(waves crashing) (dramatic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - Isabella.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) - I put it to you, Detective Chief Inspector, isn't every single detail of your testimony against these dedicated and highly decorated officers just fabrication?

You worked with these men for five years.

Now, you know that there was no corruption, there was no money in brown envelopes, or deals done in smoke-filled rooms.

Isn't your testimony just the last desperate croakings of a disillusioned rebel?

- No.

- Oh, no more questions.

- Why?

- I'm sorry, sir?

- Over 30 years on the force.

You could have retired quietly in a couple of weeks.

And yet, you stand here open to public ridicule and humiliation, risking your reputation.

Why?

- I'm a police officer.

(dramatic orchestral music) (sighs) When my wife, (dramatic orchestral music continues) when my wife died, I was going through a time.

But Isabella, she always said, "My duty is my life."

- [Lawyer] No more questions.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) (person coughs) (engine rumbling) (dramatic music) - [All] Unite!

Fight!

- Don't scab labor!

- Unite!

Fight!

- Don't scab labor!

- Unite!

Fight!

- Here they come!

Don't let them through!

Don't let those union scabs take your jobs!

(crowd shouting) - Scab!

(man shouting indistinctly) (air brake hisses) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - You can't just leave us.

We've got to get in there and get paid.

- We're in the transport union.

I'm not crossing a picket line.

- Come on.

Just get us through.

Please.

- [Thompson] Good man!

Union man.

- [Man on radio] In Newcastle, angry scenes at the Bateson-Donnelly dispute.

It's been six weeks since the management fired workers who refused to give up their union membership and replaced them with casual labor.

Bateson-Donnelly claim their non-union workers are being subjected to a campaign of interrogation while unions complain of heavy-handed police tactics.

- [Thompson] Don't let them take your job!

Solidarity.

- [Man] Dirty scabs!

(all shouting) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - (gasps) Oh.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) - [Jury foreman] Guilty.

(crowd cheering) (people laughing) - [Impressionist] Yes, defeat at the election for my party was a bitter blow for the party, for the country, and the defense secretary, Mr.

Healey, wasn't it, Denis?

- Yes, it was very bitter.

I felt it bitterly admittedly.

As defense secretary, I was ensuring the safety of this country by developing intercontinental ballistic eyebrows.

(audience laughing) - What other country in the world would let comedians make fun of its war heroes?

Healey made the beaches at Anzio you know.

- I do.

Italy was hard graft.

- You were there?

- Eighth Army.

Taranto to Bologna.

- I resent people called Harold.

I can't think why.

(audience laughing) And I do like Mr.

Heath.

There's something about him.

I think it's 'cause he looks like my horse.

(audience laughing) Oh, for goodness sakes, father.

Prime Minister, I am so sorry.

He's just a dirty old man who can't keep his mouth shut.

I'm sure you know the type.

(audience laughing) - On behalf of the Special Investigations Unit, the new Commissioner's asked me to thank you.

He appreciates and admires what you've done.

- [Impressionist] One leap for mankind, one great, clean shirt for me.

- This is a new decade, a new regime at The Yard.

The battle we won today is only the start.

I want you to know that.

(audience laughing) - What else do you want from me, Ian?

- [Impressionist] A large, red gun?

No, indeed.

And as your newly elected prime minister, it- - I'd appreciate it if you'd meet me here tomorrow morning, say 9:15.

- What's wrong with Scotland Yard?

- Prying eyes and ears, you know?

(audience laughing) - [Thompson] Union jobs!

- [Mob] For Union workers!

- Union jobs.

- For Union workers!

- Union jobs.

- For Union workers!

- Why are they still here?

Bastards won't disperse and let us do our job.

They're saying we're using this as an excuse to break up their protest.

I don't have enough men for this job.

- Well, I'm sorry, Billy.

It's not my department, all right?

(all shouting) - Okay.

Crime scene's looking messy.

We're not hopeful of getting much.

His name's Johnny Wilson, but nobody knows much about him.

Well, it's ever since the company fired all of its union men, him and all of his workers have been brought in from all over the country.

- Great.

It's about 200 suspects, isn't it?

- Yeah, I know.

- Has the press been here?

- Every day for the last six weeks.

- Yeah, I'll get on the papers, see what pictures they've got.

- Who's the chief commi here?

- [Policeman] Him, Owen Thompson, with the red scarf.

- Him?

Right.

(engine rumbling) (door clicking) - [Thompson] Here they come, here they come.

- The fit-up starts now, eh?

- Don't know what you're implying.

- I am asserting you and your uniformed henchmen, as representative instruments of the capitalist society of- - All right, all right, all right.

I want these men cleared.

Someone is dead.

- A scab.

- That man has a family, people who love him.

- And my men have families, too.

All we want is a fair deal.

- You call your men off.

Otherwise, I'll have you arrested.

Do you understand me?

- You and the rest of your men.

Go ahead, pig.

Let's have a riot.

(crowd shouting) (dramatic orchestral music) - You're taking this too far, Owen.

- My men have an inalienable right to protest against the policy of this company and your government.

- It's not my government anymore.

- Labor, Tory, all the same to me and my men.

- Your men?

They're not your men.

Eh?

You people don't belong here.

Michael Clements, MP.

- Deputy Inspector Bacchus, this is DS Coles.

- Do you mind if I try and talk some sense into these men?

- No.

- All right, lads.

(crowd shouting) Listen!

Quiet!

Listen!

I said quiet!

I am not here to dispute your right to protest at the unethical employment policy of this company.

But please, in the name of common decency, let the police do their jobs.

(crowd shouting) Don't allow yourselves to be painted as a mob of cold-hearted thugs.

A man is dead.

Show a bit of respect, eh, lads?

(crowd murmurs) - Away, then.

- Hey, Adolf, did you see that?

Now, that's what I call leadership.

(dramatic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (tires squealing) (engine revs) (woman screams) (body thuds) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - Single stab wound.

By the depth of the incision, some kind of stiletto knife.

- Not something you'd purchase on the high street.

More specialist, would you say?

- Yeah.

Inserted between the ribs and straight up into the heart.

Death would have been instant.

- So, either the killer got lucky, or, he knew exactly what he was doing, right?

- You said it, but you're not wrong.

- So, you really think one of those pickets could, what, assassinate a scab?

- Ah-ah.

Not a scab.

Non-union labor, all right?

We're impartial.

You remember that.

- I'm just saying.

I don't think we should rule out the other forces who'd like to see those pickets discredited.

- All right.

Okay.

(lighter clicking) All right.

So, that, uh, that building company's hired a double agent, have they?

An agent provocateur?

- I didn't say that, exactly.

- Yeah, right.

So, you've been spending far too much time with the gov.

Look, Johnny Wilson's death might have had nothing to do with that dispute.

And maybe somebody else was out to get him and for some other reason, right?

- Are you gonna organize a do for the Gov to mark his retirement?

- I don't think he'd want me there, Rachel.

- He'll come round.

- Will he?

Look, in two weeks' time, he'll be gone.

(sighs) I don't want to end it on a sour note.

I don't.

(sighs) (door clicking) - Excuse me.

(door clicking) (bell tolls in distance) You made it.

- I made it.

- Lesley Pierce, age 19.

She was found dead the 27th of July, 1966, close to the record factory where she worked in Washington, County Durham, not DC, which is why we're asking for your help.

It was a violent attack, although there doesn't seem to have been any sexual element.

- Cause of death?

- Massive internal bleeding as a result of a fracture to the back of her skull.

- So, what exactly is the problem?

- No one was ever charged.

- It does happen.

Who was the officer in charge?

- DCI Alan Kidd.

- Didn't he leave the force?

(door clicking) - Took early retirement not long after.

Lives in Portugal now, and he's not returning our calls.

(people chattering indistinctly) Listen, George, I know this crime didn't happen in your patch, but it's your neck of the woods and we thought you might know some of the officers involved.

- So, what exactly would I be looking for?

- Any irregularities in the inquiry that would be of concern to the Special Investigations Unit.

- This all happened up north.

Why is it in your remit?

- Two days ago, we had an anonymous tip-off about this inquiry.

They told us the police buried evidence and protected someone.

- Protected who?

- The caller didn't say, and he wouldn't identify himself.

But he sounded scared.

Very scared.

We traced it to a phone box in Storey's Gate.

- In Whitehall?

- Hardly something we can ignore, is it?

(dramatic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - Mrs.

Pierce?

Eileen Pierce?

- Yeah.

- Thank you for agreeing to meet me.

- I didn't want you at the house.

My husband won't talk to the police.

- Mm-hmm.

- He thinks you let us down.

He's not wrong, is he?

- There are a few officers on the force, myself included, who are not satisfied with the inquiry into your daughter's death.

- Whoever killed her, we could be sitting on the bus with him or standing next to him in the pub.

- What makes you think he was local?

Did the police tell you that?

- No.

They didn't tell us much.

It's just down here.

- Mm.

(birds chirping) - It was over there they found her the morning after the party.

- [George] And that's the factory where she worked?

- Mm-hmm.

They were having a reception for the opening of the new pressing plant.

That was the last time anyone saw her.

- Big party?

- Oh, aye.

Lots of important people were there, all the local bigwigs, people from London, as well.

- London?

Hmm.

- It's a big company.

"Multinational," they call themselves.

- Mm-hmm.

And were you living at the same address back then?

- Uh-huh.

- So, this wasn't on her way home?

- No.

- But, if she was forced or dragged here, then somebody would have seen it.

(Eileen sniffles and sighs) I'm sorry to be putting you through this.

Here.

Are you all right?

Here.

(lighter clicks) Could you make me a list of all Lesley's friends and acquaintances, anybody you can think of?

All right.

Thanks.

(upbeat music) (all chattering) - People sleeping here?

- Yeah, well, it's a round-the-clock operation.

They picket in shifts.

They've been brought in from all over the country.

- Comrade Owen.

A word, please.

- More harassment from the state bully boys, eh?

- All right, then, sweetheart.

Now, listen.

I need a list of all the names and addresses of everyone that was here at the picket line yesterday.

All right?

You show me the responsible face of the trade union movement.

- Responsibility?

Bourgeois concept.

- He's talking Swahili.

- Which means I can't be held responsible if one of my supporters takes the law into his own hands.

Your dead man was a casualty of war, class war.

- Hey, do you know what?

Not all workers want to be in the union, you know?

My Uncle Tommy's a hod carrier, right, and him and his brickies are the best squad in the whole North East.

And the last thing that those lads want is a limit on how many hours they can work or how many bricks they can shift.

They just want to buy their own home, send their kids to a decent school.

And you and your kind just don't get that, do you?

- You poor, ignorant sap.

- Oh.

- We will need all of your people to identify themselves to us.

We'll want full statements and photos of all of you, all right, for process of elimination.

- Right.

I'll start with you, Fidel.

All right?

(all chattering) (engine rumbling) (door clicking) - Here we are.

You know, not many people can say, "I made every one of these records."

Over there's where we press the vinyl.

Three number-one singles already this year.

'Course, I'm a Stax man myself.

Always have been, always will be.

Here we are.

- Thank you.

- Yes, so, how can I help?

- I'm looking into the killing of Lesley Pierce.

Did you know Lesley personally?

- Um, uh, no.

No, I didn't, not personally.

You know, I knew her to see, she was one of the girls in the typing pool.

Isn't this case closed?

- Not as long as Lesley's killer is still out there.

- It was a terrible blow for this place.

- Yeah.

- For the town, the new town.

We all moved here to get away from things like that.

- Did the police take statements from everybody who was at that party?

- Yes.

Of course.

Isn't all this in your files?

- I'm going to need a list of everybody who was there.

- Well didn't they, they went through everyone at the time, workers, management, guests.

It wasn't anyone from here.

It was some, you know, some nutter from who knows where.

- Have you got a guest list?

- (scoffs) I'll give you what I gave the police four years ago.

- Oh.

(filing cabinet opens and closes) - People laugh at new towns.

But I had enough of life in London.

We wanted to have a family, so we moved here.

It was the best thing we ever did.

(chuckles) When my wife first saw our new house, back garden, quiet street, no trouble on your front door, she burst into tears.

Who cares if all the trees are the same size?

(chuckles) This place was always crime-free, until what happened to, to Lesley.

- [George] Is that Michael Clements?

- Yeah.

Yeah, he was our local MP.

Well, he still is.

Uh, back then, he was, uh- - [George] A government minister.

- I'm a Liberal myself, always have been, always will be.

But Michael Clements, he's a good one.

Spends a lot of time here in Washington.

He helped me get this place up and running.

He cares about Washington.

Cares about his voters.

You know.

(dramatic orchestral music) - The night Lesley died, there was a big party at the place where she worked.

The guest of honor was Michael Clements.

- One moment.

(door clicking) There have been rumors about Clements' weakness for women.

- Yeah, well, it's not against the law, is it?

- No, but apparently, he doesn't take well to not getting what he wants.

Bit of a short fuse, but, Michael Clements.

- The tip-off about someone being protected came from inside Whitehall.

Michael Clements was in government at the time.

It's not something we can ignore, is it?

(dramatic orchestral music continues) - The landlady said Johnny Wilson moved in six weeks ago.

First floor, room eight.

See?

They can't wait to blame the unions.

- Well, it's the logical conclusion.

You know what these pickets are like.

Professional troublemakers, the lot of them.

- Or just blokes with wives and kids who've lost their jobs.

- I want this phone checked.

All calls in and out the last six weeks, all right?

These lefties are a violent lot, Rachel.

I mean, look what happened to Nijinsky.

Got an ax through his head in Bolivia, didn't he?

- Mexico, and it was Trotsky.

- What's that?

- Oh.

Trotsky got an ax through his head.

Nijinsky was a ballet dancer.

- Nijinsky is a horse, Rachel.

Just won the triple crown.

(laughs) (dramatic orchestral music) See that?

(dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - The TV's still here, the record player.

Doesn't look like a robbery.

- [John] If it wasn't, what were they after?

- [Woman] Sir.

- Sorry, sir.

Removal men just dumped 'em like this.

- (sighs) You don't say.

- I'll, uh, I'll leave you to it, sir.

(door clicking) (folder thudding) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (telephone rings) - All right.

- Ah!

You're back, then.

- Only till the end of the month.

- Well, you're the hero of the beach.

It's all over the papers.

George finally slays the dragons of police corruption.

- Well I think it's great what you did, sir.

Makes us proud to do what I do.

- Tone it down.

- Thank you, Rachel.

I appreciate that.

Your picket line murder, I want a full briefing.

- Right.

(door clicking) (door clicking) (dramatic music) Right.

So, obviously, we're focusing on all the people with motive to wanting him dead, the pickets.

Press photos, these, taken before he was stabbed.

That's him.

That's our victim, Johnny Wilson.

Which means that we're looking at his killer, here, somewhere among this lot.

All 216 of them.

- Mm.

Who we're tracing, interviewing, and photographing.

- So, we check these against these.

It's process of elimination.

It's only a matter of time.

- What about the ones with question marks over their faces?

- Blokes with a history of violence, political or otherwise.

We've been getting them in for questioning.

- Yeah, I'd also look at anybody with a professional military background.

- Yeah, of course, sir.

- There could be more to this than someone lashing out at a scab.

The victim's flat was ransacked, and the murder seems professional.

- No, come on, if you're going to assassinate someone, you do it up a side street, don't you, or at his home or somewhere remote.

You don't do it on a picket line in front of hundreds of witnesses, half of them coppers, with a load of press hanging around, do you?

- Unless you're trying to frame the unions.

- Sir.

I have a woman on the line here, she sounds all upset.

She wants to speak to the officer in charge of the picket line murder inquiry.

- Well, it's a complicated case.

I'm not going to be here long enough to see it through.

It's all yours, DI Bacchus.

Rachel, quick word.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

DI Bacchus.

- Shut the door.

- Oh, yeah.

- I've been looking into an old case.

Lesley Pierce.

She was found dead on a pathway in Washington four years ago.

Now I've had a look at the postmortem report, and there are some pages missing.

Now, they could have been lost or they could have been removed.

I've also had a look at the crime scene, and it's very unlikely that she was dragged there or forced there.

And this.

You see, there's bruises to the face, but the cause of death was a fracture to the back of skull.

Looks like a blow struck in anger.

- Which would suggest she knew her killer.

- Exactly.

So, I need you to go through all the witness statements and cross-reference them with this.

This is a guest list of a party that she was at the last night she was seen alive.

And this is Lesley's friends and acquaintances.

Anybody on either of those lists that hasn't got a statement in this file, you let me know.

- [Rachel] Mm-hmm.

- And, uh, no need to mention it to John, all right?

(door clicking) - That was the victim's sister.

She recognized him from his photo in the paper underneath all that hair and that beard.

Johnny Wilson is a false name.

His real name is Mark Hogg.

- So he was planted amongst the scabs, - What?

- Non-union labor, to keep them crossing the picket line?

Keep up the morale?

- I see you've tied your ponytail a bit too tight again.

He was a journalist.

I'm going to go and see his editor over in Manchester, see what he was working on.

You know?

- Michael Clements.

He's not a suspect, is he?

- Everybody on that list is a suspect.

(bell dinging) (explosion booming) - What's happening, Michael?

- This place used to be an old naval firing range.

They're getting rid of the unexploded shells.

Come on.

Time to dazzle them.

I am a man of the north, ladies and gentlemen.

I believe in the north, I believe in its people, and I believe passionately that unless we equip ourselves for the future, we will be condemned to long-term, mass unemployment.

If we do not regenerate now, today, our people will suffer.

And so, I give you Marwick Point.

(audience applauding) Four years ago, when Mr.

Wilson ejected me from the cabinet for (chuckles) daring to protest at the American war in Vietnam, (audience cheers) I was forced back to my roots, to the values of my parents and grandparents, the community of decent, working people in which I was raised.

And so, along with the Marwick Point Working Party, I've striven tirelessly to turn the dream into reality, A reality that will bring jobs and prosperity to our people.

(crowd cheering and applauding) (gentle trumpet~ music) An airport, high-speed railway station, trans-Pennine motorway links, a bridge across the Humber connecting us to the south, a super dock to accommodate the giant oil tankers of the future in the North Sea, facing east, not west, because Europe is where our destiny lies.

(audience applauding) We must break our economic, military, and political dependence on the United States and look towards Europe for the future.

And we in the North are the people with the skills, the enterprise, the ambition, the creativity, to lead Britain and Europe forwards.

(crowd cheering) The working people in the vanguard of the North!

The North in the vanguard of a new Europe!

(crowd cheering and applauding) - What about the trade unions?

You didn't mention them in your speech.

Aren't the trade unions part of your golden future?

- Mr.

Clements is negotiating with the trade union leaders.

- But the leadership's not the problem, is it, Michael?

It's the shop stewards, the Marxists, the Maoists, agitators like Owen Thompson who don't give a about the working man.

- I didn't know you cared, Gerry.

- I don't.

- Then you should be ashamed of yourself.

You have a question, miss?

- Yes.

Sorry, gentlemen.

Mr.

Clements is on a tight schedule.

(reporters shouting) Can't you stop this for a while?

- Stop what, Adele?

- These young women.

- My sex life is outside your remit.

- Not when it affects your chances of getting elected.

- You know, Adele, you're not the only ambitious, highly principled woman to go to hell and back for me.

Don't forget that.

- Mr.

Clements.

Excuse me.

I'm DCI George Gently.

I'd like to talk to you about Lesley Pierce.

She was found dead close to the record factory in Washington.

- I remember.

You've reopened that inquiry?

- I'm investigating the investigation.

- If you'd like to make an appointment- - No, no, no.

Let's, uh, let's help Detective Chief Inspector Gently to get this cleared up now.

- Thank you, sir.

I appreciate that.

Excuse me.

- So, what's the problem?

Holes in the original inquiry?

- We don't know.

- Who's we?

- Did you know Lesley personally?

- No.

Why would I?

Are you here in an official capacity?

- Washington being in your constituency, you go there a lot, so maybe you came in contact with Lesley.

19 years old.

Extremely attractive.

- Well, you've done your homework on me.

I like young women, and young women like me.

There's a lot of sex involved.

It's not against the law, is it?

But here's the funny thing.

Just as we're about to break ground on Marwick Point, you show up, putting me in the cross hairs of a four-year-old murder inquiry.

- You were in Washington that day for the opening of the plant.

And you were at the party afterwards, which was the last time anybody saw Lesley alive.

- Hundreds of people were at that party.

Just like that picket-line murder, hundreds of suspects, hundreds of union men who hate scabs.

- No, no, no.

He wasn't a scab.

He was a journalist working undercover.

Name of Mark Hogg.

Does that mean anything to you?

- You're not trying to pin that one on me, too, are you?

No, it means nothing to me.

And I had nothing to do with the death of that girl.

But before you go any further with this, whatever this is, you need to understand, (lighter clicks) a storm is going to hit this country.

The empire's done, the old industries have gone down the tubes, and there's going to be a day of reckoning when the new government, maybe Labor, maybe Tory, turns round and says, "The party's over, folks.

There's no more money, no more dole, no more NHS.

Leave it all to the free market."

Our people need to be ready for that day, they need to be ready for the future.

- And you're the man to lead them there?

- Yes.

- So, what's a dead girl here or there on the road to the promised land, eh?

- Well ask yourself this, George Gently, why me?

And why now, eh?

(dramatic orchestral music) - [Adele] What?

- Get in the car.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) Adele, just get in the car!

(dramatic orchestral music continues) (engine revving) - I've spoken to Mark Hogg's editor.

He told me that Hogg was looking for proof that when Bateson-Donnelly fired their unionized workers that they were put up to it by the government.

In fact, the whole dispute's been cooked up by the government.

Trial of strength, who runs Britain, the unions or the government?

- Well, that would explain why his flat was turned over, wouldn't it?

- Oh, come on, man.

What?

Ted Heath's going around ordering the killing of, of reporters who step on his toes?

I mean, this country's not perfect sir, but it's not Nazi bloody Germany, is it?

- There's a difference between the government, Elected politicians, and the apparatus of the state.

- We've got all these ministers standing up in Parliament saying the dispute's got nothing to do with them.

But what if they're lying?

- He was killed professionally.

- Look, John, you're a good enough cop to know deep in your bones there's something not right about this.

- I need to talk to you.

- All right.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) Does your boss know you're here?

- No.

- All right, Miss Watson.

I'm listening.

- Michael Clements is on the threshold of greatness.

Heath's government isn't going to last, and with the right leader, Labor can sweep to power.

And Michael, when he delivers Marwick Point, will be that leader, which would be the best thing that could happen to this country, don't you think?

- I'm just an old copper doing his job.

- I'm sure you remember the Depression, Mr.

Gently.

- I'll never forget it.

- [Adele] Rickets.

Michael was 14 before he could walk without leg supports.

- Yeah, I'm not sure why- - Isn't it obvious?

This is a man who won't rest until he has eradicated poverty.

And what you're doing to him, persecuting him like this- - No, I'm not persecuting anybody.

As a matter of fact, I've got a lot of time for your boss as a politician.

But as a man?

If he was involved with Lesley Pierce- - He didn't do that.

He had nothing to do with that girl.

- You were at that party, weren't you, Miss Watson?

- I go everywhere with Michael.

- And you'd do anything for him?

- For the greater good.

- Even if the greater good costs the life of an innocent, young girl?

- She wasn't innocent.

None of them are.

Don't you care about the future?

People are going to suffer.

Michael is a good and decent man.

Please leave him alone.

- If he's innocent as well as good and decent, then I will.

(siren wails) - Two thirds of them identified and interviewed and nothing.

(photographs thud) I mean, they've all got motive, they've all got opportunity.

- Keep going until every man there is identified, and anybody who doesn't belong there or nobody recognizes, you let me know, okay?

- All right.

- Sir.

An intruder got into the Bateson-Donnelly building a week before last Friday night.

And we found some unidentified fingerprints on a filing cabinet.

Those finger prints have come back now, and they belong to a Mark Hogg.

- So, it's Friday.

Payday.

Hogg goes in there to collect his wages and then hides until they shut up shop.

- Stranger and stranger, eh, John?

- Right.

Let's go and talk to Mr.

Donnelly.

- There you go.

Oh, sir.

There was no statement from a girl called Kiran Johal in the Lesley Pierce file.

I spoke Mrs.

Pierce to find out how close she was to Lesley.

- And?

- Best friends since school.

- Ah.

- Hey.

- What?

- What's going on?

You and the gov.

What's he got you doing?

And why won't he tell me?

- You need to ask him that on both counts.

(doors clicking) (birds chirping) (Kiran sighs) - Good morning!

Avon lady!

(sighs) - Kiran Johal?

- Lesley had all these big plans.

She hated it in Washington, kept going on about how small-minded and suburban it was.

- And you were her best friend?

I'm afraid your statement's gone missing, Kiran, for which I apologize, so, could you tell me what you told the police?

- Look, I, I don't know.

What I told that cop was in confidence.

I'm glad it didn't come out.

It would have hurt her mum and dad.

It still would.

- Kiran, Lesley's killer is still out there.

I need you to tell me everything.

- Lesley was pregnant.

- (sighs) And you were the only one who knew?

- She'd just found out the day before the party.

- Who was the father?

- She wouldn't say.

It was someone older.

Someone important.

- So she hadn't told him?

- No, 'cause she didn't think he'd stand by her.

He was spoken for, you see.

Always had been, always will be.

Listen, I need to get on.

I'm working on commission, you know.

- Kiran, this officer who took your statement.

A man or a woman?

- Uh, a bloke.

- Can you remember his name?

- Harry?

I think it was Harry.

- What was his second name?

- It was a funny name.

I know it sounds daft, but it sounded like something from the Bible.

- Malachi.

Harry Malachi.

- Yeah.

That's it.

Malachi.

(dramatic orchestral music) - Where are we going exactly?

- North, DI Malachi.

We're going north.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) (crowd shouting) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - They're here, Mr.

Donnelly.

- Thank you.

Mr.

Donnelly.

- We'll outlast them, you know.

Mob rule won't win here.

And your boys are doing a great job out there.

I'd like to do something for them.

Christmas party fund or something?

- No, no, no, no, no.

That wouldn't be right.

We're impartial.

- Course you are.

- You had an intruder break in here last month.

- I wouldn't say "break in."

More like mindless vandalism.

- Maybe not.

We found his fingerprints on one of your filing cabinets.

- Shouldn't you be out there trying to find out who stabbed our employee to death?

- Well, that's the thing, sir.

The two crimes are connected.

We have a fingerprint match.

The intruder was the man that was stabbed to death two days ago.

His real name is Mark Hogg.

He was an undercover reporter.

- Well, whatever he was looking for in here, he didn't find it.

- What, proof of government collusion in your dispute with the unions?

- He didn't find anything because there was nothing to find.

Have you thought about that?

- Yes, we have.

And that would make perfect sense if he wasn't dead.

- This company is a successful going concern.

We make a profit, that's not a dirty word, And we provide work for people up here.

Your job is to find out which one of those morons out there stabbed that man to death.

Clear?

- Yeah, I understand, Mr.

Donnelly.

Thank you.

Come on.

- But I've got another question- - [John] That's enough.

(tense music) (door clicking) - Sir, there was a few more questions I would have liked to ask him.

- If, right, and it's a big "if", if Mark Hogg got in there and got the proof that he was after, then yes, Donnelly is lying.

But he was also very angry, wasn't he, which means that whatever Hogg took, it still hasn't been recovered.

- So, it's still out there.

- So it's still out there, which is what got him killed.

And the last thing that we need, right, is for anyone to think that we're looking for it, okay?

- Okay.

(all shouting) (car horn honking) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - [George] Hello again, Harry.

- What the hell is this?

Let it go, Gently.

Independent panel cleared me of all your trumped up corruption charges.

You've got nothing on me, and you'll get nothing on me.

- Lesley Pierce.

- You've found her killer?

- Not yet.

But here's what I have found.

Lesley was pregnant when she was murdered.

Only her best friend, Kiran Johal, knew about it until she told you.

But Kiran's statement seems to have disappeared.

Plus, there are pages missing from the postmortem report.

Now, I think that those pages will confirm that Lesley was pregnant.

- I don't know what happened.

It was a botched inquiry from start to finish.

The SIO was a useless, old drunk, Bit like yourself, George, so the whole thing was a mess.

- You're as bent as they come.

We all know that.

And we also know that you knew Lesley was pregnant, and you're going to tell us what you did with that information.

Who did you protect?

- I need to speak to my superior officer.

- You will find this hard to understand, Harry, but Ian here believes in what he does.

Like me, he despises bent cops.

But I'm just a voice crying in the wilderness, whereas this man has got your new commissioner behind him.

And he is going to go through every case that you've ever worked on since you walked out of Hendon with a fine-tooth comb.

Now, do you want that, Harry, eh?

Do you really want that?

Come on, Harry.

Who was the father of Lesley's child?

- I found what I found, he had a thing with her, and she was pregnant.

He offered me money, a lot of it, to make it go away.

I couldn't say no.

- Who paid you off?

- Michael Clements.

(dramatic orchestral music) - He's a born liar.

He didn't just take a pay-off from Michael Clements.

He was ordered from above to make the evidence go away.

- I'm not sure I'm following you.

- (inhales sharply) Are we, are we being played here, Ian?

- By who?

- Gov?

I need a word.

- Ah.

(dramatic orchestral music) - We need to talk.

- What about?

- About you freezing me out.

- This is not the time or the place.

- No, this is exactly the time and the place.

I want to know what you know because I think that Michael Clements is involved in the murder of Mark Hogg.

Who is that?

- It's our new friend.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) - Mark Hogg breaks into Bateson-Donnelly, finds proof of government collusion in that dispute.

A few weeks later, he's murdered professionally.

The day before he's murdered, he makes a six-minute phone call from a pay phone at his digs, to Michael Clements.

- He told me he didn't know Mark Hogg.

- Because he doesn't trust the police?

- Yeah, but the thing is, right, whoever killed Mark Hogg, how did they know it was him that broke into Bateson-Donnelly?

- He told Clements what he had, thinking Clements would go public with it.

Instead, Clements sold him out.

- Why would Clements give Hogg away?

- Because he was protected over the Lesley Pierce murder, and now he's paying the price for that protection.

He does what he's told when he's told to do it.

It does go higher than Harry Malachi.

- Right.

We need to find whatever it was that Mark Hogg took from Bateson-Donnelly.

- I've got a warrant to search his home address in Manchester.

- You're off the book on this.

No case notes, no diary entries.

And as soon as you get your hands on whatever it was that he took from Bateson-Donnelly, you bring it straight to me, is that clear?

- On it.

- Yes, sir.

- And you alter your routes home at night.

- And what about you, sir?

(dramatic orchestral music) - Mr.

Clements, we've summoned you today because there's concern here at the treasury regarding your Marwick Point project.

You seem to have raised public expectations to a fever pitch while forgetting that after the election and the return of a new government, public funding of your project is now subject to the comprehensive-spending review.

- We don't need your money.

Marwick Point Development Corporation has secured the backing of a consortium of European businessmen and financial institutions.

Marwick Point happens whether you lot like it or not.

Howay the lads.

(door clicking) - The tribune of the people has spoken.

Who are we to argue?

(dramatic orchestral music) (all shouting) - I'm so grateful for- - [Man] If Michael Clements can make Marwick Point a reality, do you think people will rally 'round him as someone who could lead the Labor Party back to power?

That's exactly what I'm picking up in the office and in the Labor Party as a whole.

With Heath's government already fragile and industrial unrest spreading across the country, Michael Clements is building the kind of momentum that could, one day, propel him all the way to Downing Street.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) (upbeat music) ♪ Ooh-ooh ooh ooh ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh-ooh ooh ooh ooh ♪ ♪ We held each other ♪ ♪ For a long time ♪ ♪ I get the feeling ♪ ♪ You're no longer mine ♪ ♪ Mm, talk to me, baby ♪ ♪ Talk to me ♪ - [George] You lied to me.

You told me you didn't know Lesley Pierce.

- I lied to the police, George.

Don't take it personally.

- [George] Oh.

- I had sex with her.

Maybe I was the father of her child.

But Harry Malachi offered to make it go away.

He blackmailed me, and I, I paid up.

I was in the Cabinet, man!

Even a whiff of scandal would've finished me.

She was pregnant, maybe by me, and then she was dead.

But, I didn't kill her.

Who put you up to this?

- Oh, we're all out to get you, are we?

- Seems like it.

- Even Mark Hogg?

He phoned you last week, didn't he?

He told you he found something inside Bateson-Donnelly.

He told you what he'd found.

The next day he was executed.

- Whoever phoned me wouldn't identify himself.

He said he had some information that he wanted me to put in the public domain, something that would turn the whole thing on its head.

So I agreed to meet at Marwick Point a couple of days ago.

But he didn't show.

- 'Cause he was dead.

You bribed a serving police officer.

- It was blackmail.

- So what?

You paid up!

Hardly the conduct of a future prime minister, is it?

- A week.

- What?

- To get Marwick Point signed and sealed.

Just give me a week.

Then you can come after me with all you've got.

- I can't do that.

- Why not?

"Because I'm a policeman, Your Honor, and my wife said that my duty is my life."

I've been playing the filthy business of politics and power for years now, George.

In government, in opposition, in the services.

You're forcing me back down that gutter again, and I don't like myself for it and I don't like you for it.

But a cop gets sent to take you down, you do your homework on him.

You pull in favors from everyone in the Yard who owes you.

You get inside his life, inside his head.

And if you're me and you know how it works under the surface, down in the sewers... Just one week.

- No.

- Not even if I give you the name of the man who killed your wife?

(tense music) - Joe Webster killed my wife.

- Joe Webster was just another disposable villain with a psychotic temper.

Ford Zephyr, Eldon Street, March 17, 1964.

I know the beginning, middle, and the end of it, George, and if I were you, I'd ask myself this.

Who really benefited from Isabella's death, eh?

Not Joe Webster.

They murdered her, and you moved up north.

Who benefited, eh?

And who benefits from you taking me down?

Maybe the same people, the powers that be, the apparatus of government, the establishment.

Call 'em what you will.

Maybe you and I are in the same boat here, George.

One week!

Just think about it, and call me.

(door clicking) (tense music continues) (tense music continues) (tense music continues) (tires screeching) (tense music continues) (tense music continues) (keys jingle) (George sighing) (phone dialing) (line ringing) (phone ringing) - Hello?

- Rachel.

- [Rachel] Yeah?

- (sighs) You okay?

- Uh, yes.

Why?

- You are watching your backs, you and John?

You're both okay?

- Yes, sir.

Um, yeah, we're fine.

We're both fine.

(George sniffles) Is there something wrong, sir?

- Isabella.

(sniffles) They took her away from me, and nothing's been the same.

Nothing's ever been the same.

(dramatic orchestral music) If you was me, and you could look the man in the eye who killed her, what would you do?

- I'm not going to answer that.

And maybe you shouldn't, either.

- [George] No.

- [Rachel] Where are you?

- London.

- Maybe you should come home.

- (sniffles) Yeah, I will.

(sighs) Good night, Rachel.

- Good night.

I'll see you tomorrow.

- Yeah, yeah, 'course you will.

Yeah.

(line clicks) (dramatic orchestral music) (George inhales deeply) (George coughing) (dramatic orchestral music continues) Ah.

(coughing) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (George crying) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (George sobbing) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (birds chirping) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (phone dialing) One week.

Not a minute more.

(footsteps thudding) - DI Lister?

I'm your source.

The tip-off.

We need to talk about the national interest.

(dramatic orchestral music) (birds chirping) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (gearshift clicks) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (George inhales deeply) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (gate clicking) (door clicking) (door clicking) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (door clicking) - Mr.

Croxley?

Alan Croxley?

Changed your car, then.

- Sorry, mate, you've lost me.

- Don't you know who I am?

- [Alan] No idea.

And I don't care.

- I'm George Gently.

You killed my wife.

(tense music) Don't you feel anything?

- It's just a job.

- Ah.

(George grunts) - Did you come here thinking you were dealing with some old East End lag?

It's bigger than that.

And whatever you think you know, you'll never be able to prove it.

You are out of your league.

Always have been, always will be.

(George grunts) So stop making a show of yourself and go home.

(George grunting) - This is not done!

It's not done!

(engine revving) (tires screech) (door clicking) (George screaming) (tense music continues) (George sighing) Always will be?

(engine revving) - My mom's in bits.

We all are, but... (door clicking) - When were you last here, Tina?

- Uh, yesterday.

I picked up his post.

(door creaks) - Right.

- [Tina] What are you going to do?

- We're going to search Mark's stuff.

- Well, what for?

- I can't discuss that.

I'm so sorry.

- I didn't, I didn't leave that like that.

- You sure?

- [Tina] Yeah.

- Would you mind waiting outside, please, love?

We'll take it from here.

Someone's been here before us.

- John?

- Huh?

- [Rachel] They're watching the house.

- What, where?

- Out there, black car.

(tense music) - See, that must mean that they haven't found... Tina?

Tina, come on inside.

There you go.

That's it.

Did you pick up Mark's post yesterday?

- Uh, yeah.

- Where is it?

- I've, uh, it's still in my bag.

- Do you mind?

Anything with a Newcastle postmark.

Yeah.

- Left luggage.

Tynemouth Station.

(tense music continues) - Let's go.

(tense music) - Did you get it?

- Got it.

Up there.

You all right.

- Yeah.

- [Woman] The next train to Newcastle, arriving on platform two in five minutes.

(tense music continues) - Right.

17.

(lock clicks) (tires screech) (horn blows) (locker closes) - [Rachel] John.

John!

- [John] It's all right.

All right.

Let's go.

Go, go, go, go, go, go.

- [Man] Hold it!

(tense music) (both grunting) Right there, hold it back.

Hold it.

(tense music continues) - Keep going.

Get in.

(crates clattering) (engine revving) (tires screeching) - Back to the cars!

(birds squawking) (dramatic orchestral music) (paper rustles) - What are all these?

- I don't know.

It's definitely Bateson-Donnelly, though.

It's not what we thought.

All right, all right, all right.

You go back and mind the shop.

Don't say anything to anybody about any of this.

Okay?

- What are you going to do?

- I'll get in touch with the gov.

- You all right, John?

- Yeah, yeah.

You?

- Yeah.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) - [Liz] That's lovely.

Go on.

Pass it over (engine rumbling) (all chattering) Can I, uh, help you?

(doorbell rings) - I need to talk to you, Mr.

Paton.

How many kids you got, Eddie?

- Three.

- And you're a Stax man.

Always have been, always will be.

And you're a Liberal.

Always have been, always will be.

- Are you making fun of me?

- Did you tell Lesley that you were already spoken for?

Always have been, always will be.

Why did you lie to me?

You told me that you didn't know Lesley personally.

- What's this about?

- So how did it go, Eddie?

Did Lesley corner you at the party and tell you she was pregnant?

And you were scared that your wife might find out, so you agreed to meet Lesley later.

Now, maybe you got her pregnant, maybe you didn't.

But you did have sexual relations with her.

- It was just once, Liz.

And I was a bit drunk.

It was nothing.

- So you met Lesley away from the party, and you tried to talk her down.

But she wouldn't let it go.

So you got into an argument.

And you struck her in anger, and she fell to the ground.

She cracked her head.

(snaps fingers) She was dead.

Lesley threatened all of this.

Perfect job, the perfect life.

(chuckling) And your shiny new town.

- It's not funny.

Do you know where we came from?

Slums!

- Dirt and filth and people fighting in the streets, and we came here and the kids, oh, my God, the kids.

- [Girls] 10, 11, 12, 13, 14- - This place is everything I ever dreamed.

It's not like back there.

London.

Filthy and falling apart.

This place, it's, it's like America or something.

- And you'd do anything to keep it all?

- What?

- Eddie didn't do anything wrong.

He's not like that.

He didn't... He was with me all night.

I didn't let him out of my sight.

- You were there, too, at the party.

(sighs) You'd better find somebody to mind the kids.

'Cause I'm going to arrest the both of you for murder.

And then we're going to take you to two separate police stations and we're going to sweat the truth out of you, no matter how long it takes.

Or you can tell me the truth here and now and the kids will still keep their dad.

(no audio) (no audio) - Eddie didn't know I knew about Lesley.

Until now.

- Okay.

- I, I offered to pay for an abortion, and, and she started laughing at me and... (crying) (dramatic orchestral music) I didn't mean it.

(sobbing) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - Last man standing.

So who are you?

(dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (door clicking) (door clicking) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - Clements didn't kill Lesley Pierce.

I've arrested her killer.

She confessed.

We have been played, Ian.

An anonymous tip-off, eh?

- My advice to you is to arrest Michael Clements on suspicion of the murder of Lesley Pierce.

- They got to you.

- We all look up to you, George.

(George scoffs) You never compromised.

I don't want everything you've stood... If I'm going to stay in the game and clean up the police, there are compromises.

They don't want Michael Clements running the show.

- Even if the people vote for him?

- People?

What do the people know?

Give them a vote on it, and they'll bring back hanging.

Please, George, just toe the line.

In the national interest.

- I believed in you, Ian.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) (door slamming) (engine revving) - Why is Michael Clements so dangerous to the British state?

It's not his brand of socialism or his "man of the people" act.

It's the reason they fired him from the Cabinet.

(tires screeching) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) Sorry.

George Gently doesn't walk away.

- I'll take a lift back to London, Ian.

(door clicking) (engine revving) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (gearshift clicks) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - Were you followed?

- No.

- No.

- This is what Mark Hogg took from Bateson-Donnelly.

It's his death sentence.

Have a look.

He went looking for government inclusion in their dispute.

But he found something much, much bigger.

This letter, right, confirming the construction contract?

That traced back to commissioning agents through offshore holding companies all the way to Washington.

- DC, not County Durham.

- Yeah.

They're building an air base at Marwick Point.

- What?

- For the Americans.

- So, the state uses me to torpedo Clements, who, by the way, didn't kill Lesley Pierce, and it was all going like clockwork until Mark Hogg got his hands on that.

- That's what got Mark Hogg killed, sir.

Now we've got our hands on it.

- So what are you saying, John?

We should bury this and walk away?

- No, sir, I don't know.

- No, no.

We've got the killer of Mark Hogg.

He's the only man at the crime scene that we can't account for.

- Look, this is just some bloke, Rachel.

We can't prove that he killed Mark Hogg.

We don't even know his name.

- Alan Croxley.

Ex-Special Forces and, my guess, MI5.

- You know him?

- (sighing) It's a long story, Rachel.

- So what do we do, sir?

- Well, you two just go on doing your jobs.

And you forget about this.

You know nothing, you saw nothing.

- And what about that, sir?

- Well, a week from now, I'll be gone anyway.

- [John] No.

Come on, sir.

- Look.

- No.

You've proved your point.

All right.

What else can you do?

Just walk away.

You can't win, sir.

They're gonna build the air base.

They'll take down Clements.

Just, just leave it.

Please, for once.

Just walk away, take your retirement, sir.

- Retirement, eh?

- Tell him, Rachel.

He'll listen to you.

Tell him.

- [Rachel] Sir, please, just- - I mean it, Rachel.

You saw nothing, you know nothing.

And one more thing.

Are you organizing a do for my retirement?

- Do you want a do?

- Yeah.

- Right.

I'll book the upstairs room at The Old Straw House if you want.

- Well, oh, thanks, John.

I appreciate that.

- Right.

- Yeah.

(dramatic orchestral music) (door clicking) Cheer up.

It's not the end of the world.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) (engine revving) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (birds squawking) (bell clanging) Michael.

Adele said I'd find you here.

- What's happening, George?

Did you kill the man who killed your wife?

- No.

You didn't kill Lesley Pierce.

I know that now.

I had to be sure.

- And our deal?

One week's grace.

- (sighs) You don't have a week, Michael.

You don't have anything.

They want this site as an air base for the Americans.

(Michael scoffing) Yeah.

That's why they were using me to bring you down.

Because what the Americans want from us, they get.

- And what about what the people want, George?

Working people, honest people who pay their taxes and vote.

- Well, they don't really count, do they?

Not really.

Not to them.

You bribed a serving police officer.

That's not going to go away.

Your political career is over.

But the fight needn't be.

You could expose the whole plot.

People will listen to you, Michael.

- Not without proof.

- (chuckles) The proof is on its way to your office.

But it's not about proof and bits of paper, is it?

It's about principles and values and everything that we fought the war for and tried to do when we came back.

You might not win.

They'll outflank you.

They'll try to poison your name.

They'll spread rumors about you.

And that's why you have to keep fighting.

'Cause what else is there, Michael?

What else is there?

- And will you be there, George?

Watching me back?

- One way or another.

- I'll see you in the future.

George Gently.

(bird squawking) (waves crashing) (waves crashing) (gun firing) (George breathing heavily) (dramatic orchestral music) (waves crashing) (gun cocking) (gun firing) (George groans) (waves crashing) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - Isabella.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) (gun firing) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (telephone ringing) - Yeah?

(dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) Where is he?

- Over there, sir.

There.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) - Move, move.

Oh, no, no.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) Oh, God.

(crying) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - [Rachel] John!

- [John] Don't, Rachel, don't.

(Rachel crying) - Oh, no.

Oh, God.

No.

(dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (doors clicking) (all shouting) - You see this?

You all see it?

Evidence of Bateson-Donnelly's conspiracy with the government!

And it goes higher!

Much higher!

They are turning this country into an American aircraft carrier.

(all shouting) (dramatic orchestral music continues) - To the Gov.

- The Gov.

(glasses clink) Oh.

You know, neither of us would be here without him.

- Mixed blessing, that, isn't it?

(liquid pouring) - I mean here.

In the force.

Doing this with... We're lucky, you know.

- Yeah, yeah.

We are.

- They'll say it's one of his old enemies.

They'll cover it up.

(glass thuds) (folder thudding) What would George Gently do?

- He'd say, "Don't think about anything else.

Just get the evidence."

(gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (no audio)