Possession (2026) s01e03 Episode Script

1
Please be aware that this programme
also contains
themes of sexual violence.
I was born on Hope Hill Plantation
I am 292 years old.
Matthew!
Matthew
I am set to return to Bristol.
And I would counsel you to do
the same. As my wife.
Matthew.
You will be escorted
to county jail
where you will face
the appropriate punishment.
I am no Obeah-man.
Do not affront me!
(SWARM BUZZING)
(OMINOUS MUSIC)
(SCREAMS)
We're here to talk about Alfred's
will and Oliver's inheritance.
You're not getting it back.
Did you lock it?
No.
It's stuck.
Is that Cudjoe?
I think he wants to hurt me.
(GROANS)
Wait!
(CRIES OUT)
(DOORS SLAMMING)
(OMINOUS WHISPERS)
(GHOSTLY CRY)
(GROANING)
(CRUNCH)
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC)
(PANICKED BREATHING)
(SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC)
(INSECTS BUZZING)
(CARRIAGE APPROACHING)
(HORSE NEIGHS)
(FOOTSTEPS)
The coach pull up out back.
Good luck in England.
When I think of
look at I'm coming from
Looking back at
where the journey begun
I really haffi say that
I'm strong, I'm strong
All praises to the most high one
When I tell you
where I'm coming from
Looking back at
where the journey begun
I really haffi say
that I'm strong, I'm strong
All praises
(VOCALISING)
To the most high
To the most high
To the most high
To the most high
To the most high
To the most high ♪
(LOW, OMINOUS STING)
(GASPS, PANTS)
(CRUNCHING)
Oliver? Oliver!
(COUGHING)
Can you hear me?
Shit.
OK.
(VOMITS, RETCHES)
(SINISTER MUSIC)
(SQUELCHING)
Drink something.
What- what happened?
I- I don't-
Was I attacked?
He's coming.
What are you doing?
I'm fucking defending myself.
How could he attack you
from out there?
He's a Obeah-man.
This is punishment
for what my ancestors did to his.
Get a knife out of the drawer.
No! Oliver! For fucks sake!
I don't know what's going on here,
but if you're going to kill
each other, it's gone too far, OK?
Drop the appeal and leave.
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC)
That's your solution?
Just let it go.
Oh, God!
(GASPS)
(GRUNTS)
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC)
(TENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC)
(PANTING)
(CRUNCH)
(BAR CLATTERS)
(GROANS)
(DOOR JUDDERS)
(SINISTER STING)
(CRIES OUT)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC)
(ENGINE NOT TURNING OVER)
Come on!
(SINISTER STING)
(CRIES OUT)
Bomboclaat!
Cudjoe?
(TENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Come! Come!
(ENGINE REVS)
Go! Go! Go!
(MUSIC ENDS)
Hold that boy!
(GROUP SPEAKING PATOIS)
(CAR HONKING)
Move!
(ALL CRY OUT)
Woah, woah, woah, woah!
Oh my God.
(GROUP YELLING)
(MUSIC ENDS)
(TYRES GRIND)
(SOFT MYSTERIOUS STEEL DRUM MUSIC)
(CRUNCH)
(GASPING)
(SCREAMS)
(MUFFLED) Hey? Hey?
(NORMAL) You OK?
Show me your scalp.
What?
Show me your scalp!
(IN PATOIS)
I'm not gonna ask you again!
Part your hair!
OK! OK!
Let me see your hand dem.
Your hand dem, your finger dem.
What- what are you looking for?
A mark. A scar. Open your mouth.
(SIGHS)
Oliver had a mark.
There's a scar on his finger.
It got caught in the door.
(SOFT GROAN)
Is it Obeah?
No
This is not Obeah.
This is something different.
(SOFT MYSTERIOUS MUSIC)
He's possessed.
Possessed by what?
My sister.
(CLOCK CHIMING)
(SIGHS)
(SOFT CHATTER AND MUSIC)
(DOOR OPENS)
I am looking for my husband?
Charlotte? Oh.
(CHUCKLES)
Absorbed by the darkness,
he could not see his own hand
in front of his face.
And as the haze cleared, he noticed
a figure in the candlelight
and then he heard the voice
of the conductor once more,
whispering
Ah!
(CRIES OUT)
(LAUGHTER)
Oh, Mrs Connaught.
Are you, are you feeling better?
I'm sorry?
Weren't- Weren't you sick?
No?
Rum.
(GENTLE MUSIC AND CONVERSATION)
Mrs Connaught,
might I introduce you to Mr Waite.
He sits with my husband on the board
of the new British Museum.
Can we have another ghost story,
Mr Connaught?
Mr Waite?
Oh no.
What about you?
Did you ever happen upon one of
those old Coromantee witch doctors?
I knew an Obeah-man.
(SOFT SQUEAL)
Tell us more.
He poisoned my father's mind.
To what end?
To win his favour.
Perhaps your good father was just
fond of the poor chap.
(LAUGHTER)
He took the slave
for his own kin, sir.
That is more than fondness.
I have seen a tongue cut
at the vein,
treated with no more severity
than a toothache.
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC)
I have seen a woman transform
into a swarm of mosquitoes,
attack all those with white skin,
leaving a throng
of negroes unaffected.
(SWARM BUZZING)
(CRYING OUT)
Obeah is very real.
We all have reason to fear it.
Mrs Connaught. I apologise.
I embarrassed you.
(CLEARS THROAT)
I'm eager to hear more
about this Obeah-man.
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
(DOOR OPENS)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC)
(DOOR CLOSES)
(MUFFLED CHATTER)
If you're going to be such a naughty
boy I shall tell your Papa,
and there will be no supper for you!
(CHUCKLES)
(SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Madam.
Your Latin has improved.
What did you think?
Ovid. Metamorphosis.
It is a fiction.
I am grateful for your tutelage,
Mr Waite,
but it has been four months.
You told me negroes were not
the only purveyors of sorcery.
And the purpose of these meetings
was the study of a ritual magic.
Not school boy Latin.
(SIGHS)
(SOFT MYSTERIOUS MUSIC)
Mostly Latin. German.
A little Greek.
I thought you should be able
to understand it before you read it.
What is it?
A grimoire.
Early European ritual magic.
It is believed to be incredibly
potent in my circles,
though I have not yet met a man able
to harness its power.
Has a woman ever read it?
(SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC)
(SOFT MOANING)
(SPITS)
(GRUNTS)
(SIGHS)
(SEXUAL GRUNTS)
(BOTH MOANING)
(MAN VOMITS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
(KISS)
(KISS)
(SNAP, CRUNCH)
(GROANS)
Will you not even touch me?
Stop. Stop.
This was a contract.
You well know that.
You have your stations.
We both have seen
benefits from this union-
What benefit?!
I have seen the ledgers.
We are in debt.
You are a drunk and a gambler and-
What do you want, Charlotte?
Affection I do not have to beg for
or compete for.
To be paid attention to.
To have someone
who- who exists for me.
My father never had
a kind word for me.
I know what it is to not be wanted.
I cannot make you feel for me
what you do not.
I well understand that.
I'm not as stupid as you suppose.
Then why do you insist on hanging
off me like a dog on heat!
Because there is no other way
for me to have a child.
You owe me that.
You have taken everything from me.
At least give me that.
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC)
(DISGRUNTLES GROWL)
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
(SOFT MYSTERIOUS PIANO MUSIC)
(ANGRY GRUNT)
(GRUNTS)
(MUSIC GROWS TENSE)
(MYSTERIOUS WHISPERS)
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC)
(MYSTERIOUS WHISPERS CONTINUE)
(OMINOUS MUSIC BUILDS)
(GRUNTS)
(MUSIC ENDS)
(MUSIC ENDS)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC)
(CLANG)
What a difference a day makes
(CRUNCH)
(GRUNTS)
24 little hours
(THUDDING)
Brought the sun and the flowers
(MUSIC ENDS)
Did I do that?
Don't worry about it, man.
So he's possessed?
Zombie.
He spoke to me.
We had the same conversation
we were having ten minutes before.
You say he was dashed up against
the ceiling,
and he attacked you and
if I hadn't come in, wudda kill yuh.
I don't know how it works y'know.
But if you said the man changed
and he carries that scar
then it's her.
It's Charlotte.
Angelo had that scar.
We are all at risk as long as
she can tear something from us.
Hair, nails, skin.
She was put away. Contained.
I don't know, me an Angelo were
the only people who knew
about that trunk.
She was in the trunk?
In the bedroom?
You saw it?
Just when I got there I
You opened it?
Why? It was wrapped up.
Tight!
Hidden away.
It was a box.
An empty box!
You let her out.
And she took a hold of him
and she kill him.
The reason your friend is dead
is because he killed himself.
He did not want to be alive.
That is not my fault!
She make him kill himself!
Angelo was a good man.
He cared about people.
What about you?
You never came here because
it was the right thing to do.
You, you saw an opportunity.
And you came here to satisfy
your own greed.
So yes. It is your fault.
(KISSES TEETH)
Go on! Go on back to him!
And see what happen to you!
(SLAM)
Woman! Move!
(HORN BLARES)
Get in.
(SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Don't slam me door.
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC)
Mr Connaught, er come round.
Come through.
(GATE BUZZES)
Pack your tings.
I'll take you to the airport.
What's gonna happen to Oliver?
Me's not an Obeah-man, y'know.
I do not know.
Look-
(CRUNCH, GROANS)
Oh my God.
(SIGHS)
Me alright, man.
Are you sure?
Me alright. Go on, go pack.
Would you come up with me?
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC)
You can come.
You said Oliver was a zombie.
When I said zombie
I'm not talking about
something in a horror film, y'know?
It's like
taking away your sense of self.
You think the worst thing
is to be owned.
(SOMBRE MUSIC)
Then you outlive everybody
you care for.
(SOFT LAUGHTER)
B, very good, Abby.
That sends you crazy.
But you outlive crazy.
Sarah!
Matthew.
You outlive sad.
Stupid.
Starving and suicidal.
(SOMBRE MUSIC CONTINUES)
I don't want life.
I hate it.
But I wrestle with it.
Better to be unhappy and free.
Than an eternal slave.
(DOOR CREAKS)
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC)
(OMINOUS WHISPERS)
Lie.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(SOFT GRUNT)
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC CONTINUES)
(PAINED GRUNT)
(HEAVY BREATH)
(HEAVY BREATHING)
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC CONTINUES)
(KISSES)
(GRUNTED YELL)
(GRUNTED YELL)
(GRUNTING)
(TENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC)
(SENSUAL MOANING)
(YELLS)
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)
(MUSIC ENDS)
(WOMAN SINGING, PLAYING DRUMS)
(GROUP SINGS)
(BABY FUSSES)
(SINGING CONTINUES)
Take time!
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC)
(BABY FUSSES)
Oh my love
It's alright. It's alright.
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC CONTINUES)
(WET GURGLING)
(MUSIC ENDS)
(BABY CRYING)
When will his father arrive?
Bring some rum.
(SIGHS)
I see no reason to be any less than
frank with you, Mr O'Connell.
My husband is a gambler.
I have to pay my creditors.
That is why I've come back.
To oversee our expansion and,
well to improve both our prospects.
Heretofore I have
'em out six days a week.
Well there are seven days in a week.
(SCOFFS)
They cannot work without rest.
Aye?
Are you a god fearing man,
Mr O'Connell?
Well.
You and I, we've seen tricks
more powerful
than any I heard from a pulpit.
Sarah! Come!
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC)
Take off your head dress.
(LAUGHS)
You fraidy fraidy?
(BABY CRYING)
Oh, my darling.
My darling boy.
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC CONTINUES)
(SINISTER MUSIC BUILDS)
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
Ready?
You know we have to leave now.
Look, you understand
why I'm struggling with this.
Don't you?
I'm not lying.
You said you were
three hundred years old.
Charlotte cursed me.
Right.
Be quick.
I'll wait in the car.
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC)
Hello?
Dad?
(KISSES TEETH)
What the hell is going on?
Your office called me!
They said there'd been a serious
incident and you'd gone AWOL!
(KNOCKING)
Police!
Listen. I'm coming home, OK.
But if you don't hear from me
in 24 hours,
call the embassy in Jamaica.
What?!
(KNOCKING)
Open the door!
Claudia?!
Police! Open the door!
Claudia?!
Police.
Open the door and come out
with your hands up. Now!
OK, I'm coming!
(WOOD SPLINTERS)
Don't move! Hands on your head!
Turn around!
Interlock your fingers!
Room clear!
(SOFT CLAMOUR)
(OMINOUS MUSIC BUILDS)
Ma'am,
we have to leave the building.
Wait, hold on.
I wanna know what's happening.
Don't resist.
Claudia McKenzie,
I'm arresting you on suspicion of
aiding and abetting a criminal
and grievous bodily harm.
What?!
Nice to see you again, too.
Let's go. Let's go.
DAD: Claudia?! Claudia!
(OTHER PRISONERS CALLING OUT)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
Hey girl, what ya looking at?!
(MUSIC ENDS)
WOMAN'S VOICE: (WHISPERED) It burns.
Burns.
(TENSE OMINOUS MUSIC)
(DOOR CREAKS)
It burns.
(SCREAM)
(INDISTINCT MUTTERING)
"I contacted my solicitor,
Claudia McKenzie, yesterday evening
with a routine query,
but we got cut off.
Shortly after the call, she turned
up unannounced at Hope Hill
and insisted we leave immediately.
Within minutes of her arrival,
there was a power outage
and we found the exits sealed.
It was at this point I noticed
someone in the annexe,
who I believed to be Cudjoe East,
the man with whom I'm currently
engaged in a legal dispute.
Ms McKenzie suggested he was trying
to intimidate us
and advised withdrawing
our appeal to placate him.
I disagreed.
She seemed stressed and upset
with my decision,
at which point,
her demeanour became threatening.
(SIGHS)
She hit me with a tin can
and I hit my head.
Then Cudjoe East entered the house
and began to beat me with a poker.
I don't remember anything
after this."
May I see that?
Were you 'stressed and upset'?
No comment.
Were you acting under duress?
No comment.
We take the abduction and kidnap
of foreign nationals very seriously.
So if there's anything you need
to tell me, now's the time.
No comment.
Would you say your interest in
Mr East is singularly professional?
No comment.
He waited outside your hotel,
while you packed.
Were you planning
on leaving together?
That's a reach, detective.
Where is he, Claudia?
Control from SWAT.
WOMAN: Attention all units.
Cudjoe East's vehicle has
been located.
The suspect should be considered
armed and dangerous.
(DISTANT SIRENS)
Handsome,
buy something from me, now.
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC)
Stop right there! Stop! Stop!
Stop! Stop!
In the meat market!
(OFFICERS CLAMOUR)
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
Mr Connaught wants to talk to you.
Absolutely not. No way.
Look, engage with them.
Show some willingness to co-operate.
Why do I have to talk to him.
I think he wants to help you.
The police want to press charges.
Maybe he wants to protect you
from that.
That man does not want
to protect me.
Miss McKenzie,
I'm sure that whatever you have been
through, it was deeply unpleasant.
However, my focus,
is to ensure your release.
And I do believe you are going
to have to talk to him.
(LOW, TENSE STING)
Hi.
I think Mr Connaught has shown
a lot of class showing up here
today and trying to help you.
You hit me with a poker.
What? Why would I do that?
You're my solicitor.
We're on the same side.
I just I- I'd never dream
of hurting you.
Then how do you explain this?
Well how do you explain this?
Fuck. Maybe it is me.
May- maybe I've got it wrong?
My head's not a hundred percent.
And um, it's been
a rough couple of weeks.
My dad. And
I miss my son.
But if I- if I- if I did anything-
if I said anything
to upset you, I- I'm- I'm sorry, OK?
I just-
I just don't remember doing it.
But if that's what you
say happened then-
then- then maybe
there's some truth to it.
Look I- I- I trust you
and I- I trust your judgement.
But I don't trust him.
I mean, forget this fixation
he has with being,
what- what was he saying,
three hundred years old?
He just doesn't like me.
And why would he.
I'm the only thing standing between
him and fifty million pounds.
The first time he met me he tried
to kick the shit out of me.
I mean that's
who we're dealing with.
Matthew, he's just-
He's a manipulative, calculating man
and he only cares about
getting what he wants.
Matthew?
(SOFT MYSTERIOUS MUSIC)
Who's Matthew?
(SINISTER STING)
(CRIES OUT)
Alright, stop! This stops now!
Sorry.
(TENSE OMINOUS MUSIC)
Hello? Hi?
What?
What was that?
You're not making any progress.
You can't find him.
We have his vehicle.
We're waiting for a forensics team
to sweep the interior.
Feeling better then?
Hmm.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(GENTLE MUSIC)
(DEEP BREATH)
(GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(LOW, OMINOUS MUSIC)
(CLATTERING)
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
(SINISTER MUSIC)
(SQUELCHING)
(MUSIC ENDS)