Episode 1 Luther

-'DCI John Luther. DS Justin Ripley.'

-I lobbied to be stationed with you.

I put in the request nine months ago, I chased it up three times a week, in writing.

My mate Justin. I love him.

I don't think you're going to shoot me.

Don't you...don't you.

Hey! Get up!

John, I don't know what to say.

SCREAMING

Wotcha. I wanted something.

-What?

-You.

I assumed you'd need it eventually.

This programme contains some strong language

This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting

So, now what?

So, now what?

Your phone's off. You're wanted.

That's why my phone's off.

Fair enough.

Nice view.

Yeah.

Do you never do this?

Do you never come up to a really high place

and wonder what it would be like to fall?

Why would I do that? I've got enough to worry about.

LUTHER CHUCKLES

Why do you do it? Come up here?

You ever have that dream when you're falling?

Yeah.

Do you ever wake up in it?

No.

Do you?

Nah.

What do you think would happen?

Dunno.

Nah. Me, neither.

PHONE VIBRATES

MUSIC PLAYS: Tokyo Joe by Bryan Ferry

PHONE VIBRATES

CREAKING

RATTLING

CHECKOUT SCANNER BEEPS

CLATTERING CONTINUES

Oh!

CLATTERING INTENSIFIES

CLATTERING STOPS

MUSIC: Love Is The Drug by Roxy Music

Hello, love.

One of us left the bathroom window open this morning

and a bloody pigeon got in.

It scared the crap out of me, flapping about.

Who are you?

SHE SCREAMS

# Love is like a sin, my love

# For the ones that feel it the most

# Look at her with her eyes like a flame

# She will love you like a fly

# Will never love you again. #

Guv.

How goes it?

Fair to middling.

John Luther, this is DS Lane.

Emma.

Wotcha.

Guv?

Fancy a cuppa?

Always.

Crikey! Pretty close to the edge.

Closer and closer every day.

That's why the place comes cheap.

How are you filling your days?

Days seem to fill themselves, really.

So?

So...Alice Morgan.

Ah. They gave you that, did they?

Yeah. What can you do?

What can you do?

Has she been in contact at all?

Alice? Since when?

Well, since you last saw her - on Southwark Bridge, was it?

No.

No e-mails, no phone calls?

No.

She didn't say where she was going?

Nope.

And you didn't ask?

Has something happened?

Interpol caught her scent in Berlin.

OK.

They pick her up?

No. No, the trail went cold in Madrid. And then this happened.

In Antwerp, three days ago.

Blimey.

Hm.

The dead man at the wheel.

Akram el-Mejjati. Small-time hoodlum from the 18th Arrondissement.

Paris.

The other bloke?

Who can say?

What was she doing?

We were hoping you might shine a light on that.

No.

I can't be of any help.

Oh. OK.

I don't suppose we thought you could.

Not really.

So what are we all doing here?

Well, I'm afraid she's dead, John.

No, she's not.

They found her in the Schelde.

I mean, yeah, it does look like her, but it's not her.

An autopsy confirms it. Dental records.

They can be faked.

Prints, too. I'm sorry, John. It's her.

Just give me a sec.

How?

Um, she drowned.

Alice?

HE LAUGHS

Toxicology's clean. No signs of trauma.

Water on the lungs.

The theory seems to be that she was concussed after the car crash.

Possibly confused.

They're saying she fell?

John?

You understand that we need to have a look around the place?

Yeah. I mean, yeah.

OK, DS Lane, if you'd like to keep John company?

Yes.

May I?

Can I get you that cup of tea?

-Yeah.

-Yeah? Tea. OK.

PHONE VIBRATES

Boss?

How so?

Hm-mm.

Understood. OK.

OK. OK.

So now what? You going to arrest me?

Why? You done something wrong?

You know I haven't.

Then why arrest you?

We'll have to leave the tea, though, I'm afraid. Duty calls.

Vivid misdeeds in Hackney Wick.

Give me a second.

You and Alice Morgan.

I'm aware that, um, there was a...fondness between you.

Yeah, there was... a fondness, yeah.

So maybe you shouldn't be alone right now.

Hm? Is there someone I can call?

No. No, no, I'll, um, be fine.

Give 'em all my love.

Hey.

Are you OK? Really?

Yeah.

Everything's tickety boo. Totally disco.

Thank you, guv.

You've been with Luther?

We have, yes.

And did he know? About Alice Morgan?

It's difficult to be certain.

And that's what we'll tell the Lokale Politie Antwerpen, is it?

"It's difficult to be certain?"

He didn't know, boss. He was, um, crushed.

The victim's Chloe Morley.

Looks like her husband's the killer, Alastair Morley.

Dentist.

Picture's in the file.

SOCO's left?

Yep.

And her husband did this?

Apparently so.

God help us.

What did he do with the heart?

He ate it.

Forensics found what was left of it.

Guv?

One sec.

Emma? Guv?

These CCTV images.

He's letting himself out of Alastair Morley's workplace,

driving Alastair Morley's car, texting on Alastair Morley's phone.

He's killing Alastair Morley's wife and eating her heart.

But whoever this is, it's not Alastair Morley.

Alastair Morley.

Guv.

It belongs to a Julian Lewis.

Is he our man on the CCTV?

Definitely not.

PHONE RINGS

DS Silver.

'Wotcha.'

Wotcha, boss.

Benny, what's going on with this Alice Morgan thing?

Hang on a minute.

I'll give you the bones of it.

Morning, sir.

OK, so, truth is, we don't know much.

'The Belgians are looking after it,

'and you know what they're like with sharing stuff.'

Do they like anyone for it?

'Honestly, I don't know.'

I don't know if they're even looking for anybody because,

as far as I'm aware, they're treating it as an accident.

Yeah, well, it wasn't an accident.

Did Theo Bloom take something from my house today?

Something like what?

Like a phone. A burner.

'Well, if he did, he'd have logged it for chain of evidence.'

Yeah, cos he's squeaky clean, isn't he? Eh, Benny?

No cleaner man.

No cleaner man, not since the chap in the manger.

So he wouldn't take a phone, would he?

'Look, why would he?

'He had a warrant, didn't he?'

Then if he didn't, who did?

'Boss, what's going on?'

Nothing, Benny, nothing. I'll let you crack on.

ENGINE REVS

TRAIN RUMBLES BY OUTSIDE

MURMUR OF DIFFERENT TV CHANNELS

FOOTSTEPS

RECORD CRACKLES

KNOCK

Julian Lewis! Police! Open up!

Armed police! Armed police!

-Search!

-Searching!

-Bathroom clear!

-Clear!

Medic says he ate the tongue.

Boss, what do we do with something like this?

We keep going.

Trace it back to a point of origin.

First cause. And there we will find our man.

Belongs to a Bruno Dresller.

How are you?

Well, to be honest, boss, I don't know how I am.

She was...

'Yeah, she was.'

Any idea how it happened?

'Do you?'

-No.

-In that case, let me offer some friendly counsel.

'Such as?'

Step back and let the Belgians do their job.

Yeah, of course. I mean, what else am I going to do?

How's your thing?

'Not great.'

Playing catch-up with some bedlamite.

Following his spoor back to source.

No, you don't want to be doing that.

An animal like that - he's always moving forward.

You should be, too.

'You know, John, we can't discuss this any further.

'Not unless you walk away from this leave of absence thing.'

Got to go, boss. Sorry.

DANCE MUSIC PLAYING IN DISTANCE

MUSIC GETS LOUDER

MUSIC STOPS

All right, mate? Looking a bit militant, there.

It's the police.

Well, can I see a badge, then?

No.

Errol, is he having a laugh?

Are you having a laugh?

Let's have a talk in my office, then, shall we?

Yeah.

MUSIC STARTS UP AGAIN

Recognise her?

Nope. I wouldn't mind, though. Chung, innit?

Chung?

That's very funny, cos I think one of your boys just killed her.

Callum Greene. He's one of your Mash men, ain't he?

I wonder how many of those boys out there know that you've been

a snitch since before Cool Britannia was all the thing?

I mean, we know what they'd think about that, though, don't we?

They'd end your days on earth, Errol. Let's have a word.

Hey, hey, hey. This woman.

I don't know who she was.

So what's Callum Greene doing with her in Antwerp?

All I know is that he was contracted out.

Oh, yeah, by who?

Come on!

Don't matter.

Hey, hey, hey!

George Cornelius.

Come on, man. The old school geezer from Islington?

That's him, yeah.

You are a snitch.

Good afternoon. I'd like to speak to George Cornelius, please.

Yeah, I'm sorry. He's not in.

Yes, he is.

Hurry up!

You rang, my lord?

George Cornelius?

You know I am.

Come with me, please.

Sorry, mate. Who are you, again?

Police.

Which police?

THE police.

I don't care if you're fucking Sting.

You lot do not come round here, not for any reason.

This is my house. You all know that.

Yeah, well, I'm sorry about that, but I'm here now, so we might as well crack on.

No, straight up now, what's going on? Who's your governor?

I've got this, Dad.

Look.

You're coming along with me. There we go...

Down the steps, let's go.

ENGINE STARTS

Are you really a copper?

Sort of.

And this is your gaff, is it?

Sort of.

You don't spend a lot of time here, though.

Not by the look of it.

No, not really.

Actually, I was thinking of leaving the country.

Well, I was until you put a crimp on it.

Oh, yeah? How'd I do that?

By killing Alice Morgan. Or having her killed.

Same difference, really.

I did what to who now?

Don't tell me you don't know who she is, George.

Mate, I didn't put her down. Or have her put down.

Why would I?

I don't know. But that's what I'm here to find out.

Before I end it for you.

You do know they saw you - my boy, my daughter-in-law.

They clocked your face, they clocked your car.

How long do you think you've got

before my firm are popping your eyeballs out with their thumbs?

Yeah. I don't care, George, you don't scare me.

Fair enough.

All right. What it is - she comes to me, your girl.

Different name. She's got these uncut diamonds.

Blue-ribbon merchandise, worth a lot of money,

but difficult to shift, unless you've got the right connections,

which I've got - she doesn't. We agree a 70/30 split.

She doesn't like it, but she needs the money sharpish.

She say why?

Her and some geezer are running away to...

Sao Paulo.

So that'll be you, then. The geezer.

Yeah, that'll be me.

Right.

So I give her the name of a contact in the trade,

bent as a bottle of chips,

she's supposed to meet him in Antwerp...

Except she meets your boys instead, and you rob her.

Well, what can I say?

It's a lot of money, and at the end of the day, I'm a thief.

But the thing is, she doesn't like being ripped off,

and she knows how to put up a fight.

She stabs the driver in the back of the skull with a hat pin.

What about Callum Greene?

Callum, he stumbles out the car, gets himself straight to hospital.

Turns out, she's kicked him in the nuts so hard,

they've blown up like footballs.

He's in no condition to hurt anybody.

And the burner? Why did you steal the burner?

What burner?

George, the phone I used to call Alice Morgan.

Mate, until today I had no idea you existed.

You didn't do it, did you?

I really didn't.

Bruno Dresller. 35. Owns and runs Body By Dresller,

'a small chain of gymnasiums. A clean record, more or less.

'His name was connected to a trial in America of

'a man called Donald Guthrey.'

Dresller and Guthrey exchanged e-mails on a fetish website

devoted to, and I quote -

'"cannibal erotica".

'He and Guthrey exchanged intensely detailed fantasies about how

'they wanted to kidnap, rape, cook and eat young women and teenagers.'

I'm on my way.

Roger.

We've got a body in the bath. Dissolved in lye, apparently.

'Very old school.'

Could be Dresller. Hard to tell.

The head and hands are missing.

'OK. With you in five.'

PHONE VIBRATES

Yeah?

John, Theo.

'Can you talk?

'Sorry to impose. I need a disinterested ear.'

Yeah. Course. Go on.

You ever had your nose pressed up too close to something?

'Er, yeah, once too often.'

I can't see it, John.

Or I can't see past it,

or something. I'm, er, like one of those drawings -

you're looking at a profile of an old hag.

You know there's a portrait of a young girl in there somewhere.

You just have to refocus somehow.

OK.

What are we looking at?

You find a body dissolved in lye, the head and hands are missing -

what's the first assumption?

'Well, your boy's working hard to prevent you making an ID.'

But that's not what this boy does. Not what he needs.

So why does he need it now?

Why remove the head and hands?

Because they're important to him?

Yeah, but in what way?

'Seems to me, there's one of two options.'

Option one, that they're important to him personally,

'so he wants to keep 'em.'

Option two, for some practical reason, they're important

so he wants to make sure they're never ever found.

I'm thinking it's option one. He's keeping them.

Hang on.

Theo?

Just give me a second.

EXPLOSION

Theo?

Theo?!

'..are reported dead following a large explosion

'in a central London block of flats.

'Police and emergency service personnel attending the site

'have yet to comment on the source of the...'

Argh!

You stay there.

HE SIGHS

HELICOPTER WHIRS

They've taken Theo away.

They'll look after him now.

The, er, EMT has checked me out.

I'm fine.

Of course you're not fine.

Once they've signed me off...

..I can come back. I'm fine.

I'm fine.

HORN TOOTS

Where do I sit?

Budge up.

Alice Morgan.

There's not a lot to see, boss.

I still need to see it.

Guv.

Boss.

You got a minute?

I'm sorry you lost him like that.

I loved him.

I don't mean, er, loved him loved him.

-I mean that...

-I know what you mean.

I just want to say...

..whatever it takes...

..you know?

I'm in.

Anything?

Anything.

HE SIGHS

You've got a family?

Yeah.

Your girlfriend's expecting a baby?

Six weeks.

You love her?

More than anything.

That's good.

There are some things that you might have heard about me

that quite possibly could be true.

I know what you're going through right now. I sincerely do.

But there's something I need you to hear from me.

Never cut corners.

Never.

Not even if you know no-one else will know,

no-one else will find out...

..that it is exactly the right thing to do - because it never, ever is.

Ever.

You do this the right way.

All right, straight down the line.

You do it that way or I get you kicked off for being unfit for duty.

Lab reports confirmed that it's Dresller in the bath.

And we got into Dresller's laptop.

He spent a lot of time online over the last couple of months,

boss, exchanging fantasies about cooking and eating human flesh.

I mean, detailed fantasies at that.

There's a lot in there about brides. Wedding dresses, pregnant mothers.

And all of that's in there, is it?

-Yep.

-So if we can find all that, our boy can find it, too.

He leads us to Dresller, right?

The fridge, the laptop, all that time spent

running around in circles, all so he's got the time to...

To what?

To finish off what he's started.

I dunno.

Let's see who's been poking around Dresller's private life, shall we?

'That was last year, so we thought, yeah, I know,

'we thought you could all come to ours this year...

'I know, why not, right?'

-'Hello?'

-Hello?

Is this Alastair's mum?

'Who is this?'

I was with him.

When he died.

-'Who are you?'

-He was asking for you at the end.

When he couldn't fight any more.

CRYING DOWN THE PHONE

"Mum. Mum."

He was so scared of dying.

'Why would you do this?!'

HE GROANS

What you got?

Well, you were right. We found spyware deep in Dresller's laptop.

How closely was he being watched?

Close enough to know everything there is to know.

It's not just passwords and bank account log-ins.

Whoever's been watching him knows every sentence he's composed,

every website he's visited.

He knows his thoughts.

It used to be that we could never know the truth about each other.

Not really.

Those days are gone.

More's the pity.

And how confident can we be that the killer

and the fellow who loaded the spyware is the same guy?

Well, we can't, to be fair, er, we can't be certain -

it could be anyone who had access to that laptop.

You say "anyone".

But, I mean, well, how many people can that be, realistically?

I mean, someone like Dresller,

a man with that kind of fantasy life, those kind of secrets.

How many people are you going to let near your computer?

How many people do any of us let near our computer?

So if he was watching Dresller that closely,

what are the chances he was watching all of them?

TV ON

In order to plant the spyware,

our subject had to have direct physical access

to everyone's computer, so, we pulled credit card records

from all the victims and cross referenced.

Now, over the past two-three years, each of them

made at least one payment to a company called Geek Patrol.

They come round your house, fix your computer, set up your wifi network.

Whatever...

And all their computers were fixed by one man.

A Steven Rose.

That's him.

Have we got an address?

SIRENS APPROACH

What are we waiting for?

Bomb squad.

All right, you've got your perimeter, the area's cleared,

we need to get in there, guv.

He's not going to booby trap his own place. Come on!

And you're sure of that, are you?

Yeah. I am.

Easy for you to say, John - you weren't here

when I had to watch them scrape Theo Bloom off the wall.

Guv, Steven Rose could be on his way to his next victim,

and we won't know who that is unless we are in there!

The answer is "no".

If you want to discuss it further, we can do it back at the factory.

I think I hear someone in there.

In fact, I can! I can hear someone screaming for help.

DCI Luther...

Exigent circumstances, sir!

DCI Luther!

DISTORTED MUSIC PLAYS

Benny!

Benny!

Benny! Ben, come on!

Come in.

Benny, can you, er, stop this? Whatever? Turn it off?

-Whatever.

-I'll give it a go.

Are you OK? Boss?

Yeah, it's all right.

CLATTERING

Steven!

You've gotta stop!

HE SIGHS

-'Is it US law?'

-No, this one's according to English law.

'When can I see it?'

I'm sending it over right now. Why don't we talk tomorrow morning?

-9.30 your time?

-'OK.'

ECHOING CLATTER

CLATTERING IN DISTANCE

Sorry, guv. She's asked for you by name.

Can I help?

Are you DCI Luther?

Yeah.

I have a message for you.

A message from who?

Alice Morgan.

MUSIC: Money Is Not Our God (Babylon Dub) by Killing Joke