The Northumbria Mysteries (2026) s01e03 Episode Script

1
SQUAWKING
Hello, Mr Buzzard!
SCREAMING
Lady Phil?
Mother?
What is it?
No.
Oh, please, no.
The way I get to heaven
The way I get to heaven is to fall
Forgiveness is their business
I'll give them something
to forgive me for. ♪
The victim is Andrei Mavrodi.
Undocumented Romanian migrant
working on the estate
since February
to do odd jobs and ground clearance.
- Who found him and when?
- Lady Philippa Armstrong,
bird watching,
half seven this morning.
Have you taken a statement?
She's too distressed.
According to her gamekeeper,
Whittick,
Andrei spent yesterday clearing land
using powerful weed killer.
- The contents of that bottle
will need testing.
- On it.
Probably an accident.
Bloke had a long day,
light-headed on chemicals.
Wandered past as
it was getting dark,
tripped, fell in,
couldn't get out.
You're assuming he was alive
when he entered the water.
Erm
You might be right.
- Thanks.
- Although, high on
solvent fumes or not,
if Andrei Mavrodi wasn't able to get
out of 14 inches of pond water
to save his own life,
it's most likely because
someone wouldn't let him.
Look, it's not going
to happen like that.
We knew, though. We knew
something like this would happen.
I am telling you,
we have to stay silent.
- Do you understand?
- Well, that's easy for you to say.
And maybe I'm done
being silent.
If you know what's good
for you, you're not.
You must be Lady Philippa.
DI Rose O'Connell.
I should never have
let him use glyphosate.
It's a vile chemical.
It's banned for a reason.
But he insisted.
Nothing else works on rhododendrons.
When they're gone, we shall replace
them with the native heathers.
Lady Philippa
That poor, poor boy.
It's terrible to think that
Andrei inhaled those ghastly fumes
and then met his death in
in an awful accident
that I could have
I SHOULD have prevented.
We're not classifying it
as an accident yet,
until the coroner says otherwise.
It's an unexplained death.
You don't think
We don't know yet.
LADY PHILIPPA GASPS
Everything all right, Father David?
Ah.
Joe.
Yes.
In Tom and Jerry,
I was always Team Tom.
There's been a mouse.
Ah.
How are you?
Yeah, I'm well, thanks.
- Yeah.
- Good.
I had some bad news.
A labourer from
Gallowbrae Hall has died.
He stayed here once.
A man in search of something.
Not unlike yourself.
What is it, Joe?
I've been thinking.
You know, you dedicated
your life to helping others.
I'm doing God's work,
not mine.
Sometimes, doing nothing
can be the better path.
You're right.
I'm on a better path.
I am staying well out of it.
Out of what?
Tell them to check
his right hand first.
It might be nothing,
but I think there might be traces
of something, some kind of fibre.
Thanks.
Why are you here?
It's a good question, Rose,
and it's one I have been
grappling with but
I think I can help.
I thought we'd established that,
while you are many things,
"helpful" isn't one of them.
Look, I overheard two of the staff
from here in the cafe.
They sounded stressed.
OK, well, one of their
people's just died.
No. It was like they knew something.
Ah, what's he doing here?
Pleasure as always.
What have you got?
RAJ SIGHS
I tried to get witness
statements from the staff,
but they weren't that helpful,
to be honest.
I think that Yates the butler's
just downright rude.
Ah, well, if you called him
a butler,
- that's your first mistake
right there.
- Ma'am, can I nick him?
All I'm saying is,
he's not a butler.
Then why was I told his father,
and his father's father
were all butlers
going back to the dawn of time.
The gamekeepers here,
they've always been the Whitticks
and the groundsmen are the Randalls.
The housekeepers are the Greys.
But Yates,
he's the house manager now.
He'll be polite enough.
They might talk to police.
They won't tell you anything.
I suppose they'll tell you.
I'm not here for my benefit.
No.
Do you hear me?
RAJ MOUTHS
SOCOs are done processing Andrei's
room in the staff quarters.
That's all the ID there was.
Registered to the
Gallowbrae address.
No passport, no national
identity card
nothing.
And these pills?
These were found in the drawer
of his bedside table.
There were five.
One's gone off for analysis.
It's got to be organised crime,
smuggled in to work
in the drugs trade.
Romania entered the EU in 2007,
so he wouldn't have needed
to enter the UK illegally.
Right.
We need to find out who he was.
Contact the Refugee Council
and the Romanian consulate.
If he's ever had
his fingerprints taken,
he'll have an Interpol
or a Eurodac profile.
Got it.
That's Lady Phillippa's son.
Jonathan.
Ah.
I need alibis for all of them.
Sorry, door was open.
Yes?
Hello, Maxine.
It's
- Joe Ruby.
- Ah, you remember.
My mother does.
- And how is she these days?
- What do you want?
Look, can I give you
a bit of advice?
If you crack an egg
on a flat surface,
and not the edge of the bowl,
you won't get any splinters of shell
in your batter.
Yeah, sorry.
Why are you here?
Well, I used to come here
as a kid to nick stuff.
I'm trying to make amends,
I suppose.
I heard about
Yeah, I'm sorry, Maxine.
It just doesn't seem possible.
I mean, I know
accidents happen, but
You think it wasn't an accident?
I don't know.
Maybe.
There was this guy
on the grounds
yesterday afternoon.
- Yeah?
- Gavin Cooper.
He's always spying.
He spouts right-to-roam propaganda
as a reason to trespass.
He wanted in on the rewilding
and Lady P wouldn't have him.
What time did you see him?
Who are you?
Me? I'm nobody.
I just stopped in about a delivery.
Whittick!
You shouldn't be
discussing estate business.
Everything all right?
Can you call the police?
This man's trespassing.
Easy.
There's no need for this.
I shall be on my way.
Cause of death
confirmed as drowning.
Pond water and algae in his lungs.
Still waiting for
toxicology results.
Estimated time of death
between 1930 and 2100 hours.
Alibis?
Lady Philippa was in the
gamekeeper's cottage
with Betty Whittick,
helping to pot gooseberry jam.
Yates, the butler
Sorry.
house manager was doing a
wine inventory with Maxine.
Jonathan was alone in the home gym
up until 6.30,
then on a Zoom call to
his sister in South Africa.
Most of the staff were at a
film night in the music room.
Whittick was at the Gallowbrae Arms.
PHONE RINGS
Hello?
Where?!
I'll take this from here.
Thank you.
Before you say anything,
I was not trespassing.
I was catching up with
an old friend's daughter.
Gavin Cooper.
- You need to find him.
- Stop talking.
He got turned down for a job
on the rewilding project there.
Probably not happy about an illegal
immigrant getting the job over him.
He was sniffing around the gardens
about the time of the murder.
You do think there
was a murder, right?
Oh, and there's something very
dodgy about that Jonathan character.
And the gamekeeper, Whittick -
he knows something.
And a bit of a heads up, he knows me
as well. He just can't remember why.
- Why?
- Well, I'd lay money on mine
and Tony Conyer's cigarette butts
still being in that old bunker
out back from 1979.
Good times.
So
Gavin Cooper.
- You want me to find him?
- I'm going
to charge you with trespass.
You what?
We need to find Gavin Cooper.
See what you can dig up.
OK, and what about the trespass?
- Just messing with him?
- Just get him out of here.
RAJ SIGHS
Lime and soda, please.
And whatever you're having.
I'm
I'm looking for an old pal of mine.
Hello?
Gavin
Stop. Stop!
I already told Baz I haven't got it.
You haven't got what?
Who the hell's Baz?
Who are you?
Gallowbrae, last night.
A workman drowned in a garden pond.
- How unlucky's that?
- Are you police?
No. It's the eyes.
Someone saw you,
on the estate, yesterday afternoon.
Well, access to nature
should be a public right.
I agree. But your problem is
he died around the
time you were there.
Well, why do you care so much
if you're not a copper?
When I was a kid, I used to sneak in
at night-time to watch the badgers.
They are beautiful creatures.
So I do know where
you're coming from.
Yeah, well, the badgers
have all gone now.
Frightened off by all those trucks.
Trucks?
Yeah, you know, the equipment.
Well, yeah, for the rewilding.
Oh, sure!
But I've never known a rewilding
project to use that much machinery.
You should have a
look at my socials.
And not only that, why are
they only doing it at night?
- Look, you're going to have
to talk to the police.
- No way.
I know who's on the case.
And for a copper, yeah,
she's not completely awful.
Well, if you're not a copper,
why are you doing this?
You know, a lot of
people ask me that.
Ah, Inspector Clueless.
That's Detective Sergeant to you.
Apologies,
Detective Sergeant Clueless.
Is your boss here?
Special delivery. I bring you
Gavin Cooper.
I saw him around,
but I didn't know him.
You're certain you saw him
yesterday, talking to Jonathan?
Yeah, well, Jonathan was
doing the talking
Well, shouting, more like.
About what?
He said, "Don't you dare,
I'm warning you."
Anything else?
No, I split after that.
You're a bit of a fixture
around Gallowbrae, I'm told.
It's not right, what they're doing.
- You mean the rewilding?
- Robbing, more like.
What, taking land from the public?
Giving priority to red squirrels
over local people
and getting two million quid
from the government to do it?
You seem quite angry about that.
Trust me, I'm not the only one
that's angry
about those toffs
and all they stand for.
Look, seriously, mate,
you need to
I'll handle this.
We'll be in touch.
Right, I know what you're thinking,
but I just thought I could help
and save you some time.
The ice is thin.
I assume he told you
about Jonathan Armstrong.
Slippery as a fish,
and definitely hiding something.
And not just the
upstairs-downstairs action
- that's going on with him and Maxine.
- The what?
Oh, come on. It's what they do.
Is that a chip on your shoulder?
Look, Maxine and Whittick
are scared of something
or someone.
And the kind of people they're
scared of hold on very tight
to what they've got.
Did he mention the the trucks?
The earth-moving equipment?
All at night.
There's something
going on there, Rose,
something beyond the rewilding.
I'm telling you,
this was no accident.
It's DI O'Connell.
OK.
I get it.
-
- I'm here at Gallowbrae Hall.
Look at these machines.
They claim this is for
government-funded rewilding.
Clearly, it isn't.
- Jonathan Armstrong?
- Yeah.
- DI Rose O'Connell.
- I think you've already met my
colleague, DS Raj Singh.
- Yes.
I have a couple of
questions about Andrei.
Uh-huh. Maxine, will you
give us a moment?
Yeah.
It must have been a shock.
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, we're all in bits. Um
I've already given my alibi,
so I don't think I can be
of much help, I'm afraid,
but abundantly clear it
was a tragic mishap, so
Well, a witness says
they saw you and Andrei
having an argument
yesterday afternoon.
- What witness?
- They claim that you were shouting.
Andrei looked nervous.
And you're on record for having
been in a scrape or two.
Oh, yeah, that was
ages ago. Yeah, yeah. Um
Andrei speaks very poor English,
so no wonder it was
One had to shout to be understood.
So, you deny warning him,
making some kind of threat?
HE LAUGHS
That?
No, that was just a bit of fun.
Yeah, next month is Mother's
surprise birthday party and I told
Andrei the plan and then I had
to sh..warn him to keep shtoom.
Has anyone visited him here?
How would I know?
I'm not his keeper.
No. He worked for Mum, not me.
Tell me more about this
rewilding project.
I want to get a better
picture of what Andrei did.
Are you aware of
Mr Hugh Corcoran, KC?
- Should I be?
- He's my lawyer.
An eminent one.
Call him if you wish,
but you're not under caution.
I'm just trying to find out
what happened to Andrei.
- I assume you'd like to know.
- Hmm.
So, the rewilding.
Most of the estate will be
off-limits to the public
- from here on in, correct?
- No, no, no.
Only as required for the
sensitive reintroduction
of these incredibly
valuable plants and animals.
Hmm. It's quite a contentious
scheme, though, isn't it?
Yes. Isn't everything these days?
Do you think Andrei, or any
of the other workers,
might have been
victimised or threatened?
Look, we are donating most
of our land to nature.
And so, who could possibly -
apart from those right-to-roam
loons - have any objection?
Maybe the families that
have lost their farms.
The land-for-homes lobby
seem to think
they have a pretty strong case.
Do I need my solicitor or not?
You've been very helpful.
It's toxicology.
Andrei had high levels of
"benzo-dia-zep-ines" in his system.
No wonder he didn't struggle.
You think he was a user?
Either that or he was drugged.
Any update on the
pills in his drawer?
I'll chase.
Um, also, forensics are saying
there's still nothing on the
fibres in Andrei's right hand,
but that, "the hand shows
"disturbance inconsistent
with natural rigor release."
Whatever that means.
Someone forced his
hand open after he died.
Aye, that's what I'd have guessed.
But why?
Because whoever that was
must have been involved.
Do you think it was this lot?
I mean, I can't say I like him.
We might need more than that.
So, was I right? Was he murdered?
You need to leave before
I nick you for harassment.
Look, I promise I won't keep you.
I can see you're busy
with Colin Firth there.
Look, there's a lot more
than rewilding
going on at that place, Rose.
You can build an office block
with the amount of stuff
that's come through those gates.
So where is this office block?
And why haven't the residents
gone into meltdown,
not to mention local councils,
planning officers,
conservation groups?
There's checks and balances, Joe.
Hush money.
Oh, and the staff? All signed NDAs.
NDAs? Seriously?
According to Gavin Cooper.
- You did interview Gavin.
- Oh, you mean the white supremacist
that torched a Turkish barbers
two years ago?
- They have put their prices up.
- Joe, I'm trying to solve a murder!
Ugh.
So it WAS murder.
I was right.
You should get a warrant.
Search the grounds.
We can't get a warrant. We don't
have any evidence, and we can't
just make it up. Now, please,
I've got a halibut waiting for me.
Oh, don't call him that.
He's all right.
Just needs a haircut.
GROANING
GROANING
Ah.
Ma'am, I'm not exactly
sure what's going on here.
Incoming!
It's all going to
the women's refuge!
Good morning, Lady Philippa.
Do you have a moment?
Absolutely!
Oh.
We're just trying to get a better
picture of Andrei's circumstances.
Oh, that poor boy.
Lady Philippa, is it true that
you make your staff sign NDAs?
We look after our staff
extremely well.
But as a family, we've had more
than our fair share of issues.
The NDAs were Jonathan's idea.
Jonathan is a bit of a loose cannon.
I'm sure you've seen the tabloids.
Thank heavens we got his two
sisters safely married off.
Thick ankles and all.
Would you mind if we had
a look around Andrei's bedroom?
I just want to get
more of an idea of who he was.
By all means.
We have no secrets here, detectives.
Yates will take you.
Ben Whittick previously said he was
at the Gallowbrae Arms all evening,
but ANPR have him driving towards
Morpeth at 18:09,
parking on Tillet Street
till 23:45
then driving home.
What's there to do in Tillet Street
on a Tuesday evening?
I wonder.
Bag those, please.
Not so unskilled after all.
PHONE CHIMES
The local prescribing
register has
no record of Andrei Mavrodi.
But Jonathan Armstrong
has prescriptions for anxiety
medications
including benzodiazepines.
Now, this is bordering
on harassment.
ROSE EXCLAIMS
When did you realise that pills
had gone missing
- from your bathroom cabinet?
- Ooh. What pills?
- Benzo
- One of them
ended up in Andrei's blood.
Oh, well, that would be
a couple of weeks ago.
Did you tell anyone the pills
had gone missing? Maxine, perhaps?
Why would I have told her?
Because I think you and her
were having a relationship.
Ah.
And did she tell you about their
smutty little situationship?
Hmm? She and Andrei?
How did that make you feel?
- Jealous, maybe?
- What, of her?
No, no, no. She has her upsides, but
she's not worth drowning a man for -
if that's where your forensic
mind is going. No, if anyone
had it in them to commit
a crime of passion, it was her.
I mean, he dumped her.
She was devastated.
- And she's got previous, so
- Oh?
Yeah, I think I've said enough,
- so I need
- No, no, no,
there's something else.
How come there's so much
industrial equipment
being delivered to this place?
It seems an awful lot
for a rewilding project.
Well, you clearly don't know
much about land management.
- Enlighten us.
- Right, I'm off to the refuge.
You will take some rhubarb.
Crumble if you must,
but you haven't lived
until you've had it with pork chops.
Come along, Jonathan.
We have work to do.
Hmm.
Good. Um, make yourselves at home.
Looks like an antique.
Uh, yeah.
Lady Phil's had the same
pair of boots since1990.
Maxine, I understand you had
a relationship with Andrei.
You spoke to Jonathan.
I miss him.
No judgment, but
was Andrei a drug user?
Sorry, I've got to go.
Do you think Maxine could
have done it, then?
I think we need to know why Jonathan
keeps throwing her under the bus.
I mean, his alibi's pretty weak.
No corroboration beyond his
flaky sister in South Africa.
But if Jonathan drugged Andrei,
then drowned him
why are his benzos
in Andrei's drawer?
Think about it.
Oh.
Jonathan planted them there.
- Should we bring him in, then?
- With his lawyer?
We continue to treat him
like a witness, not a suspect.
Let him hang himself.
I agree.
LINE RINGS
Yeah, it's
It's Jimmy Hayes from Gallowbrae.
It's about the
Portland Cement Order.
For Highwater.
Yep, that's it.
Right.
Ah, of course.
C45.
Ah, my mistake.
Sorry.
Oi!
You again.
I know. Shouldn't be here.
I remember you now.
Oh, no.
Come here!
- No!
- Stop!
- Don't shoot!
Jonathan was right, though.
Maxine was cautioned for
assaulting a local lad,
ex-fiance, last New Year's Eve.
GUNSHO
- Stop!
- He's got a gun!
Lower the gun!
DI Rose O'Connell.
I thought you lot had dealt
with this lowlife already.
Easy with the "lowlife".
I'm glad we bumped into you.
Your alibi doesn't stack up
for the night of the murder.
- What?
- Your car was
parked on Tillet Street.
You want to tell us
why you were there,
or do I assume you're lying
because you murdered Andrei?
Well, I I
We checked the CCTV at Ronnie's.
You're off the hook.
As long as your wife
doesn't find out.
What just happened there?
Ronnie's. It's a brothel.
What were you doing, Joe?
I was checking out C45 concrete
and several stacks of rebar
by the air raid shelter.
Designated for something
called Highwater.
"Highwater"? What is that?
No idea. But you wouldn't
use all those materials
for a nature conservation project.
C45, it's for foundations,
beams, heavy-duty stuff.
Plus, it's one of the most toxic
building materials there is.
Show me Andrei's drawings.
What are you thinking?
Well, just because he's an unskilled
labourer here doesn't mean he's not
a highly qualified professional
in his own country.
Where are the keys?
This isn't a Romanian flag. Look.
There's a small coat of arms
in the middle.
Andrei isn't Romanian.
He's Moldovan.
And this matters because?
See what you can find out
about Andrei the Moldovan
and see if you can find
anything about Highwater.
Sure.
There's a rabbit off, Rose.
Remember you told me that you and
somebody used to sneak
into the air raid shelter
at Gallowbrae and smoke roll-ups?
Yeah. Me and Tony Conyers.
Why?
I assume we have a warrant.
You know, I've been
a copper for 25 years
and this is the first time
I've broken the law.
You wear it well.
HE EXHALES
HE GROANS WITH EFFOR
What is this?
Well, it's definitely
not for rewilding.
Am I right?
This has to prove something.
Not yet.
And without a warrant,
this is all inadmissible.
Well, we'd better be careful.
We might get arrested.
CLANG
What was that?
Let's go.
What do you know about Highwater?
- What's he doing here?
- Listen, you.
We know about your plans to build
something in that air raid shelter.
Right, I'm calling my lawyer.
Can you tell him
to give me that back?
Look, um
HE SCOFFS
It is a
Highwater
is more of an idea.
It doesn't even exist yet.
Not in the not in any real sense.
Well, evidently, it's
an idea that already has
a significant amount of heavy-duty
concrete to back it up.
Yeah, that's, um
That's for a helipad.
The estate is desperate for
revenue from the city-types
and they helicopter in
for the shooting season.
So why the code name?
Why not just call it a helipad?
There wasn't time to get
planning permission.
My mistake. Mother knows nothing
about this, of course.
But needs must.
Sorry, I was just
What do you know about
Project Highwater?
Despite what you might
have been told,
an NDA can't stop someone
from telling the truth.
Highwater is Jonathan's pet project.
The same way the rewilding
programme is Lady Philippa's.
Has it been discussed
among the staff?
No, she doesn't know anything
because there's
really nothing to know.
Did you know Andrei
was an architect?
No.
I knew he could draw, but
What I'm wondering is
whether he'd figured out
that this "rewilding project"
is just a smokescreen for Highwater,
- whatever that is.
- Yeah.
And if he threatened to go public
and needed to be silenced
Right, look, well, I think
we're done here,
- unless you're going to charge me.
- I'll be in touch.
He killed him.
He has motive and, come on,
those plans weren't for a helipad.
We might need more than that.
"We"?
Nice.
PHONE CHIMES
The fibres under Andrei's
nails were polyester.
Maybe from the tarpaulin he was
using for ground clearance.
Wait.
Look, I
I don't know Lady Phil's involvement
in Highwater but
I do know she wasn't at Betty's
potting gooseberry jam
when Andrei died.
Because I was.
Lady Phil asked you to lie?
I have to.
I told you.
You can't trust them.
They've been getting away
with it for generations.
The fibres.
I don't think they
were from tarpaulin.
You see? Hmm?
Perfectly serviceable paper.
Oh, and why your generation
cannot appreciate the utility
of a half-pencil,
I shall never know.
Ah.
- Detectives.
- Actually, I'm not a
Mum, I really must insist that
we get Corky up here at once.
Oh, dear.
I doubt there's time for that.
Would I be right in thinking
the fibres underneath
Andrei's fingernails
are from the laces on your boot?
They're with forensics now.
I had a feeling
you were a clever one.
Shall we?
Lady Philippa Armstrong,
I'm arresting you for the murder
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
I'll tell you everything.
Enough of the drama.
If you'd like to come with us,
we can
The grand estates are
struggling, you see.
You can tell us
all this at the station.
And you should have a solicitor.
Do you want to hear this or not?
English families are
coming apart at the seams.
So, rather than sell up and
downsize like the rest of us,
you thought you'd spend public money
and build what, exactly?
For what it's worth,
my money's on a nuclear bunker.
Oh.
Well
In a way, yes.
Rewilding is the perfect cover.
Jonathan is certain he can find
a tech billionaire
who'll buy the bunker outright.
But they do insist on total
privacy and isolation
so that, when the climate
falls down or the world blows up,
they'll have somewhere to live
out their days, riff-raff free.
But did you have to execute Andrei
just because he found out?
After he put two and two together,
I tried to bring him on side,
but he
he was outraged.
Insisted on blowing the whistle.
Regrettably, Highwater
is the only decent idea
Jonathan has ever come up with,
so one had to act accordingly.
And the murder? Did Jonathan help?
Oh, no.
Might as well invite a
Labrador to play you at chess.
So you acted alone?
Indeed.
I simply located Jonathan's tablets,
crushed a few of them up
and added them to Andrei's water.
He was already fairly woozy
after a long day with the
weed killer, of course.
So by the time we got to the pond,
he didn't need to be pushed.
He struggled when he drowned
though, didn't he?
Oh.
I've put many an animal out of its
misery over the years.
Sometimes it just has to be done.
By holding his head
underwater with your boot.
He briefly resisted.
Grabbed at whatever
was within reach.
But, in the end, it was
all mercifully quick.
When did you figure out he had the
end of your boot lace in his hand?
Ah.
Only after rigor mortis had set in,
as you so correctly deduced.
What I'm struggling
to understand is that
you liked Andrei,
cared about him even,
and yet you don't seem
to be remorseful.
It's no secret that I probably
care more about my dogs
than about humankind.
I won't be around come doomsday,
but one does what one can
to protect one's own.
Rhododendrons, Romanians
Intruders, they need
to be controlled
to protect the natural order.
Andrei Mavrodi was Moldovan.
Oh, well. "Pot-ay-to, pot-ah-to."
We're all going to
hell in a handcart.
You'll see.
Ah, gotcha.
I do hope that's humane.
Vermin.
The mouse, not
You're as remorseless as Lady Phil.
Well, maybe that's
where I'm going wrong.
Well, those people don't get where
they've got by feeling remorse.
But we're not those people.
No.
You're right.
We're not.
I just wanted to say
thank you for helping.
Catch anything?
Well
like you said, Father David
some of us have a calling.
And as a result
there's one less rodent
walking the streets.
Well, that is good news.