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deaddogsdam
  • 20/05/2025
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

Category

📺
TV
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