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Episode guide > Season 2 > The Problems at Gallows Gate - Part II

Season 2, Episode 5
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corner imageSummary info
Writer: David Renwick
Director: Keith Washington
Original broadcast date: (UK) 21 February 1998 on BBC1
Filmed in: 16:9 aspect ratio
Guest stars
Stuart Milligan as Adam Klaus
Clarke Peters as Hewie Harper
Jennifer Piercey as Kitty
Annabel Mullion as Felicity Vale
Jessica Lloyd as Clare Sallinger
Alistair Petrie as Duncan Procter
Stephen Billington as Neville Bruce
Andrew Barrow as Ben
Calum MacPherson as Buster
Georgie Glen as Mrs. Kilby
Amanda Holden as Petra
Akemi Otani as Kiko
Stanley Townsend as Detective Inspector Barrison

View guest cast

Continuing on from part one.

Clare tells the police the story of how Duncan committed suicide. Duncan was madly in love with Felicity, but she didn't want to know. Finding her in bed with his best friend was the last straw, and he jumped off the balcony. He had been drinking a lot that night.

The police let Kitty and Clare go, but Detective Inspector Barrison keeps Maddy and Jonathan back. He squashes Maddy's protest by saying they haven't taken a formal statement, and sends Jonathan off with a WPC while he takes Maddy's statement. As he starts to take Maddy's statement, he asks how she spells her last name, then stops and brings out a copy of her last book, "Scales of Injustice". It's going to be a long night for poor Maddy.

Jonathan demands to see the policeman's finger nailsJonathan meanwhile has been handcuffed with his hands behind his back! His statement has either been taken, or was never intended to be taken. The WPC is flicking through a magazine, when Jonathan says he needs a toilet. She goes out, and comes back in with a huge policeman, who picks him up and walks him to the bathroom. Alas the WPC never gave him the key to the handcuffs, and we hear Jonathan demanding to see the policeman's fingernails!!!

Detective Inspector Barrison is clearly not very impressed with Maddy's story. It looks very suspicious, that everywhere was locked and when they arrived the only people there were herself, Jonathan and Kitty. It would appear it takes a while to convince him otherwise!

Jonathan tries to shake Maddy awakeBack at Jonathan's windmill, he brings Maddy a cup of tea in bed. He tries to shake her awake, but it doesn't work. He resorts to spraying her foot with deodorant, which soon shocks her awake. Jonathan then comments,

"How come, when I stay at your place, you get the bed and I get the sofa, and when you stay at my place you still get the bed and I get the sofa?"

"Because you're being terribly chivalrous and gentlemanly, and very solicitous of my welfare. Don't I get anything to eat?" is Maddy's reply!

While making breakfast, they go over the situation. Maddy comes to two conclusions, either Kitty made a mistake or Duncan is actually alive. Except all his friends saw him die three weeks ago. Maddy then recaps on the evidence. First there was the pipe, which Jonathan says was planted. If it had been accidentally dropped, there would have been some ash on the floor. Jonathan then wonders allowed, why the killer removed Felicity's stockings after they'd killed her, and then thrown them in the bin. Felicity had been wearing tight fitting boots, so there's no way they could have fallen off, and Maddy had said three of the stocking had just been washed, the other two had been worn. The boots and tights had to have been removed in the bathroom. When Maddy asks why, Jonathan says it reminds him of something, but he can't work out what. It'll come to him.

He then asks Maddy what her plans are for the day. She replies, that their plans are to go back to Gallows Gate to find out how a woman could have been murdered by a ghost!

Clare is clearly not happy to see them. She's already spoken to three journalists this morning, and now her hairdryer has broken. Maddy takes the hairdryer and gives it to Jonathan to fix, and then walks past Clare into the house. Maddy asks how long Felicity and Clare had been living together. Nearly two years, she replies. Clare thought it would be safer, from burglaries. Then comments about Maddy's break-in, saying, "you know how it is in London."

Clare tells Maddy that Felicity was a cartoonist, and that her line of work is osteopathy (a system of healing based on the manipulation of bones or other parts of the body). She has a practice in the Charring Cross Road in London. Last night had been a late night, and if she had got back sooner, perhaps.

Clare leaves Felicity's drawing room, and Maddy continues to have a look around. She find a cartoon of a man chopping off the head of Kiko, Neville's new girlfriend. She then hears a cry of "This is ridiculous" from Clare, and goes to see what the matter is. Clare tells her the tape has been taken from the answer phone. Maddy comments she noticed that last night. But Clare is talking about a second tape she put in, brand new, this morning. Jonathan then comes back carrying the now repaired hairdryer. Unfortunately the flex is now only a few inches long.

Maddy dries Clare's hair We then see Maddy drying Clare's hair very near a plug socket, and talking about the party she went to with Felicity. It was in Northumberland, in the middle of what seemed like no-where. Clare tells Maddy that Duncan used to be in the army, but never saw it as a career. Duncan was more obsessed with Felicity than in love with her. Clare then surprises Maddy and Jonathan by asking how Duncan did it. Jonathan says he couldn't have done it, then Clare twigs that they don't know. The police called a few minutes before they arrived to say that Duncan's finger prints were found all over Felicity's boots. Boots which she only bought three days ago. Clearly Duncan is still alive!

Later that day we see Neville proposing to Kiko in a nice restaurant. Before she can say yes, Maddy comes along and interrupts them. Claiming she is an investigator acting on behalf of an insurance company. Soon an extra place setting has arrived, and it's clear Maddy isn't going anywhere, so Neville decides to co-operate. The last time he saw Felicity alive was two days ago, she came round a bit hysterical, and he had to be "blunt with her" about where she stood. Maddy then tells them about the finger prints on Felicity's boots, and then starts asking some delicate questions, as only Maddy can,

"During the period when you were having sex together, did she ever talk in her sleep do you remember..?"

Back at Jonathan's windmill, Maddy is typing up her story on Jonathan's typewriter. She clearly misses her computer, and complains that the "S" doesn't work. She now has a woman who has been "trangled in the down tair bathroom"!! Jonathan asks if she's ever heard of silence! He is trying to coaxes out a forgotten memory about something to do with the stockings. Even holding them in his hand isn't helping. Maddy offers to put them on for him. He refuses, saying,

"How's that gonna help, when the whole point is that they've been taken off!"

Maddy, understandably, is slightly peeved! The phone then rings, and it's Clare, telling them that another tape has been stolen from the answer phone. Jonathan mumbles to himself, "If someone was trying to get a message, but didn't know which tape it was on....?" Maddy then says they should go up there, as it's the only way they are going to solve this case. "Yes" Jonathan replies, still lost in thought. "Up where?" he finally asks.

Soon Maddy, Jonathan and Clare are on their way to Northumberland, to the house where the party was held. Maddy reckons it will be a five hour journey, which Jonathan doubts due to her navigation skills! Clare breaks the rising tension by saying how she doesn't envy the police their latest job. "What job?" Jonathan asks. Maddy explains,

"I gave Detective Inspector Barrison a quick ring this morning before we left. All that business about the telephone answer machine? Well, of course there was something I'd completely forgotten to tell him, when I was there that night. I saw one of those tapes floating in the lavatory, and wouldn't you know it, I acidentially knocked the handle and flushed it away, probably a vital piece of evidence...."

We then see the police looking through a cesspit for the tape....the smell is quite clearly bad!

Cutting back to Maddy and co., Jonathan is moaning about her sense of direction! It's been over five hours due to Maddy's wrong turns! they have lost 2 and half hours because of it! They eventually arrive at the house, and Clare shows them the grave which is now filled in again, and tells them that it was open and that Felicity nearly fell in. Maddy notes that Duncan's name hasn't been added to the family headstone yet, and suggests digging....Jonathan says he'd rather have a look around first!

While Jonathan looks, Clare and Maddy talk. It's a huge house, and Maddy wonders how anyone could live alone in such a large house. Duncan took the house over when he left the army, and two of his old army pals Ben and Buster were at the party. Ben and Buster will probably be overseas again by now, Clare says. She then spies Jonathan lying down on the ground and asks why. He asks Clare to show him how Duncan was lying and positions himself there. He notices there is still some blood on the ground where he lay. That's strange, he comments. When asked why, he replies, "Didn't you ever watch Quincy?"

Jonathan then picks the lock, and lets them into the house. They go up to the room and look around. Jonathan then complains of pain down his back and shoulders (He's been doing it since he arrived at the house). Maddy suggests he gets Clare to have a look at it. He politely refuses, but then Maddy tells him to get his kit off while she makes a few calls.

While she's on the phone, we can hear Jonathan almost screaming upstairs. As Maddy comes back into the room, Jonathan is putting his shirt back on.

Maddy asks Jonathan where the baby is"Where is it then?" Maddy asks.

"Where's what?" Clare replies.

"Oh, I'm sorry , I though I heard a baby, screaming it's head off."

Maddy then tells them that, 3 out of the 4 local funeral directors haven't heard of Duncan Procter. The fourth one she couldn't get hold of. The local paper haven't run anything in the Obituary columns, and most importantly the local hospitals don't have any records of Duncan, or even a call out for an ambulance to this address.

Clare says they all saw an ambulance take Duncan away. Jonathan says what you see isn't always what's happening, and Maddy thinks he's about to tell them how it was done. Jonathan comments he knows how he would have done it, but before he can get any further he hears something. Someone has just opened the front door. Maddy volunteers Jonathan to investigate. He goes, reluctantly, but soon comes back to the room to find somewhere to hide. He chooses a cupboard, which Maddy and Clare have also chosen! Alas they are discovered by the man walking around the house who turns out to be Detective Inspector Barrison.

Downstairs the police can be seen digging the grave of the Procter family. Detective Inspector Barrison doesn't believe Duncan's body is down there anymore than he believes that tape was at the bottom of Clare's cesspit. Maddy tries to cover her tracks, but Barrison doesn't buy it.

"I don't think I'll be buying your next book, there's only so much crap a man can wade through." he says.

Duncan's false pit that he fell intoJonathan then tells them how Duncan faked his suicide. People saw Duncan jump and his body on the ground, but no-one saw him actually land. There was a gap of about 7 or 8 seconds in between. Jonathan says that there were two accomplices involved (probably Ben and Buster) who helped him pull it off. One at the top, and one below. Jumping from a second floor balcony isn't hard as long as you've got something to catch you. Dig yourself a pit, and put in a tightly strung net to catch yourself. Then rig up a camouflage top to place over it covered in turf which can be slid easily back into place. His friend upstairs stops Felicity and Neville looking to soon, and the one below helps move the cover back and is the first on the scene to pronounce him dead and call the ambulance. They come back later, and fix it all back the way it was, getting rid of the pit etc. But the blood was what really gave it away to Jonathan. The splash marks of the blood are consistant with those which have been dropped from a height of say a second floor balcony. And since you don't usually start to bleed until you've hit the floor in these cases, the blood is obviously fake.

The ambulance men could have been a couple of locals who were in on it, or bona fide ambulance men paid off to keep quiet. The point is, the body's gone and no-one suspects a thing. Barrison then asks if Ben and Buster are out of the country by now. Clare then starts to say that their house is in.... well Duncan has to be hiding somewhere! Why not Ben and Buster's house?

Soon the police arrive at the house and arrest Duncan. They also find one of the answer phone tapes. He's brought to the station, and Kitty identifies him in a line up. Adam asks if Kitty is now free to go back to Scotland. Kitty is having trouble sleeping, because she keeps seeing Duncan murder Felicity. Barrison isn't moved and says while Duncan is exercising his right to silence, Kitty is the only evidence they have, finger prints alone won't be enough to convince a court. Clearly he doesn't understand, so Adam explains it to him. She can't sleep....alone. Still Barrison isn't moved, Kitty has to stay.

Later we see Maddy and Jonathan at a computer store. Maddy is looking at computers and once the sales clerk is out of earshot, she puts a disk in one and starts working on chapter four of her new book! While she types, Jonathan comments that there are still some unanswered questions. The tape found with Duncan was blank, suggesting it was the wrong tape, or it had already been erased. Before they can get much further, the salesman returns and they get thrown out! Maddy asks how long it takes for insurance to come through, as she is running out of computer show rooms! As they get in the car, Jonathan carries on his train of thought of unanswered questions, why did he remove the stockings...?

Maddy mentions that Jonathan seems to have a rather unhealthy fascination with Felcitiy's stockings, and suggests electric shock therapy! Suddenly Jonathan remembers what it was that he couldn't remember! If you change the words around a bit it all makes sense! He didn't take the stockings off, he was trying to take the stockings off her. No-one would believe that, that's why he's not saying anything... He then turns to Maddy and tells them they have to go through everything that was said to Maddy by everyone with a fine tooth comb so they can work out exactly who it was that murdered Felicity.

At a quarter past midnight Jonathan, Maddy and Clare turn up on the doorstep of Neville and Kiko place. They were just getting ready for bed! Maddy introduces Jonathan as head criminal investigator for the insurance company she's pretending to work for. They walk into the house although they are clearly not wanted there!

Jonathan and Maddy with Clare at Neville'sJonathan starts off by talking about the three tapes. What if there was a message on the original tape which for whatever reason is stolen on the night of the murder. The following day Clare puts another tape in and that's stolen, and the same thing happens again a third time. Duncan had one blank tape, the other one had to be taken by someone else, who was just as desperate to get the message. They all look at Neville, he finally (after a bit of spluttering and a ticking off from Maddy) tells why he took the tape. After he saw what Felicity had done to Kiko's hair, he just picked up the phone. The answer machine was on, and he just tore into Felicity, leaving two minutes of poison and warning what he would do if he ever saw her again.

The following day, Neville found a way into Clare's house, and took the tape. After all how does it look now that Felicity has been murdered? He'd be a prime suspect. Alas the tape he takes is blank, but the pressure is eased when a witness says she saw Duncan murder Felicity. He's been found alive and arrested, Neville is in the clear.

Maddy then tells them that obviously Neville wasn't anywhere near the house that night, that's why he phoned. But there was a third person at the house that night, and she asks Clare to put up her hand and admit it was her. Clare looks shocked and denies the accusation. Then Maddy tells her that she and Jonathan have spent a productive afternoon at the police pathology lab. There were some skin samples found in the legions around Felicity's neck, that don't match with Duncan. However they do match with some other samples taken from Jonathan's back after Clare had worked on him in Northumberland. Clare finally realising she is cornered, confesses.

In the space of three weeks she went from idolising Duncan to grieving for him, to despising both him and Felicity. She was so obvious, and he didn't love women, just wanted them to love him. When she came back that night, she was shocked to see Duncan alive and arguing with Felicity. She heard Duncan explain what he had done, and apologising. But Felicity was already in a state over Neville, and she only needed one more push to take her over the edge. At that point Neville's phone call comes and she snaps. She grabs some pills from the shelf and tries to swallow them. Duncan grabs her throat and tries to stop her from swallowing them, this is obviously when Kitty sees them. Also at this point Felicity passes out. Realising what he's dealing with, Duncan sets about making Felicity safe. He picks her up and takes her to the bathroom, as he does so his pipe falls out of his pocket in the kitchen. Laying her down in the bath, he takes her stockings off, so not to leave her with anything to hang herself with. He also takes the ones from the radiator and throws them in the bin, and locks her in the bathroom. He then leaves, hoping she'll sleep it off and come to her senses in the morning.

Clare then unlocks the door to the bathroom, and sees Felicity come round. Can you kill someone out of spite? Clare asks. It was so easy. Duncan's finger prints were all over the house, and she made sure they found his pipe. All she had to do was sit tight and wait for the police to prove Duncan was alive. Maddy finishes Clare's story by saying Clare took the tape, as she wanted all the evidence to point to Duncan. She didn't want the police to think Neville had anything to do with her death.

Neville asks why Duncan took the third tape from the answer machine. Jonathan replies, so he could corroborate his story, that it was Neville's message that drove Felicity to try and commit suicide. Without that, his story is rather flimsy.

Looking at it from Clare's point of view it was perfect. With Kitty around to point the finger at Duncan it was an open and shut case. The only problem was, that it brought Maddy and Jonathan on the scene. When they arrived with Kitty on the night of the murder, Clare was still inside the house and heard everything they said. When Maddy said she'd look around the back, Clare quickly ran and locked the back door. Clare hoped that once they found it all locked up, they'd go away, but then she heard the window break. So she ran, unlocked the back door, gets out then locks it again using her own keys.

Maddy then says there is one thing she doesn't understand. When asked what, by Clare, she replies,

"Why you swallowed all that crap I gave you about skin cells in Jonathan's shoulders...still, suppose it broke the ice"

Kitty takes revenge on HewieClare then asks how they knew it was her. Jonathan explains that he remembered the routine of taking a prisoners bootlaces off of them. To prevent them hanging themselves in their cell. That put an entirely new perspective on Duncan supposedly strangling Felicity. The other thing was Maddy's burglary. Maddy never actually told Clare about her burglary. She could only have known about it, if she had been listening to Maddy and Jonathan's conversation outside the house on the night of the murder.

We then cut to Adam Klaus filming his TV special. Jonathan, Maddy and Kitty are in the audience watching along with everyone else. Maddy then spies Hewie coming on stage getting ready to play his set on the show. She whispers to Kitty that he can actually see, and Kitty is understandably upset. Maddy tells her not to say anything as she was told in confidence. Adam then finishes his illusion, and introduces Hewie, but before Hewie can play a note, he his knocked down by a boom microphone controlled by Kitty.

"And keep your peepers off my naked body in future, you pervert!" she cries.

corner imageGuest cast
Adam Klaus
Adam Klaus
Hewie Harper
Hewie Harper
Kitty
Kitty
Felicity Vale
Felicity Vale
Clare Sallinger
Clare Sallinger
Duncan Procter
Duncan Procter
Neville Bruce
Neville Bruce
Ben
Ben
Buster
Buster
Mrs Kilby
Mrs. Kilby
Petra
Petra
Kiko
Kiko
Detective Inspector Barrison
Detective Inspector Barrison
     
Season 2, Episode 5
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