The Lost Child Inspector George Gently

MUSIC: "What A Wonderful World" By Louis Armstrong

Morning, Mrs Greenwood.

Good morning, Tammy.

Right. Have a good day.

MUSIC CONTINUES

A baby doesn't just disappear.

I want every available officer back on shift.

Right? Everyone, uniforms, door to door on that street.

What did the neighbours hear? What did they see?

Right?

Guv, road block on all major routes out of that area,

stopping anybody with a baby in the car.

Right, everybody? Good. On you get.

Oh, Taylor contact the local press. Tell them we'll get that photograph out to them as soon as possible.

-Dog handler?

-On the way there, Sir.

Hasn't turned up yet then?

Nah, nah, it's been snatched, Guv. From its cot.

Upstairs. In broad daylight. Can you believe that?

Name of the baby?

Faith Groves. Two months old.

Daughter of Stephen and Frances Groves.

What do we know about Stephen and Frances?

Right, well, he's 43, a bank manager.

And she's 40, doesn't do anything.

Could we just say "wife and mother", John?

Yeah, if you want. Nice way of putting it.

No other children?

No. She's their only one.

Mother's hysterical, apparently.

Which is fair enough, isn't it?

Hey, do you know where that comes from, "hysterical"?

D'you know where that word comes from?

You'll like this, I was reading about it.

I thought it was hysterical, like, Tommy Cooper, he's hysterical.

But, no, it's not. It's Latin.

For "womb".

Eh? Says a lot about women, that. Doesn't it?

It's Greek.

Well, they knew a thing or two then, didn't they, the ancient Greeks?

By the way, I need to dart off,

-pick Leigh Ann up about two, if that's all right?

-What?

I know, I'm sorry. It'll only be for an hour.

Just, Lisa's going away this weekend. With another new bloke.

This one's serious, I think.

Women!

-Afternoon, Sir.

-Afternoon.

-It's this one up here.

-Thank you.

POLICE RADIO CHATTER

Mr and Mrs Groves? No, please don't get up.

I'm Detective Chief Inspector Gently.

This is my colleague, Detective Sergeant Bacchus.

Please tell me everything you know.

-This is my fault, Inspector.

-Stephen!

I should have heard something. Frances went shopping.

I decided to do some gardening in the back,

I was back and forwards through the house.

Both doors were wide open for a while.

I looked in on her at quarter past twelve. She was sleeping.

She looked like an angel.

Ssh, Stephen, ssh.

Would it be all right if I take one of these photographs here?

Yes, take whatever you need.

Will you be happy to speak to the local press?

We'll need to get this out to the public as soon as possible really.

-Right, whatever.

-And we will need something

with your daughter's scent on it, for the tracker dog.

-An item of clothing, or a blanket.

-I'll get it.

-The pink top, Stephen.

-Right.

Wait for me, would you, please, Mr Groves?

Is there somebody who can come and sit with you?

Friend or neighbour or work colleague?

Your husband seems to be taking it very badly.

Sometimes, you don't know what you've got until you lose it.

Excuse me.

Beautiful room.

All Frances' doing. Everything perfect for the baby.

This is where Faith was when she was taken?

Yeah.

Oh, no, please, may I?

Give this to the dog handler, would you, please?

Tell him to start with the woods behind the house. Sir.

Has anything been taken?

Clothes, toys?

I actually wouldn't know.

You had Faith quite late in life, didn't you?

Frances and I tried for many years with no success.

Do you think this was planned?

When you say "no success"...?

Oh, Faith's adopted. Did nobody tell you?

Have you noticed anybody loitering on the street in the last few days?

No, no. I don't recall anyone.

-You think this was planned, then?

-Uh, yeah. I do.

It would be different if it was from a pram outside a shop.

Say, you know, barren lady walking past, and thinks to herself...

-What do you know about that?

-Huh?

What do you know about barren ladies?

Oh, no, no, no, sorry. I was just... I was just saying...

Just saying what?

I was just saying...

Can I tell you something?

I nearly did it myself. Twice.

After my third miscarriage, I thought to myself,

"Well, this is never going to happen for you.

"You're childless, get used to it."

And you'd be walking along the road

and see some 17-year-old girl pushing a pram.

And you'd think, "She didn't want that baby. Why can't I have it?"

And I'd feel a strong, almost overwhelming urge to steal it.

To follow her home, wait for my chance, and steal it.

That's quite apart from wanting to smash her face in, of course.

For having a baby?

Yes. For having a baby.

And then eventually I had a hysterectomy.

Do you know what one of those is? A hysterectomy?

I do. It's from the Greek.

Yes.

How nice that our policemen have a classical education.

Mind you, with a name like Bacchus.

We were childhood sweethearts.

We eventually got married in '46, when I came back from Burma.

Army?

-Signals.

-Oh, yes.

I got back as one of the lucky ones. All in one piece.

Good job to go to. Good woman waiting for us.

"Here's the lovely life, you deserve it, come and live it."

All we needed was a child. Life made us wait 20 years

and then...took it away from us.

You have every chance of seeing your baby again very soon.

That is the usual outcome.

All right, first question, you ready?

-Do we think either of them did away with it?

-Probably not.

Well, definitely not her. He might have done.

He was left on his own with her.

What was all those tears about? Crying like a big lass.

Maybe he was feeling hysterical, John.

Ah-ha-ha, yeah(!) You know what I'm saying.

Who wants a dad that cries?

Right, so when your granddad opens the door, we shout, "Surprise!"

Don't we? But a bit louder. Go on.

And a big smile. Plenty of teeth. Let's have a look.

Beautiful. You ready?

Here he comes...!

BOTH: Surprise!

Hello, gorgeous. I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow!

Well, I asked her what she'd most like to do today

because Daddy has to go back to work and it's really, really important,

and you said, "Daddy, I'd really like to see my granddad!" Didn't you? "Yeah!"

Fobbing her off on your old man isn't being a dad, son.

We've got a missing baby, dad.

So, what have you brought to play, then? Let's have a look.

A Meccano Set?

-Aye.

-She's a little lass!

That's what I said, Granddad.

I wanted you to try summit different, didn't I?

You could make a pram or something.

Lads like building and fighting. Lassies like dolls and talking.

You can burn any amount of bras you like,

but you cannot change human nature.

I don't have a bra.

Well, come on. Let's go on inside, pet, here you go.

There you go, enjoy that. Listen, urm...

-There you go, lassie.

-I'll try not to be long.

I'll pick her up soon as I can.

You were never much as a son, but you are a spectacularly useless dad.

What are they making?

They all make a teddy bear that gets adopted with their baby,

so that when the child is older they can look at it

and know they were given up in love.

I see.

Is it usually this quiet?

Today's when Mrs Dunwoody tells them which babies have been placed,

and which haven't.

-"Placed"?

-Chosen for adoption.

Sorry, Guv. Back on the case.

-I'll see if Mrs Dunwoody is ready for yous.

-Thank you.

Who do you think it was? Looks serious.

Do you think it's his fiancee?

Where's all the bairns?

Blissfully asleep in the nursery from two till four,

when they wake up smiling and refreshed for their next feed.

BABIES CRYING

Course, the babies aren't all clever enough to read the rules.

Can I not pick him up, just for a minute?

Here you go.

Oh, Lauren, I know it's hard, but I promise you

your little lad's better off learning a routine, honest.

Now, go and get on with his teddy, there's a good girl.

Would you like a baby each, officers?

Or I'm doing three for the price of two this week

if you've got a coupon.

Little baby Faith? Lord, those poor people.

We shall need some details of the baby's real mother.

Her name is Susan. Susan Faulkner. Sweet girl.

Well, they all are for the most part. Lovely, lovely girls.

They make one mistake, you know, Mr Gently, and they pay for it.

My Sergeant can tell you all about that!

Yes. My wife...made a mistake.

You made it together. But you stood by her.

-Yes, and now we're divorced. Can we crack on?

-Yes, well.

To thread a needle requires both needle and thread, you know?

These girls are usually abandoned.

-Unlike your good lady. What's her name?

-It doesn't matter.

Lisa.

Lisa. God bless her. And the little one, what's his name?

It really... Do you mind if we just...? Leigh Ann.

-A little girl. Lovely.

-Mrs Dunwoody, If we...?

-I'll tell you one thing.

-Yes, please.

Because they learn self-discipline in Dunwoody's,

no girl has ever come back twice.

-That's very nice...

-Well, except Hazel.

-Hazel?

Hazel Joyce, that showed you in.

Came here with a little bundle in the oven four years ago

and now she's back as my assistant.

She's a treasure. Now, Susan Faulkner. How can I help?

-Perhaps it was the shock of having twins that made Susan leave in the way she did.

-Susan had twins?

Yes. Faith, and her brother Thomas.

I think Mrs Groves would've taken them both like a shot, you know.

They looked at a lot of children,

and I had the feeling he was vetoing them one after the other.

What happened to Thomas?

-Susan took him when she left.

-Took him where?

-We don't know.

She left late one night, a week after giving up Faith,

and without telling a soul.

Four o'clock. It's time for the feed.

Susan decided Faith was for adoption,

and I found a new life for her with the Groves.

Susan and the Groves never met, and know nothing of one another.

So the mothers have no say in where their babies end up?

No. But even we can't get every baby adopted.

-Given the choice, nobody wants a tainted child.

-"Tainted"?

It's nigh on impossible to place disabled babies, for instance.

Or children conceived in incest.

How would the prospective parents know that?

The child was conceived in incest, I mean?

They wouldn't. Unless they asked.

-And if they don't ask?

-Then it's buyer beware.

So what was wrong with Hazel's little 'un?

That's her business, not yours.

Yes. Would you bring me your register, please?

We might need to borrow it for a while.

You all right, love? Is somebody coming for you?

Can I help? Would you like me to get Mrs Dunwoody?

Once you hand your bairn over, you're out. They need your bed.

I handed mine over this morning.

He's gone.

They'll be good to him, though, won't they?

Yeah, I'm sure they will.

Look, I'm sorry to burden you, but did you know Susan Faulkner?

We shared a room for a week. What happened to her?

We really need to talk to her. Did she tell you where she was going?

No. Just disappeared into thin air.

I've got to get me bus.

Good luck, love.

Susan Faulkner's mother received a phone-call from Susan

the day after she left Dunwoody's, saying that she wasn't coming home,

but she refused to say where she was.

-How're you getting on with that register?

-Yeah, it's interesting.

There was 23 mothers at Dunwoody's during Susan's time there.

But, they've got these weird little symbols next to their names.

-And it's the same for the babies.

-What sort of symbols?

According to the key at the back

symbols for different characteristics, you know?

So, for example, for the babies you've got one for social class.

You've got one for hair colour.

Skin colour?

Yeah. Skin colour, sleeping, feeding habits, fat or thin.

Disability. Type of disability. For the mothers you've got age,

self-discipline - that's marked out of ten - cleanliness, intelligence.

How they fell pregnant - I thought there was only one way of that happening.

Esther Dunwoody really likes to process people neatly, doesn't she?

Vaguely unpleasant. Like eugenics.

Like what?

23 mothers there with Susan, you said?

-23, yeah.

-Any of them live nearby the sea?

-Uh... Why?

-Her mother said she called from a phone box

and she could hear seagulls in the background.

No. None of them live by the sea. You get seagulls at tips, Sir.

-Do you want to see if any of them live on a tip?

-No, no don't bother.

Hazel. Hazel, the assistant.

She clearly had a problem with the Dunwoodys.

See if the register goes back to 1964. Hazel Joyce.

Here we go. Hazel Joyce.

19-years-old. Student. Quite bright.

Says here, "Helpful with the younger girls.

"Child not placed for adoption."

SEAGULLS SQUAWK

Bingo.

There's a pram there, Sir.

It's that copper. The one that came to Dunwoody's.

All right, Susan. Susan, now don't run!

Why don't you just leave her alone?! She's done now't wrong!

It's all right, love.

Sue, he's a copper and all!

Susan, it's all right.

We're not here to take Thomas away from you.

I just need to talk to you about Faith.

Faith?

-What are they like?

-The Groves?

Are you saying you don't know, Susan?

How would I know?

Spying on them, mebbies.

Hanging around. Trying to get a look at Faith?

Thinking to yourself, "How could I get her back?"

That's stupid.

They must be stupid, leaving a bairn where it could get snatched.

That's my bairn. That's my little Faith.

Why did you leave Dunwoody's the way that you did?

Giving up Faith killed us. I couldn't do it again.

Why do you feel you have to?

Because Mrs Dunwoody told me there was a couple who wanted Thomas.

You could've said no.

Yeah. You want to try saying no to Mrs Dunwoody.

She tells you how terrible life will be as an unmarried mother.

About the stain you'll carry round with you all your life.

How happy you'd make some married couple.

But, most of all,

how you'd be doing the best for your baby to give it away to people

who can give it everything that you can't.

"The gift of life."

Are they well off, these Groves?

Very comfortable.

So, in a way, Mrs Dunwoody's right, isn't she?

I didn't meet any lasses at Dunwoody's

that wouldn't have loved their baby,

and done everything they could to give it a good life.

Why can't people help we to bring up our bairns,

instead of taking them off us?

Susan, are you telling me that you have no idea where Faith went to?

I signed the forms for Faith to get adopted when she was six weeks,

and that's the last I saw of her.

Dunwoody tells you that it'll eventually pass. The pain.

But, if anything, it's just got worse.

Do yous think I'm a horrible person

-for giving away me own little bairn?

-No, I don't.

Susan, why didn't you just tell her that you wanted her back?

What do you mean?

Invoke the three month probationary period,

tell Esther Dunwoody that you changed your mind?

What probationary period?

Susan, I need to ask you some questions about the twins' father.

Why?

Is there any way that he could have discovered

the identity of the couple who adopted Faith?

No, he didn't even know I was pregnant.

What, you didn't tell him?

-No.

-He could've found out.

Could've realised that he didn't want to see his daughter go. Could've taken her back.

He's not brainy enough to do that. And he doesn't even know he's a dad.

Well, I need to know his name,

so I can eliminate him from our inquiries.

But then he'll know that he's the father.

-Susan, do you not think he has the right to know he's the father of your kids?

-"The right"?

He's pathetic, man.

If I'd married him, I'd have three bairns to look after.

You don't think he has a responsibility?

What's the point of telling a half-wit he's got responsibility?

What planet are yous two living on?

I'm not being chained to him for the rest of me life.

-Susan...

-Stop messing around with my life and find Faith!

Do the job yous have been paid to do and get off my back!

-Can I go now?

-Yeah.

She's absolutely right. Seven hours Faith's been missing.

Sniffer dogs, nothing. Door to door, nothing. We are failing this little girl.

Sir, Stephen Groves called. Asked if you can go over.

-He say why?

-No.

-Did you ask? You are allowed to do your job, you know.

I am doing my job.

Why don't you just, once in a while, do it a little bit better?

Sorry. Sorry. It's just... It's frustrating, isn't it?

I thought you might like to see this, Sarge.

Sorry.

Hey, Guv. Look at that.

I knew I recognised him.

-"Have a go hero"?

-Yeah.

He failed a robbery attempt at the bank that he worked at,

about six years ago, it was.

He absolutely battered these blokes with stockings on their heads.

-He did?

-Yeah! You wouldn't think it, would you? To look at him.

-No.

-I knew I knew his face.

-How's the phones going?

Come on, Mr Roberts, that's the tenth time today.

Give us a break.

Are you sure this was a newborn baby?

The one you're describing sounds as at least one or two-years-old...

What was the colour of the car, Sir? Was it black or green? It was red?

When you say gypsies took her...

Bolt. Thank you.

And nut. Thank you, sweetheart.

All right?

What is it?

It's a pit-head, John. Working model of, with lift.

Oh, aye. I didn't realise I'd bought a pit-head kit.

Ah, well, that's the beauty, you can make anything you like.

Bet she had a barrel of laughs making that, did you?

Screwdriver.

There you go.

Thank you.

You can wind it back up again, if you like.

That's the nearest you'll get to any hard work.

Thanks for looking after her.

-Do you want a cup of tea before we go?

-Dad!

I wouldn't say no.

And I have been working hard all day.

What, in a collar and tie? You call that work?

Oh, you're right. No, I forgot.

It doesn't count unless you're stripped to the waist, sweating like a pig, with bleeding hands.

Anything?

I'm sorry.

She's gone, hasn't she?

Seven hours. It feels like a lifetime.

Don't give up hope. Not yet, not for a long while yet.

Honestly.

I barely know these people, even though we live cheek by jowl.

They think they're being kind.

It makes me think there's...been a death.

You all right, Frances?

PHONE RINGS

It'll be nothing, usually is.

We were given one just like this when we took Faith, that's all.

-Sorry.

-Yes. I saw them being made this afternoon.

I find the whole thing a little bit bizarre, actually.

It's hideous. "A gift of a child is a gift of life."

I never knew what she was talking about, frankly.

We threw Faith's away.

I had other plans for letting her know she was loved.

Well, you hang on to those plans. And that love.

Are you a father, Mr Gently?

It's for you, Frances.

Who?

He won't say.

(You can't ring me here. I've told you.)

This newspaper story. "Have a go hero" nonsense.

It seems to have dislodged something in my memory.

About?

I received quite a bad blow on the head during the robbery.

I was badly concussed at the time, it affected my recall.

Things often come back a bit at a time.

No. No thanks.

So you've remembered something you want to tell me?

There's been a car parked in the street the last week or so.

Parked in the same place or different places?

Different places. But always near the house.

Can you describe it?

Small. I think it was blue.

-How about the driver?

-A man.

A young man. Young-ish.

Small, blue car. Young, young-ish driver.

What was he doing?

-PHONE RINGS

-Nothing. Just sat there.

Like he was waiting.

Did you mention this to anybody?

No.

Not your wife?

No. Why should I?

It's not very helpful at all, is it?

-PHONE CONTINUES RINGING

-Where is she?

Excuse me.

Hello? Speaking. >

They've got her! They've got Faith!

They want £10,000!

Did you find the bairn?

Ransom demand.

How much?

Why, you going to chip in? It's getting late. Look, I'll get Leigh Ann back home.

You know what? You take it too seriously when I make a joke.

Well, it gets a bit wearing, Dad. Especially in front of Leigh Ann.

I have enough trouble keeping her respect as it is.

John...

What, Dad?

When you made detective,

I felt like...I was so proud.

Yeah. Mum told us.

Well, I'm telling you now.

It's a bit late, Dad.

What did you say?

I said, "Did Leigh Ann enjoy visiting her Grandpa?"

Oh. Yeah. Million laughs.

Why can't I get anything right, Guv?

-He was trying to talk to us, you know?

-Is this your dad?

Yeah, I think he was trying to t...

Oh, Guv, blue car, do you see it there?

-On your left, passing that cyclist now.

-Yep.

-Got it.

-I got him.

The blue car is approaching the drop-off point, over.

'Over.'

Why is he stopping now?

-He's having a pee.

-Yeah, maybe he's nervous.

All units, hold fast until he gets to the drop-off point.

Go on my say-so, over.

Something's spooked him. Let's grab him.

All units pursue and pick up. Pursue and pick up! Over.

Mind the cyclist.

He was going the other way.

When we were watching the drop-off he was cycling that way

and now he's... He's got the satchel!

Guv, it's not the blue car, it's the cyclist!

Hold tight.

Said he was given a tenner to pick up the satchel.

Ten more on delivery.

Given a tenner by who?

Some bloke outside a pub - that's what he says.

Delivery where?

Answer him. Delivery where?

I haven't got time for this. This is yours if you tell me.

Or it's a borstal and a very long time in prison if you don't.

You choose.

POLICE BELL RINGS

Out.

-Where is she?

-I haven't got her.

-Where is she?

-I swear to God.

-John?

-Nothing, Sir.

-I'm going to ask you one more time,

and then you and me going to take a little walk.

And if you don't tell me where she is,

you will have a terrible accident in the process of trying to abscond.

-Do you understand?

-I haven't got her.

Andrew Fleming, is this still your address?

Yes, but she's not there. I haven't got her!

Is this the man in the blue car, Stephen?

Stephen?

No. Can we speak in private?

Why?

Let's step outside.

I recognise him.

But not from the blue car on our street. That man was younger.

Where from, then?

Frances...can't know about this.

Will you guarantee that?

No, I won't.

So?

After the story about me tackling the robber made the newspaper,

I received a lot of local attention.

Civic award.

I've never again had to pay for a drink

in the Conservative Association, or my golf club.

People just seemed to react to me differently.

Including women.

I first met the Flemings at a work's function.

Sally Fleming recognised me,

asked me to tell her all about what happened.

She's a very attractive woman.

You were flattered.

Frances and I had been going through a very difficult period.

She was struggling at the time with the belief that...

..the certain knowledge that she could never have a child of her own.

She'd had the hysterectomy.

Yes.

That's an awful thing for a woman of Frances' age.

So you showed your sympathy by shagging Mrs Fleming behind her back.

After six months, I knew it had to end.

But Sally beat me to the punch

by telling me her husband had found out.

I'm not proud of this.

The marriage broke up soon after.

They had children.

I heard the divorce was very...

..difficult. The children suffered.

-Everybody suffered.

-Well, except you.

He particularly...hated...that he lost his children to another man.

She remarried.

Frances mustn't know.

It'll destroy her. It'll destroy us.

Please.

It's a lovely life, come and live it, eh?

Guv, what was all that earlier you said about "lovely life"?

Oh, something he said yesterday about getting out of the Army,

coming back to England to the woman he loved.

How everything seemed possible.

All the things that they'd hoped for as young people before the war.

Yeah. What if Stephen Groves never wanted a baby, Sir?

What if it was the baby that spoiled this "lovely life"?

He's got a lovely wife, he's got a lovely house, lovely job,

he's got a nice car. He's a hero, isn't he?

He's got women chucking themselves at him. For some reason.

Who'd want to trade all that in for dirty nappies and no sleep?

Parents don't get a probationary period, Sir. I should know.

No, that's it for the rest of your life, whether you like it or not.

What are you saying?

I don't know. It's all them tears and that.

It's all a bit of a lie, I think. It's all an act.

What if Stephen Groves didn't want a baby?

I mean, he vetoed as many as he could, and then he gets stuck with one.

So let's just suppose, right,

that he found a way to get rid of little baby Faith,

keep his "lovely life".

-Murder a baby?

-Hmm.

He was there. He was the last to see her.

You said yourself it was local.

Mebbies we don't need to look beyond the man and wife.

Get Frances in.

How were things between you and Stephen

when Faith finally came into your house?

-Why do you ask?

-20 years on your own, and then....

Yes.

Well, having Faith was a huge change for us.

Most parents have nine months

to get used to the idea of becoming parents.

Whereas from the moment we first saw Faith, it was just weeks.

Did you want to adopt Faith's brother Thomas as well?

Yes.

Instead of? Or as well as?

Stephen didn't want a son, did he?

He, er...

He didn't want to be playing football

and pumping up bikes in his 50s.

Whereas with a girl....

Well, she'd be with me, wouldn't she?

Less of a nuisance.

He likes routine.

He likes coming home to peace and quiet.

Did Faith cry a lot?

Why do you ask that? All babies cry a lot.

Ours didn't. Some do, though.

I've seen them drive grown men to distraction.

I've seen men hit their kids. My dad hit me.

Well, Stephen would never have harmed Faith at all.

Is this where this is going?

Why did Stephen finally agree to adopt?

Why do you say "finally agree"?

Well, because Esther Dunwoody said that he vetoed a lot of babies.

He...

He finally saw how much having a child meant to me.

Well, I wonder if it was another reason.

What other reason?

Guilt.

Guilt?

What about? What about?

This man who tried to extort £10,000 from you today...

Yes?

Stephen had an affair with his wife and destroyed their marriage.

About a year ago.

I don't believe you.

He's just told us. I'm so sorry.

No. No.

Stephen would never do that to me.

Frances, listen to us.

In your heart of hearts, do you really believe that

Stephen wanted to adopt a child?

-But why else would he go to all that expense?

-Expense?

When we decided on Faith, we were told...

Because we'd dithered, she was now reserved for another couple.

And?

Stephen paid a lot of money to have her taken out of circulation

-and made available to us.

-Paid a lot of money to who?

Mrs Dunwoody. She told the other couple that Faith's birth mother

had changed her mind about having her adopted.

It was a lie.

Faith's birth mother had no involvement.

It was all done over her head.

What about the other couple, Frances?

Do you not care?

We'd spent a long time

searching for the right child

to complete our family.

Faith was that child.

Maybe they'd searched a long time an' all?

You out-bid them. It's like putting in a higher offer on a house!

I'd had five miscarriages.

I no longer had a womb.

Why can't men understand a simple physical fact like that?

Why is this so hard for you to comprehend?

I had to have a child,

otherwise my life would have been completely worthless.

If you don't have a child, what are you?

What is your life, really?

Did you say all this to Stephen?

And when you told him, he went out and he bought you a child.

Keep you quiet.

Yesterday morning, when Faith was taken, and you were out shopping,

where was Stephen?

He was doing the garden.

Doing what, exactly?

He was digging over the borders.

Mr Gently...

You are so completely wrong about my husband.

THEY TALK QUIETLY

Sir!

Right. Go on, get in there.

Carefully.

Carefully!

It's a dog.

Put it back.

All our babies come with a clear biography

and a clean bill of health.

We want our adopters to have as much information as possible

on which to base their choice.

So, Mr and Mrs Hopkinson, tell me what you're hoping for.

And then you can begin to make your choice. Don't be shy.

Is it the birth mothers you're worrying about?

Yes.

You're worried about their feelings, and bless your heart for that.

Hazel.

Just think of it like a bring-and-buy sale.

We bring them, you buy them.

Hazel...

You can choose your baby by eye colour, skin colour,

fat, thin - or by parentage...

-No need for flippancy, Hazel.

-Oh, sorry. I won't be flippant.

You can choose how your baby was conceived.

Back seat of a car.

Quickie in a bus stop.

Right, that's enough. What's the matter with you?

DOORBELL RINGS

Drunken night on the beach with a total stranger.

Enough. Shall we go over to the office?

My baby, for instance, was conceived when my uncle raped me

at my cousin's wedding.

In the middle of my second term at uni.

Which is why I suppose Mrs Dunwoody

has me in her book as "quite bright".

Which, compared to her, I am.

MANY BABIES CRYING AT ONCE

-BELL RINGS AGAIN

-Let's go to the office.

I'm sure you're keen to ask a few...

-Will somebody answer that door?!

-I'll get it, Mrs Dunwoody.

BABIES CONTINUE TO CRY

DOORBELL CONTINUES TO RING

How much did Stephen Groves pay you for baby Faith?

-Pay, Inspector?

-Pay.

-Oh, you mean the donation they made to the home.

-How much?

I would have to look that up.

Most of our adopters pay a donation of gratitude to us.

I never ask them. It's only if they feel compelled.

This financial gain that you receive could be construed

as buying and selling babies.

Only by those with no understanding of what we do.

Or perhaps with some sinister, un-Christian axe to grind.

Did the couple who originally chose baby Faith

know you gave her away to the highest bidder?

They were only told that Faith's mother had decided to keep her.

Which wasn't true.

I had the opportunity to place two children instead of one,

both in very good homes. Should I have passed that up?

The whole point is to get better lives for the babies.

Not to make money for yourself, then?

I don't make any money, Sergeant.

The home would just close without the donations.

It's all spent on the children.

The other couple were given the opportunity to take the boy

-instead of Faith, and they agreed.

-They didn't have much choice.

There is always a choice.

Unfortunately, while the paperwork was almost complete on Faith,

it wasn't even started with her brother.

And it had no sooner began when Susan disappeared with him.

Leaving the first couple empty-handed.

To my great regret.

I need the name of that couple.

-I'm not at liberty to give it.

-Give me the name!

They may have discovered that you let them be outbid

in your baby auction, and decided to take back

what they believe is rightfully theirs!

There's no need for hysteria, Sergeant. It's impossible.

-They couldn't have found out.

-I know the name.

I looked it up.

Get the name, Hazel. And then go home.

You're dismissed.

Do you need me to come with you on this one?

It's just it's the anniversary of me mam's death,

and I usually take me dad to the cemetery so he can have a little chat with her.

You know, we pay our respects, and we do it every year, and...

Oh, no, it's all right, I'll have a chat with him.

-We'll do it some other time. Let's go to the...

-John, John. Go and see your dad.

Sorry, Guv. I know it's getting desperate.

-WOMAN:

-'We've taken a call from a farmer near Witton Gilbert

'who thinks someone's been sleeping rough with a baby his outhouses. Are you anywhere near there? Over.'

Give me two minutes.

-No-one's seen or heard?

-No.

Vehicle?

We went to the pub for our tea last night

and we passed this parked car in the lane on the way in.

But no-one inside, so we thought nothing of it.

What kind of car?

Vitesse, I think.

-Colour?

-Light blue.

Well, it was dark. Can you be sure?

I saw it in my headlights. Light blue.

I closed the door to stop the dogs getting in.

But it was half open at first light.

-Over there.

-Oh, yeah.

I don't suppose you can remember the registration of the car?

Not a letter.

HE MUTTERS

When you die, can I come and visit you?

Er, is that what you'd like?

Aye, yeah, I'd like that.

What was Grandma like?

Er... She was very kind.

And very clever.

And she was very funny.

One Easter, right, when I was about your age,

they bought us this big chocolate egg.

I mean, it was huge. Couldn't believe me eyes.

I started to take the foil off it really, really carefully,

cos I wanted it to be absolutely perfect.

And when I'd taken the foil off,

I sat it in the middle of the kitchen table,

so I could look at it, and it was the best thing I'd ever seen.

It was smooth and it was huge and it was chocolatey! You know?

And I couldn't take me eyes off it.

And then your grandma came over, right, just to have a look at it,

and she reached over

and she smashed it to bits with the flat of her hand!

-She just meant it as a joke, you know.

-What did you do?

I just cried, I think.

Like that.

Granddad's ready.

Hello, sweetheart. You going to take my thing for me? Thank you.

How was she today?

Well, you know women. Chatterboxes.

-Did she ask after us?

-You?!

No, she never mentioned you.

What you doing here?

We've got surveillance on the barn,

-but the kidnapper won't go back there.

-No?

How's your dad?

Oh you know, him and me mam had a nice old chinwag.

It's good to see him get a word in edgeways

cos that never happened when she were alive.

-Thanks.

-Now, are we ruling out Stephen, Sir?

I never thought it was that likely.

And what about the couple originally intended for Faith?

-Well, turns out they're both serving police officers.

-Really?

And they don't need to sleep in a barn.

-The kidnapper does, though, so he's not local.

-Yeah.

We're not really getting far on this, are we, Guv?

Well, yes, we are.

Faith Groves was alive last night.

She's cared for, she's been fed and changed.

So, he wants something in return for her, doesn't he? He or she, that is.

Well, if it's money, what's the delay for?

It's blackmail, isn't it?

Keep your eyes open for a blue Vitesse, driven by a youngish man.

All right.

A youngish man who parks outside the house.

-What?

-I think she's at it as well.

-Nah.

-Yeah.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Dear me.

It's like Peyton Place, innit?

-Are they in there?

-Yeah. I phoned them and gave them an update.

Do you want to tell me about it?

About Mrs Fleming?

I thought Gently was a better man than that.

I thought YOU were a better man than that.

Well, now you know I'm not.

I'm not a war hero, I'm not a "have a go" hero. I'm just an ordinary man.

An ordinary, vain, self-centred, middle-aged man.

I didn't want Faith.

I know.

And this is life's punishment on me for not wanting her.

For being too selfish to make room in my stupid little life

for the thing you wanted the most.

I'm so sorry.

I made you have something you didn't want.

Frances, I did want us to have children.

I just wanted us to have them when we were younger

and I wanted them to be ours.

I can't help that. It's just the truth.

I know.

But I promise you,

if life gives me a second chance to be a father to Faith,

I'm going to grab it with both hands.

You remember this moment, please, in the future.

Whatever happens after this, you remember what I said.

I love you, Stephen.

You must remember it. Please, promise you'll remember it!

I promise. But...

PHONE RINGS

No.

It'll stop.

PHONE CONTINUES TO RING

PHONE STOPS RINGING

I have to go out.

Is this that young man who waits in the car sometimes?

Sorry.

Here we go.

-I'll get him.

-Wait.

Where's she gone?

Who's the man in the car?

They're now turning right, repeat, right off the Shields Road, over.

See all that?

Used to be a lagoon.

A tropical lagoon.

260 million years ago.

-Oh.

-When you think about all the creatures that have lived and died here.

People as well.

Think of all the ghosts.

Ghosts?

Elizabeth Gibbon, for instance.

Threw herself off the top of this mill tower. Broken-hearted.

Ditched by her lover.

She chose death.

Her husband lived on happily with his wife.

Her ghost walks this place at night.

-Doesn't seem fair, does it?

-How do you know that?

I have a degree. History.

-I didn't know.

-No.

There's a lot you don't know.

Because you don't really want to know, do you, Mrs Groves?

Gareth, I cannot give you what you want.

I... I cannot be for you...

what you want me to be.

I've tried to explain, and I'm sorry you don't understand, but...

-..this has to stop.

-Because of him?

I hate him. I'd like to hurt him.

You have. Believe me.

-How long they been up there?

-Ten minutes.

Any sign of the baby?

Nah. She's not in the car either.

What do you want to do?

Nothing.

You're dead beautiful, you know.

-I'm not.

-You are.

Gareth, I want this to stop today.

I want you to drive away and never look back. Ever.

I want you to find a lovely young woman

and give yourself to her and make a life.

And I want you to forget about me.

Just as I'm going to forget about you.

Let me ask you...

Do you love me?

Of course I do.

What's that look like to you?

The end of the affair.

Is he the kidnapper, do you think?

-I just don't think she'd be here otherwise.

-Unbelievable.

She forces her husband to buy somebody else's baby,

and here she is shagging him.

Women!

Gareth...

Sweetheart...

If you feel for me as you say you feel,

this is the biggest gift you can give to me.

Listen, it's the only thing I really want.

All you want.

Not me?

I want Faith.

Please.

Gareth, please take me to where Faith is.

-No!

-Police.

No!

Oi! Ey!

Where's the baby?

Where?

Guv, Guv, he's not breathing.

-Has he got the baby?

-He was taking me to her.

-Where? Where is she?

-He didn't say.

He just said she was in the last place I'd want her to be.

HE FALTERS

I just wanted to say how sorry I am.

I used too much force, I know that.

I just got angry.

I get angry quite a lot, actually.

I don't know why.

Don't you?

They don't think he'll last the night.

SHE SIGHS

SHE SOBS

-Do you want to sit down?

-Sorry.

I'm sure he didn't want any real harm to come to Faith.

We'll find her.

Your husband only knows that we tried to apprehend the kidnapper

and that in the process the man was severely injured.

He knows nothing about your relationship with this man.

Then it's time that he did.

Why did you do it?

-To hurt you.

-Me?

That man in the blue car...

-always watching the house.

-He was waiting for you, wasn't he?

No, Stephen. He was waiting for you.

Waiting for me to leave?

No.

He was waiting to talk to you.

And I told him he couldn't.

That he could never talk to you.

Remember you swore to me that you'd come back.

That you'd come back with double the love in your heart. Do you remember that?

Yes, I remember.

I've never seen anything as beautiful before or since

as you on that day.

What happened to our lovely life, Frances?

You left me, Stephen.

With a baby.

You walked into that jungle...

..and you never came back.

I thought you were dead.

I was 17, unmarried.

And I had a baby.

A son.

Your son.

What happened to him?

I didn't really have much say, Stephen.

They were very plain in the mother and baby home.

Do you know, I did it for him as well as me.

And then...

..a year later, when I was told that you were safe,

that you'd be coming home...

You know your letter, "Let's start living that lovely life."

How could that life include knowing about a son you could never see?

How long have you been seeing him?

He turned up...

..just when we were looking for a child to adopt.

He said he wanted to be part of our lives.

Life hasn't been very happy for him, Stephen.

He's really...very, very fragile.

Do you have any idea what it's like

to be completely cast adrift from your own?

Never meet anyone who looks like you, talks like you, shares your history?

Do you have any idea what it's like to walk through your own life

and wonder who you really are?

What your real name is?

To wonder, "Was I so worthless that they gave me away?"

Nothing's changed, has it?

I still am WORTHLESS.

I told him no.

And I didn't expect to see him again.

But then in the pile of toys and cards left for Faith...

..I found this bear that I made for him in the home.

The bear that had gone with him into his new life.

What did you call him?

I called him Gareth.

Yes, your dad's name.

Mrs Groves...

What was the name of the mother and baby home where you had Gareth?

It's what's now called Dunwoody's.

MACHINES WHIRR AND BEEP

CONTINUOUS FLAT TONE

A BABY CRIES

11:30, and there's a baby crying.

Is somebody going to do something about this situation?!

BABY CONTINUES TO CRY

Oh, no, little laddie.

If you're waiting to be picked up on demand by Esther Dunwoody,

you'll have a long wait.

You cry. I can wait.

Go on.

Go on.

Leather lungs.

SHE SIGHS

Thanks. John...

If he dies, there will be an inquest.

I want you to know that, in my opinion, you are not at fault,

and I will back you to the hilt.

Thanks, Guv.

BABY CRIES

-GENTLE SINGING:

-# Silver buckles at his knee... #

Guv!

# He'll come back and marry me

# Bonny Bobby Shaftoe. #

Is this little Faith come back to us?

I've never had a return before.

This baby needs a feed.

And its mother.

I had a son.

You still have a daughter.

It doesn't seem five minutes since this was Leigh Ann.

Give her here!

It's unnatural.

Men crying.

There, there.

Here we are.

Come on. There.

Does her mother know she's safe?

Mrs Dunwoody, how long is it since the Groves adopted Faith?

Three weeks, is it?

Well within the probationary period, then?

What probationary period is that?

Then one you don't tell the girls about.

Well, yes, technically.

It's time her mother knew she was safe.

# Across the evening sky

# All the birds are leaving

# But how can they know

# It's time for them to go? #

Susie?

Come here.

# I shall still be dreaming

# I do not count the time

SHE MOUTHS

# Who knows where the time goes?

# Who knows where the time...

# Goes? #

Is she happy?

How were they?

Crucified.

All we did was put things back the way they were

before Susan was cheated out of her baby.

-Who does the bairn belong to though, Guv?

-Nobody.

You can't own children. You just look after them for a bit.

They belong to themselves, don't they?

I don't know. I'm no expert.

Suppose there's no law, is there,

-saying that you and your dad has to get on with each other?

-Nope.

I suppose it's the same for him.

Mebbies he's thinking what it must have been like to have a son

who wasn't such a sarcastic clever-clogs.

Ask him.

Yeah, aye.

So, this is the place you work?

Aye.

Mr Gently told me you're browned off.

What? A bad day at work?

I killed someone.

Come here, son.

-Come here, son.

-No, it's all right.

-Come here, son. Come here.

Come here, come here, come here, come here.

# I cannot get to my love if I would dee

# The water of Tyne runs between him and me

# And here I must stand with a tear in my ee

# Both sighing and sobbing, my true love to see

# Oh, where is the boatman, my bonny hinney?

# Oh, where is the boatman? Bring him to me

# To ferry me over the Tyne to my honey

# Or speed him across that dark water to me

# And here I must stand with a tear in my ee

# Oh, sighing and sobbing my true love to see

# Oh, bring me a boatman I'll give any money

# And you for your trouble rewarded shall be

# Just carry me over the Tyne to my honey

# And I will remember the boatman and thee. #