He Died with His Eyes Open By Derek Raymond

Oldtuberadio

Part 1 Burn Gorman plays a detective investigating a brutal murder in 1980s London. He has little to go on except for the cassette diaries left by the victim, played by Toby Jones. Fragments of his life, recorded at different times, punch through into the present, and supply the detective with elusive clues to the true nature of the man's fate. Part 2 Through a series of encounters with the people who knew him alive, and through the cassette tapes he left behind, the detective builds up a picture of Staniland, the 51-year-old victim whose case he is investigating because nobody else wants to. It leaves him so consumed by empathy that he is led down the same destructive path as the victim. Part 3 The case has left him so consumed by empathy that he has wilfully walked the same self-destructive path as the victim (Toby Jones), even entering into an affair with the deadly ex-girlfriend (Tanya Franks). As he re-traces the deceased's final steps, he risks becoming the next victim.   Do you enjoy the variety on Oldtuberadio? Like, Share and Subscribe to be notified of our new shows #radio #crime #thriller #drama To Support this channel please visit https://www.buymeacoffee.com/oldtuberadio https://ko-fi.com/oldtuberadio98 https://www.patreon.com/oldtuberadio https://locals.com/Oldtuberadio

Transcript

00:00:00We've cult crime drama on Radio 4

00:00:07and a new adaptation of Derek Raymond's

00:00:10He Died With His Eyes Open.

00:00:12The setting is the chill of Thatcher-era London

00:00:14and the atmosphere, hard-boiled and violent from the beginning,

00:00:19with Berne Gorman and Toby Jones.

00:00:27He died with his eyes open.

00:00:30By Derek Raymond.

00:00:33Dramatised by Nick Perry.

00:00:37Part One.

00:00:42Sir?

00:00:44What kept you?

00:00:45That's left. Another go slow.

00:00:48Christ.

00:00:49What was it this time?

00:00:50Asking to work between tea breaks, right?

00:00:53We found the body.

00:00:55Bloke over there with the uniforms.

00:00:57So he was walking home from the pub,

00:00:59nipped behind the edge for a slash,

00:01:00nearly fell over the geezer.

00:01:02Have a look.

00:01:04What are you talking, sir?

00:01:05Over time.

00:01:06The first glance I'd have said a derelict.

00:01:11His eyes were open.

00:01:13The surfaces peppered with the kind of grit that the wind hurls at you off London streets.

00:01:18Both his arms were broken,

00:01:19and one leg.

00:01:21His head had been battered in below the hairline,

00:01:24and his brains had slopped down his left cheek into the mud.

00:01:27His face,

00:01:30what was left of it,

00:01:31wasn't a strong face,

00:01:33but one that had seen everything

00:01:34and not made sense of it until it was too late.

00:01:38I'd seen plenty of violent deaths,

00:01:40but never anything worse than this one.

00:01:43So what do you think?

00:01:44I think they weren't joking.

00:01:47More than one of them?

00:01:48I'd say so.

00:01:49And they didn't do it here neither.

00:01:51There's hardly any blood under the body.

00:01:53Yeah, I noticed that.

00:01:54Probably not a robbery, then.

00:01:57It's systematic.

00:01:59They worked him over,

00:02:00either for informational revenge.

00:02:02Then they dumped him.

00:02:05Mint.

00:02:06Thanks.

00:02:08Anything on him?

00:02:10The IHSS papers.

00:02:12That's all.

00:02:14Charles Loxley Alwins Scandaland,

00:02:17born 12th of the 6th, 1931.

00:02:21Makes him 51.

00:02:23Quite a moniker.

00:02:25Upper crust, by the sound of it.

00:02:27Crust on his upper's more like.

00:02:29State of it.

00:02:30Drinker.

00:02:31Got a drinker's nose.

00:02:33There's a pathologist, Ben.

00:02:34Caught up in traffic.

00:02:36So's the ambulance.

00:02:37Bloody has left.

00:02:39Maggie wants to sort that lot out.

00:02:40Then the miners.

00:02:42I'm going back to the factory.

00:02:44Already?

00:02:45I've been in acting two hours.

00:02:47It's long enough for anyone.

00:02:48You can have this one, alright?

00:02:51Not for serious crimes, is it?

00:02:53Fine.

00:02:54Fine.

00:02:56What he meant was, there was no glory here.

00:02:59No promotion.

00:03:00No press conferences with the TV there.

00:03:03No national manhunt.

00:03:04For every one of that type of murder, there's a dozen others, unimportant deaths of people

00:03:10who don't matter and never did.

00:03:12People like Stanland.

00:03:15Those are the cases we pick up at A14.

00:03:17The Department of Unexplained Deaths.

00:03:21That's why we're the most unpopular and shunned branch of the service.

00:03:25We do everyone else's dirty work.

00:03:27And they hate us for it.

00:03:32Yes?

00:03:32Have you got a moment?

00:03:36Ah, Sergeant.

00:03:38Charles Loxley, Alwyn, Stanland.

00:03:41Have you done the post-mortem yet?

00:03:43I have, yes.

00:03:44You'd better come through.

00:03:50Stanland, Stanland, Stanland.

00:03:53Ah.

00:03:58Behold the man.

00:04:01So what did he die of?

00:04:03Everything.

00:04:04Fracture of the left kneecap.

00:04:06Multiple fractures of the right tibia.

00:04:08Bruising to the medulla.

00:04:09Dislocation of the left shoulder.

00:04:11Third and fourth ribs cracked on the same side.

00:04:13Somebody had a go with a knife, too.

00:04:14There's a long gash up his right arm.

00:04:16Say a 12-centimetre blade.

00:04:18Extensive bruising to the face.

00:04:19Most of his fingers were broken, so you might say they rather worked him over.

00:04:23But none of these things actually killed him.

00:04:26So what actually did?

00:04:28Blow to the head.

00:04:31Frontal lobe.

00:04:32See?

00:04:33Delivered with something like a builder's two-pound hammer.

00:04:36A lump hammer, I think they call them.

00:04:39Mind you, he was in poor condition to begin with.

00:04:42Cirrhosis of the liver.

00:04:43Emphysema.

00:04:44Maybe they did him a favour.

00:04:46Thanks, I do.

00:04:47I'm joking, Sergeant.

00:04:49Just trying to lighten the mood on a dull winter's day.

00:04:52Yeah, well, maybe one day you'll have your head smashed in

00:04:54and we can all have a good laugh about that, too.

00:04:56What do you think?

00:04:59Anything else I can do for you, Sergeant?

00:05:01You can give me the time of death.

00:05:02Our best guess would be between 6pm and midnight on Friday the 16th.

00:05:07Okay.

00:05:09So your thing is, Davies,

00:05:10if you don't take murder seriously,

00:05:12then what do you take seriously?

00:05:13I had it back to the factory.

00:05:30If you want to know,

00:05:31it's the big concrete police station on Poland Street

00:05:34opposite Marks the Sparks.

00:05:37That was the West End from Tottenham Court Road

00:05:39down to Trafalgar Square

00:05:40from Marble Arch to High Park Corner.

00:05:43The villains call it the factory,

00:05:45so we call it that, too.

00:05:47Something to do with what goes on

00:05:49in the interrogation rooms, apparently.

00:05:52Hold him up.

00:05:53I wonder where you're inside and I'm coming again.

00:05:55Go away!

00:06:00I'll get it.

00:06:05Yes?

00:06:06What?

00:06:07That was you.

00:06:09Warm in there, isn't it?

00:06:11You what?

00:06:12You seem to be sweating, sir.

00:06:15What do you want, Sergeant?

00:06:17I was wondering if your blokes had searched Stanleyland's flat.

00:06:21Who?

00:06:22Stanleyland.

00:06:23The murder victim.

00:06:26The body, Acton.

00:06:28Is this what you interrupted me for?

00:06:30I thought we'd agreed it's a derelict death.

00:06:32Why?

00:06:33Look, just go and shuffle a few papers,

00:06:34fill in the forms,

00:06:35get down to the pub like everyone else.

00:06:37I'll see you in there.

00:06:38All respects, sir,

00:06:39but you know that's not my approach.

00:06:41Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

00:06:42I'd like to see justice, sir.

00:06:44Justice.

00:06:45You're a burp.

00:06:47You're faulty, you're a sergeant,

00:06:49and you actually despise promotion.

00:06:51What bloody hell was I thinking of?

00:06:52Biggest mistake of my career, bringing you one.

00:06:55I thought you had potential.

00:06:56You're a prat.

00:06:58So have they searched it, or haven't they?

00:07:00What do you think?

00:07:01I'll go down there.

00:07:03That's right.

00:07:04You go and have your little seance.

00:07:06You do your thing,

00:07:07I'll do mine.

00:07:08I took the 436 to Lewisham,

00:07:13the address on Stonyland's DHSS papers.

00:07:16Romley Place.

00:07:19Lewisham, please.

00:07:20Cocktail.

00:07:21Yeah.

00:07:21Go to go.

00:07:22Please go.

00:07:23Thank you, Newt.

00:07:25My way type, please.

00:07:27I read the paper on the way over.

00:07:31There was a load of stuff about Lady Diana being up the duff

00:07:33and some politician making a speech criticising everyone but himself.

00:07:38There was nothing about Stonyland.

00:07:41Stonyland wasn't news.

00:07:43Romley Place is what you might call a clever area.

00:07:51The milkmen don't deliver and the coppers walk round in pairs.

00:07:55And there I was, all on my lonesome.

00:07:58Hello there, this is number 23.

00:08:01Excuse me, boys.

00:08:02Sorry, can I get past?

00:08:03Where are you going, mate?

00:08:05You don't live here.

00:08:06I'm going to visit a friend.

00:08:07Yeah, what friend?

00:08:08He's going to visit Charlie, I bet you.

00:08:10No, you know Charlie, do you?

00:08:11He ain't home, mate.

00:08:13Any idea where he is?

00:08:14He ain't nowhere.

00:08:15He's been murdered.

00:08:17Has he?

00:08:18How do you know that, then?

00:08:20Just heard.

00:08:21You're police, ain't you?

00:08:22That's right, yeah.

00:08:24You've got some bollocks walking down the street on your own.

00:08:27Did you know Charlie, then?

00:08:29Not really.

00:08:30He was just some old piss head, wasn't he?

00:08:31Oi, copper.

00:08:33I said you've got some front coming down here.

00:08:35Yeah, why is that, then?

00:08:36This is a no-go area.

00:08:38Is that right?

00:08:39Yeah.

00:08:40What's so funny?

00:08:41Oh, come on.

00:08:41Turn it up, Scar.

00:08:43But Scar had a knife in his hand.

00:08:45Oh, Scar.

00:08:46I hate knives.

00:08:47Oh, Scar.

00:08:47I hate them worse than guns.

00:08:49I didn't think he'd try anything, but there was something about his eyes that looked wrong,

00:08:53and then he just came in fast with it.

00:08:54Come on, man.

00:08:55I tried blocking his arm with a blade cut straight through my anorak and nicked the skin.

00:09:01So I leaned in and stamped very hard on his right instep.

00:09:04He fell backwards onto the doorstep and winded himself.

00:09:08And while he was writhing around and trying not to cry, I picked up the knife.

00:09:12One more streak out of you and I'll come back with a van load of my mates from the SBG.

00:09:17Run as soon.

00:09:18Clear off.

00:09:19Go on.

00:09:19Get off the streak.

00:09:20Go home.

00:09:21Go home.

00:09:21Stand-a-land's door had been forced, which saved me the trouble.

00:09:38Because I'd rather suspected the little shits had been in there before me,

00:09:41but I doubt if they'd found anything worth nicking.

00:09:44Don't worry, Stan.

00:09:47Stan-a-land's room was one of the most putrid I'd ever seen.

00:09:51It stank.

00:09:53The walls ran with damp.

00:09:55The floor was carpeted with bottles, unwashed dishes, filthy clothes, uneaten food.

00:10:02Books.

00:10:04Poetry, mainly.

00:10:06Neruda, Elliot, Milton.

00:10:09And cassettes.

00:10:11Boxes of mine.

00:10:12Could be I brought you to this dump, Charlie.

00:10:15A light by the bed had been left on.

00:10:19Next to the light was a cassette player with one of those little microphones attached.

00:10:24I pressed play and I knew straight away the voice was standing in.

00:10:31I took the night ferry to France.

00:10:35The moment I got back to Deux Jules, the first thing I did was burn all my daughter's clothes.

00:10:42All her books and toys has been left behind.

00:10:47It was the cost of my failure as a father and a man.

00:10:50I drank cold wine from the bottle of the firebird, destroying our past for us.

00:11:00My daughter's and mine.

00:11:03What are you doing?

00:11:04Oh, God.

00:11:05I'm whining into that bloody tape recorder again.

00:11:09Please, Barbara.

00:11:10I hate Barbara's spark.

00:11:21How can anyone so beautiful be so bloody?

00:11:26She laughed at me the last time I tried to make love to her.

00:11:29Oh, God.

00:11:32You're a clown, Charlie.

00:11:3651 years old and behaving like a lovestruck schoolboy.

00:11:41I opened the drawer of the bedside cabinet and found more tapes.

00:11:48And there were more inside shoeboxes under the bed and loose ones scattered around the room.

00:11:53I had another bad night in the Ashen Corps.

00:12:01Laughing cavalier I was in as usual.

00:12:06What the hell Barbara sees in him, I just don't know.

00:12:11He's got a face like a lorry driver who wants to overtake everything on the road.

00:12:15His great white forearms, like joints of uncooked meat, with revolting orange hair sort of sprouting out of them.

00:12:29Oh, God, he's repulsive.

00:12:32And yet she lets him put his arms around her and nuzzle her and make lewd suggestions to her right in front of me.

00:12:41Like, Barbara says I should do something about it if it bothers me.

00:12:47Well, maybe I will.

00:12:51Is that thing on?

00:12:53No.

00:12:58You know what I used to like?

00:13:02When we just used to lie here in the dark.

00:13:07Not touching.

00:13:08Side by side, looking up at the ceiling.

00:13:14And you tell me things.

00:13:16Yes, but I can't not touch you.

00:13:21God, it has to be worse than not having you here.

00:13:24I have to touch you.

00:13:28Barbara.

00:13:29All right.

00:13:30Come on.

00:13:32Let's see what you can do.

00:13:34We'll keep you quiet.

00:13:36Listen, you know what I really like now.

00:13:41It's a muzzle.

00:13:43You better get yourself a teddy bear then.

00:13:47It's just that I'm pretty frightened of life at the moment.

00:13:50I lay back on his bed, stared upwards into the dark, trying to focus on Stenieland.

00:13:56Trying to imagine him walking upright and alive, without his injuries.

00:14:01I'll knock the delicate lace of flesh.

00:14:13Detach the heart with a single cut.

00:14:17On the hinge of the ribs.

00:14:22Take down the long dress of muscle from the bones.

00:14:25And pause to boil the knives.

00:14:35And I suppose I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, there was a woman standing at the foot of the bed, looking down at me.

00:14:42At least I think there was.

00:14:44She was only there for a moment, and then she was gone.

00:14:46I mean, for all I know, I'd dreamt it.

00:14:50And by the time I'd dragged myself upright and gone downstairs to the street, she was gone.

00:14:55If she'd ever been there in the first place.

00:14:58So I washed my face, got some breakfast at the local greasy spoon.

00:15:04Take the pee, please, boss.

00:15:07Do you know a pub around here called the Agincourt?

00:15:09Agincourt, yeah.

00:15:10Henry of Agincourt.

00:15:11It's down there on Greenwich Lane.

00:15:13Okay.

00:15:13Thanks, sir.

00:15:16The Henry of Agincourt pub, as you might imagine, was a concrete bunker with medieval wooden beams painted on the front, surrounded by low-rise council flats.

00:15:29Morning.

00:15:30We're not open.

00:15:31Oh, sorry.

00:15:32The door was open, so I just came in.

00:15:33Well, you can just go out again, can't you?

00:15:35Okay, but I was hoping you'd be able to answer a few questions first.

00:15:39Are you for loose?

00:15:40That's right.

00:15:42Here's my warrant card.

00:15:43Shit.

00:15:46Look, if it's about last night...

00:15:48It's not about last night.

00:15:50What happened last night?

00:15:52Oh, nothing.

00:15:53Bit of a dust-up, that's all.

00:15:54Nothing out of the ordinary for this place, as I can believe it.

00:15:57So you're the governor here, are you?

00:15:59I am indeed.

00:16:01Do you know a man named Charles Staniland?

00:16:03I gather he was one of your regulars.

00:16:05To be honest, I don't usually know people by their second names.

00:16:08I see.

00:16:09Well, he was found dead yesterday.

00:16:11Here's his photo.

00:16:13But I warn you, it was taken in the mortuary.

00:16:17Jesus Christ.

00:16:20Do you recognise him?

00:16:21Yeah, that's Charlie.

00:16:22Sorry, when you said Charles, I didn't quite...

00:16:26When did you last see him?

00:16:28A while back.

00:16:30Three or four days, I reckon.

00:16:31He liked a drink, did he?

00:16:32What, Charlie?

00:16:33Not half.

00:16:35Christ, I made the right mess of him, didn't I?

00:16:38They?

00:16:39Yeah, I mean, whoever'd done that.

00:16:42Any idea who it might have been?

00:16:44Me, no.

00:16:45Do you have enemies, as far as you're aware, among your customers, for example?

00:16:49Well, I mean, who wouldn't in a place like this?

00:16:52Yeah, anyone in particular.

00:16:53Look, the thing about Charlie is he...

00:16:56He didn't really fit in round here, if you know what I mean.

00:17:01Like, when he'd had a drink, he'd start ranting on in his posh voice and got up some people's noses.

00:17:07I've had to bar him on more than one occasion.

00:17:09Anyone dislike him enough to kill him?

00:17:10No!

00:17:11No, no, no.

00:17:13Nothing like that.

00:17:14What about the Laughing Cavalier?

00:17:16The what?

00:17:17The ginger bloke, big, loud.

00:17:19Fancies himself with the birds.

00:17:21Charlie called him the Laughing Cavalier.

00:17:24Doesn't ring any bells.

00:17:25Orange hairs on his forearms.

00:17:26You must know it.

00:17:27Look, let me tell you something, Sergeant.

00:17:31I run a tight house here.

00:17:33Then it'd be a shame, wouldn't it, if the boys over at Lewisham decided to come down here one night and get everyone to empty their pockets.

00:17:39It's bad for business, that kind of thing.

00:17:40Okay, look, what exactly do you want?

00:17:44Charlie's girlfriend.

00:17:45What was her name?

00:17:47You mean Barbara?

00:17:48Barbara what?

00:17:49Spark.

00:17:50Good.

00:17:51Better.

00:17:52Describer?

00:17:53Blonde.

00:17:54Nice figure.

00:17:56Tits.

00:17:56Good looking?

00:17:57Cool, yeah, not half.

00:17:59Punching above his weight there, Charlie was.

00:18:01Who's the Laughing Cavalier?

00:18:03No.

00:18:05Look, please.

00:18:05What's his real name?

00:18:06I can't do it, Governor.

00:18:08On me life, I can't.

00:18:10Ask someone else.

00:18:12He's well known in these parts.

00:18:15All right.

00:18:17Just tell me this and I'll go.

00:18:19What does he do for a living?

00:18:23He's a builder.

00:18:27A blow to the head.

00:18:29Delivered with something like a builder's two-pound hammer.

00:18:32A lump hammer.

00:18:38Fireman.

00:18:43Sir, I'm going to need some assistance.

00:18:45Seems that Steneland kept some kind of diary on cassette tapes.

00:18:48His flat's full of them, so could you send a couple of blokes over to pick them up?

00:18:53They'll need cardboard boxes.

00:18:55Cardboard boxes?

00:18:56Yeah, or plastic bags.

00:18:58There's a lot of them.

00:18:59And if they've got time, when they get back to the factory, maybe they could start listening to them and noting down anything that might be of interest.

00:19:06Yeah, okay, fine.

00:19:08Listen, I...

00:19:10Well, you, um...

00:19:11You called me a bad moment yesterday.

00:19:14Right.

00:19:16Is that all, sir?

00:19:18Yeah.

00:19:19Got a letter today from my brother, so-called.

00:19:34I was following up every name on the tapes, so I went to visit Steneland's brother.

00:20:01So-called.

00:20:03He was his next of kin, after all.

00:20:08It wasn't difficult to find him, as unlike Barbara Spark, he was in the phone book.

00:20:12The address was a nice little bit of listed property on Cananbury Square.

00:20:17Must have cost a bloody fortune.

00:20:20Charlie, I thought.

00:20:23You came from money.

00:20:24Yes?

00:20:30Police.

00:20:31That's, uh, Mr. Grampian's Steneland living there.

00:20:34Yes, he does.

00:20:36Could I speak to him?

00:20:37Could I help?

00:20:38I'm his wife.

00:20:39Uh, well, it's concerning his brother Charles.

00:20:42Oh, God, what's he been up to now?

00:20:45I suppose you'd better come in.

00:20:48Could you put your cigarette out first, please?

00:20:50Of course.

00:20:52Grampian?

00:20:55Grampian, there's a policeman here who would like to speak to you.

00:20:59Please, go through to the living room.

00:21:01Thanks.

00:21:03Blimey!

00:21:04You wouldn't have to be at the antiques trade, would you?

00:21:06It's my husband's private collection.

00:21:09He inherited most of it from his family.

00:21:11They must have needed a castle to house this line.

00:21:14They had one.

00:21:15Ah, officer, uh, Grampian, Steneland.

00:21:20Good evening to you.

00:21:21Um, it's about Charles.

00:21:24Oh, no.

00:21:25What's he gone and done now?

00:21:27Well, I'm afraid he's gone and died.

00:21:31Good God.

00:21:32Whatever of?

00:21:34He was murdered.

00:21:35Oh, it doesn't surprise me in the least.

00:21:38Not in the least.

00:21:40Oh, Lord.

00:21:41Oh, dear.

00:21:43Do you know who did it?

00:21:44No, not here.

00:21:45That's what I'm trying to find out.

00:21:47Well, I rather doubt that we can be of any assistance.

00:21:50I'm afraid there was very little contact between Charles and ourselves in recent years.

00:21:55Apart from this letter, which I found in his flat.

00:21:58What letter is that?

00:22:00It's dated, uh, well, about six weeks ago.

00:22:02From me, is it?

00:22:03Yeah.

00:22:05I'll read a bit, shall I?

00:22:06Might jog your memory.

00:22:07Uh, dear Charles, I've thought it over and regretfully decided there isn't the slightest

00:22:12use in your coming over here and expecting any sympathy from us now.

00:22:16You chose a particular way of life, and it seems you're paying the consequences.

00:22:21It's simply unreasonable of you to expect us to foot the bill.

00:22:25Even if I gave you the money, you would only fritter it away on drink or one of those awful

00:22:29women you get so quickly.

00:22:30I'm sorry you've come to this pass, old boy.

00:22:34I would do something if I could, but my own business is in difficulties, and at times

00:22:38I hardly know where to turn.

00:22:40Betty sends her love.

00:22:41That's, uh, that's you, is it, Betty?

00:22:44Yes.

00:22:45Although I don't recall actually sending my love.

00:22:47And as you can see, he's written the single word,

00:22:50Crap.

00:22:51Oh.

00:22:52Just here at the bottom.

00:22:53That is his handwriting, isn't it?

00:22:55Uh, yes.

00:22:56I wonder if we oughtn't perhaps to ring our solicitor, Grampian.

00:23:00Oh, I'm sure that won't be necessary.

00:23:02That won't be necessary, will it, officer?

00:23:04No, I shouldn't thought so.

00:23:05Unless you think it might be.

00:23:07Do you think it might be?

00:23:08No, no.

00:23:09Good grief, no.

00:23:10Not at all.

00:23:14Lots of clocks.

00:23:16Yes.

00:23:19What would, uh, this one be worth, for example?

00:23:22The bracket clock, um, it's Victorian, good condition, at auction, perhaps 8,000.

00:23:27I'm not sure I see the relevance of that.

00:23:29I imagine that when you inherited all this gear, your brother was left something too?

00:23:32Oh, yes.

00:23:33Yeah, oh, yes.

00:23:34So he was quite well off at one stage.

00:23:36Yes, at one stage.

00:23:38Not cash, of course.

00:23:39Some equities, a few antiques.

00:23:43So, what happened to it all?

00:23:45Well, um, it's, it's quite complicated, really, but, uh, actually, I, I've got most of it here.

00:23:52Ah.

00:23:54And how did that come about?

00:23:56Well, you see, Charles, he lived a fairly nomadic existence, and, um, never really had any idea about money.

00:24:04Never really had any money, so.

00:24:06So you offered him cash for the law?

00:24:08Yeah, yeah.

00:24:09Hell of a job I had raising it, too.

00:24:10Interest rates, sky high.

00:24:12What was the sum involved?

00:24:14Well, that, that's a private matter, I rather fear.

00:24:18Oh, I'm sorry, is that an embarrassing question?

00:24:20No, it's not embarrassing.

00:24:21Why would it be?

00:24:22Well, it might be if you've stitched your own brother, mightn't it?

00:24:26Bloody cheek.

00:24:27No, no, Betty, please.

00:24:29Now, look here, you may be a policeman, but you can't simply march into someone's home and start asking you personally.

00:24:33His loan is not detestable.

00:24:34Who was your chief constern?

00:24:35How much, Mr Stanley?

00:24:36And how much did you pay him?

00:24:38We can continue this at the station, if you prefer.

00:24:40Of course, of course.

00:24:41Um, well, now, let me see.

00:24:45It was, um, something in the region of 30,000 pounds, I should say.

00:24:4930 grand?

00:24:50Yes.

00:24:52I used to work in the robbery squad, Mr Stanleyland.

00:24:54Looking around at this little lot, I'd say you've got something of a bargain.

00:24:57How dare you?

00:24:58Betty.

00:24:58Are you just going to stand there and put up with this?

00:25:00Well, what exactly would you like me to do?

00:25:02Sit down?

00:25:02Oh, don't be ridiculous.

00:25:03What did he do with the money, your brother?

00:25:05I really have absolutely no idea.

00:25:07Spent it, most likely.

00:25:09On what?

00:25:09Drink, women.

00:25:11Um, he had a place in France.

00:25:14A wreck of a place, by all accounts.

00:25:16And deux jours.

00:25:17He dragged his wife and daughter off there to live some kind of bohemian lifestyle.

00:25:21But, of course, you need money to do that.

00:25:23And that's when he came racing back to me.

00:25:25And his daughter, she died, did she?

00:25:27Died?

00:25:28No, I don't think so.

00:25:30Good grief, no.

00:25:31They left him.

00:25:32I think they'd had enough of shivering in the Dordogne or wherever it was.

00:25:35So they walked out on him.

00:25:37About the only sensible decision that woman ever made.

00:25:40The stupid little tart.

00:25:41You didn't get on?

00:25:42No.

00:25:43We didn't.

00:25:44But that's not what I meant, is it, Grampier?

00:25:47Betty.

00:25:47What did you mean?

00:25:48Tell him.

00:25:49Please.

00:25:50I mean, she was a prostitute.

00:25:51A whore.

00:25:52But she was a clip girl.

00:25:54She worked at nightclubs.

00:25:55Ask him how he knows.

00:25:57Now, now, Betty.

00:25:58Girl.

00:25:58Now, now, now, now, he paid her for service.

00:26:03The fact is, I met Margot in a club in Soho.

00:26:07He spent a thousand pounds of my money on her.

00:26:10A thousand pounds.

00:26:11The dirty old goat.

00:26:12Look at him.

00:26:13Can you imagine any woman sleeping with that unless it paid her?

00:26:17Because I can't.

00:26:17And did your brother know anything about this?

00:26:20No.

00:26:20Was he running her?

00:26:22Good Lord, no.

00:26:22Well, but I mean, I suppose I hoped, well, that he would benefit from some of the money

00:26:29I paid her.

00:26:29You dirty, filthy, disgusting old man.

00:26:32Oh, Betty, really?

00:26:33Really?

00:26:33Right.

00:26:33I think I'd better be going.

00:26:36Thanks for the time.

00:26:37I'll see you out.

00:26:38I do apologize for my wife's behavior.

00:26:47She's rather highly strung.

00:26:48I can hear you, Grappian!

00:26:50You wouldn't happen to have an address for Margot, would you?

00:26:52Well, last time I saw her, she was living in Fulham.

00:26:55It's Callow Street.

00:26:56Number 34.

00:26:57It's Bottom Bell.

00:26:58Grappian!

00:26:59Grappian!

00:27:00Yes, all right, I'm coming.

00:27:01It was dark when I left.

00:27:10Too late to call on Margot.

00:27:12I decided to go back to the factory.

00:27:15There were still a lot of tapes to get through.

00:27:17As I headed for the tube station, I noticed a man on the other side of the road peel himself

00:27:23off the wall he was leaning on.

00:27:26He was still behind me when I went down the escalator to the Victoria Line.

00:27:31I was being followed.

00:27:38In He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond, the detective is played by Byrne Gorman, Staniland

00:27:45is Toby Jones, Barbara Tanya Franks, and Bowman is Ben Crow.

00:27:51Grappian is played by Michael Burton-Shaw, Betty Christine Absalom, the landlord Sean Murray,

00:27:58the pathologist Ed Thorpe, and scar is Will Howard.

00:28:03He Died With His Eyes Open is dramatized by Nick Perry.

00:28:07The director is Sasha Yevtushenko.

00:28:09And Court Drama now on Radio 4, as we return to a new dramatization of Derek Raymond's

00:28:23He Died With His Eyes Open.

00:28:25The detective is investigating a brutal murder in 1980s London.

00:28:29He has little to go on except for the cassette diaries left behind by the victim,

00:28:34with Ben Gorman and Toby Jones.

00:28:36He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond.

00:28:47Dramatized by Nick Perry.

00:28:51Part 2.

00:28:52Most people live with their eyes shut, but I mean to die with mine open.

00:29:05The question is how.

00:29:08How to do it consciously and deliberately.

00:29:13How to plan it up to the last moment and record everything.

00:29:19On the second day of the investigation, I was sitting at my desk in room 205, the Department

00:29:26of Unexplained Deaths, listening to the voice of Charles Loxley Olwyn Staniland, deceased,

00:29:34trying to decide if it was murder or suicide I was dealing with.

00:29:37What am I going to do about my stepson?

00:29:46I can't go on giving him money I haven't got anymore.

00:29:50I've got Charlotte to think of, too.

00:29:54She's my flesh and blood when it comes down to it.

00:29:57Eric isn't.

00:29:58Look, he still thinks I'm a pushover and he's bloody ruthless, despite appearances.

00:30:10That's the heroin, I suppose.

00:30:14Eric.

00:30:15Eric what?

00:30:18Morning.

00:30:19Morning, sir.

00:30:20You in early?

00:30:22You've been here all night, haven't you?

00:30:23There's a lot to get through.

00:30:25What exactly is it about this case, Sergeant?

00:30:28I'm not sure what you mean, sir.

00:30:29You've been up all night, listening to some old fart rattling on about how he stuck his

00:30:33head up his arse to work out what he had for breakfast.

00:30:36I took one of the tapes home with me.

00:30:37It's bollocks.

00:30:38Someone's got to listen to him.

00:30:40No, they haven't.

00:30:41It's evidence in a murder inquiry.

00:30:43So, what have you found out, then?

00:30:45Go on, infraw me.

00:30:48Staniland had a stepson called Eric.

00:30:50Eric's a smack in it, apparently.

00:30:52According to Staniland's bank manager, he countersigned a couple of cheques from Staniland,

00:30:57quite large ones.

00:30:58So, is he a suspect?

00:30:59He could be, yeah.

00:31:00Then bring him in.

00:31:01No, I'd rather talk to him first.

00:31:03Talk to him?

00:31:04Don't talk to smack heads.

00:31:06You smack them.

00:31:07In the head.

00:31:08That's what I call smack heads.

00:31:09Yeah.

00:31:10Well, the problem is I don't have his address.

00:31:14I've got his mother's, so I'll get round there now and see what I can find out.

00:31:19When are you going to sleep, Sergeant?

00:31:23When I'm dead, sir.

00:31:24What I wanted to say to Bowman, what he never would have understood in a month of Sundays,

00:31:34was that although Staniland had died at 51, he still had the naive desire to understand

00:31:40everything that one normally associates with a child.

00:31:42And it was this fragile sweetness at the core of people that moved me.

00:31:49If we allowed that to be kicked, smashed and splintered, then we had no society at

00:31:55all of the kind that I felt that I had to uphold.

00:31:59I took the 137 to Chelsea.

00:32:02Callow Street was short.

00:32:04I found number 34.

00:32:07Bottom bell.

00:32:12Yes?

00:32:14Mrs. Staniland?

00:32:15Who?

00:32:16Margot Staniland?

00:32:19Oh, wait.

00:32:24Hello.

00:32:26I don't think I know you.

00:32:28Police.

00:32:29Oh.

00:32:30Have I done something?

00:32:32No, no.

00:32:33I was just hoping to have a word.

00:32:35Of course.

00:32:36Please come in.

00:32:42Sorry, it's just that hardly anyone calls me Mrs. Staniland anymore.

00:32:48But I'm right in thinking you were married to Charles Staniland?

00:32:51Charles Loxone?

00:32:52Yes, yes, I was.

00:32:54Well, I'm afraid I have some bad news.

00:32:57He's dead, isn't he?

00:32:59Yes, I'm sorry.

00:33:00And I think that he was murdered.

00:33:03What makes you say that?

00:33:06Why else would you be here?

00:33:11When did it happen?

00:33:13We found him on Friday.

00:33:15Where?

00:33:17In Acton.

00:33:19I don't know how much you want to know.

00:33:21Everything.

00:33:22He'd been beaten to death and dumped behind a hedge.

00:33:28Why or by who, we don't know.

00:33:31And that's what I'm trying to find out.

00:33:33I see.

00:33:34Do you have any idea who might have done that to him?

00:33:37Where do I begin?

00:33:43He had enemies.

00:33:44By God, did he?

00:33:46Do you know the term gobshite?

00:33:48Yeah.

00:33:49That's what Charles was.

00:33:51He talked too much.

00:33:52Loved to talk.

00:33:54I think that's why he spent his life in pubs.

00:33:56It wasn't just the booze.

00:33:57It was having an audience.

00:34:01He'd talk to anyone and everyone.

00:34:03But at some point, he'd go too far and end up getting his head kicked in in the toilets.

00:34:09Or in the bloody car park.

00:34:12Um, I say, you wouldn't happen to have a fag on me, would you?

00:34:16Yes, certainly.

00:34:25You people don't much like to hear the truth about themselves, do they?

00:34:29And is that why you left him?

00:34:31No, not at all.

00:34:32I found it quite exciting, in actual fact, the way he could get under a person's skin.

00:34:38So, why did you leave him?

00:34:41Oh, no money.

00:34:43No money, never.

00:34:46Any money.

00:34:47And as soon as he did get any, he gave it away.

00:34:49It was ridiculous.

00:34:51He was, um, pathologically generous.

00:34:54And where did this money come from that he gave away?

00:34:57Um, inheritance, mostly.

00:35:00How much?

00:35:01I don't know exactly, but it was a lot.

00:35:05He sank a load of it into our house in France.

00:35:08The rest he gave away.

00:35:10Every penny.

00:35:11Who too?

00:35:12Oh, waifs and strays.

00:35:15Anyone who smelt it on him and said they needed it.

00:35:19It was a soft touch.

00:35:20The softest.

00:35:21He was the kindest man I've ever been with.

00:35:29And I, and I have been with a lot of men.

00:35:34Oh, God.

00:35:37What am I going to tell Charlotte?

00:35:39She always said he'd come back.

00:35:45Take my hand, G.

00:35:56Would you, um, would you let me have him?

00:35:59When you've finished with him, I want to bury him.

00:36:02At least let me do that for him.

00:36:04I have some money in the post office.

00:36:06I guess, um, I can prove it.

00:36:07I've got the book somewhere.

00:36:09I'll show you.

00:36:11Mrs. Stanland, I want to ask you about your son.

00:36:15My son?

00:36:16Yeah.

00:36:17I was just wondering, these waifs and strays that your husband helped out,

00:36:20was Eric one of them?

00:36:22Well, yes, I suppose he was in a way.

00:36:26He was good to Eric, really.

00:36:28Awfully good, considering he wasn't his own flesh and blood.

00:36:33I mean, most people take against Eric.

00:36:37He has his demons, you see.

00:36:39He's a drug addict.

00:36:42Well, if you want to put it like that.

00:36:43Where would I find Eric?

00:36:45I should pay him a visit, really.

00:36:48Well, you won't be hard on him, though, will you?

00:36:51No, of course not.

00:36:53You're a policeman.

00:36:54Will you give me your word?

00:36:55I give you my word.

00:36:56You have my word.

00:37:01The last time we were in touch, he was living in Soho,

00:37:05in a squat in Petworth Street, just off Berwick Street Market.

00:37:17It was in Berwick Street Market, though I had that feeling of being followed again.

00:37:26I'd stopped to make a phone call on the corner of Derby Street,

00:37:30and I noticed someone I'd noticed before.

00:37:32Hello, serious crime?

00:37:33Hovering in a doorway.

00:37:35I spoke to the collator at my neck and found out Eric had done time.

00:37:39Eighteen months for possession at the Scrubs.

00:37:42Right.

00:37:43He wouldn't have enjoyed that.

00:37:44Thanks.

00:37:45A boy from his background.

00:37:46Bye.

00:37:47Afternoon, sir.

00:37:53Looking for a nice girl?

00:37:54No, thanks.

00:37:55Police.

00:37:57Any idea who lives upstairs?

00:37:58Yeah, druggies.

00:38:00Drunk kids.

00:38:01It's disgusting.

00:38:01Look at the mess they leave.

00:38:03The one locking up.

00:38:05Excuse me.

00:38:06Bye.

00:38:06Eric!

00:38:23Eric!

00:38:24Who is it?

00:38:26Police!

00:38:27Open the door, Eric, or I'll kick it down.

00:38:29Kick it off!

00:38:30Oh, come on, it's a legal squat.

00:38:39Turn that racket off.

00:38:43What did you do that for?

00:38:44I asked you to turn it off, didn't I?

00:38:46That's criminal damage.

00:38:47You're bloody well paid for that.

00:38:48Don't be daft.

00:38:49No, it matches everything else in here.

00:38:52Pardon me.

00:38:54Look, I'm laughing.

00:38:55Yeah, just sit down and shut up.

00:38:57You can't tell me what's going on.

00:38:58Well, I just did to do it.

00:38:59Let's see your search warrant.

00:39:01All right, here's your choice.

00:39:02You can sit down and shut up,

00:39:03or I'm arresting you for possession of a Class A control sergeant.

00:39:06I'm not holding.

00:39:06What's this, then?

00:39:09Jesus, it's not mine.

00:39:10Whose is it?

00:39:11How should I know?

00:39:12I'm not the only person living here.

00:39:13Do you want to go back inside, Eric?

00:39:15Do you want to go back in this grub?

00:39:16No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

00:39:17Let's just, um...

00:39:19Let's just calm down, okay?

00:39:23You're the boss.

00:39:25Look, I'll put some bloody clothes on, for God's sake.

00:39:27I don't know where to look.

00:39:28Okay.

00:39:29You should phone your mother.

00:39:32She worries about you.

00:39:34You've been speaking to my mother?

00:39:35Yes.

00:39:36What about?

00:39:37Well, that's what I'm here to tell you.

00:39:40What's happened?

00:39:42Sit down.

00:39:44It's about your stepfather, Charles Dunlard.

00:39:47What about him?

00:39:48He's dead.

00:39:49He's dead.

00:39:52So?

00:39:53What do you mean, sir?

00:39:54I mean, you know, people die.

00:39:58So what?

00:39:59He was old, wasn't he?

00:40:00He was 51.

00:40:01Well, there you go.

00:40:03You don't seem that surprised, Eric.

00:40:05Why should I be?

00:40:06I mean, it was on the cards, wasn't it?

00:40:09Was it?

00:40:09Yeah.

00:40:10The way he drank.

00:40:12He had that streak.

00:40:13You know, that self-destructive streak.

00:40:16He didn't self-destruct, Eric.

00:40:18Someone beaten to death.

00:40:19More than one person, in fact.

00:40:20Here's this picture from the mortuary.

00:40:23Jesus Christ.

00:40:26You know anything about it?

00:40:27What about that?

00:40:28Oh.

00:40:29No way.

00:40:30What?

00:40:30Why would I know anything about it?

00:40:32So it's come as a complete shop?

00:40:35Yeah, of course it has.

00:40:36Right.

00:40:37Can you tell me about the money?

00:40:39What money?

00:40:40The money your stepfather gave you.

00:40:41The checks.

00:40:42What checks?

00:40:43The checks you count aside.

00:40:44I honestly have no idea what you're talking about.

00:40:46Lying comes naturally to you, doesn't it, Eric?

00:40:48Some people have a gift for music, but with you it's lying.

00:40:51Look, if you're trying to fit me up...

00:40:52We have traced them, Eric.

00:40:54A check for £500 and another for £300.

00:40:57Both count to sign by you.

00:41:00So stop lying and tell me.

00:41:03What do you do with the money?

00:41:05Do you spend it on heroin?

00:41:09Yes.

00:41:11Are you going to arrest me?

00:41:12Well, I hope to.

00:41:13You didn't like your stepfather much, did you?

00:41:15No matter what he'd done for you.

00:41:17He didn't like me much, either.

00:41:18Well, he must have forbid,

00:41:19otherwise he wouldn't have given me that £800, would he?

00:41:22Pretty well cleaned him out, didn't you?

00:41:24Well, if I did, I didn't know what I was doing.

00:41:27He never said I was.

00:41:28How did you get the money out of him, Eric?

00:41:30What do you mean, get it out of him?

00:41:31I told him I needed it, so he let me have it.

00:41:33Soft touch, was he?

00:41:34Your mother said he was.

00:41:35Look, he offered me the money.

00:41:39He's concerned about me.

00:41:39You know, Eric, listen, I'm beginning not to be very fond of you,

00:41:42because you're lying to me.

00:41:43Because what you really said to me was,

00:41:46give me your money, old man, or I'll smash your bloody face.

00:41:49That's ridiculous.

00:41:50I knew he couldn't afford it, so you made his life hell

00:41:52until he went to the bank to raise.

00:41:54That's a lie.

00:41:55What I really want to know is who you took with you.

00:41:58What do you mean, who I took with me?

00:41:59I didn't take anyone with me.

00:42:01Well, I think you did, Eric.

00:42:02I didn't!

00:42:02See, I don't believe you could have done something like that on your own.

00:42:06Well, you'll have to, because I did.

00:42:08Okay.

00:42:09So how hard did you hit him, Eric, to start with,

00:42:11when he told you he couldn't give you the money?

00:42:14Just a slap, I don't know.

00:42:16Just a couple of slaps.

00:42:17So you give him a slap, you start pushing him around,

00:42:19and you're thinking, well, this is easy,

00:42:21so you give him another push,

00:42:22and the stupid old kid just refuses to give in,

00:42:25so you get really annoyed, you get really bloody annoyed,

00:42:27and you pick something up,

00:42:28and before you knew it, you've done that to him.

00:42:31Look, look at the picture.

00:42:33Oh, please.

00:42:33That is what happened, isn't it?

00:42:35No, it wasn't like that.

00:42:36Look at me up.

00:42:39How would I have the strength to do something like that to him?

00:42:43And who did?

00:42:48Eric?

00:42:51They killed me.

00:42:53You don't know what they're like.

00:42:55I can protect you.

00:42:57I promised your mother.

00:42:58I'm not going back inside.

00:42:59Then tell me this.

00:43:01Was one of them a man, and one of them a woman?

00:43:04Just not.

00:43:07Please, I don't.

00:43:08Where'd you meet him?

00:43:10Was it a pub?

00:43:14The Asian call.

00:43:16Okay.

00:43:18Now listen to me, Eric.

00:43:19I am very, very serious.

00:43:22Don't tell them I've been to senior.

00:43:23Don't even mention it to them.

00:43:25Do you understand me?

00:43:28Sure.

00:43:28Because what they did to your stepfather, they will happily do to you.

00:43:32Right?

00:43:33Mm-hmm.

00:43:34If you need any help, just ring this number.

00:43:38Let me know where I can find you.

00:43:42I promised your mother I'd look out for you, and I'm a man of me word.

00:43:46Right.

00:43:48You should go and see her, you know.

00:43:51You know where she lives, don't you?

00:43:53She's concerned about you.

00:43:58It was time to go and see the laughing cavalier.

00:44:02It was getting dark when I arrived in Greenwich.

00:44:06As soon as I walked into the Agincourt, I knew which one he was.

00:44:11Face like a lorry driver who wants to overtake everything on the road.

00:44:15Forearms like joints of uncooked meat with revolting orange hairs spraying out of them.

00:44:22Stanland's description was a good one.

00:44:24This is a white area.

00:44:25This is NF controlled.

00:44:28Hello there.

00:44:30Sorry to interrupt.

00:44:31Police.

00:44:33I was wondering if any of you chaps knew a bloke called Charles Stanland?

00:44:37Charlie?

00:44:39Posh bloke, by all accounts.

00:44:40Used to drink in here.

00:44:42Middle-aged, sort of wasted looking.

00:44:43Yeah, yeah, we all knew Charlie.

00:44:45What's happened to him?

00:44:46I'm sorry to say, he's been murdered.

00:44:48His body was found over Acton Way on Friday night.

00:44:51Couple of pictures here.

00:44:54Oh dear, oh dear.

00:44:56It looks like he was hit by a truck.

00:44:58Actually, he was beaten to death with a hammer.

00:45:00Ooh.

00:45:01Nasty.

00:45:02A lump hammer.

00:45:03The kind that builders use.

00:45:05Well, he must have got right up someone's nose then.

00:45:09Looks like it, doesn't it?

00:45:11What's your name, mate?

00:45:13Harvey Fenton.

00:45:14Private word, Harvey.

00:45:15What for?

00:45:16Let's just say you fit description.

00:45:18Anything you've got to say, you can say in front of my associates.

00:45:22Your associates?

00:45:23What, this lot?

00:45:24Yeah.

00:45:25Okay.

00:45:26Suit yourself.

00:45:27I believe you know a woman called Barbara Spark.

00:45:34Babsie?

00:45:35Yeah, I know her.

00:45:36Everyone knows her.

00:45:38She in Stanland was something of an item?

00:45:41If you say so.

00:45:42She was Stanland's bird.

00:45:44So what if she was?

00:45:45I heard you screwed her.

00:45:48Who told you that?

00:45:49Stanland.

00:45:51Kept a diary.

00:45:53Well, he was wrong.

00:45:54I didn't.

00:45:55Oh, right.

00:45:56Turned you down, did she?

00:45:59Yeah, I didn't give her the chance soon, mate.

00:46:01Why not?

00:46:02Are you a homosexual, Harvey?

00:46:06A what?

00:46:08Only I heard that she's a highly fanciable woman, so I'm assuming if you didn't fancy

00:46:12it, you must be a homosexual.

00:46:15She's a brass, mate.

00:46:17And I don't pay for it.

00:46:18You short of money, Harvey.

00:46:20Who isn't?

00:46:20Robert Maxwell.

00:46:21Yeah, well, I ain't Robert Maxwell, am I?

00:46:23A few hundred might have come in handy.

00:46:26What's that got to do with anything?

00:46:28Stunned out and that money.

00:46:30No, no, no, no, no.

00:46:32Look, look.

00:46:33Let's have it right.

00:46:35Stanland was a knacker.

00:46:37All right, he was posh and all that, but he was a knacker.

00:46:39Never had two pennies to rub together.

00:46:41You ask the governor here.

00:46:43Always trying to run up a tab or ponch drinks up to people, eh?

00:46:47Waster, mate.

00:46:49Total waster.

00:46:50I'm telling you.

00:46:51Whoever done Charlie, never done him for his money.

00:46:55Right.

00:46:57Well, that it.

00:46:59Yeah.

00:47:00I'll leave you and your associates to enjoy the rest of your evening together.

00:47:04Thanks.

00:47:04Oh, and any idea where I might find Bansy?

00:47:09Barbara, whatever you call her.

00:47:11Yeah, she works the clubs up west.

00:47:14Soho, round there.

00:47:15Clipping, mainly.

00:47:16Try the 84.

00:47:18You tell her I'll set her low.

00:47:27Bowman.

00:47:28Sir?

00:47:32Yes.

00:47:33What do you want?

00:47:34Does the name Harvey Fenton mean anything to you?

00:47:37Yeah.

00:47:38Scumbag.

00:47:38Why?

00:47:39He's a suspect in the Stanland case.

00:47:42Seems he was knocking off Stanland's girlfriend.

00:47:45Well, you want to be careful.

00:47:46He's violent.

00:47:48Done time for ABH.

00:47:50Building contractor, as I recall.

00:47:51Yeah.

00:47:53I think he killed Stanland with a hammer.

00:47:56Have you got the hammer?

00:47:57No.

00:47:59Well, you'd better find it then, hadn't you?

00:48:00I want to speak to the girlfriend first, before Fenton gets to her.

00:48:04He says she works the clubs up west, clipping.

00:48:07I'm heading up that way now.

00:48:08The 84 was an illegal drinking club, just off Old Compton Street, that managed to stay

00:48:20open by paying kickbacks to the vice squad.

00:48:24Can I help you, Jack?

00:48:25My name isn't Jack.

00:48:27I know that, mate.

00:48:28Just being friendly.

00:48:29I'm looking for a girl called Babsy.

00:48:32Blonde.

00:48:33Her second name's Spark.

00:48:35Mean anything to you?

00:48:36She'll be in later, I expect.

00:48:38Maybe I could wait.

00:48:40Are you a member, Jack?

00:48:42No, but I believe my membership's pending.

00:48:45Perhaps I could come in on a temporary?

00:48:47I'm sure that could be arranged.

00:48:50Fiber cover.

00:48:51Do go through to the bar, sir.

00:48:53Thanks.

00:48:59Even then, sir.

00:49:00What can I get you?

00:49:02A ring-a-dink, please.

00:49:06Leave a bowl.

00:49:08How can you manage that bottle all on your own?

00:49:14I don't know.

00:49:15Maybe you could help.

00:49:16Thanks very much.

00:49:19I'm Babsy.

00:49:20But I don't seem to know you at all.

00:49:23What's your name?

00:49:23The moment I met Barbara Spark, I understood what Stanland had gone through with her.

00:49:30Smoke?

00:49:31No, it's her.

00:49:32She was tall and blonde, with good legs, but she crossed as she sat on the barstool next to me.

00:49:39Nearly every man in the club was looking at her.

00:49:42And at that moment, she only had eyes for me.

00:49:47Jet black eyes, under lazy eyelids.

00:49:51You do the clubs here a lot?

00:49:54A bit.

00:49:55Funny I don't seem to know you, then.

00:49:57I know most of the regulars.

00:50:00I'm not regular.

00:50:01Why were you asking for me, then?

00:50:03Someone said I should.

00:50:05Who?

00:50:07Does it matter?

00:50:08You was right.

00:50:09Why?

00:50:09What did you say?

00:50:11That you were bloody gorgeous.

00:50:13Why, thank you, kind sir.

00:50:15I could easily fancy you.

00:50:17Very easily.

00:50:18Oh, dear.

00:50:19Look, I'm blushing.

00:50:21I realise now what Stanland had meant.

00:50:25There was something coarse and creamy in her that enveloped you if you were open to it.

00:50:30I must admit, I was feeling rather open.

00:50:32Babsy!

00:50:34Hi, Babsy!

00:50:35Not now, Dave.

00:50:36Come on, Babsy.

00:50:37Come and dance with me.

00:50:38Come on.

00:50:39Come on.

00:50:39I said get lost.

00:50:40Get on.

00:50:40Do one.

00:50:41Can't you see I'm busy?

00:50:43Derek, get this clown away from me, will you?

00:50:44Come on, sir.

00:50:45You heard what the lady said.

00:50:47Don't get your knickers in a twist.

00:50:49Don't get your stinking knickers in a...

00:50:50That's right.

00:50:51Come on.

00:50:51Jog on, you sight.

00:50:56All at once, I was Stanland in the Aging Corps.

00:50:59No, not Stanland.

00:51:00I was the other one.

00:51:01I was the laughing cavalier.

00:51:03I was Harvey Fenton, watching Babsy kick the wind out of the less favoured suitor.

00:51:09Sorry about that.

00:51:10Look, why don't we go somewhere else?

00:51:13Yeah, I'd like to, but, um...

00:51:15I know it's late.

00:51:17I've got work in the morning.

00:51:17Well, you're joking, aren't you?

00:51:19No, it's nearly still.

00:51:20So what was all this about, then?

00:51:22All what?

00:51:23You come in here looking for me, you get me all worked up, and then you say you're going home.

00:51:27Well, bollocks to that.

00:51:29Don't you dip work, then?

00:51:31No, it works.

00:51:32So what's your problem?

00:51:33All right.

00:51:35Look, if it keeps you happy, how far is it to your place?

00:51:38Don't do me any favours.

00:51:40You said we were going to my place anyway.

00:51:42Well, we're not going to mine.

00:51:43It's a dump.

00:51:45What do you do for a living?

00:51:47Civil service.

00:51:49I thought they paid well.

00:51:50They do.

00:51:52Me ex gets lost, doesn't it?

00:51:54Right.

00:51:56New cross it is, then.

00:51:57Okay.

00:51:59Let's get a cab.

00:52:12I snogged her in the back of the cab and put my hand up her dress.

00:52:16It seemed to be what she expected.

00:52:18All the time I could feel Stan Land's eyes burning into me.

00:52:23I heard his voice whispering into my ear.

00:52:26Barbara will do anything for or to anybody because it doesn't matter to her what she does.

00:52:36That's far enough, driver.

00:52:38And it intrigues her in a remote sort of way.

00:52:42Just here will do.

00:52:43Watching me struggle with the impossible.

00:52:46What do I owe you, mate?

00:52:47Like a wasp in a glass of beer.

00:52:51Here.

00:52:52She lived on the 18th floor with a view of all the other tower blocks on the Milton Court estate.

00:53:02It looked pretty at night.

00:53:04With all the sodium lights.

00:53:08Nice place.

00:53:09I'm not here much.

00:53:11Like a drink.

00:53:12What have you got?

00:53:15Vodka.

00:53:16I'll evoke you then.

00:53:19So, where are you when you're not here?

00:53:21Oh, out and about, you know.

00:53:23Doing the rounds.

00:53:24I'm a party girl, mate.

00:53:26I like to party.

00:53:27So I gather.

00:53:30Cheers.

00:53:32Cheers.

00:53:36Come on, let's go on the balcony.

00:53:38I'll show you the view.

00:53:40Okay.

00:53:48So, are you going to tell me who it was who recommended me?

00:53:58Oh, just some bloke in a pub.

00:54:00Which pub?

00:54:02The Ashencourt, Greenwich Lane.

00:54:03Know it?

00:54:05Hmm.

00:54:07Who was the bloke?

00:54:09If I knew his name, I'd tell you.

00:54:11He was a tall fella.

00:54:12He's quite posh.

00:54:13Ring any bells?

00:54:14No.

00:54:15When was this?

00:54:16Ten days ago, something like that.

00:54:19Why are you so interested?

00:54:21If someone's talking about me, I'd like to know who it is.

00:54:25Don't worry, I only said nice things.

00:54:27How did the subject come up?

00:54:30Oh, I don't know.

00:54:30I think I happened to mention that I hadn't had any since my wife left me.

00:54:35It was about a year ago.

00:54:38That's when he suggested looking you up.

00:54:40What did he say about me?

00:54:43He said you were worth every penny.

00:54:46I see.

00:54:48So, is the meter running?

00:54:51Yeah, it's running.

00:54:53All right, come on in.

00:54:53I'm not paying waiting time.

00:54:55You really know how to sweep a girl off her feet, don't you?

00:55:00She was shy when it came to going to bed.

00:55:02I followed her inside and started to undress her, but she pushed me away and went into the bathroom.

00:55:09I should have left there and then.

00:55:12I had to remind myself I was a copper investigating a murder.

00:55:17I'd chosen to walk in Stanland's footsteps in the hope that they might lead me to his kidder,

00:55:23and I knew it was a foolish and risky course of action.

00:55:27If Bowman knew where I was and what I was doing, he'd have me back in uniform in the blink of an eye.

00:55:32But I liked the way she looked.

00:55:35I liked the way her dress clung to her.

00:55:38And when she came out of the bathroom, my body felt no scruples about it at all.

00:55:52In He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond.

00:55:55The detective is played by Byrne Gorman.

00:55:58Staniland is Toby Jones.

00:56:00Barbara, Tanya Franks.

00:56:03And Bowman is Ben Crow.

00:56:05Fenton is Jamie Foreman.

00:56:08Margot, Prianga Burford.

00:56:10Eric, Will Howard.

00:56:12And other parts are played by Sean Murray and Michael Bertenshaw.

00:56:16He Died With His Eyes Open is dramatized by Nick Perry.

00:56:20The director is Sasha Yevtushenko.

00:56:30Cult drama now on Radio 4.

00:56:33As we return to our dramatization of Derek Raymond's,

00:56:36He Died With His Eyes Open.

00:56:38The case of a brutal murder has left the detective consumed by empathy,

00:56:42and he has willfully walked the same self-destructed path as the victim,

00:56:46even entering into an affair with the deadly ex-girlfriend.

00:56:50With Byrne Gorman, Toby Jones, and Tanya Franks.

00:56:53He Died With His Eyes Open

00:57:05By Derek Raymond

00:57:07Dramatized by Nick Perry

00:57:11Part 3

00:57:14I woke up on Stunland's bed in his putrid little flat in Lewisham.

00:57:24As I opened my eyes, I saw Barbara Sparks standing over me,

00:57:28and in her hand was a knife,

00:57:30and her face was twisted with hatred.

00:57:33And then Harvey Fenton came in,

00:57:35or smiled,

00:57:36and stood next to her with a hammer in his hand.

00:57:38And as they started to lay into me,

00:57:41I raised my arms to cover my head.

00:57:45And that's when I woke up.

00:57:50Hey.

00:57:51It's okay, it's okay.

00:57:53You're with me.

00:57:54You're with Babsy.

00:57:55You were dreaming.

00:57:56Oh, Christ, it's all right.

00:57:57You're in a bad dream, that's all.

00:58:00Jesus, did I wake you?

00:58:01No, it's okay.

00:58:02I won't sleep in.

00:58:05I was watching you.

00:58:07Were you?

00:58:08Yeah.

00:58:08What were you dreaming about?

00:58:13I don't know.

00:58:14I can't remember.

00:58:15Well, it must have been pretty scary

00:58:17from the way you were going on.

00:58:19Yeah, it's gone.

00:58:23I have ones like that.

00:58:26I wake up feeling absolutely bloody terrified,

00:58:29and I don't know why.

00:58:31I don't know what off.

00:58:34All I remember is the feeling.

00:58:36Dread.

00:58:37I suppose you'd call it.

00:58:38Like something terrible's going to happen to me,

00:58:42something really ghastly.

00:58:46Sometimes I'm too scared to go to sleep.

00:58:50Sorry to hear that.

00:58:54Come here, let me come for you.

00:58:55Oh, hello.

00:58:59Oh, hello.

00:59:10So meat is still running, is it?

00:59:13No.

00:59:14Meat is off.

00:59:15The knife in the dream.

00:59:20The knife Barbara Spark had been holding.

00:59:25It was the knife I'd taken from the kid who tried to stab me outside Stanleyland's flat.

00:59:29A survival knife.

00:59:30I remembered waking up the next morning on Stanleyland's bed and a woman looking down at me.

00:59:36She had the light behind her, but it could have been Bapsey.

00:59:41I don't remember the knife in her hand.

00:59:43It all happened too fast.

00:59:45She could have picked it up.

00:59:47It was a useful looking knife.

00:59:49And if she had, maybe she'd hung on to it.

00:59:56In the morning I got up while she was still asleep and searched for it.

01:00:01And all of a sudden I felt pretty shabby, to be honest, going through her kitchen cupboards.

01:00:08This woman I'd just screwed in the pursuit of a criminal investigation.

01:00:12It would have been so easy for me to drop the case on Stanleyland.

01:00:16To let it drift away unsolved.

01:00:20Who care?

01:00:22No one.

01:00:23And that was the problem for me.

01:00:26That's why I knew I could never do it.

01:00:28Looking for something?

01:00:31Christ.

01:00:34Someone's got a guilty conscience?

01:00:38I was going to make breakfast.

01:00:40Don't want to wake you.

01:00:42Thinking of slipping away, were you?

01:00:43No, of course not.

01:00:46I'll put the kettle on.

01:00:51So, what are you doing today?

01:00:52Is it you?

01:00:53I'd like to see you again.

01:00:55Would you now?

01:00:56Yes, I would.

01:00:57Why?

01:00:57I don't know.

01:00:59Because I like you, I suppose.

01:01:01Let me see.

01:01:06Now, why don't I take you to dinner?

01:01:09I mean, that's what people do, isn't it?

01:01:10People who like each other.

01:01:11Yeah, yeah.

01:01:12They have dinner.

01:01:14And they get married.

01:01:15And they have kids.

01:01:16And then they buy a car.

01:01:18And then they get a mortgage.

01:01:19And they move into a semi-detached box on a housing estate in Hertfordshire.

01:01:23We'll sod that for a game of soldiers.

01:01:25It's only a curry, Babsy.

01:01:26I never said I liked you.

01:01:27You said the meat I wasn't running.

01:01:30Oh, yes, I did.

01:01:33You're not a morning person, are you?

01:01:35All right, look.

01:01:38It's the Mahalia.

01:01:40I'm full on rope.

01:01:42We'll say eight o'clock.

01:01:45If you're there, you're there.

01:01:47I went back to my disgusting police flat in Nine Elms to get changed and have a shave.

01:01:59Yes?

01:02:00Where the bloody hell have you been?

01:02:01I've been trying to get hold of you all night.

01:02:03Oh, I was out.

01:02:05Why, what's happened?

01:02:06Your mate, Eric.

01:02:07What about him?

01:02:08He's dead.

01:02:09Oh, no, no.

01:02:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:02:11So could you get over to the squat in Petworth Street?

01:02:14I'll meet you later.

01:02:15I knew instantly what had happened.

01:02:18It was obvious.

01:02:20Eric had done exactly what I told him not to do.

01:02:22He was slumped on a mattress in the corner of the room, gazing up at me.

01:02:40His throat had been cut from left to right, and there was a razor blade between his right

01:02:45thumb and index finger.

01:02:47Behind him on the wall, there was a thick spray of blood where the artery had been severed.

01:02:53Jesus.

01:02:54Made a right mess, didn't he?

01:02:56He took his own bleeding head off.

01:02:59You think it's suicide?

01:03:01What does it look like to you?

01:03:03His throat's cut.

01:03:04He's holding a razor blade.

01:03:05Well, that's hardly conclusive, is it?

01:03:08Has the pathologist seen him?

01:03:10Not yet.

01:03:13Odds on, that is not the word of weapon.

01:03:16Has someone told his mother?

01:03:18Yeah, she's been spoken to.

01:03:21Shit.

01:03:23Shouldn't have brought him in when I had the chance.

01:03:25The mother says you went round to see her.

01:03:28She gave you his address.

01:03:29Yeah.

01:03:30She wanted me to tell him that Stanleyland was dead.

01:03:33Which you did?

01:03:35Yes.

01:03:35And you think Eric's involved in some way, so you come down hard on him.

01:03:40Not that hard.

01:03:42I think he met Barbara Spark and Harvey Fenton in the Henry of Agincourt pub on Greenwich Lane.

01:03:46And the three of them conspired to screw money out of Stanleyland.

01:03:52Only they went too far.

01:03:54Well, he told you this, did he?

01:03:57Not in so many words.

01:03:59I put it to him.

01:04:00He didn't deny it.

01:04:01That's going to stand up in court, isn't it?

01:04:05No, no.

01:04:07Christ.

01:04:09Look, can we get out of here?

01:04:12Yeah, come on.

01:04:13Pint.

01:04:14So, where were you last night?

01:04:20I, um...

01:04:22Well, I met someone.

01:04:23Ah, right.

01:04:25Good for you.

01:04:26About bloody time.

01:04:28Maybe you'll start behaving like a normal human being for a change.

01:04:31Who knows?

01:04:34So, what do you think happened after you left him then?

01:04:36Eric.

01:04:38I think his bottle went.

01:04:40I think he ran to Fenton and told him he'd had the law round.

01:04:44And Fenton done him then.

01:04:46Yeah.

01:04:47Not Spark?

01:04:48Done.

01:04:49You said just Fenton?

01:04:50Why not Barbara Spark, too?

01:04:53Yeah, well...

01:04:54It could have been both of them, I suppose.

01:04:56Right.

01:04:57I think he's trying to bring them in.

01:04:58No.

01:04:59Not yet.

01:05:01Why not?

01:05:02What good would it do?

01:05:03They'd clam up.

01:05:05You bouncing them off the walls wouldn't help.

01:05:07They'd probably enjoy that.

01:05:08Not as much as I would.

01:05:09Look, let me do it my way.

01:05:11I'm close.

01:05:12I just need evidence.

01:05:13Enough to put these arseholes away for life.

01:05:17I hope you know what you're doing, Sergeant.

01:05:19Yeah.

01:05:20So do I.

01:05:23I went and got myself tarted up my date at the Mahalia.

01:05:27I listened to Stanland while I was shaving.

01:05:29I'm here on my own.

01:05:36Barbara's been gone, God knows where, for three days and three nights.

01:05:42I can't stand it.

01:05:43I can't stand it.

01:05:44Why can't I just finish it now, while the tape is running?

01:05:50But I can't.

01:05:52I can't let them win.

01:05:55It's for Barbara and the Laughing Cavalier to finish the job.

01:06:01I must get them to commit themselves to their own evil.

01:06:06And then perhaps my life would have added up to something.

01:06:13I wondered if mine would, too.

01:06:17Oh.

01:06:24Hello?

01:06:25You were right.

01:06:26About what?

01:06:27The murder weapon.

01:06:29It wasn't a razor blade.

01:06:30It was a knife of some kind.

01:06:3215 centimetre blade, approximately.

01:06:34Like a survival knife.

01:06:36If you say so, I don't know what a survival knife is.

01:06:39Yeah, doesn't matter.

01:06:41Anything else?

01:06:42Isn't that enough?

01:06:44Yeah.

01:06:45Thanks for letting me know.

01:06:54What's wrong?

01:06:56I thought you'd be pleased to see me.

01:06:58I am.

01:06:59No, you're not.

01:07:01Something's happened.

01:07:03Nah, it's just work, you know.

01:07:05Oh.

01:07:08I think you'd better tell me some more about yourself, don't you?

01:07:12You're a proper man of mystery, you are.

01:07:14There's no mystery.

01:07:15I beg to differ.

01:07:17For example, you don't strike me as the sort of bloke who's really into the club scene.

01:07:21Well, I'm not.

01:07:22I told you it was a one-off.

01:07:24Oh, yeah, that's right.

01:07:26Someone told you about me.

01:07:28Yeah.

01:07:29I remembered his name now.

01:07:30That's, um, Charlie.

01:07:33Charlie something.

01:07:35Very well spoken.

01:07:36Like to talk.

01:07:38Oh, yeah.

01:07:40Yeah, I think I know who you mean.

01:07:43So did you and him, um...

01:07:45I suppose we must have done.

01:07:47I'm not jealous, are you?

01:07:49I can't bear jealous men.

01:07:50No, you won't have that problem with me.

01:07:52Oh, should I not?

01:07:52All right.

01:07:55It's your turn.

01:07:56What?

01:07:56That's not fair.

01:07:57You ain't told me anything.

01:07:58It's not, you have.

01:07:59Then you have to tell me something.

01:08:00About what?

01:08:02Well, no, something about yourself.

01:08:04Anything.

01:08:05Okay.

01:08:09I've been to prison.

01:08:11What for?

01:08:12G.B.H.

01:08:15Two years in Holloway.

01:08:17Blimey.

01:08:17Blimey, is that it?

01:08:18I was expecting a bit more of a reaction than that.

01:08:22So, what did you do?

01:08:25Perhaps he?

01:08:28Someone called me a whore.

01:08:30Thing is, I don't much like being called a whore.

01:08:34So I waited until he was asleep.

01:08:36Then I grabbed the bedside lamp.

01:08:38Did quite a lot of damage.

01:08:43Should have done more.

01:08:48So, you still want to go on seeing me?

01:08:51Actually, I want to see.

01:08:54You are who you are.

01:08:55I just don't like being called a whore.

01:08:57That's all.

01:08:58Fair enough.

01:09:00I'll try and remember that.

01:09:01You're funny.

01:09:03Look, you made me smile.

01:09:06Should we get the bill?

01:09:08We went back to her place.

01:09:11Only this time I knew my body wasn't going to perform for her.

01:09:15I could imagine Margot Steneland's grief all too easily.

01:09:19I could see her son's lifeblood decorating the wall in that squalid room in Petworth Street.

01:09:25This scratching around for evidence had to end.

01:09:29I had to reach through the lies of those responsible.

01:09:32Down into their throats and tear their hearts out.

01:09:35So, what is it you've got against mortgages and semis in Hertfordshire anyway?

01:09:42I don't know.

01:09:43It just makes me want to puke.

01:09:44I've always hated it.

01:09:46Kids, schools, mum down the shops, dad working for the council, regular meals, telly in the evening.

01:09:54What's the use of it?

01:09:55I mean, it takes your life away.

01:09:56You were a kid once, weren't you?

01:09:59Not really.

01:10:00I grew up in care.

01:10:02Hmm.

01:10:03My mum couldn't cope.

01:10:04She was, you know, all over the shop.

01:10:07I started taking my knickers down the minute I realised that's what the boys wanted.

01:10:12Some of the staff, too.

01:10:13When I worked out, I could get him to pay for it.

01:10:19I never looked back.

01:10:21That's where me and Charlie...

01:10:23Charlie from the adjunct call.

01:10:26Charlie I met.

01:10:28So you do know who he was in?

01:10:29All right, yeah.

01:10:32If you want to know, he had a crush on me.

01:10:35A schoolboy crush.

01:10:36He used to trail around after me.

01:10:38Look, let's not talk about him now.

01:10:40No, I'm intrigued.

01:10:41I said no, so drop it.

01:10:43But you brought it up.

01:10:44Me and Charlie, you said.

01:10:46You and Charlie.

01:10:47Yeah, I mean, that's where we saw eye to eye.

01:10:49Family life, proper jobs.

01:10:50People up to their necks in debt, sweating at night about how they're going to pay it all off.

01:10:54It's crap.

01:10:55He used to say, look at them.

01:10:57All these people strolling around Battersea Park in their nice clothes as if they had all time before them.

01:11:03They're not out of this place.

01:11:05They're not out of this place alive.

01:11:07These stupid people with their mortgages and their cars.

01:11:11And their children.

01:11:12Exactly.

01:11:13What's the point?

01:11:15So what happened to him, Charlie?

01:11:16What happened?

01:11:17Yeah.

01:11:18In the pub, they said he'd died.

01:11:20Did they?

01:11:23Yeah, I heard that too on the grapevine night.

01:11:26You don't know what happened?

01:11:28No, but...

01:11:30I believe it may be now, Cole.

01:11:33I seem to have upset you.

01:11:36There's some people in my past I'd rather forget, that's all.

01:11:39Can we stop talking about him now?

01:11:41Let's drink to him.

01:11:43Here's to Charlie.

01:11:46Late of this parish.

01:11:47A good man who saw things as they are, who saw things as they are, who had no illusions.

01:11:53I can drink to that.

01:11:55I can drink to that.

01:12:00Well, you say that, but it's funny when you think about it.

01:12:05What is?

01:12:06I mean, the way you don't like being called a whore.

01:12:11Considering that you are one.

01:12:13Just before she bawled her fist and hit me in the face, I noticed for some stupid reason

01:12:19that the clock on the wall behind her said two minutes past twelve.

01:12:24Three, four, three, four.

01:12:25Quiet, three, three.

01:12:26I told you, didn't I?

01:12:28What?

01:12:28I warned you, what did I say?

01:12:30What?

01:12:31Oh, God.

01:12:34Oh.

01:12:34Don't bleed all over my sofa.

01:12:37Shift yourself.

01:12:38Don't worry, I'm done.

01:12:40You're going?

01:12:41Yes.

01:12:42I knew it.

01:12:45Coward.

01:12:45First sign of violence.

01:12:46That's right, run away, you little man.

01:12:49I'm not running, I'm walking.

01:12:50Well, walk faster then.

01:12:53You think you can behave how you like because you had a hard time growing up?

01:12:57Oh, how many had it worse than you and didn't end up in Holloway?

01:13:01He's attractive when he's angry.

01:13:03Are you going to hurt me?

01:13:05I won't mind.

01:13:08I usually get paid though.

01:13:09Go on, give it your best shot.

01:13:11On the house.

01:13:12That's how you get your rocks off.

01:13:13I'm sorry to disappoint you, love.

01:13:15I'm not interested.

01:13:16Do I disgust you?

01:13:16No, it's boredom more than disgust.

01:13:18She's just so predictable.

01:13:20You're so banal.

01:13:21So goodnight.

01:13:22Well, be a good little fella and pour me a drink before you go.

01:13:25There's vodka in the fridge.

01:13:26Pour it yourself.

01:13:27If you're a gentleman, you pour it for me.

01:13:32Right.

01:13:32There you go.

01:13:42It's port.

01:13:43She stared up at me.

01:13:44Her face was hard and triumphant and I was suddenly sure she knows exactly who I am and

01:13:51why I'm here.

01:13:52Wow.

01:13:53Isn't this nice?

01:13:57Isn't this nice?

01:13:58Not really.

01:14:01See ya.

01:14:02I wasn't going to leave.

01:14:06I had to see this thing through.

01:14:09What Stenland had started was left for me to finish.

01:14:13We all instinctively try to make death less difficult for ourselves.

01:14:18It was 1am.

01:14:21There wasn't a soul on the streets outside Barbara's Flats.

01:14:24But no matter how logically you think, or how much you drink, it all ends the same way.

01:14:31I stood in the shadows on the other side of the road and waited.

01:14:35I thought of Stenland.

01:14:36And so the job is to accept it, to face it full on, to be courageous.

01:14:46After a while, quite a long while, a transit drove into the estate and parked under Babs'

01:14:52tower block.

01:14:54Harvey Fenton got out and walked inside.

01:14:59I gave him ten minutes.

01:15:01Then I went in after him.

01:15:02Fenton was sitting at the kitchen table.

01:15:07The survival knife was in front of him.

01:15:13Is this what you've been looking for?

01:15:17Your face.

01:15:18His face.

01:15:20Back already?

01:15:22Didn't take long, did it?

01:15:24Have you been following me, Harvey?

01:15:26Why would I do that?

01:15:28To see where I was going.

01:15:30I don't care where you go.

01:15:31You can go where you'd like, mate.

01:15:35Recognise this, do you?

01:15:37Yes.

01:15:38What is it?

01:15:40It's the knife I took off some kids the night I searched Stenland's flat.

01:15:45One of them tried to stab me with it.

01:15:47Oh, how ironic.

01:15:49How ironic, Babsy.

01:15:51One of them tried to stab him with it.

01:15:53I found it right there on the bed the day after we did Charlie in.

01:15:56There were no police around, so I thought it was safe to come up and clear out all his

01:15:59tapes and diaries, but when I got there, I found some dosser had broken in and was

01:16:03kipping on his bed.

01:16:04It was me.

01:16:05I know that now.

01:16:06I recognised you the moment I saw you in the club.

01:16:08You know I did.

01:16:10You must do.

01:16:11No.

01:16:12Bloody hell, he's even dumber than he looks.

01:16:14Why did you have to kill Eric?

01:16:18I didn't have to.

01:16:19I just did.

01:16:21Because?

01:16:22He talked to you about us, didn't he?

01:16:25So obviously we couldn't take the risk of letting him live.

01:16:29He was a blabbermouth.

01:16:30He had a mother who cared about him.

01:16:32So?

01:16:33If she cared about him that much, why was he a junkie living in a squat?

01:16:36He was a grown man.

01:16:38He made his own choices.

01:16:39Where are your bum trumps tonight, Fenton?

01:16:43Left them at home, did you?

01:16:44You're cheeky, aren't you?

01:16:47You're a cheeky chappy.

01:16:49You must be feeling confident.

01:16:51You must be feeling absolutely certain that I came here alone.

01:16:55Well, let's wait and see, shall we?

01:16:58I'm in no hurry.

01:17:01Are you in a hurry, Babs?

01:17:02No.

01:17:03So is this where you killed Stenland?

01:17:09Yeah.

01:17:10Nah.

01:17:12We did him in a railway arch in Bermondsey.

01:17:15I kept my van and tools there so it was ideal, really.

01:17:20But what you've got to understand about Charlie,

01:17:23he was as good as arse for it.

01:17:25Didn't he, Babs?

01:17:26He wanted us to do him.

01:17:28Didn't he, Babsy?

01:17:29He really did.

01:17:30In fact, you might as well say he paid us to do it.

01:17:34When it came to it.

01:17:35Nah, that's what you made it come to.

01:17:37I've never seen a more thorough job.

01:17:39You enjoyed that one, didn't you?

01:17:42We enjoy them all.

01:17:43What, more than two, are there?

01:17:45No, we'll be in a minute.

01:17:46Have we given him long enough, do you reckon?

01:17:48Yeah, come on, let's get it over with.

01:17:51It's late, I'm tired.

01:17:53I don't think your mates are coming, mate.

01:17:56What do you think?

01:17:58I'll leave you to guess.

01:17:59Oh, come on.

01:18:00I've had enough of this faffing around.

01:18:02There's no one coming.

01:18:03Give me the knife.

01:18:05You sure?

01:18:06You did the last one.

01:18:08Give it to me.

01:18:10Yes!

01:18:13When the knife struck me in the right centre of my throat,

01:18:17it didn't hurt at all at first.

01:18:20It just felt very odd,

01:18:21being able to see the handle sticking out under my chin.

01:18:24I made a gesture as though to pull it out with my hand,

01:18:30but only in a quasi-humorous sort of way.

01:18:34And I suddenly felt weaker,

01:18:36because of the shock.

01:18:37And I noticed that Fenton and Barbara Spark

01:18:40had a black, undulating halo around them.

01:18:43I wanted to speak,

01:18:45but the knife was such a dreadful interruption in my throat,

01:18:49that my hearing had turned into a dark roar

01:18:52like a train in the tunnel under Swiss Cottage.

01:18:55There was a whole lot of shadow

01:18:58coming up around the edges of my vision.

01:19:02And I wanted to tell someone

01:19:04that I knew everything now.

01:19:08As Stenland must have done in those moments

01:19:11before the hammer finished him off.

01:19:14As you must have done, Charlie.

01:19:17Did you?

01:19:19I'm you now, Charlie.

01:19:22Being enveloped in this darkness.

01:19:24The same darkness?

01:19:27Yes.

01:19:29And soon it will be too dark for us to see.

01:19:32Or to hear.

01:19:34Or perhaps even to know.

01:19:36And the peace of the darkness

01:19:38will become the same as light.

01:19:40Yes.

01:19:41So that our last experience

01:19:43will become as mysterious

01:19:45and musical

01:19:47as our first.

01:19:49Come, police!

01:19:51Put your hands in here!

01:19:52Hello.

01:20:09How do you do?

01:20:12I'm Charles Stenland.

01:20:14I know.

01:20:16Really?

01:20:16Yes.

01:20:18I've seen pictures.

01:20:19Well, a picture.

01:20:21Okay.

01:20:23Well, it's really,

01:20:24really wonderful to meet you.

01:20:26It really is.

01:20:28Just wonderful.

01:20:30Yes.

01:20:31Likewise.

01:20:32Who are you, by the way?

01:20:35Who am I?

01:20:37Yes.

01:20:37What's your name?

01:20:39You do have a name, don't you?

01:20:43Well,

01:20:44don't you?

01:20:50He's awake.

01:20:51Nurse!

01:20:52He's awake.

01:20:54He's awake.

01:20:54Okay.

01:20:58Let me see.

01:21:01Good.

01:21:02That's good.

01:21:04Hello?

01:21:04Hmm?

01:21:05Can you hear me?

01:21:06No, no, no.

01:21:07Don't try to speak.

01:21:08You're in hospital.

01:21:09And you're quite poorly,

01:21:10but you're going to be okay.

01:21:12I'll leave you with your colleague

01:21:14for a minute.

01:21:14Not too long, please.

01:21:16Don't worry.

01:21:16I'm not hanging around.

01:21:17I'm not hanging around.

01:21:21You all right, then?

01:21:22What happened?

01:21:29Well, you didn't die.

01:21:30That's all you need to know

01:21:31at the moment.

01:21:32I had a man following you.

01:21:35Why?

01:21:36You didn't think I was going to let you

01:21:37just wander around on your own,

01:21:38did you?

01:21:40Why not?

01:21:42I would have thought

01:21:43that was obvious, you bug.

01:21:45It's not safe.

01:21:48I wanted it.

01:21:49You wanted her to get stabbed

01:21:52in the throat.

01:21:53No, you didn't.

01:21:54Bloody drugs they're giving you in here.

01:21:57Listen.

01:21:58Those bastards were just sitting there

01:21:59watching you bleed to death.

01:22:00Is that what you wanted?

01:22:03You'd be in a mortuary now

01:22:04if it weren't for my bloke.

01:22:06Not that I expect any gratitude,

01:22:07of course.

01:22:09Weapons of...

01:22:09Fenton.

01:22:12My bloke shot him.

01:22:13Dead.

01:22:15No, unfortunately.

01:22:17Fenton got a couple in his shoulder,

01:22:18one in his side,

01:22:19one in his arm.

01:22:20He'd be fit to stand trial.

01:22:22The woman,

01:22:22she got one in the back.

01:22:24He's paralysed from the neck down.

01:22:26Yeah.

01:22:27She won't be working the clubs again,

01:22:28I'll tell you that for nothing.

01:22:30You're on the next floor

01:22:31if you want to pay him a visit.

01:22:32All right, time to go, I'm afraid.

01:22:38We must let him rest.

01:22:40But he's going to be all right, is he?

01:22:41Oh, yes.

01:22:42He's going to be fine.

01:22:44Okay, I'll come back tomorrow.

01:22:46You want me to call your ex?

01:22:48My only one?

01:22:49No.

01:22:50No.

01:22:51Listen, when you get out of here,

01:22:53you come and work for me

01:22:54in serious crimes.

01:22:56You see what happens

01:22:57when you work on your own?

01:22:59Sure.

01:23:01See you tomorrow.

01:23:02I lay back,

01:23:14thinking.

01:23:16Stunland would go to his grave avenged.

01:23:20Fenton would get life

01:23:21for the attempted murder

01:23:22of a police officer.

01:23:24And Barbara?

01:23:26Maybe she'd be spared jail,

01:23:28but what was that phrase

01:23:29the judges like to use?

01:23:30She'd have plenty of time

01:23:32to reflect on her crimes.

01:23:35Maybe something as Stanland

01:23:36would get through to her one day,

01:23:39as it had got through to me.

01:23:41He'd made me care about who I was

01:23:43in a way I didn't know I could.

01:23:45I closed my eyes

01:23:49and heard his voice.

01:23:53I wish I could find someone

01:23:55who would listen

01:23:56instead of just a tape.

01:23:58And then I fell asleep.

01:24:02And then I fell asleep.

01:24:16In He Died With His Eyes Open

01:24:18by Derek Raymond,

01:24:20the detective was played by

01:24:22Byrne Gorman,

01:24:22Staniland was Toby Jones,

01:24:25Barbara, Tanya Franks,

01:24:28and Bowman was Ben Crow.

01:24:30Fenton was Jamie Foreman,

01:24:32the nurse, Prianga Burford,

01:24:34and the policeman, Sean Murray.

01:24:37He Died With His Eyes Open

01:24:39was dramatized by Nick Perry.

01:24:41The director was Sasha Yevtushenko.

01:24:43The actor was meta-saxe Malcolm

01:24:53who was invented by Nick Perry.

01:24:53The actor was intercepted by Nick Perry.

01:24:55His Manual of Law

01:24:59was the otras mal staanne style.

01:25:01He remarried that many photographs

01:25:03of that!'

01:25:03and he saw this long

01:25:04Maisy Hill

01:25:06and therein Wow

01:25:07and it was this long

01:25:08before I was approached

01:25:10by the kitchen

01:25:11that people just heard

01:25:12therein deep

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