Episode 04. The Sunningdale Mystery.

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First broadcast 6th November 1983.  As business has not been brisk, the Beresfords select a case from the newspapers.  Francesca Annis as Tuppence Beresford James Warwick as Tommy Beresford Reece Dinsdale as Albert Batt Denis Lill as Hollaby Junior Emily Moore as Doris Evans Edwin Brown as Hollaby Senior Terence Conoley as Major Barnard Denis Holmes as Mr Lecky Robin Parkinson as Landlord Dorothea Phillips as A.B.C. Waitress Martin Rutledge as Cyril Vivienne Ritchie as Girl Jim Wiggins as Ticket Collector

Transcript

00:30Oh

00:50Good Lord

00:53Albert

00:55Yes, mr. Beresford do we by chance have any scissors

01:05Scissors a

01:07Two bladed instrument with handles at one end

01:11works by leverage

01:14Pivots in the middle jolly useful for cutting paper and things

01:22Thank You Albert my pleasure gap

01:25Mrs. Beresford not gonna be with us today. Oh, yes, but she said she had an important appointment first. Ah

01:33Something the matter you're not cutting through the feature page are you gov? Oh, I don't think so

01:38Well good cuz there's an article on the rat. I

01:42Didn't know you were interested in animals

01:45It's a film

01:47Starry night for novella. Oh, I see. I'm gonna make a sequel the triumph of the rats

01:53Fascinating

01:55You like I've all novello. Do you he's highly talented? Yes. Well, I really must try and see him

02:01Oh, you won't be disappointed, sir

02:09I say Oh, Mrs. Beresford. What a chick tip for I didn't think you'd notice you mean you hoped we wouldn't

02:17So that was your important appointment

02:23In South Milton Street and I just couldn't resist South Milton Street

02:28That's a bit pricey, isn't it being busy without me? Have we Albert? No fires the grave

02:36Sort of I think you'll find the page 17 is the one you're after

02:42Mrs. Beresford and I are going out for some lunch now, but so if anyone comes with a problem for blunts brilliant detectives

02:49I

02:50Simply won't wait. You'll find us at

02:53the Ritz try again

02:56That nice little place in Soho our local ABC shop

03:03How else are we going to afford that splendid new hat

03:16Excellent

03:19Couldn't be better

03:21Why does grace with a simple life come upon you be patient all will come here. I

03:29Wonder now whether one of these haughty damsels will condescend to notice us

03:36Excuse me

03:41Spend it

03:42She drifts this way

03:45Darkness the subconscious mind is seething with such matters as ham and eggs and pots of richly brewed tea. Yeah

03:53Pork chop Brussels sprouts garden peas, please miss. Oh and some fried potatoes a

03:59large coffee and a roll of butter

04:01And a plate of tongue plate of tongue chop and fried to veg large coffee R&B

04:06No, this gentleman will just have a cheesecake in a large glass of milk. Oh

04:11Cheesecake glass of milk anything else?

04:15I

04:16Was completely uncalled for

04:20But I hate milk

04:22Cheesecakes are always so yellow and bilious looking. If you're going to be simple, you might as well do it properly

04:28Jolly good stuff cold tongue now then Tommy. What's this really all about?

04:33I'm not sure I want to tell you should I call her back and order rice pudding instead. No, no cheesecakes are perfect. Thank you

04:40All right, well first of all and speaking in a strictly unofficial capacity

04:46Business isn't too brisk at the moment

04:48In fact, it just about doesn't exist

04:51Yes, that's the problem in a nutshell

04:53But I have applied my mind to it the solution is simple and I venture to say quite brilliant

04:59I'm on ten thousand if business won't come to us. We must go to business

05:04Sort of Mohammed in the mountain

05:07What an original thought Tommy which brings me to the point the Sunningdale mystery the Sunningdale mystery

05:14Now, this is a portrait of Captain Antony Cecil as it appeared in the Daily Leader

05:21You know, I wonder someone doesn't sue these newspapers sometimes. I mean look at that photograph. It's so blurry

05:26I mean you can see it's a man and that's just about

05:30Feminine vanity

05:33Be that as it may when I said the Sunningdale mystery, I should have said the so-called Sunningdale mystery

05:40Enigma to the police perhaps but not to the intelligent mind

05:45Meaning you've solved it already

05:47No, not exactly

05:49Right a tongue

05:53Cheesecake

05:55Glass of milk

05:59Well, go on suddenly, I don't feel very hungry. No. No, I mean Captain Cecil. No, I see

06:07Well, it was about three weeks ago that the gruesome discovery was made

06:16A young couple were enjoying an early round on the famous course. It was beautiful morning. No one else was about

06:25Oh

06:29Lord

06:36I'll help you

06:54They separated

07:00And then after a few minutes

07:08Even before the police arrived

07:10They knew it was Captain Cecil

07:13He was a well-known figure on the links and always wore a golf jacket of a particular shade of blue

07:19Captain Cecil was often seen out on the course in the early morning practicing

07:24At first it was thought he'd had a heart attack

07:27but he hadn't a

07:28Doctor's examination revealed the significant fact that he'd been murdered

07:34Stabbed to the heart by a woman whose had been

07:39He was also found to have been dead for at least 18 hours

07:44Meaning he must have been killed the previous afternoon

07:48Precisely darling. It's rude to talk with your mouth

07:51Sorry

07:53Anyway, that put an entirely different complexion on the matter

07:57Now who's the last person to see Captain Cecil alive well apart from the murderer that is his close friend and business partner

08:05Mr. Wilfred Hollaby of the porcupine assurance company

08:13What had happened was this

08:16Cecil and Hollaby were enjoying a last round of golf

08:23Cecil seemed in good spirits and was in excellent form

08:45Suddenly Cecil approached the 17th team Hollaby saw someone else

08:53a

08:56Woman appeared there's a public footpath that crosses the course. She must have used it. She was very tall and dressed in brown

09:07Hollaby was astonished to see Cecil and the woman talking together

09:13Shall be a minute

09:16They walked off in deep conversation the footpath there leaves the course they disappeared

09:24Two

09:27Other players were coming up the course

09:39Then much to Hollaby's relief Cecil reappeared

09:45Are you all right?

09:48Yes, of course

09:53We

09:55Let's get on

10:14Yeah

10:17But clearly

10:19Cecil wasn't all right

10:21Not only did he fusel his drive badly, but he also seemed worried on edge

10:30His golf was atrocious evidently something had happened

10:52The other two players were a major Barnard and mr. Leckie

11:02They were preparing to play off the 17th team when they noticed something strange happening in front of them on the fairway

11:21I

11:26Say that

11:40Well, that's good

11:42If I can say never seen in place of that. Are you lucky never?

11:46Is it not feeling? Well, you seem fine when we started

11:52I

11:54There was a woman

11:57Caught a glimpser tall creature dressed in brown. She seemed to be waiting for him

12:04They went off together. What was it? She wanted

12:09Wish I knew as far as we can tell they were the last people to see captain Cecil alive

12:21Mm-hmm finished. Have you oh, yes. Thanks

12:27Well Tubbins

12:28Well, what do you think?

12:31Is there a mrs. S? Yes, but she was aware at the time visiting friends children

12:37no, so a

12:39Couple who looked after their cottage

12:42But it was their day off. They spent it in time. Who else might have had a motive

12:47No one apparently and the police

12:50Rather baffled

12:52Uh-huh, which brings us back to the mysterious woman in brown. Who was she?

12:57No one knows

12:59Don't worry. It'll only take me half an hour

13:01What will I packing of course bound to need a few more clothes clothes?

13:05Oh, you surely don't expect me to appear on a golf course dress like this

13:09So we're going to be Muhammad after all are we we are going to be whatever you say my darling

13:14And whatever it takes to find the mysterious woman in brown

13:18Mark my words. She's the key to this murder

13:29I'm just wondering about Doris Evans. Yes, she's short fair and

13:36Nothing like the woman in brown

13:40Everything it seems the police have charged her with the murder. Oh

13:45Dear as you say, oh dear

13:49But there's one thing I'm sure of absolutely convinced, but you won't finish packing in anything like half an hour

14:14Oh

14:33Sure, this is right for stunning Dale positive

14:37Don't worry. It's my own way nice to drive less traffic

14:41Always used in the old days old days

14:47Often used to come down here to play

14:51Poor Tommy poor have I caused you to give up lots of things

14:59Nothing that I miss truly truly

15:03You'd say

15:05You know I would

15:07besides think of all the lovely things life

15:11Okay

15:27Yeah, what do we know about Doris Evans not much

15:32Except that she's been charged with murder

15:34She denies it of course, but she's been committed for trial on what evidence

15:39Circumstantial but pretty damning

15:42You see when Cecil's body was examined. They found a strand of fair hair caught in his fingers

15:48Twisted around one of the buttons of his coat were a few threads of flame-colored wool

15:54Wasn't much to go on but the police were pretty thorough in their search diligent inquiries led them to the railway station

16:08a

16:17Young fair-haired girl in a flame-colored coat and skirt had arrived on the afternoon of the murder

16:32Excuse me

16:33Could you tell me where I can find captain Anthony Cecil's house captain Cecil's yes miss

16:38It's about half a mile down the road a cottage on the left lays back a bit. You can't miss it. Thank you

16:48But two hours later the girl appeared at the station again

16:52Her hat was arrived and her hair badly tousled

16:55She seemed in a state of great agitation

16:58Looking at her shoulder as if she was afraid of something or someone

17:05How soon is the next train back to town with this slender evidence to go on they managed to track it down

17:28Good evening, sir evening madam evening, but like you're nicest accommodation, please

17:49I think we can do you madam

17:52Yes, what luck the Jolly Huntsman sweets just happens to be available Jolly Huntsman

17:58you hello

18:02If you wouldn't mind signing sir, certainly

18:05By the way, are we being blunt or Beresford today? I have no idea. What do you think? I don't know

18:11You choose. Oh, no you

18:16Tricky yes, how about this good idea

18:21Mr. And mrs.

18:24Beresford blunt perfect

18:28Would you have some tea sent up, please? Yes, certainly mrs. Yes, madam at once. Thank you

18:39Oh

18:41I am glad we came here. You are clever Tommy only doing my best

18:46Oh, I am glad we came here you are clever Tommy only doing my bit

18:52How's the view stunning?

18:58Absolutely stunning

19:00Oh

19:14You really want to hear it, of course, I mean no, how else am I going to get a feel for the case?

19:20What you wait? Oh, please

19:23Yeah

19:24Well, all right

19:27Doris is always stuck to her original statement. Yes

19:30Even under the closest questioning. It's never varied. Mm-hmm. Don't see you listening. Of course

19:36Got it

19:39Well, go on you talk I'll unpack but that'll take ages not if you stick to the point

19:48All right

19:50Well concentrate happens because I'm only going to say this once quite right

19:54But Doris Evans is young

19:57Unmarried and rather pretty a good time gal. Oh, no far from it. She's a typist by profession very respectable

20:04quite so

20:06Which makes what happened all the more inexplicable?

20:09One evening about a month ago. She went to the cinema

20:15Yes, what was the film I

20:17Don't know. Did he is it relevant might have been

20:21Well, whatever the film was she went to the flicks

20:27Oh

20:45Thank you

20:57Would you like one I beg your pardon

21:08Thank you

21:18And that was all until the program had ended

21:26Oh

21:38All right, isn't it? Yes

21:47Might I offer you any assistance not unless you can make it stop

21:56I'm afraid that's beyond me. However

22:00In which direction you go

22:03That way

22:05So

22:08Well, the least I can do is to prevent you from getting drowned I should probably catch my death

22:16My name is Cecil Anthony Cecil

22:21I'm Doris Evans. How'd you do?

22:27I

22:29Well

22:39This is thank you

22:41He seemed a perfect gentleman

22:44So when he suggested a visit to a tea shop before catching her bus Doris was happy to agree

22:56He

22:59Told her he had a cottage at Sunningdale

23:01When Doris asked if he was married he said no

23:05He was a widower

23:07She liked him

23:09He was charming his manners were impeccable

23:14He suggested they meet again Doris didn't hesitate to say yes

23:19So it was arranged that she should come down to Sunningdale on her next afternoon off

23:24Doris was excited and flattered

23:27She had always liked

23:29older men

23:31So the following Wednesday

23:33Doris duly arrived

23:36She soon found the place

23:54But

24:07The visit turned out quite differently from what you'd expected

24:16Well, it's you

24:20Weren't you expecting me

24:24Ah

24:26Yes, of course

24:29You'd better come in

24:32I

24:49You hungry yes, let's eat

24:54Is

24:58Anything wrong nothing I am what

25:04Is that somewhere I could put my coat Oh

25:09Anywhere will do

25:11You

25:23Please sit down

25:38It's a bit remote here

25:42Yes

25:44It's the servants day off

25:48So we are quite alone

26:01Are you partial to him

26:05Sometimes

26:07Good

26:10Very good

26:15Must have been quite a shock for her

26:18So she says a bit what she'd imagined poor Doris and fancy him pretending not to be married

26:25Then what?

26:26Cecil continued to behave oddly

26:29So much so that Doris began to wish she'd never come not surprised

26:33But what caused her to appear at the station in that terrible state?

26:36That came later. Don't rush me

26:39I'm trying to tell the story as Doris insists that it happened and you're doing it wonderful

26:45Thank you

26:47Anyway, they finished the meal and afterwards Cecil suggested they go for a walk

26:53Tuffins

26:55What on earth are you doing?

26:58Need a hand

27:04Are you sure you can hear me

27:06Oh

27:08Look darling

27:19They left the cottage and took the path of the back leads directly to the golf course

27:28Cecil had lapsed into silence. He strode ahead quickly Doris found it hard to keep up

27:35As they were coming down the footpath leading to the 17th team

27:40This is it

27:43We go no father. I don't understand

27:49What you talking about

27:53They're bound to get me I

27:55Was a fool to think otherwise

27:57What's the point in trying to hide anymore?

28:00I'm ruined

28:08I shan't go alone never alone

28:20One bullet for you a second for me

28:30That is the story Doris Evans tells and from which she has never once varied

28:39She strenuously denies ever having struck at him with a hat pin in self-defense

28:44Although given the circumstances it would have been a

28:47Natural enough thing to do I suppose

28:50Anyway there for the moment it rests what about the gun I

28:55I

28:58Beg your pardon I

29:00Said what about the gun according to the story Cecil waved a gun at her

29:05Yes, yes a gun was found the next day lying in some bushes next to the body it had not been fired

29:12I see so that would support Doris's story wouldn't it possibly

29:17Although if we believe her and you have to admit it is a pretty big if who was it killed captain Cecil

29:24Was it the other woman the woman in brown whose appearance so upset him so far?

29:29No one's explained her connection with the case quite right

29:33Who was she?

29:34Was she a local resident, or did she come from London if so did she come by car or by train?

29:39Oh, what's the matter I?

29:42Was just thinking if she came down by car. She might have stayed here. Oh, that's hardly likely

29:47I don't suppose so but horrid thought there mm-hmm

29:50One thing is certain she couldn't have been Doris Evans because Doris is short and fair and was only just arriving at the station

29:57the one

29:59Cecil's what mrs. Cecil's a short woman to besides Hollaby knew her well remember

30:05You'd have recognized at the moment. She appeared on the course

30:09Although one further piece of evidence has come to light the porcupine insurance company

30:16Hollaby and Cecil's business

30:18It's in liquidation

30:20The accounts reveal that for years there has been the most daring misappropriation of funds

30:28Embezzlement

30:29Precisely neither Hollaby nor his son had any idea what was going on his son. Yes, Hollaby's son is in the business, too

30:36Now apparently they're practically ruined. I see so the case stands like this

30:41Captain Cecil was on the verge of discovery and ruin

30:45Suicide would seem a natural way out

30:47A man doesn't stab himself with a hat pin. I know that's what's so baffling

30:52I keep coming back to the woman in brown. Do you think she killed him? I don't know one thing

30:59I'm certain of she didn't do it

31:01Doris Evans what makes you so sure well look at her

31:04She's got bobbed hair only one woman in 20 uses hat pins nowadays long hair or short hats fit tight

31:10They pull on hadn't you noticed

31:13Perhaps she had one by her idea boy. We don't keep them as heirlooms

31:16What on earth would you brought a hat pin down to Sunningdale for?

31:21No, you're right it isn't logical it just doesn't fit

31:29Then it must have been the other one

31:31The woman in brown. I wish you hadn't been so tall then it could have been the wife

31:35I always suspect wives are away at the time and couldn't possibly have had anything to do with it

31:40If she'd found her husband carrying on with some girl

31:43It would have been quite natural for her to go for him with a hat pin. I shall have to be careful. I see

31:49Just just a joke

31:52Good heavens, I've completely forgotten something. What's that?

31:56It's all ours, and we haven't eaten yet

31:59You must be starving

32:01Tommy

32:03Would you mind terribly?

32:05Just this once we missed dinner tonight. Oh, I suppose I could try and bear it

32:10Only I don't seem to have much of an appetite. No

32:13Not now you come to mention it

32:15Neither do I

32:17On the other hand. I don't feel particularly sleepy. I don't either

32:22tricky

32:25Let's try and think of something

32:40You

33:01What sort of man with Captain Cecil really have we in the idea I look respectable

33:07outwardly

33:08Fellow of the community all that sort of thing

33:12Murders are not business. No, I don't mean the murder anyone's capable of that even you and I

33:19No, I mean the stuff with Doris Evans. That's what puzzles

33:24Picking her up like that. Why should he do it?

33:27Why should she do it?

33:29Perhaps he led a secret life the original whited sepulcher

33:34No, I don't think so

33:38I wonder what the Cecil's were really like

33:43What do people say about them

33:45As far as I can make out they were very popular local committees good works where they happy

33:51Supposedly devoted to each other. He's an ex-soldier, you know good regiment

33:56Came into a fair bit of money and retired early

33:59They came down here and he went into this insurance business with the Hollabies the porcupine insurance company. Hmm

34:06He was the last man in the world apparently whom anyone would have suspected of being an embezzler

34:12Like you said it just doesn't fit

34:17Come on

34:23Not hungry darling tuck in

34:28Absolutely certain Cecil was the crook who else could have embezzled the money

34:33By the holidays, but they say they're ruined

34:36Oh, they say perhaps they've hidden it all away in a bank under some other name Oh

34:41somewhere anyway

34:43Look suppose they'd been speculating with the money all the time and Cecil didn't know

34:50Suppose they lost it all what well it happens

34:53It would have been jolly convenient for them that Cecil died when he did

34:56So you're accusing this respectable gentleman of murdering his close friend and business partner. Why not?

35:03Because my darling wife you seem to forget that Cecil parted from Hollaby in full view of Barnard and Leckie

35:12And then Hollaby spent the rest of the evening entertaining friends at home

35:17Hmm bottle indeed

35:19Anyway, there's the hat pin. Oh nuts to the hat pin

35:22You seem to think the hat pin points quite inevitably to the crime being committed by a woman doesn't it?

35:28No

35:29You men are impossible. You are notoriously old-fashioned simply no imagination

35:34Oh, I say it takes ages to rid you of silly preconceived ideas

35:38For example example hat pins and hairpins being associated with a female sex are always called women's weapons

35:45Seems quite logical to me, but so unimaginative

35:49Why I haven't used a hat pin or a hairpin for the last four years

35:53No

35:55No, that's true

35:59Then you think it was a man that killed Cecil the hat pin was used to make it seem like a woman's crime

36:07Tell me you're a golfer, you know the Sunningdale course you've been there lots of times

36:12well, not as a detective searching for clues, but as an ordinary member playing a

36:18playing a

36:19rant

36:20Tubbins are you saying you know, it's liable to put a man off his game

36:24Oh

36:30No, I haven't got time

36:46Good morning morning, sir. Would you put these in the car, please?

36:54Thank

37:01You sir, thank you

37:10Sorry, I kept you. Oh, don't worry

37:15It was worth it, I suppose I ought to have a set of clubs no one will notice

37:24I

37:26You

37:50Let's get the sequence right

37:52We're Barnard and Leckie playing up towards the 16th green a Hollaby and Cecil are up there

37:58And clearly make out Cecil's bright blue golf jacket

38:02now

38:03What exactly do we see?

38:17Suddenly Cecil approached the 17th tee

38:23She was very tall and dressed in brown

38:35Something's wrong

38:38Why didn't they see her before

38:43Who

38:44Barnard and Leckie

38:45She hadn't crossed over from the ladies course. They'd have noticed and it's strange. They didn't see her on the footpath before

38:52I

38:54Wait a minute

38:58Come on

39:22I thought so

39:37Very good

39:52I

40:00Don't understand

40:02Don't you see?

40:03This huts out of sight of the course

40:06Anyone could wait here until the right moment came and then appear just as she did

40:12Yes

40:15Perfect

40:18For someone to change their appearance

40:22Tell me would it be very difficult for a man to look like a woman and then change back to being a man again

40:31Depends

40:33It would only need to look real from a distance I

40:37Can see it happens I think I know how it was done a minute and a half at the outside

40:52I

41:01That's what Hollaby saw not a woman in brown but a man dressed as a woman

41:10That's why she was so tall

41:14She and Cecil went off they disappeared and that's when it happened

41:22The murder you can leave a body over there and it'd be pretty certain to lie hidden till morning

41:27But surely someone would have heard

41:32Death must have been instantaneous

41:35I've seen men like that die in the war. They don't cry or call out

41:41Just a gurgle or a man

41:45Funny little cough

41:52Imagine it Cecil goes up to the 17th T. The woman appears

42:13Shall be a minute

42:22I

42:43The murderer then takes the blue jacket off the body returns to the hut to get rid of the disguise

42:52From this point on Barnard and Leckie never see Cecil's face

42:56And the blue jacket they know so well

42:59They never doubt that it's Cecil

43:02But he doesn't play Cecil's brand of golf

43:07They all say he played like a different man

43:10Of course he did he was a different man

43:13Wasn't Cecil who picked Doris Evans up at the cinema and invited it down here

43:18Wasn't Cecil who brought on to the course and scared the life out of her it was a man calling himself Cecil

43:26Doris Evans wasn't arrested until a fortnight later

43:31She never saw the body

43:34If she had she'd have immediately destroyed a carefully laid plot

43:39It was all a blind

43:41strands of fair hair and the threads from her coat remember

43:44She was lured down here deliberately

43:47and cunningly framed

44:03Must have been after Doris had run off the murderer returned to the hut took off the blue jacket

44:10retrieved the disguise

44:12And went to put the blue jacket back on Cecil's dead body

44:42I

45:12Wait a minute

45:13There's something wrong

45:15What's that?

45:17Hollaby

45:19Hollaby now I'll admit the Barnard and Leckie couldn't see if it was Cecil or not

45:23But you're not going to tell me that Hollaby the man playing with him couldn't see his face my dear old thing

45:29That's the whole point

45:31Hollaby knew you guessed it yourself and if we're right

45:37Hollaby and his son were the real imbeciles

45:39And they'd worked out the whole plot together

45:42I

45:57The woman in brown was Hollaby jr.. Who then returned to the course as captain Cecil

46:12Oh

46:30Are you all right? Yes, of course

46:34Let's get on

46:56So when he left his father he went straight to the cottage to lie and wait for Doris

47:01so

47:03Hollaby's son was the murderer

47:06Yes, it's about the same age as Cecil and the same height

47:12He knew the cottage would be empty and was in a perfect position to get an impression of the key

47:17He never appeared at the inquest either. Why should he nobody thought to inquire where Hollaby's son was that fatal afternoon?

47:26Or what he was up to

47:28So Doris Evans actually met Hollaby jr.. Pretending to be Cecil

47:34And if she'd seen his photograph in the newspaper, well the quality is so poor. There's no chance of recognizing him exactly

47:43At last it all

47:47First up Scotland Yard and make sure the blunts brilliant detectives get the credit they deserve

47:53And home for a meal and a quiet evening alone

47:56I

47:57Bet you agree. Yes

48:00Not another evening is a nightclub or some boring old play

48:06What then I

48:10Just wondered if we might stop off on our way home that is

48:15Yes

48:16At that dear little place in South Milton Street. I found

48:21You don't mind do you?

48:23mind

48:25You deserve it

48:55You

49:25You

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