Original subtitles

Amen.

Another dairy.

Won't do you no harm.

Smoke another pipe.

Never make out a word they'm saying.

Foreigners.

English.

Makes no sense.

Not yet.

Richard's nonsense.

The old Tolkien nonsense theory.

When the dream's upon us.

When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed,

and doeth that which is lawful and

right,

he

shall save his soul alive.

I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

O come, let us sing unto the Lord.

Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Certainly something to keep an eye on. Yes. Mr.

Chris Barclay. Thank you, Reverend.

Thank you.

Thank you for your forbearance.

Not ill, Mr. Jasper.

Only that sleep is hard to find.

My mother will be thrilled to offer you her famous medicine chest once again.

Previously, she only had me to experiment on. The lady's very kind, but

my nephew today.

Ah, I'm very glad to hear it.

Edwin will do you more good than a dozen medicine chests.

If he does not come soon, I will die of longing.

Rosa has no idea how lucky she is. Oh, for heaven's sake, you know nothing

it.

There he is.

Oh, look at his lovely hair. Will you please be quiet?

It's so romantic.

Mr. Irwin Drew to see Miss Rosa Budd.

It's just so absurd. What is so absurd, Rosie? The whole thing.

Girls and servants scuttling about and giggling when it's only you come to

court. That's a nice way to welcome your fiance.

Rosie.

I can't kiss you, Eddie, because I've got a pear drop in my mouth.

Miss Twinkleton.

How do you do, Mr. Drew?

Very glad indeed to have the pleasure once more.

Pray excuse me, tweezers.

Shall I just go?

No. No, not just you and the girls. We'll only want to know why.

So, how are you?

I'd like to reply much the better for seeing you, Rosie.

Ned! Oh, Ned, at last.

Are you wet, cold, hungry? No, I'm not wet, not cold. Yeah, I am hungry, yes.

Hungry as a horse.

Now, don't molly -call me, Jack. That's a good fellow. Let me look at you.

You're late.

Why don't you know Rosa first?

Oh, that rebel old pitcher, Jack.

I've more skill now.

And I'll draw you another one tomorrow, except I can't be sure she'll ever show

me that smile again. To a young bride, nervously awaiting her nuptial day.

Nervous? Miss Rosa is all thorns and no petals.

Ned.

Don't boast me so.

Miss Perth, Miss Scornful.

Nothing I say ever pleases her. That young lady is too good for you, boy.

God, if only I could choose, Jack. The loveliest girl in the world is yours by

will and testament, and you should thank God as well as your father for it. You

can say so. It's all very well for you.

Your life's not been mapped out for you. Your work and your marriage all to

scale and lined and dotted out like some infernal surveyor's plan.

You can choose for yourself.

Jack,

you look ghastly.

What is it?

You're frightening me. Now don't you mollycoddly me. My medicine's at my bed.

My Jackson opium eater.

disapprove. No, no, no. If Lordham helps to ease the pain.

To forget.

To forget the pain. To forget this place.

We can't be unhappy here, Jack.

Not when you've so exactly found your niche in life. You're so deeply

in this queer old place.

And you've your heavenly music. I hate it, Ned.

I hate the grinding monotony of it.

What is a man's life where his only choice is which hymn number to select

I see how even a poor choir master may suffer the itch of ambition, but these

are private thoughts and this is a confidence between us. Of course, of

it shall be sacredly preserved.

Take it as a warning, then.

My dear fellow, you need never fear that I will give in to the same despair.

Look at me, I'm smiling.

For in a few months I shall carry Rosa away from school as Mrs Edwin Drood.

And she shall sit there with me for our new life of engineering in the East. And

we shall be happy because we shall have made up our minds to be.

You won't be warned then.

Jack.

Surrender, wicked mirror!

Your money or your life?

While you're waiting for the poor item to decide, I have a job for you.

It's far too many.

Our poor guest will boil.

On the contrary, sir. Our climate will be a freezing torment to a tropical

Oh! What?

What if the bell ringers disturb his sleep?

I'll move the cathedral, shall I?

Oh.

Come on, then.

What have we got today, Mr. Doodles?

Who's this wee one he's at home?

This is Doodles' dinner entirely.

What, you share him with a workhouse ragamuffin out of the goodness of his

heart? She?

Yeah.

Blooming racket's enough to put an honest man off his lunch.

There are a lot of low notes, but when did you hear me say you're allowed to

growl like a pack of Bengal tigers?

Keep it bright.

Keep that smile in your mouth. The keynote is G, but it is not form of G

so don't root down in mud and boots. Think upwards, think of heaven, and this

time prove to me you can sing sharp as well as flirt.

Appellinde, reverential wife of Mr. Thomas Sapsy, mayor, estate agent,

auxiliar, etc., etc., etc., of this very city,

whose knowledge of the world, though somewhat extensive, never brought him

acquainted with a spirit more capable of looking up to him. That spirit being

your late wife.

Stranger, pause.

and ask thyself the question, can thou do likewise?

If not, with a blush, retire.

A fine tribute.

I do not reproach myself, sir. A little long, perhaps?

But there have been times when I've asked myself the question, what if her

husband had not been so very superior to her?

If she had not had to look up so high, what might have been?

The stimulating effect upon her liver.

Dirtles, what's their use for the length?

Hold it up for us.

It will fit within an eighth of an inch.

Give us the key.

Surely this fine inscription is not to be hidden from public view inside the

crypt. When Dirtles goes back to put a touch or a finish on his work, Dirtles

likes to check the whole job.

Inside and outside.

Key, Mr. Mayor, if you please.

Why, Dirtles, you're overloaded with ironmongery.

Weighed down by life, Mr. Dirtles.

And I'm sure the mayor's key is the heaviest of all. Indeed, sir.

It shall be.

Oh, may I?

Most impressive.

You may retain the key, Dirtles.

Or I have a dumber.

And now the cold is creeping into my bones.

Good day to you both.

Good day, Mr. Sapsee.

Yours is a curious existence.

Yours is another. In as much as we both inhabit the same old earthy, chilly,

never -changing place, but there's more mystery.

and interest in your work. Nobody knows this place like Doodle's.

Every corner of it has Doodle's handiwork upon it.

Find his way around it blindfold, day or night.

He shall show me.

Doodle's got better things to do.

Miss Landler.

Oh, welcome to Cloisterham.

I'm the Reverend Sepulcher, Mr. Crisbottle. How do you do?

How do you do, sir?

Ah, this must be... My brother, Neville.

Ladies.

My dear children, such a dreadfully long voyage, but you're home now.

It's a hundred miles south of Jaffna, I believe.

Yes, sir.

Dutch and then French, till we British got hold of it.

The harbour, you see, very fine.

Trinconley? What a tongue twister.

It means Lord of the Sacred Hill in our mother's language.

Yes,

your mother is a Christian lady.

Oh, of course.

The letter from the mission school related to us the sad news of the death

your stepfather.

To be orphaned twice. We have each other.

Rick Comerley was a poem.

I've spoken to a pair of brick walls.

Perhaps in the company of other young people.

Oh, round some up now, as quick as you can.

Boilers again.

Boilers and pyramids and canals. How could you not take a sensible interest

the triumphs of engineering skill which will change the whole condition of an

underdeveloped country? Who cares about Egypt?

Talk about something else.

Next you'll be saying you don't want to come with me. Now you're being

ridiculous.

Mr. Neville Landless, Miss Helena Landless, may I present to you Miss Rose

and Mr. Edwin Drood.

How do you do?

I see I disappoint you.

An unusual name, sir.

But familiar to us, as if Mr. Drood was among the kindly benefactors of our

mission school.

Oh, not I, Miss Landless. I've not yet set foot in the tropics.

Nor my father either, who is dead these nine years.

I'm more than sorry to hear that.

Miss Twinkleton, your new pupil.

And you learn to play the piano, if you please.

Oh,

yes.

Come along now.

Oh, it's the songs before tea.

The rule on our alternate musical Wednesdays. Yes, sing for all our

Rosie. It's the least you can do.

You can sit here.

Not Rosie. What's the fuss?

There'll be tears next, Jack, and for nothing as usual. If a young lady wishes

to stop, what gentleman would force her on?

There are no gentlemen here, sir. Only a fiancée and a music master.

Well, shall she take orders from both of them?

Orders? Never.

Well, what if I beg?

Rosie, don't be a tear. Stop it!

Come away, come away.

There, Jack.

Miss Landis agrees with me. You are a monster.

And she's afraid of you, too.

Never.

Well, I think it's time for me to go. My guests are very young, my dear Mr.

Jasper. I'm very tired.

I take no offense, madam, truly. It's only one of my sudden headaches. Forgive

me. I had already put this aside for you.

You are most kind.

Do that again and I'll kill you. Yellow!

I could turn you off. I could tap.

I'm sure Miss Budd will make you very comfortable, Miss Landis. Good night.

This is my bed, and that should be yours.

It's beautiful.

I hope you shall not hate sharing it with me.

The other girls are such geeks.

Come, let me take down your hair.

I imagine we shan't be here together for very long.

No, indeed.

Come this summer, I shall be married in the way.

Married to a man who makes you cry in the company.

That's just Eddie's way.

He doesn't mean it.

You do love him, Rosa.

What a question.

I've been engaged to Eddie forever.

Of course I love him.

You were so very young.

Seventeen.

Sometimes I wonder... How can I be sure this is what love feels like?

I only know what I hope it feels like.

The other gentleman.

Don't speak of him.

You do know he loves you.

Don't say that out loud.

Good sir.

Our agreement.

Who's died?

You were to conduct me on a tour of the mysterious world of Doodles.

Not tonight. Doodles is going home for his supper. I have all the nourishment

need.

Watch your step, Mr.

Jasper. That's fine. The choir master is. He might be up there.

Down here is Dirtle, the presiding spirit.

There's people hidden away in every corner down here, Mr. Jones.

Olden's that's walled up have forgotten forever.

By everyone excepting turtles.

You spoke of nourishment.

Not frightened of ghosts, then?

What rational man fears the dead?

That's true.

Dead can't hurt you.

Give you a fright, though.

You're not going to claim you've seen a ghost, are you, Dirdle? You'll

disappoint me if you do.

Not seen one, no.

Heard one, though.

I was enjoying my 40 winks one night.

Though the nourishment was nowhere near as good as this is, Mr. Johnson. Thank

you kindly.

Then watch as you wake me.

The ghost of a cry, this one.

The ghost of one terrific shriek.

With an echo like a long, dismal, woeful howl such as a dog gives when a

person's dead.

You speak of long ago?

No, more than a year.

Just when we buried poor Mr. Sapsy.

Not ashamed to confess, I thought it was her.

The lady mayoress crying for release from her own fresh grave.

Not a shame to confess.

I ran all the way home and never came back to lock up until the morning.

The ghost is one terrific tree.

He terrified me.

When he corrects me and strikes a note or a chord, his voice is in the

music, whispering that he pursued me as a

lover.

What words does he use, little one?

I could argue with words.

He had made a slave of me with his music.

He has forced me to understand him without his saying a word, and he has

me to keep silent without his uttering a threat.

Is that why you don't tell Edwin?

Oh, Eddie is devoted to him.

John Jasper is more than an uncle to him. He is a guardian and protector.

You must never breathe a word promising on your life. Of course.

Good night, little one.

I'm here now.

There's no need to be scared.

I'm sorry about your father.

No need to feel sorry for me, Mr. Neville. I hardly knew my father. He

much abroad.

He died in action?

No. Mining accident in Upper Egypt.

Died making money.

He looked so puzzled.

He was an officer in the Royal Engineers. You know, whenever I got rich

pay. Set up a pretty little construction business, which is left to me when I'm

21. I congratulate you.

And on your other good fortune, Miss Rosa... You ask a good too many

already, Mr. Neville. And this is a madhouse.

Which is none of your business.

The young lady is under one roof with my sister.

Not long, thank God.

Your discourtesy does not become you.

I'm not a little thing you are.

Ned!

Ned! Ned!

Dear boy!

You are the host in this town. You must respect the sacred rules of hospitality.

Ned will be off soon, Mr. Neville.

Hailing away with his lady love to a life of freedom and adventure.

Look at him lounging there like a lord.

The world is all before him. Where to choose?

Isn't that right, Mr. Neville? Whereas we lesser mortals... To Ned,

my dearest fellow.

Lord Jack, this is strong stuff for our new friend.

I can take it.

And now a toast to Mr. Neville, newly arrived from far -flung... The Lawn, off

the south coast of India. Good Lord, Mr. Neville, every schoolboy knows that.

Jack, you're quite right.

And your orphans.

My mother died when we were 12 years old. I am a damn fortunate fellow.

I'm very sorry to hear that, Mr. Neville. And your father?

I don't know if he's a damn lucky girl, if she did but know it.

Too damn good for the likes of you. Now, do speak up, sir.

You might be worth more, Mr. Drude, if you had known hardship like other

I find I tire very easily at the wisdom of these hospitalities. You talk as if

you were some kind of rare and precious prize instead of what you are, which is

a common boaster.

You may know a black common boaster when you see him, but you're no judge of

white men.

I beg your command!

Back away!

Mr. Nimbus!

I will have your weapon.

Open your hands, sir.

Mr.

Neville?

Last night, you were not sober.

Through the mercy of God, I was swift and strong with him, or he would have

Edwin down on my heart. Murder in his heart. There's no need for such strong

words. You, my dear sir, have accepted a dangerous charge into your house.

You are our foremost man of culture, Mr Jasper. There is no reason why you

should have known that natives cannot be trusted with strong drink.

It is because I fear for your safety, dear madam, that I now raise my

I appreciate the kindness of your intention.

Madam.

What is forced to wonder, Mr. Jasper, why the minor canon hadn't the courage

tell his mother himself?

Horem, omnium, fortissimae, sunt, belgi.

Of all of these, the bravest are the Belgians.

Not Belgians, Mr Neville, no. No such thing as Belgians in 55 BC.

Mr Neville has begun his studies by jumping straight into Caesar's Gallic

Means to lay waste to every tribe in Kent.

Translate to the end of the chapter, please.

We will meet again before luncheon to continue our discussion of your apology.

I cannot apologize to Mr. Drood.

I do not present you with a choice.

Our lives have been hard, sir.

Our stepfather was a brute.

If that is the reason for the anger in your soul, Mr. Neville, it will be your

duty to fight it with forgiveness.

I am secretive and vengeful. I have the manners of a heathen and a touch of the

tiger in my blood.

Your stepfather speaks through you from beyond the grave.

Those were his opinions of me, yes.

It was a good thing he died when he did, or I might have killed him. Mr.

Neville, nothing can justify such violent thoughts. We never saw him beat

twin sister.

Not even a beloved and beautiful sister of tears.

She never cried.

My sister would have let him rip her to pieces before she would let him believe

he could make her shed a tear.

This was not idle gossip.

This was the mayor of Cloister and Tor. Now, don't try to make me laugh. I'm not

in the mood.

The difference between us is that I believe the two young men were equally

fault. And I do not.

But why not, Ma?

Because I don't.

Although, of course, I am open to discussion.

That's exactly what you want, not.

I had planned to suggest to you that we jointly hussed the whole thing up to

save the reputations of all concerned.

Now that you've discussed it with the mayor, which is to say the entire

What do you know of Neville Landless and his sister?

They are orphans in need of an education.

Jasper, they are strangers in a strange land. Send them away before that boy

does serious damage. We cannot permit one mistake to turn into a destiny which

cannot be escaped.

Such is life, surely.

Miss Rosa, your guardian is here from London.

Come along, girls!

My visits here are like those of the angels.

Not that I compare myself to an angel.

No, Mr. Grievous, sir. I merely refer to my visits being few and far between.

The angels having, as we see, just run away upstairs.

Do take a seat, sir.

You are my guardian angel, Mr. Grievous.

Always.

I refer to the guiding memorandum which I prepared earlier.

So, my dear, well and happy.

Yes, indeed, sir, thank you.

Pounds, shillings and pence.

A dry subject for a young lady, but... I want for nothing.

I remember how you love fresh air, Mr. Gorgeous.

Do I?

You like him, and he likes you.

I like him very much, sir. Capital.

But what happens if we don't get married?

You haven't read your father's will.

Um, the legal language.

You will remain my ward for another four years until you are 21, and then come

into your inheritance just the same.

You are really asking if you stand to lose your inheritance if you go against

your father's wishes.

That sounds so dreadful.

Rosa, do you suppose that if your dear father were here today, he would want

to be unhappy in any way that can be imagined?

You're imposterous.

My dear, two young people can only be betrothed in marriage of their own free

will.

Oh, bless me.

You'll find me rather the worst for wear, I'm afraid.

Wait.

May I offer you a glass of water will suffice, thank you.

Oh, please, be seated.

My manners have picked me today.

This is a certified copy of Rosa's father's will.

Oh, thank you.

Keep it safe.

You are staying long in Cloisterham? Oh, no, no. Back to London as soon as I

can.

I am an awkward species of a man with no experience of such

delights.

But I figure to myself, subject to your correction, Mr Edwin, that the

true lover is ever impatient to be close to the object of his affections,

seeking her company as a bird seeks its nest.

I do write, sir, in between visits, although I'm an engineer, not a poet.

You will notice from your perusal of Rosa's father's will...

A kindly allusion to a little trust confided to me in conversation

to discharge at such time as I, in my discretion, may think best.

This ring was removed from the dead hand of Rosa's mother in my

presence.

You're placing it on her daughter's finger.

Will be the most solemn seal upon your love.

If anything should be even slightly amiss between you, if you should have

even the slightest...

Suspicion that you are marrying for other than the highest reasons of true

I charge you, Edwin Drood, by the living and the dead, to

bring that ring back to me.

I give you my word.

What a fool you must think me, Jack.

What was it you said to me?

The loveliest girl in the world is yours by will and testament, then.

To think I ever entertained any doubts when it seems so real to me now.

So sacred.

I shan't wait until the summer.

I shall marry Rosa on the day that I turn 21.

Shake my hand on it.

Thank you, dearest Jack.

But if we're to stay here even for a short while... I cannot do it. I cannot.

Now more than ever.

Can't you see?

I apologise if I intrude on a restorative walk.

This is a new pleasure for us, Mr Chris Parkless. We do not come from a walking

country.

I'm glad to see you've come to very English so very soon.

Miss Landers, may I come straight to the point?

You have not been 48 hours in Cloisterham, and already there is a

that Mr Neville is a dangerously passionate fellow of an uncontrollable

vicious temper.

Because we are strangers?

No.

Well, yes, possibly.

Sir, he cannot help it.

His background is not an excuse.

Mr. Neville, you are clenching your fist and I dislike it.

I cannot help it because he treats that beautiful creature like a doll and I

hate and despise him for it.

You've only met Miss Rosa once. I've seen enough to know that Edwin Drood is

worthy of her.

Who knows of this unfortunate attachment?

Only we three.

Good. I shall rely on you, Miss Landless, to keep it that way.

Miss Rosa is engaged to be married. She's not available.

While you live under my roof, Mr Neville, you will not see her, nor

nor even think about her.

I won't tell you it will be easy. I know it won't.

But in return, I promise you, I will find a way.

to help you bury this foolish argument with Edwin Drood before it ruins your

happiness in your new home.

Praise the Lord. Miss Landless,

you help your brother towards the light.

Thank you.

Oh, that I'm much overpaid.

Mr Jasper.

Down from London, Mr Grudges. Something wrong?

Not at all.

I sought to consult my pretty ward about her wedding plans.

But I discovered she has some little delicate feminine instinct.

That all arrangements should be made between her and Mr Edwin in private.

In other words, Jasper, she don't want us.

You mean me?

I understand the happy day may come sooner than we anticipated.

Really?

You surprise me.

I find my ward rather... Well, imagine, Jasper.

The dear girl believed her marriage to Edwin to be legally inescapable.

I was happy to reassure her.

I'll wager she hinted no desire to be free of her engagement.

In truth, there was a moment when I almost believed that was exactly what

does want.

Well, it's for the two young people to decide.

God bless them both.

I can't save them both.

Rock of Ages.

Cleft.

For me.

Rosa.

Eddie, let's be brave.

And kind.

Kind to one another for once in our lives.

Starting today and forever.

Let's change to brother and sister.

Don't get married.

No.

In spite of our father's wishes.

If, after all, then, there is another young man... There is not, I promise

But I love you, Rosa. And I love you with all my heart, but not

as a wife should love a husband, as I believe she should, as I

hope.

This is so hard.

Don't hate me. No, no, no, no, no. You must hate me, my dear Rosa. I... I mean

your courage.

Your clarity of thought.

I am sorry too.

I think, Eddie, how much better to be sorry now than later.

When it will be too late.

We'll never be angry with one another again.

How wonderful it will be.

Here he is.

My little singing bird.

The choir master, eh? What are you doing here?

Nothing, dearie.

I'm thinking more of a nice, quiet little chat on a matter of mutual

There's a lot more I know about you.

Leave me alone!

Watch out, you mischief maker!

Has that child hurt you?

No, dearie.

Another one.

The one I had hopes would put coals on my fires for many a day.

Hold on.

Have you no home to go to?

My home's in London.

I'll give a three and six. I'll get straight back there.

I spent my three and six on a train ticket.

We'll drink an opium.

I'm drunk in 16 years.

Oh, thank thee and bless thee as a gentleman.

What's your name, dearie?

Why, will you tell my fortune?

It's Edwin.

Edwin.

Does your sweetheart call you Eddie?

No, I have no sweetheart.

Because your little rosebud's been picked by another.

Ned, isn't it?

Oh, that's a bad name to have just now, isn't it?

What a threat to a young man named Ned.

Only one man calls me Ned.

There's the man who's picked your rosebud.

Mr. Neville, a fine weapon.

Well, now I come into a walking country, I need a walking stick.

Cudgel, more like.

Oh, it's much too heavy.

Is it ironwood? Don't wave it in my direction.

I walk all day tomorrow.

Oh, by tomorrow it could be quicker than life again.

By tomorrow, you'll probably...

You are right, Mr. Chris Farquhar. This foolishness has gone on long enough. Mr.

Neville, please, do me the honor of dining with me and my nephew tonight,

shall become the friends we should have been from the beginning.

There, Mr. Neville.

What do you think of that?

Thank you, sir.

This was to be part of my truth, though.

But now it is.

A gift from a heart which is free at last.

What is it, dear?

Oh, I am sorry.

I'm just so anxious about my brother.

This supper tonight with Edwin and Mr Jasper.

Edwin said nothing to me about it.

You gave him too much else to think about.

What's this?

Ned, we are putting the past behind us and the present to rights.

And the future?

The future shall be as we make it.

What else are you not telling me, Jack?

Come, my bright boy, shake Mr. Neville's hand and let us be friends.

Well,

that was a good deal more fun than our alternate musical Wednesday.

Whisper it.

Listen to that wind.

It's a bad night to be out.

Dear heavens, I'm all down in.

Kiss me, dear.

Night, Ma.

Sleep well.

In my country, when the monsoon comes, the rain is like a river falling from

sky. It brings the snakes crawling out from the jungle.

Our old people believe them to be the avatars of the dead.

This is just nonsense.

And the English love a ghost story, too.

Mr. Jasper, thank you, but it's getting late.

I'll come with you.

Grab a breath of fresh air.

I've checked a few ghosts.

I'll take you to the most haunted place in Clyestron.

Twelve hundred years old.

Time enough to accumulate an army of ghosts.

The pretty boy show is not.

How wonderful.

Such majesty.

Such beauty frozen in the storm.

See how it rises.

So far above our heads, all the way to heaven.

Mr. Edwin?

Mr.

Edwin?

Do you mean to jump out and frighten me?

I shall resist.

Edwin?

To be betrayed by someone you love is a bitter thing.

All my life I've known that I would one day stand before this altar and marry

Rosa.

You are more than fortunate.

Perhaps you don't know what it's like to suffer the failure of every dream and

every expectation.

I am an orphan, born out of wedlock.

Then at least you're used to disappointment.

It is my constant companion.

Then you will love me most. You have seen him with your own eyes, devouring

with his looks. Have you absolutely no shame?

You have poisoned her mind against me. The case has a generally dark look to

Let the monster that killed him hear my vow. I devote myself to his destruction.

The mystery of Edwin Drool continues tomorrow at the same time.

and coming up next this evening on BBC HD, it's Christmas with the Dickens

family. Stay with us.