first
into the room this morning.

Where is she now?

Oh she's taken to her bed with a
severe headache, no doubt.

Greatly affected by the shock.

I am most terribly sorry
to inconvenience you in this way.

I know you both came to
these parts to rest but...

It isn't easy with Holmes around.

He likes nothing better than to sink
his teeth into a problem of this sort.

But two deaths, Doctor Watson,
in the space of two days.

This is the work of the devil,
make no mistake.

Put your faith in the known and
tangible, Mr. Roundhay.

I trust nothing has been
touched, sir?

No, everything's exactly as it was.

All right then. I'll need a statement
from you and your housekeeper.

But, I'm afraid
she's still rather ill.

Check upstairs.

Who are these gentlemen?

Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes and
Doctor Watson from London.

I've heard of you Mr. Holmes.

I'd appreciate it if you would leave
this inquiry to the official police.

As you wish.

I do sir.

I'm sorry.

Would you direct the
inspector's attention

towards the window upstairs
and the lamp on the table?

Each is suggestive.

Together they are almost
conclusive. Watson.

Good afternoon.

Good luck.

What on earth are you doing?

An experiment to test a theory.

Isn't that the lamp that
was in Tregennis' room?

Yes and no.

I see you bought an identical one.

I purchased it from a delightful
little shop in the village.

That's where you've
been all afternoon.

There is a single
point of resemblance

in the reports that we've heard.
Now this concerns of the effect

on the atmosphere of the room

upon those who first entered it.
First Doctor Richards, then Mrs. Porter.

And Roundhay's housekeeper
was taken ill this morning.

In each case,

there is a combustion
going in the room.

In the first case, a fire.
In the second, a lamp.

Now the fire perhaps was
necessary, but the lamp was lit

when it was already broad daylight.

The comparison of the
oil consumed in this

and Tregennis' lamp
proves that point.

But why?

Something was burned

producing an atmosphere and
causing a strange toxic effect.

In the first instance,
that of the Tregennis family

a substance was placed in the fire

and the fire would carry the fumes,
to some extent, up the chimney.

Only Brenda Tregennis, was closest
to the fire was killed.

Her brothers were
exhibiting that lunacy,

which is evidently the
first effect of the drug.

The other case, of course,
the result was complete.

So it's a poison,
which works by combustion?

Yeah.

The obvious place to look

was the smoke-guard of the lamp
in Tregennis room.

There, sure enough. I perceived
a number of flaky ashes

and round the edges a
fringe of brownish powder,

which had not yet been consumed.

Half of it I took, the other half
I left for the police.

We will see

if we can reproduce the same
effects with our own lamp.

Oh no, Holmes, that's insane.

I cannot force you to stay
but I mean to have the answer.

Of course I shall stay.

I thought I knew my Watson.

Would you open the door please?

Now would you like
to just sit there?

Are you ready?

You must stay clear Mr. Holmes
or be trampled underfoot.

Holmes! Holmes!

Holmes!
Holmes, can you hear me?

For God's sake can you hear me?

Done!

Thank God you're all right.

That was a stupid and
dangerous thing to do.

We could have been killed.

It was an unjustifiable experiment,
even for myself,

doubly so for a friend.

But really I'm extremely sorry.

All the evidence points
to Tregennis being the criminal

in the first tragedy
and victim in the second.

Yes, if anyone else
would have come in,

the family would have certainly
risen from the table.

Then Tregennis' own
death was suicide?

That will be Doctor Leon Sterndale.

Would you let him in, Watson?
Thank you.

Please come in, Doctor Sterndale.
Seems you're expected.

I had your note about an hour ago.
But let me state directly,

I don't take kindly to
being summoned by anybody.

I thought it better to
discuss the matter here.

No risk of eavesdropping.

I fail to see, sir, what you can
have to speak about

which affects me personally
in the most intimate fashion.

The killing of Mortimer Tregennis.

I have lived so long among savages
and beyond the law

that I've got into the way
of being a law unto myself.

You would do well, Mr. Holmes,
to remember that

for I have no desire
to do you any injury.

Nor I you, Doctor Sterndale.

But surely the clearest proof of it
is that, knowing what I know,

that I have sent for you
and not for the police.

If this is a bluff
upon your part, sir,

you have chosen the wrong
man for your experiment.

No, no, no the bluff is upon your
side not upon mine.

Now I will tell you the facts
upon which my conclusions are based.

Of your return from Plymouth,

allowing much of your property
to go out to Africa,

I shall say nothing
except that it informed me

was that you were
one of the factors,

which had to be taken into account
in reconstructing of this drama.

This telegram from the hotel
confirms what you told me.

Now when we last met,

you asked me whom I suspected
and I refused to answer you.

Then you departed
but you didn't go home,

oh no Doctor Sterndale,
you went to the vicarage

and you waited there for some time.

How do you know that?

I followed you.

I saw no one.

That is what you may expect to see
when I follow you.

You spent a restless night.

You made certain plans

and then in the early hours you
proceeded to put them into action.

You returned to the Vicarage.

Collected some distinctive red
gravel from the cliff path.

The house by now was daylight

but the inhabitants were
not stirring.

You threw some of the red gravel
up at the window of Tregennis.

Sterndale.

I must speak with you urgently.

This hour? The doors are locked.
The housekeeper has the keys.

It is of the utmost importance!

You entered through
the sitting window.

You had an interview a short' one,
and you walked up and down the room.

He withdrew as you had come.

You wearing the same pair
of studded walking shoes,

which at the present moment
are upon your feet

and Mortimer Tregennis was dead.

The ring you gave Brenda Tregennis.

Yes.

Yes.

Brenda Tregennis.

For years I loved her.

For years she loved me.

There is the secret of
the Cornish seclusion,

which people so marveled at.

It brought me close to
the one person on this earth

who was dear to me.

I couldn't marry her,

for I had a wife who
left me for whom,

by the deplorable laws of England,
I could not divorce.

For years Brenda waited.

For years I waited.

And this is what we waited for.

Roundhay knew.

He was in our confidence hence
his telegram to me at Plymouth.

What was my baggage
or Africa to me

when I learned that such a fate
had befallen my darling?

There you have the missing clue
to my actions, Mr. Holmes.

I understand that you sir,
are a doctor of medicine?

Have you ever heard of
"Radix pedis diaboli"?

Devils foot root.
No I can't say that I have.

Well there's no reflection
upon your professional knowledge

for I believe that save for one
sample in a laboratory at Buda,

there is no other specimen
in Europe.

It is used as an ordeal poison

by the medicine men in certain
districts of West Africa

and it is kept as a secret by them.

You already know so much,
Mr. Holmes,

it is clearly to my interest
that you should know all

I have already explained

the relationship in which I stood
to the Tregennis family,

There had been quarrel about money,
which estranged this man Mortimer,

a sly, subtle, scheming man,

but for Brenda's sake,
I was friendly with her brother.

Then one day a few weeks ago,
he came to my cottage

and I showed him some of
my African curiosities.

Among other things,
I exhibited the Devil's foot.

Poison you say? Fascinating.

You wouldn't think so
if you were to try it.

The smallest amount could be fatal.

In this powder form, it reacts
instantaneously when burned.

It stimulates those brain centers,
which control the emotion of fear.

Madness or death is the fate of
the unfortunate native

who is subjected to the ordeal
by the priest of his tribe.

Can it be detected?

Not by European science.

A few days later,
my cottage was broken into

but since nothing seemed to have
been taken I gave the matter no heed

until Mr. Roundhay's telegram
arrived at Plymouth.

This villain, Mortimer,

had thought that I would be at sea
before news reached me,

and that I should be
lost for years in Africa.

But of course I returned immediately

and I could not hear the details
without being assured

that it was my poison,
which had been used

and that Mortimer Tregennis himself
was the murderer.

My soul cried out for revenge.

You murdered her!

For money you murdered
your own sister.

You can't prove that, no jury in
the land will believe you.

I'm my own jury, Mr. Tregennis.

Judge, jury and executioner.

I lit the lamp.

I put the powder above it.

In five minutes he died.

My God! How he died!

But my heart was flint,

for he endured nothing.

Which my innocent darling
had not suffered before him.

You can take what steps
you like, Mr. Holmes.

But there can be no man living
who fears death less than I do now.

What were your plans?

I was intending to bury
myself in Central Africa.

My work there is but half done.

Go and do the other half.

I, for one, am not
prepared to stop you.

God bless you,

both of you.

Not for the first time, Holmes,

you presume to take the
law into your hands.

I have never loved

but if I did,

and if the woman I had loved
had met with such an end,

I might act even as our
lawless lion-hunter has done.

Wouldn't you?

Yes, I suppose so
but that's not the point.

The point is why should I do
the work of the official police?

And as your very fond of
telling me, I'm on holiday!