(soft music) MR DONCKERS: Your mother's left me.

She's found somebody else.

I, I think she doesn't love me anymore.

DAN: How about I make us a nice cup of tea and then we'll go look for her, together?

Come on.

(snoring) (birds chirping) Jasper, what are you doing here?

I wish to speak with you.

But it's not even seven o'clock yet.

So, ring back after nine and make an appointment (key turns in lock) like everyone else.

I have a great deal of lost time to make up for.

(dramatic music) (sighs) Very well.

Come on in.

(door opens) Thank you.

It's me who should be thanking you.

I'm not sure I would have got dad home and settled so easily without you.

I can't believe you never said anything.

Yeah, well, it's no one's business but ours.

So I'm sorry, Dan, for not trusting you.

And I'm sorry foryou know.

-Taking advantage of me.

-It was a moment of weakness.

-Another moment of weakness.

-Mm-hmm.

I'm sorry.

It must be doing your head in.

Oh, stop apologising.

And, um, get back into bed.

Oh.

(kissing sounds) HOUSEKEEPER: Good morning, housekeeping.

(ominous music) Dr. Hill?

(gasps) (dramatic music) (theme music) (cameras clicking) (people chattering) BRAND: Excuse me, thank you.

Doesn't look good?

It isn't.

(camera clicking) (dramatic music) I can smell gas.

The father may have died from it.

Maybe the son, possibly both.

What about the girl?

Hard to say.

Some kind of internal trauma, but beyond that I'll be guessing.

Do I recognise her from somewhere?

RABBIT: Maybe the TV.

Dr. Harriet Hill.

AKA Dr. Death to our friends in the tabloid press.

She's a prominent campaigner for assisted dying according to her website.

Here.

Let me.

Urgh.

There we go.

Dan?

That's right, Mr. Donckers, Dan.

(phone rings) Rabbit.

I've already told him I'm gonna be late this morning.

Yeah, he already texted me.

Should one of us call him back?

Not me.

I've got got the day off.

Oh, have you got a date with the TV in your boxers on the sofa?

Hmm, I'm meeting a friend, actually.

Sorry, I didn't mean to pry.

-It's, uh, it's not Dina.

-Forget it, Dan.

Forget this whole thing, in fact.

Lis, um, she finished with me.

-She finished with you?

-Uh-huh.

Apparently, I got on a little too well with one of her friends.

I don't know who it is.

(laughing) -LISA: Right.

(Professor T sighs) I sense resistance, Jasper.

Hostility even towards this process that we're undertaking.

Towards the very idea of re-examining your past.

Do not dwell on the past.

Do not dream of the future.

Concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Buddha.

Study the past if you would divine the future.

Confucius.

Have you any previous experience of psychoanalysis?

In my teenage years, my mother hoped it would alleviate my compulsive traits.

And you weren't impressed by the outcomes?

Quacks and mountebanks.

Every last one of them.

Paid a fortune to parrot my own thoughts back at me.

Oh, but here you are, 40 years later seeking my help.

These sessions, uh, in your teenage years, did they involve hypnosis?

Invariably.

(dramatic music) Right.

It is often used to surface repressed memories of childhood trauma.

But it has been suggested that it can also lead to delusional disorders.

Delusional disorders?

Well, specifically false memory syndrome.

(tense music) Sorry, Ma'am.

Boss.

Oh, my God.

You picked a bad morning for a lie-in, D.S.

Donckers.

What happened?

It's all in here.

I don't need to tell you, Paul, we need the, uh, post-mortem reports as quickly as possible.

I'm working on it.

Should I tell D.S.

Winters to cancel his day off?

No, you leave him be.

Once we've established causes of their deaths, we can begin to figure out what order they died in.

And who did what to whom.

LISA: Feet up shoes off.

Champagne.

It's almost like she's celebrating.

I thought the same.

We can't ignore that she's an outspoken supporter of euthanasia.

No, which means our working hypothesis must be that she killed her family for some reason before killing herself.

Until proven otherwise.

I'm heading back, see what else we can find on her.

Your memory of pointing a gun at your father may be real, Jasper.

But, this memory of pulling the trigger that so obsesses you, I believe may be false.

A confabulation?

An unreal implant, or indoctrination.

Call it what you will.

It may be a manifestation of guilt that you feel about your father's death.

It's not at all uncommon for children of... people who've taken their own lives to, to blame themselves for their parents' death.

(soft music) And to feel that, that, that somehow they Weren't lovable enough?

To give them reason to go on living.

(dramatic music) In seeking to, uh, recover and confront the painful memories of childhood trauma, which your younger self naturally has tried to repress, you may be confusing the real with the imaginary.

And so you've created an, an unresolved mystery around the death of your father.

The sort of mystery, it would require an eminent criminologist to solve.

Well, like your chosen career, your OCD is also a reaction to the chaos that defined your formative years.

I attempt to contain and control it.

Hmm.

If you want to change your obsessive thoughts and behaviours, Jasper, I suggest you need to face your fears...about your past.

And try and understand your phobia of intimacy.

Jasper?

Looking for a ride?

Yeah, not from some wide boy in a Chelsea dress.

(laughs) Come on, we're gonna be late.

(car door opens) (car door closes) You look the part.

Yeah, all I need is an earpiece and a shoulder holster.

(laughs) Well, I'm glad you changed your mind.

Yeah, I hope I will be.

Relax.

It'll be the easiest money you've ever made.

Guaranteed.

Are you sure this is a good idea, Jasper?

Not entirely, Mother.

Germs and intimacy for me is the full phobic package.

Well, do take care of him.

I shall treat him as well as I would treat you.

That's what worries me.

I hope you have insurance, at least?

Ah.

That sounds a trifle superfluous.

He's a pedigree.

He's potent and he'll hump anything that moves.

(dog whines) With the price of puppies such as it is, he's a veritable canine gold mine.

I shall speak to my insurer and add him to my home and contents.

Thank you, Mother.

(playful music) Ladies and gentlemen, please indicate if any of you are regular readers of the Cambridge Courier?

Occasional, perhaps?

You are a generation obsessed with the narcissistic posturings and mindless witterings of attention junkies from the far-flung reaches of the planet.

Yet, with your snouts buried deep in the sulphurous trough of social media, you've failed to notice the multitudes that land daily on your own doorsteps.

Local media is a treasure trove for the would-be criminologist.

Familicide.

A rare, but regrettably growing sub-set of the broader category of homicide in which an individual kills multiple close family members before killing themselves.

In 90 percent of cases of spousal murder, ladies and gentlemen, it is the man who is the perpetrator.

But when the murder of one or more children is also involved, it is just as likely to be the mother who has committed the crime, as the father.

Now, at the risk of exposing myself to all sorts of Freudian nonsense, are any of you budding Sherlocks willing to venture an explanation?

(dramatic music) (car door opens) (car door closes) (car door opens) So, it's as likely to be the husband as Dr. Hill herself, even though she's a very high-profile supporter of assisted dying?

Statistically, yes, assuming it is a straightforward case of familicide.

What else would it be?

Euthanasia is a controversial subject, much like false memory syndrome.

It stirs up anger, division, violent disagreement.

You're suggesting she may have been a target for her outspoken views, then?

I do not wish to speculate.

Only to keep your mind open to the existence of other possibilities.

(dog whines) (Miss Snares clears throat) (Professor T sighs) Your mother has phoned half a dozen times in the last hour to advise me on his diet and exercise regime.

Remember what happened to your goldfish when you left it in my care?

(dramatic crescendo) (toilet flushes) PROF T: Freedom!

Very well.

(upbeat music) What even is he an intimacy support animal, anyway?

A suggestion from my therapist.

She thinks it'll help address my phobias and encourage empathy.

Empathy?

(scoffs) It's overrated.

She wanted me to babysit a child.

Ooh, sounds like someone side-stepped a lifetime of therapy.

(door opens) (door closes) (birds chirping) D.S.

DONKERS: Crikey, what are they?

Some kind of sedative, I think.

Well, someone was feeling anxious.

Very anxious, I'd say.

For one of the kids, you reckon?

For the daughter, Madeline.

Take a look at these, case files I think.

One for every person she's advised on assisted dying for some charity she works for.

I'll need to get some legal advice before we can take a proper look.

Do you think we might be looking at a disgruntled family member, someone who blames Dr. Hill for the death of a loved one who's decided to take revenge?

(sighs) Well, if that's the case, we're gonna be dealing with a bloody long list of suspects.

Yeah.

OFFICER: Boss can you take a look at this?

(dramatic music) (pages turning) WHISPERING: Oi, what do you reckon then?

What, about those two?

No.

Briefcase.

What about it?

What's inside?

I mean, it could be anything, diamonds, cash, anthrax powder, nuclear missile codes.

What, it doesn't bother you not knowing what we're involved in?

We're getting paid good money to keep our noses clean and our eyes averted, Dan.

Don't mess up a good thing by asking stupid questions.

We can't afford (door closes) (dramatic music) (keyboard clicking) (Madeline singing) ALEXANDER: Madeline.

Madeline, can you stop making that noise?

Get out of my room!

Get out!

Get out!

I don't want you in here, just get out!

(church bell chimes) (sighs) (sniffs) (exhales) (exhales with disgust) (upbeat music) (dog slobbering) CALVIN: Nice work, Dan.

(car door opens) That's for you.

(paper rustles) (bank notes flicking) There must be a grand in there.

It's the going rate.

Are you sure this is all kosher?

Relax.

It's fine.

What, you want to give it back?

Nah, you're alright.

(car door opens) You can make double that working nights.

(car door closes) There's a job this Thursday.

Eight PM till the early hours, if you fancy it?

Maybe.

Yeah, why not?

(Calvin laughs) (car pulls away) (dramatic music) (door opens) I'm going home... before I do something to someone I may regret.

You're welcome, Professor.

Where the dog?

The dog?

You know, so high.

Unfortunate disposition.

Looks like a cross between a slipper and a gerbil.

(dramatic music) (dog howling) (dog whining) If he's up there, then what are you doing down here?

Looking for a suitable replacement.

(Miss Snares sighs) (church bell ringing) I think it's been fairly traumatising for people connected to the family.

LISA: Yeah.

Thank you for joining us, Jasper.

Do you have a dog, Professor?

Do not be absurd.

Okay, well, I've been given a verbal briefing on the results of the post-mortems.

It seems clear that Dr. Hill overdosed on a large quantity of sedatives.

Tranquillisers.

Anti-anxiety medication.

The overdose threshold is lowered considerably when taken with alcohol.

BRAND: She used to work at some kind of hospice, didn't she?

That's right, Boss, palliative care home.

So, do we think that she got the drugs from there, from work?

We found a large quantity of the same medication at the house, Ma'am.

And a trace in her husband's blood at a lower concentration, which suggests it was his prescription.

Even though he died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

-From the gas.

-No, that's the son.

Car exhaust for the husband, the levels of nitrous oxide are the giveaway.

Does that mean we can rule him out from involvement in the other deaths?

I mean, he could hardly have sat back down on the sofa after gassing himself in his motor.

(dramatic music) PROF T: Unfortunately, not.

We could be dealing with a number of different combinations of murder and suicide.

So, what else have you learned about Dr. Hill that could help?

LISA: We spoke to the manager of the care home a couple of hours ago.

It's, um, devastating.

Her fellow doctors, the nurses, the patients particularly, were all in a state of shock.

We're supposed to be celebrating her 10 year work anniversary, champagne, cake, a party after hours.

It's turned into a wake.

How did she seem to you, at the party?

A little subdued, maybe, not her usual self.

She was anxious to get home.

Left the party early.

Did you put that down to anything?

Kenny Holland.

(dramatic music) This is bullshit.

She puts these ideas in her head.

SHOUTING: Stay away from my girl.

And I'll make sure you do, do you understand?

-Do you understand?

Enough!

His daughter, Stacey, a national diving champion, paralysed from a neck down in the freak accident at 17.

What a waste.

Can she hear us?

She drifts in and out.

Before her condition worsened, she expressed a wish to travel to Switzerland to end her life.

It's supposed to be next month.

Her mum's very supportive.

But her dad?

Don't tell me.

Violently opposed?

He's very angry.

SHOUTING: S tay away from my gi rl, do you understand?

Enough!

(dramatic music) Well, she often travels with her patients to Zurich, unofficially, in case they need medical care on the journey.

But in this case she decided not to.

She told me at her anniversary party.

Do you think she was scared off by Kenny Holland's threats?

(Care home manager sighs) RABBIT: Sounds a promising line of inquiry.

Except it would take a cool hand and a cold heart to arrange these deaths to look so exactly like suicides.

Not a hothead hellbent on revenge.

Point taken.

We should still look into it, though.

Don't tell me, focus on the family.

The husband shows traits of neurosis, emotional instability.

We did a bit of digging, spoke to the housekeeper.

Apparently, he's a bit of a neat freak, obsessed with order in his son's routine.

DAN: Yeah, Alexander is diagnosed autistic.

He's high functioning, but with complications, uh, ADHD and epilepsy.

Nicholas has been his primary carer for the last 10 years since giving up his job as a medical journalist.

He suffered a psychotic episode.

Attacked a colleague physically?

DAN: Yeah.

He even wrote about it.

There's this.

MADELINE: (singing) ALEXANDER: Madeline.

Madeline, can you stop making that noise?

Get out of my room!

What's going on, what's the matter?

He's being a freak again, get him out of my room.

Don't speak to your brother like that.

Oh, you always take his side!

No, I'm not.

-I just ask you to stop sh -I hate you!

I'm going to Alice's.

It's alright, son.

Hello, it's alright, she's gone.

Do we know who Alice is?

She's her best friend, we've already spoken to her.

She was always asking to come stay with me.

She hated it at home.

Did she say why, Alice?

She wasn't allowed to do anything.

Bring anyone back, make any kind of noise, in case it upset her brother.

She felt he always came first?

Her mum was so caught up in her work.

And her dad was so focused on caring for Alexander, she felt...invisible.

She wanted to teach him a lesson.

(ominous music) Did she... talk about harming Alexander?

No.

She talked about harming herself.

DAN: It was all over her laptop, stuff about suicide.

Memes, videos, social media posts.

And D.I.

Rabbit found this on Dr. Hill's desk.

Yeah, the parents paid for Madeline to go see a child psychologist.

Yet the post-mortem clearly states that she died of a severely broken neck.

It's hard to see how that could have been self-inflicted.

Especially as there are no rope marks.

(tense music) Anything you'd like to share, Professor?

You sound like my therapist.

Speaking of which (sirens blaring) Are you doing anything this evening?

Are you asking?

Yeah, I thought maybe we could go out for that dinner.

A proper date, whatever.

Hey, my treat, I'm pretty flush.

It's not the money, Dan, it's my dad.

Yeah, of course.

Let's take another rain check.

You could come to my place.

We can have dinner, the three of us.

-You can cook?

-I can.

I can cook, yes.

(doorbell rings) (door opens) Mother.

Jasper, my boy.

Do you remember dear old Basil?

How could I forget?

Your childhood companion until you declared him unhygienic and consigned him to the attic.

I thought he might be more receptive to your ministrations than poor old Kafka.

(playful music) I cannot invite you in, Mother.

Cannot, or, or will not?

I have company.

At this time of night?

How intriguing.

Mother.

(door closes) Er, Mother, Tatiana.

Tatiana, uh, this is my mother, Mrs. Adelaide Tempest.

Pleased to meet you.

The pleasure's all mine.

I'm interviewing Tatiana for a vacancy as my new...intimacy coach.

Well, she looks eminently well qualified.

I, I have a resume.

Well, Mother, as they say, three's a crowd.

(scoffs) Don't worry.

I can take a hint.

I don't need to look, dear.

No previous experience could possibly prepare you for working with Jasper.

(dramatic music) Good luck, dear.

(Dan humming) Hi.

It suits you.

Thank you.

Let me take it off.

(kissing sounds) Oh.

-Hmm, hmm.

-Ooh.

I could get used to this, having you around.

-Ah, that was too much too soon.

-No.

No.

Ah, I don't know, Lis.

I keep on thinking about what you said about not mixing work with pleasure.

Yeah, I meant that.

Maybe not in the way that you think.

So, how do you mean it?

Well, maybe it's the working bit that needs to give and not the pleasure?

So, like what?

Well, it's not an inevitable law of physics, Dan, that we have to be partners in Cambridge CID.

I know that.

I just mean maybe one of us could ask for a transfer.

I don't know, try something else.

Yeah.

Maybe.

Get those off.

-What, here?

-Oh, my God, no.

I meant the gloves.

-Oh, the gloves.

-Yes.

I'm afraid the gloves are staying on.

They've become part of me now.

(Lisa laughs) (kissing sounds) (romantic music) (Madeline and Alexander shouting) (smashing sound) (footsteps echoing) (club music) (men laughing) Dan?

Oh no, I wasn't I wasn't looking.

Mr. Holland?

I'm D.S.

Lisa Donckers.

Nice to see the old bill are getting a bit more shaggable.

-Excuse me?

-Don't, Dan.

Mr. Holland, my colleague and I were hoping to have a quiet word with you.

My solicitor.

You'll get nothing from me without him.

DAN: Look, it's just a bit of background we're after.

About Dr. Harriet Hill.

I told you, no brief, no questions.

She was a patronising bitch.

What'd you say?

You heard me.

I'm glad she's dead.

Come on Lisa, walk away.

Lis.

(laughing) (tense music) CARE HOME MANAGER: Uh, can I help you?

You may try.

Only then will I be able to ascertain whether you can or not.

I'm sorry?

I have some questions, about Ms. Stacey Holland.

And you are?

Professor Jasper Tempest, a consultant with Cambridge Police.

That's a university library card.

May I ask my questions anyway?

Sorry to have interrupted your evening, I'm sure you have more important things to be worrying about.

Not at all, Rebecca, you did the right thing in calling me.

The professor, he, um... he's a valued asset for us.

But his methods Let's just say he's a little unorthodox.

He was curious about Stacey Holland.

I see.

We just encountered Stacey's father.

I can see why Dr. Hill might have been intimidated by him.

Believe it or not, we've had worse.

People are scared, angry, to see their loved ones slipping away.

Maybe in pain.

I mean, there's nothing they can do to bring them back from the brink.

I can understand that.

So did Dr. Hill.

I mean, she made allowances.

But she never let that divert her from her mission to help her patients have a choice about when to end their own lives.

Then why did she decide not to go to Zurich with Stacey?

(dramatic music) There must be another explanation.

(birds chirping) Dr. Hill must have arranged the deaths herself.

It just seems the most obvious explanation.

Superficially, perhaps.

But just because she believed in allowing people the right to die it does not necessarily follow that she participated in the deaths of her own children.

(hospital machine beeping) It is my surmise that Dr. Hill withdrew from accompanying Stacey Holland to Switzerland because she was an uncomfortable reminder of her own daughter, Madeline, and her suicide threats.

(hospital machine beeping) She was terrified of losing her child, not hell bent on dispatching her.

(dramatic music) LISA: Where does that leave us?

We've ruled out Madeline because of the nature of her injuries and none of us fancy Nicholas, and of course, of his cause are death.

DAN: Well, what about Alexander?

Really?

With his diagnosis Individuals with autism are just as capable of acts of violence as the rest of us.

But I concur in not regarding Alexander as a suspect.

I believe the calculation involved in arranging the bodies of his family on the sofa would've been beyond him.

Well, that just leaves us Donckers, Winters.

This is D.I.

Lainsborough.

Ah, please, call me Simon.

Simon is with the regional drug squad.

He's come to me with a question, which I want him to explain to you.

Yeah, I understand that you've made an approach to question one, Kenneth Joseph Holland, and for reasons that I can't go into right now, I'd like to ask you nicely to...desist, at least for the time being.

Can we ask why?

Well, Holland runs a, a road haulage business, and he's a person of considerable interest to us, has been for quite some time.

How long's for the time being?

Couple of weeks, a month tops.

He may well be in custody by then.

And hopefully he'll have 20 or 30 years to answer your questions.

PROF T: How were you alerted?

Oh, I'm sorry.

We haven't been introduced.

BRAND: Uh, this is Professor Jasper Tempest, our consultant criminologist.

How did you know that D.S.

Donckers and D.S.

Winters were making inquiries?

Well, I'm not at liberty to say, as you can imagine.

All you need to know is that we are getting intel on Holland from a variety of sources.

Thank you for coming down in person, Simon, I appreciate it.

Well, thanks for taking the time.

BRAND: Hmm.

Oh, so you're not married then?

Slightly inappropriate.

(laughs) I'm sorry.

Are you divorced?

Separated.

Ah.

But you're sure enough about it to have taken the ring off.

-Something like that.

-Mm-hmm Just over a year.

Long enough to get rid of the tan line.

That's good to know.

Well, if you ever fancy.... comparing sob stories over a drink, then I've got your number.

(laughing) (dramatic music) Yeah, you've got my number.

Mm-hmm.

LISA: Charming.

We can't question Kenny Holland.

But there's nothing to say we can't keep digging into his background.

You will be wasting your time, and mine.

At least in relation to the current inquiry.

Your forensic team's been over every micrometer of the property.

There is no evidence of violence or any form of a struggle.

It would be beyond the wit of the most sophisticated and imaginative criminal to stage that gruesome tableau without coercion.

Let alone a sausage fingered Neanderthal like Kenny Holland.

DAN: So, where does that leave us?

We now have precisely zero murder suspects.

It leaves you to make the logical deduction that you have precisely zero murders.

(dramatic music) Let us deal with the victims one by one.

Madeline Hill, age 17.

Severe fractures to the third and fourth cervical vertebrae leading to asphyxia.

Estimated time of death between three and four PM.

I have compared and contrasted a number of scenarios that might account for the presence of the broken guitar.

(guitar strumming) With Alexander at the care centre, and Dr. Hill at the clinic at the time we believe Madeline died.

Leave me alone.

Only one makes any sense.

Madi, please, why are you so hostile?

It's Madeline.

And I'm hostile because your pe t halfwit is ruining my life!

Stop calling him that name.

It's bloody awful.

There you go again.

Taking his side.

I've simply asked you not to play your guitar when he's in the house, that's all.

You just try and stop me.

(guitar strumming) Stop it!

(Madeline continues strumming) Stop it now!

(struggling sounds) Argh!

(smashing) (Madeline screams) (thumping sound) (dramatic music) NICHOLAS: Madeline?

(footsteps running) Oh no.

Madi, Madi... (crying) I'm here.

PROF T: Nicholas kept the house in perfect order.

Except for one small detail.

(sobbing) A solitary flaw in an otherwise immaculate home, but a fatal one, nevertheless.

Urgh!

(tense music) (Nicholas breathing heavily) Why did he carry her to the sofa?

A final gesture of caring of concern.

LISA: Professor?

Cast your mind back to the kitchen, Detective Sergeant, what do you see?

Nothing.

It was spotless.

Just like how I imagine your kitchen might look.

Precisely.

It is my belief that the husband may well have been on the autistic spectrum, but undiagnosed.

Is that relevant?

Very much so, to his thought process.

At first, he is gripped by panic.

(dramatic music) (birds chirping) Then quite a different thought takes hold.

He is trapped in a tunnel.

(hissing sound) And there is only one way out.

However, it is not uncommon for fathers under extreme psychological pressure to succumb to the delusion that it will be impossible for their families to go on without them.

(dramatic music) (keys jangle) We know that shortly after six PM, sometime after Madeline's estimated time of death, Nicholas picked up Alexander from the day-care centre.

It is my belief that his dominant thought was to protect his son in the only way he knew how, by killing him while also killing himself.

Thus turning a tragic accident into a familicide.

(garage door closing) Right, Alex, (car door closes) today we'll have a bit of fun.

You'll get to drive.

You are going to drive.

(car revving) Focus on the road and you look straight ahead.

(car revving) Can you prove any of that?

No.

But it is a reasonable deduction from the forensic report, which states clearly that the son's fingerprints were found on the steering wheel.

(coughing and spluttering) (car door opens) He walked from one great danger into an even more considerable one.

The gas was still on in the kitchen.

PROF T: Precisely.

(coughing) He would've been quickly overwhelmed.

Dr. Hill then came home to discover it all.

(garage door opens) I imagine her first thought must have been that her daughter had finally followed through on her threats.

Madeline!

(coughing) (gasps) Come on!

(crying) (ominous music) (coughing) Poor woman.

It was only gonna get worse.

Urgh.

(panting) (coughing) (dramatic orchestral music) (sobbing) No!!

It's a brilliant theory, Jasper.

Let's put it to the coroner.

(record player needle crackles) (light music) Dad, do you remember this?

Mum.

Do you wanna dance?

(handbrake clicks) LISA: I just can't imagine it.

Someone of that age wanting to end their life.

CARE HOME MANAGER: It's a tremendous relief.

However sick or old you are, to be in control, to have a choice, to die with dignity.