Original subtitles

He said he'd phone me.

Didn't.

Maybe he had an emergency.

Triplets to deliver.

He'll be a doctor.

Always on call.

Probably out.

What?

Down by the river already.

Could be.

Or else he's looking after Irene.

Not this time of day.

Well, don't you care what time it was?

Any time.

Aye, aye.

If I'm right, she'll bless us.

Answer came then, none.

Like I said.

Or I said.

Well, either way, we'd better push.

Wasting good fishing time.

Try around the back.

Now we're here.

Oh, no, Bob.

Leave it.

It could be out the back.

Or Irene.

Hello?

Anybody in?

David?

Irene?

Any luck?

Hello?

Look at this.

This place.

What a mess.

Oh, dear.

If my wife left hours like this, I'd

go bananas.

Your wife, isn't it, Irene?

Oh, very damn sure of that.

Figs breakfast.

Maybe that's what they had this morning.

Might as well leave a note.

It's really tacky.

Takes all sorts.

How often did you and Irene...? What about

yourself?

I asked you.

Look, uh...

That's what all the lads say.

No, really.

Scout's honour for the real record.

Well...

Well?

Well, it lasted a week, I suppose.

Lost a lot of weight.

My dear, I was younger then.

And a bachelor.

Let's go.

Hello.

What?

Shall the doors open?

Lights on.

Hello.

You there, David?

Smells like cement.

You are here.

Well, I'll be.

Didn't you hear us call?

I thought I heard something.

We thought you were out.

She must be going deaf.

Need to see a doctor, Doc.

We shouted our heads off, didn't we, sir?

I'll say.

Where's Irene?

She's gone visiting, actually.

What's the idea?

Do it yourself?

More or less.

If any of your patients, Doctor, is that

it?

Dear Coroner, my scalpel slipped.

No, it's water.

It's been seeping up through the floors.

Spring must have opened up.

It's a seasonal sort of thing, probably.

Never.

What?

Can't have.

Sorry.

I sold you this place.

Knew the people who lived here before.

There's never been any damp.

No.

Oh, no.

Water came up between the bricks.

It's been a wet winter, of course.

Even so, no.

Looks like Bob's throwing you a line, Doctor.

This place is dry as a bone.

Always has been.

Now, that other property you had your eye

on, the millhouse, that was damp, wasn't it?

I warned you off it, didn't I?

You've hurt his pride, Doctor.

People move up here from London, don't know

a thing.

Now, some would take advantage, but not me.

A good, solid family house, you said, David.

It was just before you married Irene, remember?

All right, Bob, it doesn't matter.

It's just that I've always believed that, well,

that prevention was better than cure, that's all.

You mean it wasn't damp?

No, I mean that it hadn't reached serious

proportions, you know?

Well, how deep did you go?

That's clay.

A foot, 18 inches?

Four feet at least.

You must have...

No.

Oh, come on, let's get down to the

river.

They're fighting.

I'm sorry, Sim, I can't today.

I've got course to make.

Oh, now, let him live, Doctor.

Give him a chance to recover.

We can't let you depopulate the entire village.

Not that old joke again, please.

Look, let's go upstairs to the kitchen.

I'll make you a cup of tea or

a beer.

Irene all right, is she?

Fine, I'm grateful.

Gone to visit an old friend in Cambridge.

Yeah.

Yes, he said.

11 o'clock, bus.

This morning, Sunday?

No bus Sunday.

Weekdays, yeah.

Yesterday was a weekday.

Was she on yesterday?

Yes.

I never saw her.

What?

Well, my shop's right by the stop.

You see them all waiting.

Be fair, Sim.

Saturday's your busy morning.

Everybody buying a Sunday roast.

You're probably chopping up sides of beef like

a maniac for Mrs Watson or...

I always have everything pre-cut for Saturdays.

That way I only have to get it

out of the window.

So I'm always there, getting it, looking out.

You can't help it.

I'd have seen Irene, no question.

Maybe she met someone who gave her a

lift.

Anything.

When's she back today?

Wednesday.

No, Wednesday, as a matter of fact.

Grass widow, eh?

You could say that.

I'm surprised you didn't drive her to Cambridge.

Save a lug in her suitcase.

She didn't take much, just a few things.

Anyway, I had surgery.

Oh, of course, yeah.

Oh, yes, quite.

Still, funny I didn't see it.

Hey, you know what I think?

I think you've done her in.

Buried her down there in the cellar.

Is that supposed to be a joke?

My God.

Oh, for heaven's sake.

You don't imagine that I've...

Irene, my wife?

You're mad.

Well, you are, David.

Don't be ridiculous.

Would I?

Oh, for God's sake, let's be sensible.

All right, if you don't believe me, phone

the police.

Now, at this minute.

There's the phone.

You're welcome to use it.

Please, please do.

I am absolutely innocent of what you suspect.

I swear it.

Of course.

Of course you are.

I mean...

Sure.

Bob.

I may be a doctor, but I'm not

Dr Crick.

Would I invite you to call the police?

Invite Bob?

Calculating we wouldn't as old friends?

People do strange things, say strange things under

stress, don't they?

As a doctor, you're well aware of that,

of course.

Look, are we going fishing?

Hold on, Sim, hold on.

Did you hear us in the kitchen?

Before we came down?

Yes, yes, I did.

Well, you should have shouted up.

Why didn't you?

You heard us talk about Irene.

Yes.

Oh, Lord.

I won't sound ashamed because I'm not.

You hadn't married her then, David.

We hadn't even met.

No.

Well, there it is, your motive.

I must say, you've had plenty of provocation.

What's that?

Yes, I'll say and how.

Listen, both of you, I have told you...

What you know, I know, Sim knows.

Not that that would cut on the ice

at a county court.

What are you talking...? Don't rush me, David!

We've got to think this through, right?

Look, we're friends, damn good friends, OK?

The fact is, I think you were justified.

You knew all along, didn't you?

You didn't really need to hear me say

it.

Are you suggesting that I killed Irene because

she was...? We ought to have told you

five years back.

Oh, yes, you did.

Only then I thought, what, the ear doesn't

hear, the heart doesn't grieve over it, etc.

You know, I blame myself now.

I should have warned you when you told

me you were going to marry her.

Mind you, there was a bit of me

said, for pity's sake, give her the benefit

of the doubt.

Perhaps she'll steady up with David, you never

know.

But I was wrong.

I'm sorry.

I could have saved you all this.

Me too, yes, dear Lord.

But I don't blame her.

There's the age difference.

There's 20 years.

Marriage is marriage.

If you were 21 and missed a universe,

she'd still have played around.

I know a lot of people think she's...

What can you say?

But she's young, she's full of life.

I mean, you can't...

Oh, for heaven's sake, it's OK, David!

You're with friends, you can come clean.

She was full of life.

Look, you can trust us.

He can, can't he, Sim?

Oh, come on, it's our fault he married

her!

Look, if we'd said, Sim, if I had,

well, if you had, you could have too,

you know.

I mean, you knew, like everybody else did.

Irene Taylor, who doesn't name her?

That was the catchphrase for Mary Kingsley, remember?

Yes, but...

What?

This is kind of different, you know.

Do I?

I don't.

But the way I see it, we're in

this as deep as David, four feet down

with cement on top.

Because we could have said, and we didn't,

not only before, but afterwards.

I mean, take last week.

Young Joe Staines in the rising sun telling

everybody in the saloon bar how he got...

SHE SCREAMS I

can't...

Look, I...

You mustn't...

She's young, I forgive her.

I accept that I can't give her everything

she...

wants, needs.

I mean, I'm a bit of a dry

old stick, you know?

And I also accept that she's no housekeeper.

I don't mind.

I'm not a stickler for...

I mean, she just doesn't think.

She's not what you'd call deep.

All right, you could say she's stupid, lazy,

but she's got no system.

Well, I've got plenty of system.

She enjoys herself.

That's...

She's beautiful.

In her way, she's innocent, like a child.

A child?

I loved her.

Oh, God.

It's OK.

We said we're with you, David.

Yes, yes.

You see, Sim's realised it too.

We're all in it together.

Oh, God.

Take it easy.

We're thinking now, aren't we, Bob?

I know I am.

Yes.

Now, the first thing is cool it.

Cool.

Car.

Right?

That's right.

Now, Sim, this matters.

When we came here, the lane was empty,

right?

Nobody passed us.

No, it was dead quiet.

Good.

That's the first bonus.

Now, David, it goes like this.

We called, rang the bell.

Went round the back, called again, got no

reply.

We went away.

We were here two minutes at most.

And what about the note you left?

Oh, for God's sake, I take it with

me when we go, don't I?

Burn it down by the river.

Right.

And, David, we never went down into the

cellar at all.

Now, the rest's up to you.

Sim and me will never say.

Right.

All you've got to do is say, Irene

took off and went for a walk and

never came back.

Hey, we could say that we saw her

yesterday on the Cambridge Road hitching a lift.

Now, why not?

We don't have to say that we actually

saw her get a lift, just that she

was trying, and must have.

Well, that way we don't have to describe

a vehicle or anything like that.

Now, how's that?

Fine, but no more.

Don't elaborate, Sim.

Just that.

It fits.

She did thumb lifts, but the ride she

had in mind was...

Well, enough's been said, hasn't it?

Yes.

Right.

We're going now.

Now, you stick to the storey, David, and

so will we.

We never went down into the cellar, and

we never saw you.

Nothing.

We don't know.

You don't know.

Irene took off, like...

well, like she was like that.

Come on.

Why don't you turn the boiler up down

there?

There's an endle drive all the faster.

Right.

Oh.

Now, wait!

I'd never have believed it.

Of either of you.

My God, it's horrible.

Me do such a thing when I've devoted

myself to preserving life.

Now, look, you, Bob, and you, Sim, I

know you're my friends, but to imagine that

I'm...

I'm going to phone the police.

David!

I realise you wanted to help.

In a way, I appreciate your loyalty, but

it's misguided.

Thank God you're mistaken, that's all I can

say.

So I'll phone the police.

I want them here now.

You phone them, Bob.

For your sake, and mine, and Sim's.

No, you...

No, it's got to be clear.

Absolutely.

I am innocent of what you think.

I'd never touch a hair of her head,

and I know all her faults.

Please.

If you don't, I will.

Do you hear?

I'm not deaf.

Not like you were just now.

318.

All right.

I would...

Good.

Right.

But you didn't exactly deny...

I did!

You wouldn't listen.

You didn't believe me.

No, I didn't.

Please.

Hello?

Put me through to the duty officer, will

you?

They just wouldn't believe me.

I see.

Well, if you smoke a drink, I'd say

that you did.

But you don't.

No.

Not even alive?

No.

Well, Doctor?

No, it's okay, David.

I want you to see.

All of you.

Come on.

All right?

Proved your point.

Yes.

A bit damp?

Clayed?

Exactly, as I told Bob.

Nearer the surface than I realised.

Sorry.

Okay.

Looks like you all got overexcited.

Worked each other up a bit, hmm?

Yes.

Yes.

You'd have done better to have all gone

fishing.

Right.

Yes, sir.

Okay, then.

See you next Sunday, David.

Mrs Rankin back on Wednesday?

Yes, indeed.

Bye, then.

Yeah.

Panic over.

Sorry.

Bye.

Understandable, Bob.

She's never been better than she ought to

be, has she?

Bye.

David?

Surprise.

I'm back.

You said Wednesday.

I know.

I couldn't stand it, though.

You couldn't?

What?

Their new baby.

Cried all night.

I didn't get a wink.

And the whole place smelled of wet nappies.

And both of them so proud of it.

I did it nicely.

I didn't say the real reason.

I said I was worried about you.

Which way did you come back?

I got the train.

Walked across the fields.

Did anyone see you?

Not a soul.

I thought I might find you and the

boys fishing.

But there was no one by the river.

I was doing this.

Well, you haven't got very far.

I imagined you'd have finished it by now.

Is it still damp?

I got the cement down, but it wasn't

level.

So I had to take it up again.

You must have things level.

My lovely old perfectionist.

Well, no kiss for me.

It wasn't right.

It still isn't.

What isn't right, David?

The floor.

Oh.

Darling, it's so nice to be back.

I can't tell you.

Nor can I.

What?

Tell you.

What?

You'll see, darling.

You'll see.

Oh!

Oh!