by David Bishop
Produced by Chris Burt
Executive Producer: Ted Childs
REGULAR CAST:
John Thaw (Chief Inspector Morse)
Kevin Whately (Sergeant Lewis)
James Grout (Chief Superintendent Strange)
DEADLY SLUMBER
‘If Michael Steppings was monstrous, Mr Brewster, he was made monstrous.’ Medical malpractice and a rejected mistress lead to two murders and four deaths in this tale of bitter revenge.
UK TX: 6 January 1993
SCREENPLAY: Daniel Boyle, based on characters created by Colin Dexter
DIRECTOR: Stuart Orme
CAST: Brian Cox (Michael Steppings), Janet Suzman (Dr Claire Brewster), Penny Downie (Wendy Hazlitt), Jason Durr (John Brewster), Carol Starks (Jane Folley), Richard Owens (Mathew Brewster), Jestyn Philips (card player), Adam Maxwell (policeman), Ian McNeice (pathologist), Robert Swann (Mark Felsham), David Goudge (policeman), Lou Wakefield (forensic scientist), Patrick Godfrey (Dr Greer), Connor Bryne (Constable Willis), Tim Morand (Mr Hart), Su Elliot (Mrs Hart), Peter Aubrey (Sergeant Benson), Jenny Lynch (WPC), Nicholas Haverson (operator), Charlie Hawkins (policeman), Kate Hillier (nurse), Peter Leafe (caretaker), John Bett (Thomas Neely), Fiona Farley (fingerprint officer), Keith Hazemore (policeman), Martin East (policeman), Sarah Souster (nurse)
STORYLINE: John Brewster is feeling troubled. He leaves his girlfriend, Jane Folley, in a pub with friends, saying he needs to think about his degree. John’s father, Mathew Brewster, drives away from the Brewster Clinic. At 10.00 pm that night, Mathew’s wife, Dr Claire Brewster, phones the clinic. She is anxious because he hasn’t come home yet. An hour later, John finds his father dead in the family garage. The door was closed and the engine of Brewster’s car is still running.
A police pathologist says Brewster was slain. The dead man was tied into his car seat and gagged with adhesive tape, then asphyxiated by exhaust fumes. He died around 9.30 pm. The murderer used breathing apparatus to stay with Brewster in the fume-filled garage. The gag and bindings were removed after Brewster died.
Claire says there was a break-in at the clinic eight months ago. She is dying and has a life expectancy of only four years. John says he was driving around thinking for four hours before finding his father’s corpse. He denies using diving equipment or knowing anyone who does.
The police find discarded adhesive tape. Forensic tests show the tape was used to gag the dead man. Jane Folley says John didn’t get on with his father. John, meanwhile, gives the detectives threatening notes that had been sent to his father. The Brewsters believe the notes came from Michael Steppings. Four years ago, his daughter Avril went to the clinic for a minor operation. Something went wrong and she suffered profound brain damage. Mathew was the surgeon during the operation, Claire was the anaesthetist and a nurse called Wendy Hazlitt was also present. Steppings took the Brewsters to court but lost. He made threats against all three. Hazlitt now works at Burnley Green Hospital.
Morse visits Steppings. The suspect is a rich man after selling off a chain of betting shops. He lives alone in a single room of a country mansion. His daughter is on permanent life-support at Burnley Green Hospital. Steppings’ wife left him after the trial. He is vague about his movements on the night Brewster was murdered. He visited his comatose daughter in hospital before stopping at a pub on the way home. Morse sees a photo of Steppings wearing a wetsuit and breathing apparatus.
Forensics finds several numbers on one of the notes sent to Brewster. Morse then interviews Hazlitt, who says Steppings tried to have her sacked from Burnley Green. Hazlitt has not received any threats. She is leaving for a break, painting watercolours in the Lake District.
The inspector realises the numbers on the note are the combination for a safe, matching one in Steppings’ home. He’s brought in for questioning. Morse finds it hard to believe Steppings is a killer. The detectives take the suspect to the Black Swan pub to test his alibi. The landlady recognises Steppings but can’t recall what day or time he came in. When she hears his name, the landlady realises it was the day of the murder. Later the same day, a woman handed in Steppings’ chequebook. Morse makes a televised appeal asking for the woman to come forward.
A Yorkshire woman, Margaret Jeffries, claims to have been the person at the Black Swan and is interviewed by Harrogate police. Her fingerprints match those found on Steppings’ chequebook. She entered the pub at 8.30 pm on the night of the murder – giving Steppings a firm alibi. Released from custody, Steppings says he had a private investigator study the Brewsters before the trial. The detective claimed Mathew Brewster was having an affair with Hazlitt. Claire confirms this. The affair ended after the trial.
Hazlitt tells Lewis she was going to marry Brewster. The detectives wonder if John could have killed his father, then attempted to frame Steppings. At the university’s sub-aqua club they discover a roll of adhesive tape in Jane’s locker. Forensics proves the tape used to gag Brewster was the last piece taken from that roll. John confesses to killing his father. He asks the detectives to ensure his mother’s physician is present when she gets the news. Claire collapses with a heart attack and is taken to hospital.
Morse spots an inconsistency in John’s statement. He tricks John into admitting the confession is a lie. John is released from custody. Claire’s physician says she was too weak to murder her husband, showing Lewis a record of all the nights she stayed in hospital. The dates include occasions when Claire was recorded as being the anaesthetist for operations at the Brewster Clinic.
The inspector visits Hazlitt at home and admires her paintings. One shows a bridge over a stream. Morse recognises the scene from the gardens of Michael Steppings’ home. She gives him a card for a gallery that sells her work and he has it tested for fingerprints. They match those of ‘Margaret Jeffries’ – the woman who supplied Steppings’ alibi. Hazlitt and Steppings have been working together.
Hazlitt is arrested but Steppings is missing. Hazlitt admits acting as anaesthetist when Claire was unwell. Hazlitt gave Avril Steppings too little anaesthetic and the girl went into cardiac arrest. By the time Claire reached the operating theatre, the damage had been done. Hazlitt lied for Brewster in court, but he rejected her afterwards. She wanted revenge but she needed Steppings to carry it out. Hazlitt told him about the malpractice and he broke into the clinic to get proof. Steppings used evidence of the Brewsters’ malpractice to blackmail John into confessing and planting evidence in Jane’s locker.
Claire Brewster dies in hospital. There is still no sign of Steppings. When the detectives check the missing man’s garage, they find him dead in his car. John claims he accidentally killed Steppings during a struggle. Steppings’ ex-wife has her daughter’s life-support machines switched off.
THE MANY CAMEOS OF COLIN DEXTER: Morse’s creator escorts the detectives to a library where John is studying. Dexter gets to say his first words on screen: ‘Mr Brewster?’
DRINK UP, LEWIS: A rare event – Morse goes to a pub but doesn’t drink. It happens when he and Lewis take Steppings to the Black Swan. The detectives later visit another pub where they have a pint of beer. Lewis pays, as usual.
The inspector is sniffing the bouquet of a bottle of white wine at home when he is called away with news of a breakthrough.
SOPHOCLES DID DO IT: Morse initially thinks Mathew Brewster committed suicide. Then he gets it right by suspecting Steppings of murder. But when that’s seemingly disproved, the inspector is duped into arresting John for killing his father. Morse even wonders if Claire could have been responsible.
ONE FOR THE MORGUE: Mathew Brewster is bound and gagged in his car, then asphyxiated by the vehicle’s fumes in his own garage – all of this while being held at gunpoint by Michael Steppings. Steppings is murdered by a blow to the head with a wrench by John Brewster. Dr Claire Brewster dies several days after suffering a massive heart attack. Avril Steppings dies after her mother has her taken off life-support.
MURDERS: two. BODY COUNT: four.
MORSE DECODED: The inspector has just returned from two weeks’ holiday in Italy, engaged in cultural pursuits.
QUOTE-UNQUOTE: Lewis says John Brewster spent four hours thinking before discovering his father’s body: ‘He is doing a doctorate in philosophy.’
Morse does not want to upset Steppings, but Strange is appalled: ‘We’re not the Samaritans, Morse – a man’s been murdered!’
Strange wonders why he never met a nouveau riche-type like Steppings and Lewis alludes to the superintendent’s Masonic activities: ‘You mean you’ve never come across him down at the lodge, sir?’
The sergeant is in playful mood throughout the story. He offers a bad pun: ‘There’s the glue. We could try and make that stick.’
SOUNDTRACK: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 31 in A flat (1st movement) is heard as the inspector ponders the mystery of the numeric code. Morse is listening to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 23 at home when Lewis phones about Steppings’ alibi. The music recurs during this story.
BEHIND THE CRIME SCENES: John Thaw acquired executive producer status on Inspector Morse from this episode, evidence of his growing clout within the British television industry during the 1990s.
IDENTITY PARADE: Brian Cox is a veteran film and television actor. He was the first person to play Hannibal Lecter, in the film Manhunter. More recently Cox featured as real-life Hollywood script guru Robert McKee in the acclaimed film Adaptation. Janet Suzman is an acclaimed stage thespian. She was Oscar-nominated as best actress for her role in the 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra.
RATINGS: 18.59 million. The news that series seven would be the last regular appearance for Morse on TV drove ratings to a new high, wiping the floor with a clutch of comedy repeats on BBC 1. The Oxford sleuth was a ratings juggernaut, destroying all in his path.
THE VERDICT: ‘Deadly Slumber’ is a clever story that achieves a neat reversal. Daniel Boyle’s script has Morse catch the killer, before involving police across England in efforts to prove his chief suspect is innocent. There are several more twists and turns in the tale, yet none of them seems gratuitous or forced, even on repeated viewings. Guest star Brian Cox does a wonderful job of engaging sympathy, even if his character’s scheme to get revenge on the Brewster family is ludicrously over-elaborate.
THE DAY OF THE DEVIL
‘All along she’s been telling us how she did it, Lewis – and I thought she was a fool.’ A serial rapist and devil worshipper escapes from a high-security psychiatric hospital. Morse must catch Barrie before he strikes again – but why does the fugitive settle in the Oxford area?
UK TX: 17 January 1993
SCREENPLAY: Daniel Boyle, based on characters created by Colin Dexter
DIRECTOR: Stephen Whittaker
CAST: Harriet Walter (Dr Esther Martin), Richard Griffiths (Humphrey Appleton), Keith Allen (John Peter Barrie), Gilly Coman (Holly Trevors), Patrick O’Connell (Jack Vaizey), Anthony Hunt (young porter), Lloyd McGuire (Clough), John Bleasdale (desk sergeant), Aran Bell (PC Pringle), Richard Graham (PC Cobbs), Susan Ellen Flynn (waitress), Patrick Drury (Frank McTeer), Peter Attard (Mack Shaw), Wayne Norman (Larry Broomfield), Nicola Scott (1st press person), Richard Hodder (2nd press person), Jacqueline Leonard (Miss Spillers), David Griffith (Timothy Perry), Katrina Levon (WPC Nora Curtis), Michael Culver (Maugham Willowbank), Gavin Richards (Steven Trevors), Rob Dixon (TV press man), Pamela Jimieki (press person), Martyn Read (Sergeant Brenner), Nick Hobbs (Night Hawk 2), Andrew Bradford (Night Hawk 3), Bill McCabe (poacher), Naomi Capron (Identikit officer), Sarah Booth (Jane Post), Mike Murray (Mr Fox), Kevin Stoney (Heironymous St John), Beverley Klein (barmaid), Tony Collins (porter), Anthony Carrick (George Granger), Martin Gower (fingerprint officer)
STORYLINE: John Peter Barrie escapes from a high-security psychiatric hospital, sneaking out in the boot of Dr Esther Martin’s car. Barrie is a master of disguise. The police set up roadblocks but Barrie gets a lift to Oxford with a truck driver. The hospital’s general manager, Frank McTeer, says Barrie came to believe Dr Martin was an earthly medium for a demon called Astaroth. Barrie was a serial rapist who enjoyed a reign of terror in the Midlands for seven years. Morse gives a news conference, alerting the public to the danger. An identikit picture is expected soon. The escaped prisoner watches from nearby, having already changed his appearance and stolen a van.
Barrie was writing a satanic Bible before his escape. Among his papers is an article about a clergyman, Humphrey Appleton. The detectives interview Canon Appleton and give him Barrie’s papers. The escapee watches them, before visiting an estate agent to get the details of a vacant, secluded farmhouse. He breaks into the building.
Dr Martin says she studied the occult to get closer to the prisoner. He hinted of other crimes for which he had not been tried.
Barrie visits Appleton. He tells the clergyman to summon Morse. The fugitive later phones Appleton’s home and orders Morse to have Dr Martin brought to Oxford. The detectives tell Dr Martin about the request. She volunteers to go to Oxford, if it will help catch Barrie. The detectives suggest she stays at home.
Barrie abducts a woman called Holly Trevors. He leaves a note written in cat’s blood saying he will call the police later. The house has been ransacked, occult signs and symbols painted on the walls. The abducted woman’s husband, Steven Trevors, is a signwriter working on a job at an Oxford college. The bursar of the college is Maugham Willowbank.
That night the fugitive calls Morse. He says Dr Martin is to be taken to an Oxford hotel the next morning and kept there. Barrie tells the inspector to be at a particular farm the following evening. Strange decides Morse should be accompanied by armed police. Dr Martin, meanwhile, takes up residence at the Castle Hotel, accompanied by a female constable, Nora Curtis.
The farm rendezvous is a diversion. Barrie leaves Holly, unharmed, in Appleton’s church. Holly helps the police create a photofit picture of Barrie’s current appearance. Her husband loads a pistol for protection and starts beating his wife with a leather belt.
Morse believes someone is helping Barrie. Appleton suggests the detectives contact a bookshop that specialises in occult literature. Meanwhile Barrie dons a fresh disguise. He chats with a widower who is going away on holiday. The fugitive adopts the empty house as his new base and borrows the man’s car.
Lewis visits the bookshop. He recognises a name on its mailing list – Maugham Willowbank. The manager calls Willowbank after Lewis leaves. The detectives visit Willowbank at his office and the bursar’s solicitor, George Granger, is waiting for them. He says Willowbank’s interest in arcane literature is purely academic. Granger recommended Steven Trevors’ service to Willowbank.
That night Willowbank leads an occult ceremony in a forest; Granger is among those taking part. Suddenly they are surrounded by fire. A cloaked figure with a horned head walks through the flames towards them. Next morning, the police examine the scene. One man was stabbed, then doused in petrol and set alight. Fingerprints are taken from the corpse. Morse confronts Willowbank, who says the dead man is Steven Trevors. The corpse’s fingerprints match those found at the scene of a rape in Chesterfield seven years ago. The detectives believe Barrie and Trevors were partners in crime for a while.
The inspector tells Dr Martin about Trevors, and says Barrie may have blamed Trevors for his capture, killing him in retribution. Items were stolen from the victims they raped together, and Barrie was looking for these when he ransacked the Trevors’ house.
Barrie visits Holly at home. He demands she hand over the trinkets her husband took. Holly shoots Barrie with the loaded pistol. She rushes to the police station and tells Morse what happened. But when they get back to her house, Barrie’s gone – and so is the pistol. The police discover the items taken from the rape victims in a jewellery box. Morse realises Holly knew about the rapes. She admits helping her husband and Barrie find their targets, as providing them with victims protected herself. Holly talks about the first victim, a woman whose motorcycle had broken down. M
orse recognises the victim as Dr Martin.
The detectives trace Barrie’s location from phone calls made by Dr Martin in her hotel room. When they get to Barrie’s base, Dr Martin is already inside. She sends Barrie out to face the armed police squad. The fugitive tries to murder Morse but is shot dead by WPC Curtis.
Dr Martin admits helping Barrie escape, having been raped by him and Steven Trevors ten years ago. When Barrie was arrested, she recognised him from the description of his tattoo. He did not remember her. She decided to get revenge on both her attackers, using one to murder the other.
THE MANY CAMEOS OF COLIN DEXTER: The author is sitting with his back to Morse when the inspector talks with Dr Martin and WPC Curtis outside the Castle Hotel.
DRINK UP, LEWIS: This is a remarkably alcohol-free episode. Almost the only drink Morse has is a glass of whisky with Appleton after Barrie visits the canon.
ONE FOR THE MORGUE: Steven Trevors is stabbed, doused in petrol and set alight by John Peter Barrie. Barrie is shot dead by WPC Nora Curtis during a hostage situation.
MURDERS: one. BODY COUNT: two.
QUOTE-UNQUOTE: Lewis asks Appleton if there’s more to contemporary witchcraft than in the past: ‘There may be occasional carnality. More and more drugs are used, I hear – but not much actual rock and roll, Sergeant, no.’
Special operations chief Sergeant Brenner brags about his abilities: ‘I, personally, can lie buried in a hole in the ground for up to three days.’
Strange wonders what sort of texts the occult bookshop sells. ‘Oh, exegeses on ancient grimoires, I should think, sir,’ Lewis replies, to the amazement of Morse.
Morse asks if Dr Martin would have murdered Barrie had the police not intervened. Dr Martin holds up one of the items stolen from the rape victims. ‘When you find the owner of this ring, tell her what I did. You’ll find the answer to your question there.’