The Hounds of Baskerville Sherlock

RUNNING AND PANTING

A MAN YELLS

YELLING AND GROWLING

GROWLING

THE MAN CRIES IN PAIN

Oh, hello.

Are you all right?

What is it, dear? Are you lost?

GROWLING

HE SCREAMS

-Well, that was tedious.

-You went on the tube like that?

None of the cabs would take me.

Nothing?

-Military coup in Uganda.

-Hm.

Hm.

-Another photo of you with the er...

-Oh!

Well, um, Cabinet reshuffle?

Nothing of importance?

-BANGS ON THE FLOOR

-Oh, God!

John, I need some. Get me some.

-No.

-Get me some.

No. Cold turkey we agreed, no matter what.

Anyway, you've paid everyone off, remember?

No-one within a two-mile radius will sell you any.

Stupid idea. Whose idea was that?

HE CLEARS THROAT

Mrs Hudson!

Look, Sherlock, you're doing really well, don't give up now!

Tell me where they are!

Please, tell me.

Please.

-Can't help, sorry.

-I'll let you know next week's lottery numbers.

-HE LAUGHS

-It was worth a try.

Yoo-hoo.

My secret supply, what have you done with my secret supply?

-Eh?

-Cigarettes, what have you done with them?

You never let me touch your things! Oh, chance would be a fine thing.

-I thought you weren't my housekeeper.

-I'm not.

-Argh!

How about a nice cuppa and perhaps you could put away your harpoon?

I need something stronger than tea. Seven percent stronger.

-You've been to see Mr Chatterjee again.

-Pardon?

Sandwich shop. That's a new dress, but there's flour on the sleeve. You wouldn't dress like that for baking.

-Sherlock...

-Thumbnail. Tiny traces of foil.

Been at the scratch cards again. We all know where that leads.

Kasbah Nights. Racy for a Monday morning, wouldn't you agree?

I wrote a blog on the identification of perfumes. You should look it up!

-Please!

-Don't pin your hopes on that cruise with Mr Chatterjee, he's got a wife nobody knows about.

-Sherlock!

-Well, nobody except me.

-I don't know what you're talking about, I really don't!

DOOR SLAMS BEHIND HER

-What the bloody hell was all that about?

-You don't understand.

Go after her and apologise.

-Apologise?

-Hmm.

Oh, John, I envy you so much.

You envy me?

Your mind, it's so placid, straight-forward, barely used.

Mine's like an engine, racing out of control.

A rocket, tearing itself to pieces, trapped on the launch pad. I need a case!

You've just solved one, by harpooning a dead pig, apparently!

Oh, that was this morning.

-When's the next one?

-Nothing on the website?

"Dear Mr Sherlock Holmes. I can't find Bluebell anywhere.

"Please, please, please can you help?"

-Bluebell?

-A rabbit, John!

-Oh.

-Ah, but there's more.

Before Bluebell disappeared, it turned luminous.

"Like a fairy," according to little Kirsty. Then the next morning, Bluebell was gone.

Hutch still locked, no sign of a forced entry.

What am I saying, this is brilliant! Phone Lestrade.

-Tell him there's an escaped rabbit.

-Are you serious?

-It's this or Cluedo.

Ah, no. We are never playing that again.

-Why not?

-It's not possible for the victim to have done it.

-It was the only possible solution.

-It's not in the rules.

Well, then, the rules are wrong!

DOORBELL RINGS

A single ring.

Maximum pressure, just under the half second.

BOTH: Client!

-TV:

-Dartmoor, it's always been a place of myth and legend,

but is there something else lurking out here?

Something very real.

Dartmoor is also home to one the government's most secret of operations,

the chemical and biological weapons research centre,

which is said to be even more sensitive than Porton Down.

Since the end of the Second World War,

there have been persistent stories about the Baskerville experiments.

Genetic mutations, animals grown for the battlefield.

There are many who believe that within this compound, in the heart of this ancient wildness,

there are horrors beyond imagining.

But the real question is, are all of them still inside?'

I was just a kid.

It was on the moor.

It was dark, but I know what I saw.

I know what killed my father.

What did you see?

Oh, I was just about to say.

Yes, in a TV interview. I prefer to do my own editing.

Yes. Sorry, yes, of course.

-Excuse me.

-BLOWS HIS NOSE

In your own time.

But quite quickly.

-Do you know Dartmoor, Mr Holmes?

-No.

It's an amazing place, it's like nowhere else,

it's sort of bleak, but beautiful.

Hm, not interested. Moving on.

We used to go for walks, after my mum died, my dad and me.

Every evening, we'd go out onto the moor.

Good. Skipping to the night that your dad was violently killed, where did that happen?

There's a place,

it's a sort of local landmark, called Dewer's Hollow.

That's an ancient name for the devil.

So?

Did you see the devil that night?

Yes.

HE CRIES OUT

It was huge.

Coal-black fur with red eyes.

IT GROWLS

It got him.

Tore at him, tore him apart.

I can't remember anything else.

They found me the next morning, just wandering on the moor.

My dad's body was never found.

Hm.

Red eyes, coal-black fur, enormous...

A dog? Wolf?

Or a genetic experiment.

Are you laughing at me, Mr Holmes?

Why, are you joking?

My dad was always going on about the things they were doing at Baskerville.

About the type of monsters they were breeding there.

People used to laugh at him.

At least the TV people took me seriously.

-And I assume did wonders for Devon tourism.

-Yeah...

Henry, whatever did happen to your father, it was 20 years ago.

Why come to us now?

Not sure you can help me, Mr Holmes, since you find it all so funny!

-Because of what happened last night.

-Why, what happened last night?

How... How do you know?

I didn't know, I noticed.

You came up from Devon on the first train this morning.

You had a disappointing breakfast and a black coffee. The girl across the aisle fancied you.

Though initially keen, you've changed your mind.

You are anxious to have your first cigarette of the day.

Sit down, Mr Knight, and do please smoke. I'd be delighted.

-How on Earth did you notice all that?

-It's not important...

-Punched out holes where your ticket's been checked.

-Not now.

-I've been cooped-up for ages!

-You're showing off.

-I am a show-off, that's what we do.

Train napkin you used to mop up the spilled coffee.

Strength of the stain shows that you didn't take milk.

There are traces of ketchup on it and on your lips and sleeve.

Cooked breakfast, or the nearest thing those trains manage. Sandwich.

How did you know it was disappointing?

Is there any other type of breakfast on a train? The girl.

Female handwriting's distinctive, wrote her number on the napkin.

I can tell from the angle she wrote at that she was sat across from you.

After she got off, I imagine you used the napkin to mop up your spilled coffee,

accidentally smudging the numbers.

You've been over the last four digits in another pen, so you wanted to keep the number.

You used the napkin to blow your nose, so you're not that into her.

Then there's the nicotine stains on your shaking fingers. I know the signs.

No chance to smoke when on the train, no time to roll one before you got a cab here.

It's just after 9.15, you're desperate.

The first train from Exeter to London leaves at 5.46am.

You got the first one, so something important must have happened last night. Am I wrong?

No.

You're right.

You're completely, exactly right.

-Bloody hell, I heard you were quick.

-It's my job. Now shut up and smoke.

Ahem.

Henry, your parents both died and you were what, seven years old?

I know, that...

HE INHALES THE SMOKE

That must be quite a trauma.

Now, have you ever thought that maybe you invented this story, this...

HE INHALES LOUDLY

..to account for it?

That's what Dr Mortimer says.

-Who?

-His therapist.

-My therapist.

Obviously.

Louise Mortimer.

She's the reason I came back to Dartmoor.

She thinks I have to face my demons.

What happened when you went back to Dewer's Hollow last night?

You went there on the advice of your therapist and now you're consulting a detective.

-What did you see that changed everything?

-It's a strange place, the Hollow.

It makes you feel so cold inside, so afraid.

Yes, if I wanted poetry, I'd read John's emails to his girlfriends, much funnier. What did you see?

HE SIGHS

Footprints.

On the exact spot where I saw my father torn apart.

Man's or a woman's?

-Neither. They were...

-Is that it? Nothing else? Footprints, is that all?

Yes. But they were...

Dr Mortimer wins. It's a childhood trauma masked by an invented memory.

-Boring. Goodbye, Mr Knight, thank you for smoking.

-What about the footprints?

Oh, they're probably paw prints, could be anything, therefore nothing.

Off to Devon with you and have a cream tea on me.

Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound.

Say that again.

I found footprints, they were big...

No, no, no, your exact words.

Repeat your exact words from a moment ago, exactly as you said them.

Mr Holmes,

they were the footprints of a gigantic hound.

-I'll take the case.

-Sorry, what?

-Thank you for bringing this to my attention, it's very promising.

-Sorry, what?

A minute ago, footprints were boring, now they're very promising?

It's got nothing to do with footprints, you weren't listening. Baskerville, heard of it?

Vaguely. It's very hush-hush.

-Sounds like a good place to start.

-You'll come down?

I can't leave London at the moment, far too busy.

But don't worry, I'm putting my best man onto it.

I can always rely on John to send me the relevant data, as he never understands a word of it.

-What are you talking about? You don't have a case! You were complaining...

-I've got Bluebell!

-The case of the vanishing glow-in-the-dark rabbit. NATO's in uproar.

-Oh, you're not coming, then?

Oh.

OK.

OK.

I don't need those any more, I'm going to Dartmoor.

-You go on ahead, Henry, we'll follow later.

-Sorry, so you are coming?

20-year-old disappearance, a monstrous hound?

I wouldn't miss this for the world!

-SHOUTING

-..cruise together, you had no intention of taking me on a boat!

BANG

Oh! Looks like Mrs Hudson finally got to the wife in Doncaster.

Hm. Wait until she finds out about the one in Islamabad.

Paddington Station, please.

There's Baskerville.

Er... That's Grimpen Village.

So that must be...

Yes, Dewer's Hollow.

-What's that?

-Hm?

A mine field?

Technically, Baskerville's an army base,

so I guess they've always been keen to keep people out.

Clearly.

Right, three tours a day. Tell your friends, tell anyone.

Don't be strangers. And remember, stay away from the moor at night,

if you value your lives! Take care.

THEY LAUGH

It's cold.

HE GROWLS

HE SCREAMS

SCREAMING

HE SIGHS

That part doesn't change.

What does?

Oh, there's something else. It's a word.

Liberty.

Liberty?

And there's another word.

In.

I. N.

Liberty In. What do you think it means?

Sorry we couldn't do a double room for you boys.

That's fine. We're not...

There you go.

-Oh, ta. I'll just get your change.

-Ta.

There you go.

I couldn't help noticing, on the map of the moor, a skull and crossbones?

Oh, that.

-Pirates?

-Er, no. The Great Grimpen Minefield, they call it.

-Oh, right.

It's not what you think. It's the Baskerville testing site.

It's been going for 80-odd years.

-I'm not sure anyone really knows what's there any more.

-Hm.

-Explosives?

-Oh, not just explosives.

Break into that place and if you're lucky, you just get blown up, so they say.

-In case you're planning a wee stroll.

-Ta. I'll remember.

Aye. No, it buggers up tourism a bit, so thank God for the demon hound.

-Did you see that show? The documentary?

-Quite recently, yeah.

God bless Henry Knight and his monster from hell.

-Ever seen it? The hound?

-Me? No, no.

Fletcher has.

He runs the walks, the monster walks for the tourists, you know. He's seen it.

That's handy for trade.

-I'm just saying we've been rushed off our feet, Billy.

-Yeah, lots of monster hunters.

It don't take much these days, one mention on Twitter and whoomph!

We're out of WKD.

-Oh, right.

-What with the monster and the ruddy prison,

I don't know how we sleep nights.

-Do you, Gary?

-Like a baby.

-That's not true. He's a snorer.

-Hey, ssh.

-Is yours a snorer?

-Got any crisps?

Yeah. No. All right? Right, take care. Bye. Take care, bye.

Mind if I join you?

It's not true, is it, you haven't actually seen this hound thing?

-Are you from the papers?

-No, nothing like that, just curious.

-Have you seen it?

-Maybe.

Got any proof?

Why would I tell you if I did? Excuse me.

-I called Henry.

-Bet's off John, sorry.

-What?

-Bet?

-My plan needs darkness. We've got another half an hour of light.

-Wait, wait, what bet?

Oh, I bet John here 50 quid that you couldn't prove you'd seen the hound.

Yeah, the guys in the pub said you could.

-Well, you're going to lose your money, mate.

-Yeah?

Yeah. I seen it.

Only about a month ago. Up at the Hollow. It was foggy, mind, couldn't make much out.

-I see. No witnesses, I suppose.

-No, but...

-Never are.

No, wait. There.

Is that it? It's not exactly proof, is it? Sorry, John, I win.

Wait, wait, that's not all. People don't like going up there, you know.

To the Hollow.

Gives them a bad sort of feeling.

Ooh, is it haunted? Is that supposed to convince me?

Nah, don't be stupid! Nothing like that.

But I reckon there is something out there.

Something from Baskerville, escaped.

-A clone? A super-dog?

-Maybe.

God knows what they've been spraying on us all these years, or putting in the water.

I wouldn't trust them as far as I could spit.

Is that the best you've got?

I had a mate once who worked for the MOD.

One weekend we were meant to go fishing, but he never showed up.

Well, not till late.

When he did, he was white as a sheet.

I can see him now.

"I've seen things today, Fletcher," he said,

"that I never want to see again.

"Terrible things."

He'd been sent to some secret army place. Porton Down, maybe.

Maybe Baskerville, or somewhere else.

In the labs there, the really secret labs,

he said he'd seen terrible things.

Rats as big as dogs, he said.

And dogs, dogs the size of horses.

Um, we did say 50.

Ta.

Pass, please.

Thank you.

You've got ID for Baskerville?!

How?

It's not specific to this place. It's my brother's.

Access all areas. I, um, ahem, acquired it ages ago. Just in case.

-Brilliant.

-What's the matter?

-We'll get caught.

-We won't!

-Well, not yet.

-Caught in five minutes.

"Hi, we thought we'd have a wander around your top secret weapons base."

"Really? Great. Come in, kettle's boiled." That's if we don't get shot.

-Clear.

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you.

-Straight through, sir.

-Mycroft's name literally opens doors.

I've told you, he practically is the British Government.

I reckon we've got about 20 minutes before they realise something's wrong.

-What is it? Are we in trouble?

-Are we in trouble, sir.

-Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.

-You were expecting us?

Your ID showed up straight away, Mr Holmes. Corporal Lyons, security.

-Is there something wrong, sir?

-I hope not, Corporal, I hope not.

-We don't get inspected here.

Ever heard of a spot check?

-Captain John Watson, Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers.

-Sir.

Major Barrymore won't be pleased, sir. He'll want to see you both.

I'm afraid we won't have time. We need the full tour.

-Right away. Carry on. That's an order, Corporal.

-Yes, sir.

-Nice touch.

-Haven't pulled rank in ages.

-Enjoy it?

-Oh, yeah.

MONKEY SCREECHES

-How many animals do you keep down here?

-Lots, sir.

-Any ever escape?

-They'd have to know how to use that lift, sir.

-We're not breeding them that clever.

-Unless they have help.

-Ah, and you are?

-It's all right, Dr Frankland,

-I'm just showing these gentlemen around.

-Ah, new faces, how nice.

Careful you don't get stuck here, though, I only came to fix a tap.

-How far down does that lift go?

-Quite a way, sir.

Hm-mm. And what's down there?

Well, we have to keep the bins somewhere, sir.

This way please, gentlemen.

So what exactly is it that you do here?

I thought you'd know, sir, this being an inspection.

Well, I'm not an expert, am I?

Everything from stem cell research to trying to cure the common cold, sir.

-But mostly weaponry?

-Of one sort or another, yes.

-Biological, chemical?

-One war ends, another begins, sir.

New enemies to fight. We have to be prepared.

BEEPING

MONKEY SCREECHES

OK, Michael, let's try Harlow 3 next time.

-Dr Stapleton...

-Stapleton?

Yes? Who's this?

-Priority ultra, ma'am, orders from on high. An inspection.

-Really?

We are to be accorded every courtesy, Dr Stapleton. What's your role at Baskerville?

SHE LAUGHS

Accorded every courtesy, isn't that the idea?

I'm not free to say. Official secrets.

Oh, you most certainly are free, and I suggest you remain that way.

I have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies.

I like to mix things up.

Genes, mostly. Now and again, actual fingers.

Stapleton! I knew I knew your name.

I doubt it.

People say there's no such thing as coincidence.

Dull lives they must lead.

-Have you been talking to my daughter?

-Why did Bluebell have to die, Dr Stapleton?

-The rabbit?

-Disappeared from inside a locked hutch, which was always suggestive.

-The rabbit?

-Clearly an inside job.

-Oh, you reckon?

Why? Because it glowed in the dark.

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Who are you?

ALARM SOUNDS

-We've seen enough for now. Thank you so much.

-That's it?

That's it. It's this way, isn't it?

Just a minute!

Did we just break into a military base to investigate a rabbit?

BEEPING

MOBILE PHONE BEEPS

Ha! 23 minutes. Mycroft's getting slow.

Hello, again.

Er, Major...

This is bloody outrageous! Why wasn't I told?!

Major Barrymore, is it? Yes, well, good.

Very good, we're very impressed. Aren't we, Mr Holmes?

-Hugely.

-The point of Baskerville was to eliminate bureaucratic nonsense!

-Sorry, Major.

-Inspections!

-Can't remain unmonitored for ever, goodness knows what you'd get up to. Keep walking.

-Sir!

ALARM SOUNDS

-ID unauthorised, sir.

-What?

-I've just had the call.

Is that right? Who are you?

Look, there's obviously been some kind of mistake.

Clearly not, Mycroft Holmes.

-Computer error. It'll all have to go in the report.

-What the hell's going on?

It's all right, Major, I know who these gentlemen are.

-You do?

-Yeah, I'm getting a little slow on faces,

but Mr Holmes here isn't someone I expected to show up in this place.

-Oh, well...

-Good to see you again, Mycroft.

I had the honour of meeting Mr Holmes at the WHO conference in... Brussels, was it?

-Vienna.

-Vienna, that's it.

This is Mr Mycroft Holmes, Major. There's obviously been a mistake.

On your head be it, Dr Frankland.

-I'll show them out, Corporal.

-Very well, sir.

Thank you.

This is about Henry Knight, isn't it? I thought so.

I knew he wanted help, but I didn't realise he was going to contact Sherlock Holmes!

Oh, don't worry, I know who you really are. I'm never off your website.

-I thought you'd be wearing the hat.

-That wasn't my hat.

-I hardly recognise him without the hat.

-It wasn't my hat.

-I love the blog, too, Dr Watson.

-Oh, cheers.

-The pink thing. And that one about the aluminium crutch.

-Yes.

-You know Henry Knight?

-Well, I knew his dad better.

He had all sorts of mad theories about this place.

Still, he was a good friend.

Listen, I can't really talk now.

Here's my cell number.

If I can help with Henry, give me a call.

I never did ask, Dr Frankland, what exactly is it that you do here?

Ah, Mr Holmes, I would love to tell you,

but then, of course, I'd have to kill you.

That would be tremendously ambitious of you. Tell me about Dr Stapleton.

I never speak ill of a colleague.

But you'd speak well of one, which you're clearly omitting to do.

I do seem to be, don't I?

-I'll be in touch.

-Any time.

-So?

-So?

What was all that about the rabbit?

Oh, please, can we not do this, this time?

-Do what?

-You being all mysterious with your...cheekbones,

and turning your coat collar up so you look cool.

-I don't do that.

-Yeah, you do.

So, the email from Kirsty. The missing luminous rabbit.

Kirsty Stapleton, whose mother specialises in genetic manipulation.

She made her daughter's rabbit glow in the dark?

Probably a fluorescent gene.

Removed and spliced into the specimen. Simple enough, these days.

So?

So we know that Dr Stapleton performs secret genetic experiments on animals.

The question is, has she been working on something deadlier than a rabbit?

To be fair, that is quite a wide field.

-Hi.

-Hi.

Come in, come in.

This is, er...

Are you, um, rich?

-Yeah.

-Right.

There's a couple of words, it's what I keep seeing.

Liberty.

-Liberty?

-Liberty. And...

In.

It's just that.

-Have you finished?

-Hm.

-Mean anything to you?

-Liberty in death, isn't that the expression? The only true freedom.

What now, then?

-Sherlock's...got a plan?

-Yes.

-Right.

-We take you back out onto the moor.

-OK...

-And see if anything attacks you.

-What?

-That should bring things to a head.

-At night?

-You want me to go out there at night?

-Hm.

-That's your plan?

-Brilliant!

-Got any better ideas?

-That's not a plan.

If there is a monster out there, John, there's only one thing to do. Find out where it lives.

RUSTLING IN THE BUSHES

HE GASPS (Sherlock.

(U, M, Q, R, A. Umqra?

(Sherlock.

(Sherlock.

(Sherlock?)

-Met a friend of yours?

-What?

Dr Frankland?

Oh, right. Bob, yeah.

He seems pretty concerned about you.

Oh, he's a worrier, bless him.

He's been very kind to me since I came back.

-He knew your father?

-Yeah.

But he works at Baskerville. Didn't your dad have a problem with that?

Well, mates are mates, aren't they? I mean, look at you and John.

What about us?

Well, I mean, he's a pretty straightforward bloke and you...

Well, they agreed never to talk about work, Uncle Bob and my dad.

Dewer's Hollow.

(Sherlock.)

METALLIC THUD

THUDDING CONTINUES

THUD

THUDDING CONTINUES

SCREECHING

HOWLING IN THE DISTANCE

HOWLING GETS LOUDER

GROWLING

SNARLING

Oh, my god, oh, my god, oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god!

Did you see it?

-Did you hear that?

-We saw it. We saw it!

No, I didn't see anything.

What? What are you talking about?

I didn't see anything.

Look, he must have seen it.

I saw it. He must have. He must have.

I... Why? Why? Why would he say that?

It was there, it was.

Henry, Henry, I need you to sit down. Try and relax, please.

-I'm OK, I feel OK.

-I'm going to give you something to help you sleep. All right?

This is good news, John.

It's...it's...it's good.

I'm not crazy.

There is a hound there, there is.

And Sherlock, he saw it too. No matter what he says, he saw it.

Well, he's in a pretty bad way. He's manic.

Totally convinced there's some mutant super-dog roaming the moors.

And there isn't, though, is there?

If people knew how to make a mutant super-dog, we'd know.

It'd be for sale. I mean, that's how it works.

Listen, on the moor I saw someone signalling, Morse.

I guess it's Morse. It doesn't seem to make much sense.

HE BREATHES DEEPLY

U, M, Q, R, A, does that mean anything?

So, OK, what have we got?

We know there's footprints, because Henry found them,

and so did the tour guide bloke.

We all heard something.

Maybe we should just look for whoever's got a big dog.

-Henry's right.

-What?

I saw it, too.

-What?

-I saw it too, John.

Just...just a minute, you saw what?

A hound. Out there in the Hollow.

A gigantic hound.

Um, look, Sherlock, we have to be rational about this.

OK, now you, of all people, can't just...

Let's just stick to what we know, yes? Stick to the facts.

Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true.

What does that mean?

Huh.

Look at me, I'm afraid, John.

Afraid.

Sherlock.

I've always been able to keep myself distant.

Divorce myself from feelings.

But look, you see, body's betraying me.

Interesting, yes, emotions.

The grit on the lens, the fly in the ointment.

Yeah, all right, Spock, just...take it easy.

You've been pretty wired lately, you know you have.

I think you've just gone out there and got yourself a bit worked up.

Worked up?

It was dark and scary.

Me? There's nothing wrong with me.

Hm.

Sherlock...

-Sherl...

-There is nothing wrong with me! Do you understand!?

You want me to prove it, yes?

We're looking for a dog, yes? A great big dog, that's your brilliant theory. Cherchez le chien!

Where shall we start? How about them?

The sentimental widow and her son, the unemployed fisherman.

-The answer's yes.

-Yes?

-She's got a West Highland Terrier called Whisky, not what we're looking for!

-For God's sake!

-Look at his jumper, hardly worn. Clearly he's uncomfortable.

Could be the material or the hideous pattern, suggests it's a present.

He wants into his mother's good books. Why? Probably money.

He's treating her to a meal, but his own portion is small.

-He wants to impress her, but he's trying to economise on his own food.

-Maybe he's not hungry.

No, small plate, starter. He's practically licked it clean. She's nearly finished her pavlova.

If she'd treated him, he'd have had as much as he wanted.

He's hungry and not well-off, you can tell by his cuffs and shoes.

Only a mother would give him a Christmas present like that.

It could be an aunt or older sister, but mother's more likely.

He was a fisherman, the scarring on his hands is distinctive, fish hooks.

They're old, suggesting long-term unemployment.

Not much industry here, so he's turned to his widowed mother for help. Widowed?

She's got a man's wedding ring on a chain around her neck, clearly her late husband's

and too big for her finger. She's well-dressed, but her jewellery is cheap.

She could afford better, but she's kept it, sentimental.

The dog? There are tiny hairs on her leg but none above the knees,

suggesting it's a small dog, probably a terrier.

It is a West Highland Terrier called Whisky. "How do you know that?"

She was on the same train as us and I heard her call its name. That's listening.

I use my senses, unlike some people, so you see, I am fine.

In fact, I've never been better, so just leave me alone!

Yeah, OK.

OK.

-Why would you listen to me? I'm just your friend.

-I don't have friends.

No.

I wonder why.

HE SIGHS

SCREECHING

CREAKING

-MOANING

-Oh, Mr Selden, you've done it again!

I keep catching it with my belt.

Oh, God! Oh.

MOBILE PHONE BEEPS

So?

Oh, you're a bad man.

SNARLING

Argh, argh!

COCKS TRIGGER

PANTS WITH FEAR

HE SCREAMS

HE PANTS AND SCREAMS

That's so mean!

-Um, more wine, doctor?

-Are you trying to get me drunk, doctor?

The thought never occurred.

-Because a while ago I thought you were chatting me up.

-Oh! Where did I go wrong?

-When you started asking about my patients.

-Well, I am one of Henry's oldest friends.

Yeah, and he's one of my patients, so I can't talk about him.

Although he has told me about all his oldest friends.

-Which one are you?

-A new one?

OK, what about his father? He wasn't one of your patients.

Wasn't he some sort of conspiracy nutter...theorist?

-You're only a nutter if you're wrong.

-Hm, and was he wrong?

-I should think so.

-But he got fixated on Baskerville, didn't he?

With what they were doing in there.

Couldn't Henry have gone the same way, started imagining a hound?

Why do you think I'll talk about this?

Because I think you're worried about him and because I'm a doctor too.

And because I have another friend who might be having the same problem.

SHE SIGHS

-Ah, Dr Watson!

-Hi.

-Hello.

-How's the investigation going?

-Er, hello.

What, investigation?

Didn't you know? Don't you read the blog? Sherlock Holmes.

-It's...

-Sherlock who?

Private detective. This is his PA.

-PA?

-Well, live-in PA.

-Perfect!

Live-in..?

This is Dr Mortimer, Henry's therapist.

Oh, hello. Bob Frankland.

Listen, tell Sherlock I've been keeping an eye on Stapleton.

-Any time he wants a little chat. All right?

-Hm.

HE LAUGHS

Oh.

Why don't you buy him a drink? I think he likes you.

KNOCKING

Morning! Oh, how are you feeling?

I...

-I didn't sleep very well.

-Oh, that's a shame.

Shall I make us some coffee? Oh, look, you've got damp!

Listen, last night...

Why did you say you hadn't seen anything?

-I mean, I only saw the hound for a minute, but...

-Hound?

-What?

-Why do you call it a hound? Why a hound?

-Why? What do you mean?

-It's odd, isn't it?

It's a strange choice of words, archaic.

That's why I took the case. "Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound."

Why say "hound"?

I don't know, I've never...

Actually, I'd better skip the coffee.

BIRDSONG

Did you get anywhere with that Morse code?

Nah.

U, M, Q, R, A, wasn't it? Umqra.

-Nothing.

-Umqra...

Look, forget it. I thought I was onto something, I wasn't.

-Sure?

-Yeah.

-How about Louise Mortimer, did you get anywhere with her?

-No.

Too bad. But did you get any information?

You're being funny now?

Thought it might break the ice, a bit.

Funny doesn't suit you. Let's stick to ice.

-John...

-It's fine.

Wait, something happened to me last night, something I've not experienced before.

-Yes, you said. Fear, Sherlock Holmes got scared, you said.

-It was more than that, John. It was doubt.

I felt doubt.

I've always been able to trust my senses, the evidence of my own eyes, until last night.

-You can't actually believe that you saw some kind of monster?

-No, I can't believe that.

But I did see it, so the question is, how? How?

Yes.

Yeah, right, good.

So you've got something to go on, then. Good luck with that.

Listen, what I said before, John, I meant it.

I don't have friends.

I've just got one.

Right.

John.

John! You are amazing! You are fantastic!

Yes, all right, you don't have to overdo it.

-You may not be the most luminous of people, but as a conductor of light, you are unbeatable.

-Cheers(!) What?

-Some people who aren't geniuses have an ability to stimulate it in others.

-You were saying sorry.

Don't spoil it. So what have I done that's so bloody stimulating?

Yeah?

What if it's not a word, what if it is individual letters?

You think it's an acronym?

Absolutely no idea, but...

-What the hell are you doing here?!

-Oh, nice to see you too(!)

-I'm on holiday, would you believe?

-No, I wouldn't.

-Hello, John.

-Greg.

I heard you were in the area. What are you up to?

Are you after this Hound of Hell, like on the telly?

-I'm waiting for an explanation, Inspector, why are you here?

-I've told you, I'm on holiday.

-You're brown as a nut. You're clearly just back from your holidays.

-I fancied another one.

-Oh, this is Mycroft, isn't it?

-Now, look...

-Of course it is.

One mention of Baskerville and he sends down my handler to spy on me, incognito.

-Is that why you're calling yourself "Greg"?

-That's his name.

-Is it?

-Yes. If you'd ever bothered to find out.

Look, I'm not your handler.

And I just don't do what your brother tells me.

-Actually, you could be just the man we want.

-Why?

Well, I've not been idle, Sherlock.

I think I might have found something. Here.

I didn't know if it was relevant.

Starting to look like it might be. That is an awful lot of meat for a vegetarian restaurant.

Excellent.

A nice, scary inspector from Scotland Yard, who can put in a few calls, might come in very handy.

Shop.

What's this?

-Coffee. I made coffee.

-You never make coffee.

-Don't you want it?

-You don't have to keep apologising.

Thanks.

Hm, I don't take sugar.

These records go back nearly two months.

That's nice. It's good.

Is that when you had the idea, after the TV show went out?

It's me. It was me.

I'm sorry, Gary. I couldn't help it.

-I had a bacon sandwich at Cal's wedding and one thing led to another.

-Nice try.

Look, we were just trying to give things a bit of a boost, you know?

Let a great big dog run wild up on the moor, it was heaven-sent.

It was like us having our own Loch Ness monster.

-And where do you keep it?

-There's an old mine shaft. It's not too far.

-He was all right there.

-Was?

We couldn't control the bloody thing. It was vicious.

And then, a month ago,

Billy took him to the vet and, you know...

He's dead?

Put down.

Yeah. No choice.

So it's over.

It was just a joke, you know.

Yeah, hilarious(!)

You've nearly driven a man out of his mind.

You know he's actually pleased you're here? Secretly pleased.

Is he?

That's nice.

I suppose he likes having all the same faces back together.

Appeals to his...his...

Asperger's?

-So, you believe them about having the dog destroyed?

-No reason not to.

Well, hopefully there's no harm done.

I'm not quite sure what I'd charge them with, anyway. I'll have a word with the local force.

Right, that's that, then. Catch you later.

I'm enjoying this. It's nice to get London out of your lungs.

-So that was their dog that people saw out on the moor?

-Looks like it.

But that wasn't what you saw, that wasn't just an ordinary dog.

No. It was immense.

It had burning red eyes, and it was glowing, John,

its whole body was glowing.

I've got a theory, but I need to get back into Baskerville to test it.

How? Can't pull off the ID trick again.

Might not have to.

Hello, brother, dear. How ARE you?

Afternoon, sir. Can you turn the engine off?

Thank you.

I need to see Major Barrymore as soon as we get inside.

-Right.

-Which means you'll have to start the search for the hound.

-OK.

In the labs.

Stapleton's first.

It could be dangerous.

Oh, you know I'd love to(!)

I'd love to give you unlimited access to this place. Why not?

-It's a simple enough request, Major.

-I've never heard of anything so bizarre.

You're to give me 24 hours, it's what I negotiated.

Not a second more.

I may have to comply with this order, but I don't have to like it.

-I don't know what the hell you expect to find here, anyway.

-Perhaps the truth.

-About what?

Oh, I see.

The big coat should have told me.

You're one of the conspiracy lot, aren't you?

Well, then, go ahead, seek them out,

the monsters, the death rays, the aliens.

Have you got any of those?

Oh, just wondering.

A couple. Crash landed here in the '60s.

We call them Abbott and Costello.

Good luck, Mr Holmes.

Aargh! Oh, God!

HE CRIES OUT

Oh!

Oh, God!

Ow!

LOUD ALARMS BLARE

Ooh...

ALARM CONTINUES

Oh, come on.

ALARM STOPS

Hello?

MONKEY SCREAMS

WHIRRING

No, come on. Come on.

WHIRRING

HE DIALS NUMBER

(No... Don't be ridiculous.

(Pick up.)

Oh, damn it.

(Right.)

GROWLING

GROWLING

PHONE RINGS

(It's here. It's in here with me.)

'Where are you?'

(Get me out, Sherlock, you've got to get me out.

(The big lab, the first lab that we saw.)

GROWLING

Oh!

'John... John?'

(Now, Sherlock! Please!)

'All right, I'll find you. Keep talking.'

(I can't, it'll hear me.)

'Keep talking. What are you seeing?

'John?'

(Yes, I'm here.)

'What can you see?'

(I don't know. I don't know, but I can hear it now.)

GROWLING

(Did you hear that?)

'Stay calm, stay calm. Can you see it?

'Can you see it?'

(No, I can't.)

GROWLING

I can see it.

(I can see it.

(It's here.)

Are you all right? John?

Jesus Christ! It was the hound!

Sherlock, it was here, I swear it, Sherlock, it must, it must...

Did-did you see it? You must have!

It's all right, it's OK now.

NO, IT'S NOT! IT'S NOT OK!

I saw it, I was wrong!

-Hm, well, let's not jump to conclusions.

-What?

-What did you see?

-I told you, I saw the hound?

-Huge, red eyes?

-Yes.

-Glowing?

-Yeah.

-No.

-What?

I made up the bit about glowing.

You saw what you expected to see because I told you.

-You have been drugged. We have all been drugged.

-Drugged?

-Can you walk?

-Of course I can walk.

-Come on, then. It's time to lay this ghost.

Oh, back again? What's on your mind this time?

Murder, Dr Stapleton.

Refined, cold-blooded murder.

Will you tell little Kirsty what happened to Bluebell, or shall I?

OK. What do you want?

Can I borrow your microscope?

Are you sure you're OK? You look very peaky.

No, I'm all right.

-It was the GFP gene from a jellyfish, in case you're interested.

-What?

-In the rabbits.

-Oh, right, yeah.

Aequorea victoria, if you really want to know.

-Why?

-Why not?

We don't ask questions like that here. It isn't done.

It was a mix-up, anyway. My daughter ended up with one of the lab specimens,

so poor Bluebell had to go.

-Your compassion is overwhelming!

-I know.

I hate myself sometimes.

So, come on, then, you can trust me, I'm a doctor,

what else have you got hidden away up here?

-SHE SIGHS

-Listen, if you can imagine it,

someone is probably doing it somewhere. Of course they are.

-Cloning?

-Yes, of course. Dolly the Sheep, remember?

-Human cloning?

-Why not?

HE CLEARS HIS THROAT And what about animals? Not sheep.

Big animals.

Size isn't a problem. Not at all.

The only limits are ethics and the law and both those things can be very flexible.

-But not here, not at Baskerville.

-It's not there!

-Jesus!

-Nothing there! It doesn't make any sense!

What were you expecting to find?

A drug, of course. It has to be a drug.

An hallucinogenic or a deliriant of some kind.

-There's no trace of anything in the sugar.

-Sugar?

-Sugar, yes.

A simple process of elimination. I saw the hound, saw it as my imagination expected me to see it.

A genetically engineered monster.

I knew I couldn't believe my eyes, so there were seven possible reasons,

the most possible being narcotics.

Henry Knight, he saw it too, but you didn't, John. You didn't see it.

We have eaten and drunk the same things since we got to Grimpen, apart from one thing.

-You don't take sugar in your coffee.

-I see, so?

I took it from Henry's kitchen, his sugar.

It's perfectly all right.

-But maybe it's not a drug.

-No, it has to be a drug.

How did it get into our systems? How?

There has to be something, something...

Something...

Something buried deep.

-Get out.

-What?

-Get out, I need to go to my mind palace.

-Your what?

He's not going to be doing much talking for a while, we may as well go.

-His what?

-Oh, his "mind palace".

It's a memory technique, a sort of mental map.

You plot a map with a location, it doesn't have to be a real place.

You deposit memories there.

Theoretically, you never forget anything. All you do is find your way back to it.

-So this imaginary location could be anything, a house or a street?

-Yeah.

-But he said "palace", he said it was a palace?

-Yeah, well, he would, wouldn't he?

BELL TOLLS

SOUND OF MARCHING BAND FADES IN AND OUT

DOG BARKS AND HOWLS

# You ain't nothing... #

MECHANISED VOICE: Hound.

DOG HOWLS

ANIMAL SNARLS

GUNSHOT

SHE SCREAMS AND WHIMPERS

SHE WHIMPERS

Oh, my god!

Oh, my god! Oh, my god! I am so... I am so sorry. I am so sorry.

-John?

-Yeah, I'm on it.

Project HOUND. I must have read about it, stored it away.

An experiment in a CIA facility in Liberty, Indiana.

SHE TAPS THE KEYBOARD

H-O-U-N-D.

That's as far as my access goes, I'm afraid.

There must be an override, a password?

I imagine so, but that'd be Major Barrymore's.

Password, password. Password.

He sat here when he thought it up.

-Describe him to me?

-You've seen him.

-But describe him.

He's a bloody martinet, a throw-back, the sort they'd have sent into Suez.

Good, excellent, old-fashioned. Traditionalist. Not the sort to use his children's name as a password.

He loves his job, proud of it and this is work-related. So what's at eye level?

Books.

Jane's Defence Weekly, bound copies. Hannibal.

Wellington. Rommel. Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples, all four volumes.

Churchill, he's fond of Churchill.

Copy of The Downing Street Years, one to five. Separate biographies of Thatcher.

Mid-1980s, at a guess. Father and son.

-Barrymore Senior, medals, Distinguished Service Order.

-That date, I'd say Falklands veteran.

-Right, Thatcher's a more likely bet than Churchill.

-That's the password?

No! With a man like Major Barrymore, only first name terms would do.

MACHINE BEEPS WILDLY

Hound.

Hm.

Jesus.

Project HOUND. A new deliriant drug which rendered its users incredibly suggestible.

They wanted to use it as an anti-personnel weapon, to totally disorientate the enemy

using fear and stimulus. But they shut it down and hid it away in 1986.

-Because of what it did to the subjects they tested it on.

-And what they did to others.

Prolonged exposure drove them insane. Made them almost uncontrollably aggressive.

So, someone's been doing it again? Carrying on the experiments?

-Attempting to refine it, perhaps. For the last 20 years.

-Who?

Those names mean anything to you?

No, not a thing.

(SIGHS) Five principal scientists.

20 years ago.

Maybe our friend's somewhere in the back of the picture?

Someone old enough to be there at the time of the experiments in 1986?

-Maybe somebody who says "cell phone" because of time spent in America? You remember, John?

-Hm-mm.

Here's my, uh, cell number.

He gave us his number, in case we needed him.

Oh, my god, Bob Frankland.

But Bob doesn't work on... He's a virologist. This is chemical warfare.

That's where he started, though.

He's never lost the certainty, the obsession that that drug really could work.

Nice of him to give us his number. Let's arrange a little meeting.

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

WOMAN SOBS ON THE PHONE

-Who's this?

-You've got to find Henry.

It's Louise Mortimer.

Louise, what's wrong?

Henry was, was remembering. Then...

He tried...

-He's got a gun, he went for the gun and tried to...

-What?

SHE SOBS

He's gone. But you've got to stop him, I don't know what he might do.

Where, where are you?

His house. I'm OK. I'm OK.

Right, stay there. We'll get someone to you, OK?

-Henry?

-He's attacked her.

-Gone?

-Hm.

There's only one place he'll go, back to where it started.

Lestrade? Get to the Hollow. Dewer's Hollow, now! And bring a gun.

FERAL SQUEAL ECHOES

HE PANTS

I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry, Dad.

-No, Henry, no, no!

-Get back!

-Get away from me!

-Easy, Henry, easy. Just relax.

I know what I am, I know what I tried to do.

-Just put the gun down, it's OK.

-No, no! I know what I am!

Yes, I'm sure you do, Henry.

It's all been explained to you, hasn't it?

-Explained very carefully.

-What?

Someone needed to keep you quiet,

needed to keep you as a child, to reassert the dream you both clung on to,

because you had started to remember.

Remember now, Henry, you've got to remember what happened here when you were a little boy.

I thought it had got my dad.

The hound. I thought... Oh, Jesus!

I don't...I don't know any more! I don't!

-No, Henry! Henry, for God's sake!

-Henry, remember. "Liberty In." Two words.

Two words a frightened little boy saw here 20 years ago. You'd started to piece things together.

Remember what happened here that night.

It wasn't an animal, was it, Henry?

Not a monster.

A man.

ATTACKER GRUNTS LIKE AN ANIMAL

BOY PANTS IN FEAR

THE MAN PANTS WITH EXERTION

MUTED SCREAM

You couldn't cope. You were just a child.

So you rationalised it into something very different.

Then you started to remember, so you had to be stopped.

Driven out of your mind so that no-one would believe a word that you said.

Sherlock!

It's OK.

It's OK, mate.

But we saw it, the hound, last night. We did, we s...

No, but there was a dog, Henry,

leaving footprints, scaring witnesses, but nothing more than an ordinary dog.

We both saw it, saw it as our drugged minds wanted us to see it.

Fear and stimulus, that's how it works.

But there never was any monster.

HOWLS AND SNARLS

Sherlock?

-No! No, no, no, no!

-Henry, Henry...

-Sherlock!

No, no! No, no, no, noooo!

Henry.

DOG SNARLS AGGRESSIVELY

Sherlock, are you seeing this?

-Right, he is not drugged, Sherlock, so what's that?

-Oh, oh, no!

-What is it?!

All right, it's still here.

But it's just a dog, Henry. It's nothing more than an ordinary dog.

My god!

ANIMAL SNARLS FIERCELY

Oh, Christ!

DOG CONTINUES TO SNARL

HE BREATHES HEAVILY THROUGH THE MASK

< No. No!

SNARLING ECHOES

It's not you, not you!

Argh... Urgh...

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

-The fog.

-What?

-It's the fog, the drug, it's in the fog!

Aerosol dispersant, that's what it said in the records. Project HOUND, it's the fog!

A chemical minefield.

-DOG SNARLS

-For God's sake, kill it! Kill it!

LOUD GUNSHOTS

ANIMAL SQUEALS IN PAIN, THEN FALLS SILENT

Look at it, Henry.

-No, no, no.

-Come on, look at it!

You bastard.

You...bastard!

-20 years! 20 years of my life, making no sense!

-It's all over now, come on.

Why didn't you just kill me?

Because dead men get listened to, he needed to do more than kill you.

He had to discredit every word you ever said about your father.

And he had the means right at his feet.

A chemical minefield, pressure pads in the ground,

dosing you up every time that you came back here.

Murder weapon and scene of the crime all at once.

Ha ha, oh, this case, Henry. Thank you.

-It's been brilliant!

-Sherlock.

-What?

Timing.

-Not good?

-No, no, it's OK.

It's fine. Because this means...

this means that my dad was right.

He'd found something out, hadn't he?

And that's why you killed him, because he was right,

and he'd found you right in the middle of an experiment!

SOUND OF DOG SNARLING AND GROWLING

GUNSHOTS

Frankland!

-Frankland!

-Keep running.

Come on, keep up!

It's no use, Frankland.

WARNING ALARM BEEPS

HIS BREATHING SLOWS

HE SIGHS

Thanks, Bill.

-So they didn't have it put down then, the dog?

-Obviously.

I suppose they just couldn't bring themselves to do it.

I see.

No, you don't.

-No, I don't. Sentiment?

-Sentiment.

Listen, what happened to me in the lab?

Do you want some sauce with that?

I hadn't been to the Hollow. How come I heard those things there? Fear and stimulus, you said?

You must have been dosed with it elsewhere. In the lab, maybe?

You saw those pipes, pretty ancient, leaky as a sieve.

-And they were carrying the gas, so... Um, ketchup was it, or brown?

-Hang on.

You thought it was in the sugar. You were convinced it was in the sugar.

I'd better get going, there's a train leaving in half an hour, so if you want...

Oh, God! It was you.

You locked me in that bloody lab.

-I had to, it was an experiment.

-An experiment?!

-Ssh.

-I was terrified, scared to death!

-I thought the drug was in the sugar, so I put some in your coffee.

Then I arranged everything with Major Barrymore. Totally scientific, laboratory conditions, literally.

SOUND OF GROWLING

-(It's in here with me.)

-All right, keep talking, I'll find you.

-Keep talking.

-(I can't, it'll hear me.)

-Tell me what you're seeing.

HE TAPS A KEY: SOUND OF GROWLING ECHOES

I don't know, but I can hear it now.

I knew what effect it had had on a superior mind, so I needed to try it on an average one.

You know what I mean.

-But it wasn't in the sugar.

-No, well,

-I wasn't to know you'd already been exposed to the gas.

-So you got it wrong.

-No.

-Hmm.

-You were wrong. It wasn't in the sugar, you got it wrong.

-A bit.

It won't happen again.

Any long-term effects?

None at all. You'll be fine once you've excreted it. We all will.

I think I might have taken care of that already.

-Where are you going?

-I won't be a minute.

Got to see a man about a dog.

All right, let him go.

DOOR SLAMS

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