MARY: If I told you the reason, you would despise me. And that I really couldn’t bear.
CORA: Mary! Rosamund wants to play bridge until the men come through…
MARY: Of course.
She walks away and Matthew returns to the dining room.
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
39 INT. SERVANTS’ HALL. DOWNTON. NEW YEAR’S DAY. NIGHT.
O’Brien has brought out the planchette board again. The servants are all gathered round. Thomas, O’Brien, Shore, a maid and a hall boy play. They speak the letters aloud. Y. O. U. A. R. E. T. O. O. F. A. T. Mrs Patmore is watching.
THOMAS: He says you’re too fat.
MRS PATMORE: My Archie never said that. You’re pushing the thing. Come away, Daisy. We’ve got work to do.
SHORE: I hope it’s rewarding work, Mrs Patmore? Something to challenge our Daisy?
DAISY: Leave it alone.
She hurries off, but she’s troubled. Mrs Patmore is with her.
MRS PATMORE: What did she mean? That Miss Shore?
DAISY: Nothing.
40 INT. DRAWING ROOM. DOWNTON. NEW YEAR’S DAY. NIGHT.
Cora is alone, reading, when Robert comes in.
CORA: Who was telephoning so late?
ROBERT: Murray. He apologised. He’s going to come here the day before the trial. To talk it all through with Mrs Hughes, O’Brien and me.
CORA: Why have they been chosen and not the others? What do they know?
ROBERT: Search me. I’ve told Carson.
CORA: Will Mr Murray be staying?
ROBERT: No. He wants to get to York. We’ll meet him there the following day.
CORA: Oh, my dear. I hope you can be strong if it goes against him.
ROBERT: It won’t.* Where are the others?
CORA: The men are playing billiards and the girls have gone to bed.†
ROBERT: There was an awkward moment tonight between Mary and Carlisle. At the end of dinner. Did you notice it?
CORA: I’m sure Mary has him under control.
ROBERT: Does she? I look at her and all I can see is a tired woman with a tiresome husband, not a bride on the brink of heaven. I wish I could understand why she goes on with it. Do you think there’s some element I might have overlooked?
CORA: Yes.
Her response has surprised both of them. She glances at him nervously.
ROBERT: Cora, if there is something and you know what it is, tell me. Please.
For a moment, she says nothing, but then she sighs.
CORA: Perhaps it’s time.
ROBERT: I was hoping you’d say I was wrong.
CORA: You’re not wrong. But if I do tell you, swear not to fly off the handle and try not to be too hurt…
ROBERT: Now you must tell me, because nothing could be worse than my imaginings.
CORA: Very well… Do you recall a Turkish diplomat who stayed here, before the war?
ROBERT: I think I can be relied on to remember any guest who is found dead in his bed next morning.
CORA: Well, that’s the thing…
* It is time to get back to Bates’s trial. But first, we must prepare the audience to return to it, which is what we are doing here. If we now had just cut to their arriving outside the courthouse, it would have been too sharp a transition.
† In a large house like Downton, or the real Highclere for that matter, when a lot of people were staying, there would have been different things happening everywhere. For people who live in a more modest house, that is quite an interesting concept to grasp. Most of the population might be used to having some people talking in the kitchen, while others are watching television in a different room, but that would be about it in terms of separate activities under one roof. And even in that case, one group could probably still hear the other. But in one of these palaces, during a house party, conversations, love affairs, arguments and games would be happening in different rooms, quite separately, all over the place, which I like to remind the audience of.
41 INT. SERVANTS’ HALL. DOWNTON. DAY.
Murray is talking to O’Brien, Mrs Hughes and Carson. Robert is there.
MURRAY: I wanted to explain how it will work. You’ll both have received official notification through the post.
O’BRIEN: But why have I been called? What’s it to me? I know nothing.
MURRAY: Since you are summoned as a witness for the prosecution, the police would obviously disagree.
MRS HUGHES: But I’m there for the prosecution, too, when I have no doubt of Mr Bates’s innocence. How can that be?
MURRAY: It’ll be made clear on the day.
CARSON: Where does Anna stand in all this?
MURRAY: A wife cannot be compelled to testify against her husband.
MRS HUGHES: Well, that’s a mercy, anyway.
42 INT. CARSON’S PANTRY. DOWNTON. NIGHT.
Carson looks up as Mrs Hughes comes in.
MRS HUGHES: I think I’ll say goodnight. I’ve got a long day tomorrow.
CARSON: I don’t envy you.
MRS HUGHES: I can’t bear to think about it. What can they want from me?
CARSON: Just do your best, and you’ll be home before you know it.
MRS HUGHES: And what news will I bring with me? That reminds me. What should we do about the Servants’ Ball? It’s only five days away. Can we delay it?
CARSON: But the Servants’ Ball is always held on the twelfth of January, the birthday of the first Countess.
MRS HUGHES: I don’t care if it’s the birthday of Chu Chin Chow. This year, should we hold it back?
CARSON: The verdict will guide us to the appropriate response.*
* I was in the chorus of a revival at Northampton Rep of Chu Chin Chow, and I mention it here because it had been one of the great musical successes of the First World War. I was the understudy to the Prince, who was the romantic lead. Naturally, I worked hard to keep him well. Every time he felt even slightly queasy, I’d rush off to the chemist and buy every nourishing lozenge or elixir I could find, all with my own money, to get him better. Because the last thing I wanted was to be judged on an understudy’s performance.
43 INT. KITCHEN COURTYARD. DOWNTON. DAY.
The next day. O’Brien is with Thomas. They are smoking.
O’BRIEN: This is my last one. We’re off in a minute.
THOMAS: Are you nervous?
O’BRIEN: Not nervous, no, but I don’t want to go. Why can’t I just refuse?
THOMAS: Because they’d put you in prison for contempt of court, that’s why.
O’BRIEN: It seems wrong to me.
THOMAS: Do you think it’ll go against him?
O’BRIEN: I think it might.
THOMAS: So his lordship will be looking for a replacement after all.
He catches her look.
THOMAS (CONT’D): I know, I know…
44 INT. COURTROOM. YORK. DAY.
Bates is in the dock. Murray sits with his barrister. Mary, in a veil, Matthew, Anna and Isobel are together in the gallery. O’Brien is in the witness box.
O’BRIEN: As far as I could make out, he was talking to his lawyer. He seemed to be blaming his wife for cancelling the divorce.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: You heard this yourself?
O’BRIEN: I wasn’t eavesdropping. He was speaking loudly. But I don’t think you can blame him —
PROSECUTION LAWYER: Just answer the questions, please, Miss O’Brien. When John Bates returned from London, on his final visit to Mrs Bates, did you notice anything about his appearance?
O’BRIEN: He had a scratch on his cheek, but he might have got that —
PROSECUTION LAWYER: And I believe the maid, Anna Smith, asked him how the meeting had gone.
O’BRIEN: Well, she and he were —
PROSECUTION LAWYER: And how did he answer her?
O’BRIEN: He said it had been worse than she could possibly imagine.
Anna is watching. She glances at Mary. They both know this is bad. Mrs H
ughes is in the witness box now. She is in misery.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: And what did he call her?
MRS HUGHES: I shouldn’t have been listening in the first place. I had no right to be there.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: But you were listening, Mrs Hughes. So please tell us what he called her when he grew angry.
MRS HUGHES: He said she was a bitch.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: Did it sound as if he threatened to strike her?
Mrs Hughes looks at Bates in the dock.
MRS HUGHES: But what people say in an argument —
PROSECUTION LAWYER: Did he threaten to strike her?
She looks at Bates again. He smiles at her and nods.
MRS HUGHES: I’m afraid he did. Yes.*
* I had a nice letter from a member of the Lords who had been a judge and he said, ‘I really enjoyed watching Bates’s trial on Downton, because I felt all the witnesses were attempting to tell the truth and were resisting the temptation to lie.’ He added that ‘in a lifetime at the Bar, I have witnessed every form of lie, in every trial I’ve been part of, so I really enjoyed this exhibition of the truth’. I met him later and I said, ‘Obviously you didn’t feel our trial was very close to real life.’ He said, ‘No, but I wish it was like that.’
Mrs Hughes, of course, can’t lie. I think that is believable in her case. She doesn’t want to say any of it, but she finds that she cannot actually tell a straight lie, not when she’s on oath.
45 INT. A PASSAGE IN THE COURTHOUSE. YORK. DAY.
Murray is with Robert, Matthew, Isobel, Mary and Anna.
MURRAY: Every case looks as black as night by the time the prosecution has finished. We’ve heard nothing in Bates’s defence yet.
ANNA: I can’t believe Mrs Hughes would say those things. Miss O’Brien maybe, but not Mrs Hughes.
ISOBEL: It’s difficult to lie on oath. Few of us can manage it.
MARY: She looked as if she were in hell.
ROBERT: It does sound worse than I expected.
MATTHEW: It’s a great pity he didn’t speak up about buying the poison.
ANNA: I told him to. I begged him to.
MURRAY: He should have listened. The other problem is the letter. It’s written by a woman who expects an assault.
ROBERT: Perhaps she was a neurotic, taking fright at every shadow.
ANNA: No. Vera Bates wasn’t like that.
ROBERT: Then it’s down to me to convince them that this crime is simply not in Bates’s character.
Anna looks at him. She knows she’s on the edge of an abyss.
ANNA: Because it’s not.
46 INT. COURTROOM. YORK. DAY.
Robert is in the box.
DEFENCE LAWYER: So you have no doubt at all?
ROBERT: None whatsoever. We served in the African war and I owe my life to John Bates, who acted to protect me without any care for his own safety. Is this a man who could plot to kill his wife? Absolutely not.
He thinks he has finished, but the prosecution lawyer stands.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: Lord Grantham, did John Bates ever speak to you about his wife?
ROBERT: Not that I recall.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: Never? He never once spoke one word of this wife who’d prevented all his dreams from coming true?
ROBERT: Well, you know, one talks about this and that.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: Did he give you the impression he was losing patience with Mrs Bates? Around the time she had prevented the divorce?
Robert is really uncomfortable. He looks at Bates.
PROSECUTION LAWYER (CONT’D): Were you aware that he was angry at what had happened?
ROBERT: I suppose so.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: Did he ask permission to travel to London, to see her that last time?
ROBERT: I believe he did.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: And did you recommend restraint in his dealings with his wife?
ROBERT: I don’t think so.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: You are absolutely sure?
ROBERT: Well… Perhaps I may have done.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: You did, Lord Grantham. Mr Bates has, in his interviews, stated that you prescribed discretion. His case is that he followed your advice, but I wonder why the defence has chosen not to refer to this.
ROBERT: I can’t tell you.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: No… And was there one statement of his that prompted you to advise him to moderate his behaviour?
Robert looks at Bates. He is in agony.
ROBERT: I can’t remember. Not precisely.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: Give us an approximate.
But Robert does not reply. The judge intervenes.
JUDGE: I must urge that the witness gives an answer.
Robert glances at the gallery, where Anna and Mary sit.
ROBERT: I said I hoped his trip to London was to do with some property he owned and not to do with the former Mrs Bates.
PROSECUTION LAWYER: And how did he answer?
ROBERT: He said…
JUDGE: Lord Grantham…
ROBERT: He said: ‘If only she was the former, or better still, the late.’
The court is silent.
47 INT. A PASSAGE IN THE COURTHOUSE. YORK. DAY.
They huddle together. Robert is with Mary. He talks softly.
ROBERT: I should have lied, of course I should have lied.
Mary gently shushes him, indicating Anna, but she’s overheard.
ANNA: I will not believe he needs lies to save him.*
In the passage are O’Brien and Mrs Hughes. Isobel walks over.
MRS HUGHES: I don’t know what to say, ma’am. They twist your words —
ISOBEL: You had to answer their questions.
MRS HUGHES: I wish to God I’d never listened.
ISOBEL: Well…
O’BRIEN: I suppose Anna is very bitter… I wonder if you would tell her —
ISOBEL: I know that you’re both praying for her, as I am.
MURRAY: Mrs Crawley! The jury’s returned!
* I am sad about this cut, as we never had Robert’s moment of genuine regret that he testified against Bates, which I think we needed. At the time, I don’t believe I recognised its importance, or I would have put forward a stronger argument to keep it. As it is, it feels odd that he never refers to the fact that his own testimony has led to Bates’s conviction.
48 INT. COURTROOM. YORK. DAY.
The judge is reading the verdict. He looks up.
JUDGE: Are you all agreed?
FOREMAN: We are, my lord.
The judge nods to the usher.
JUDGE: The prisoner will stand.
Bates gets to his feet. In the gallery, Robert, Mary, Isobel, Matthew and Anna hold their breath. Behind them, Mrs Hughes and O’Brien wait tensely for the verdict. The foreman stands.
JUDGE (CONT’D): Do you find the prisoner to be guilty or not guilty, as charged?
FOREMAN: Guilty, my lord.
Anna lets out a scream before she can cover her mouth. Mary gasps. There is a tremendous stir. Then a silence as the judge takes up the black cap and places it on his head.
JUDGE: John Bates, you have been found guilty of the charge of wilful murder. You will be taken from here to a place of execution where you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. And may God have mercy upon your soul.
ANNA: No, no, this is wrong! This is — This is terribly, terribly wrong!
The judge looks up towards her, but she is silent now.
JUDGE: Take him down.
Just for a moment, Bates raises his eyes to the gallery, and he calls to Anna. Then the gaolers take him away.
END OF ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
49 INT. DRAWING ROOM. DOWER HOUSE. DAY.
Violet is with Rosamund, having tea.
ROSAMUND: Did you know this Bates well?
VIOLET: No, not really. Oh, I saw him once, yes, when I went to talk to Matthew in his bedroom, just before dinner.
ROSAMUND: That soun
ds rather risqué.
VIOLET: Oh-ho, alas, I am beyond impropriety.
ROSAMUND: There’ll be a stink in the papers.
VIOLET: Well, to be honest, I’m surprised there hasn’t been one already. Perhaps Sir Richard had a hand in it.
She drinks her tea.
VIOLET (CONT’D): And while we’re on the subject of unsuitable spouses…
ROSAMUND: Lord Hepworth is not unsuitable, Mama. You are unjust.
VIOLET: He’s hardly the consummation devoutly to be wished. Did he tell you what I asked him to tell you?
ROSAMUND: I know he has no fortune, if that’s what you mean.
VIOLET: No fortune? He’s lucky not to be playing the violin in Leicester Square!
ROSAMUND: He’s fond of me, Mama. I’m tired of being alone and I have money.
VIOLET: He’s a fortune hunter, my dear. A pleasant one, I admit, but a fortune hunter. Still, it’s your decision. So, have you made it?
ROSAMUND: Not quite. I’m going to ask Robert to get him back for the Servants’ Ball.
VIOLET: Oh, will that happen? After today?
ROSAMUND: Well, he can come and stay, whether or not we feel like dancing.
50 INT. HOTEL SITTING ROOM. YORK. DAY.
Robert, Mary, Isobel, Matthew, Murray and Anna have been shown in. Both Anna and Robert are in a daze. A manager hovers in the doorway. Isobel takes over.
ISOBEL: Thank you. We don’t need anything.
MARY: Do sit down, Anna.
The man goes as Anna sits, stiffly, next to Mary.
ISOBEL: You mustn’t think that this is the end.
MURRAY: For the judge to pronounce the death sentence is a matter of routine —
ANNA: Routine?
MATTHEW: He means the judge had no choice. If a man is found guilty of murder he must be sentenced to death. But there are many reasons for it to be commuted. Many reasons.
ANNA: Is being innocent one of them?
MURRAY: We have to work to change the sentence to life imprisonment —
ANNA: Life imprisonment?
MATTHEW: Because it won’t demand a retrial or an overthrow of the Crown’s case. Once we have that, we can begin to build a challenge to the verdict.
MARY: Do you understand?
Anna has now taken control of herself. She nods.
ANNA: Yes, m’lady. I do.
ROBERT: I still can’t believe it.
ISOBEL: Well, I’m afraid you must.
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