A Study in Terror

FOOTSTEPS ECHO

COCKNEY: 'Ello. Like a bit of fun?

SCREAM

RUNNING FOOTSTEPS

Police! Police! 'Elp! MURDER!!

WOMAN SINGS IN DISTANCE

# I'm not too young I'm not too old

# Not too timid, not too bold

# Just the kind you'd like to hold Just the kind for sport, I'm told

CROWD JOINS IN: # Ta...ra...ra...boom-de-ay!

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# Ta...ra...ra...boom-de-ay

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# I...won't be bullied Won't be bossed

# I always win, I've never lost

# So just keep your fingers crossed

# And hope you can afford the cost

# I'm game for almost anything

# That ends up with a diamond ring

# I love to have my little fling And when I do...

# I always...sing...

ALL JOIN IN: # Ta...ra...ra...

# ..boom-de-ay Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay!

# Ta...ra...ra...boom-de-ay Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# Ta...ra...ra...boom-de-ay

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay

# Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay. # APPLAUSE

< Join me on the stage!

The old wine tastes the sweetest!

LOUD MERRIMENT

One and two, guv.

UPPER-CLASS ACCENT: What? ..Oh, yes, of course. It's Rupert's round.

Rupert, old boy - it's one and two.

This damn whore's lifted my purse.

What you talkin' about? Up and over with her!

No! No! No! Let me go!

Put me down!

Put her down. She's not a bloody money box!

Put me down! Let me down!

Give me a shilling anyway... Oh!

Give it to me! Give it to me! Shut up!

Let me go!

Let me go! Put me down!

Let me go! Oh!

Let me down!

No-one steals in my pub... except me.

You!

I could tell the coppers about you and your pub - about what's going on upstairs!

What did you say?

Nothing, Mr Steiner. I didn't say nothing. Honest, Mr Steiner!

You keep that big mouth of yours shut, else I'll maybe have you carved!

'Ave me carved? Like you did poor Emma Smith? You didn't think I knew.

Wouldn't the coppers... Oh!

You don't scare me, Steiner! I'll have you. I'll have you!

Dick! Hey, Dick. Take over. I'm going out.

SHE HUMS "TA-RA-RA-BOOM-DE-AY"

SHE SCREAMS

Disgusting!

HE TUTS

-Mrs Hudson, where have you put my confounded tobacco?

-(..Revolting!)

-Try your violin case, Mr Holmes. >

-Thank you, Mrs Hudson.

My God!

-A member of the medical profession caught red-handed, Dr Watson?

-What?

Your indignation implies familiarity.

My dear Holmes, you cannot think me familiar with a maniac who stabs a woman in the street in Whitechapel!

-What was the name of the prostitute?

-Polly Nichols. ..How did you know she was a prostitute?

-Where is my damn pipe?

-You haven't seen a newspaper!

The stop press of the third edition of the Times is printed at 3.30am.

The news must have come in at about 3am.

In the street, her body cannot have remained undiscovered for long,

so I deduce that it happened about 1am.

It doesn't explain how you knew she was a prostitute.

No respectable woman would be out alone in Whitechapel at that hour, so she was not respectable.

You make it seem so simple.

Holmes.

-There was an identical murder of a woman in Whitechapel three days ago.

-A second murder!

-That IS interesting.

-Why?

-Because it IS the second murder.

-Now, would you mind standing up?

-Why?

Once the impossible is eliminated, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the solution.

-And?

-Therefore, you are sitting on my pipe.

-Mm?

-Incredible!

-Elementary, my dear Watson. And now...Whitechapel!

-(Old cow!)

-Who's that?

-It's me - Annie Chapman!

-What do you want?

What do you think I want? I live here, don't I?

Not unless you pays your rent!

-I'll give it you in the morning!

-Give it me now or you don't come in!

I ain't got it on me. But I'll get it in the morning, in me new bonnet.

You always find money for bonnets

but paying your rent's a different matter, innit?

I'll give it you in the morning! (Old cow!)

Let me in!

You old cow! You nearly ruined me new bonnet!

-Serves you right! Shove off out of it!

-Yeah, and you know what YOU can shove!

DOG BARKS

Hello, darling. Feeling naughty?

Move along. Go on there, now. Go on.

-Wotcher, Cathy. Any luck?

-No. I dunno what's the matter with the men.

Lend us the price of a bed for the night? I've been slung out me room.

Haven't even earned me old man's beer money yet. He's sitting with his tongue hanging out!

-Old cow.

-Don't you call me an old cow.

-Hello, Chunky!

-Hello, Annie. You're out late.

-I've been thrown out me place.

-Why?

-I knocked her for the rent.

-You'll find somewhere.

I need some money first. 'Ere, you don't fancy four penn'orth, do you?

Sorry. Don't fancy it tonight.

What about you? Fancy cuddling something live for a change?

-Chunky...

-Yes, Annie?

-You can have it for nothing. I'm feeling real lonely tonight.

No, thanks, love. I'm too busy, honest.

Oh.

Oh, well.

Mind you don't let that knife slip!

SHE SCREAMS LOUDLY

SCREAM IS CUT SHORT

DOG BARKS

HORSE'S HOOVES

Inspector Lestrade! I've found something!

No. Annie Chapman's purse was found with her body.

LIQUID BUBBLES GENTLY

"Police baffled. Jack the Ripper vanished into thin air."

The desperate authorities will come running to Baker Street.

-BELL RINGS They're here!

-But not running.

The person who rang does not desire entry. He is deliberately slow.

-"He"? It might be a woman.

-The British postman is not a woman.

A parcel for you, Mr Holmes. Incredible, Holmes!

Thank you, Mrs Hudson.

Postmarked "Whitechapel".

Ah. Surgical instruments.

-Who sent those?

-What is missing?

-The large scalpel.

The postmortem knife. There's no greater satisfaction than to have a theory confirmed.

-Do they tell you anything?

-First, the obvious.

-A medical man has fallen on hard times.

-Is that obvious?

-Instruments of one's trade are pawned last.

-How do you know they were pawned?

-This fleck of white.

Silver polish. No surgeon would clean his instruments with it.

Someone else was concerned only with appearance. This is substantiated by these chalk marks.

-This is the ticket number.

-They were stolen, then pawned.

The pawnbroker would not have put them in a window. It faces south in a narrow street. Business is bad.

-The pawnbroker is a foreigner.

-I cannot see...

-On the contrary! You see everything but observe nothing.

This faded when the sun was at its height, able to shine over the roofs opposite.

A narrow street, facing south.

-Business is bad. The case lay undisturbed.

-How can you tell the pawnbroker was foreign?

The 7 is crossed, Continental-style.

The address is scrawled with difficulty - the writing of a woman who seldom puts pen to paper.

-A woman?

-Undoubtedly a female hand.

Ah, but I am slow! This has more secrets! Where are my tweezers?

The velvet on the lid has been added recently.

-The coat of arms of an elder son of a duke. Bring Burke's Peerage.

-Yes.

-Wait here, cabbie.

-Right, sir.

This way, gentlemen.

-His grace will be with you in a moment.

-Thank you.

To what do I owe the dubious pleasure of this visit?

No doubt you will recognise this coat of arms, your grace.

-Where did you get this?

-I believe it to have come from a Whitechapel pawnshop.

-Pawnshop.

No more than I predicted for him.

-For whom, sir?

-My elder son Michael.

Do you know his present address?

-He is dead. Oh.

-Of what accident?

Disobedience. From the day he left, against my wishes, he has been dead.

-You mean disowned.

-Was he a doctor, your grace?

No, but that was his ridiculous ambition.

The medical profession is honourable.

To a certain class - not to one of the Osborne family, a man who would have become the 10th Duke of Shires.

- Any trade must be dishonourable. - A TRADE, sir?! - The servants will show you out.

Pompous ass!

Trade, indeed!

-Did not Burke's Peerage say there were two sons?

-Yes.

-Give me that.

How clumsy of me!

Allow me.

This belongs to Michael! Where is he?

I'm afraid I don't know, Lord...

-Lord Carfax.

-Sherlock Holmes. My colleague, Dr Watson.

Why have you got my brother's instruments?

They came into my possession in a singular fashion. Your father...

-My father is still very bitter.

-When did you last see your brother?

Two years ago. He went to study in Paris. These were my gift to him. He wrote a couple of times, then...

-You tried to trace him?

-I went to Paris but he'd left and returned to England.

-And you've heard nothing?

No. ..No.

-Or seen him?

-Of course not.

Thank you. Good day, Lord Carfax.

-Come, Watson.

-May I?

Good day.

-Whitechapel, cabbie.

-Yes, sir.

-Why Whitechapel?

-To find the pawnshop.

The instruments were sent after the murder of the third prostitute.

A woman wishes to interest me in the crimes. I find that provocative.

Oi!

CHILDREN SHOUT: Give us a penny, Mister!

-COINS CLINK

-Here.

A narrow street facing south.

-Observe, Watson - a foreign name.

-Uncanny.

BELL TINKLES

Gentlemen, can I help you?

I want information on an article you had in your possession.

-No, I don't think...

-Come, Mr Beck.

Your face reacts faster than your brain. You remember.

I would like to know who pawned this.

-Who are you, to demand information?

-Sherlock Holmes.

Who pledged this case? The pawn ticket number was 872.

Well...

The name given to me was...Osborne.

Osborne? That's the name that...

Angela Osborne.

-Did the lady leave an address?

-"Lady"! Two years ago. Yes.

The Montague Street Hostel. It's a soup kitchen run by Dr Murray.

When did you sell this case?

A few days ago. Yes, yes. It was last Saturday. Ah - the night of the...

-Of what, sir?

-To whom did you sell it?

A man. I never saw him before.

-Was the missing instrument here when you sold it?

-I think so.

-You are sure?

Of course!

I have reason to assume a connection between this and your local murders.

Murders? You don't think I have...? That's slander. Talk like that can get you sued.

No, sir. It can get YOU hanged!

Accessory before the fact. Supplying a weapon for murder.

-A very good day to you, sir.

-BELL TINKLES

-Holmes! Where are you rushing to?

-To examine the body of Annie Chapman.

-The dead girl? Why?

-To confirm that the instrument used was a surgeon's scalpel.

Give us a penny!

-Lestrade!

-Mr Holmes - what are you doing here?

-The Inspector will help us through officialdom.

-Hmm. What do you want?

-To look at Miss Chapman's body.

-Out of the question.

I will not argue. I hoped to help prevent the fourth murder. Watson.

-Just a moment. What makes you think he'll do it again?

-I think he will, Lestrade. I think he will.

Oh. All right.

May I?

My God! Could a human being have done this?

-You see, Watson.

-Hmm.

We are right in assuming that two weapons were used?

That's correct, Mr Holmes. A long, bayonet-type knife and a sharper, more meticulous instrument.

A razor, or perhaps a surgeon's scalpel?

A scalpel would be more probable.

I agree. You know my name, although I do not believe we have met.

I heard your lecture to the Royal Society on forensic medicine. Brilliant. My name is Murray.

Dr Murray. You run a soup kitchen nearby.

A hostel for the destitute. There's plenty of them in Whitechapel.

I also overwork as a police surgeon.

-Did you say a bayonet?

-I think so.

Without a doubt. ..I was a military surgeon in Afghanistan.

Oh, aye.

-The idea of a bayonet appeals to you.

-It narrows things down. Soldiers have bayonets, don't they?

Plenty of soldiers come down to Whitechapel for fun with the girls.

I would hardly refer to this as fun.

Before you arrest the entire garrison of the Tower of London,

remember a scalpel was also used.

You can't arrest all the doctors.

-Discount the military theory.

-Why?

The killer would be covered in blood.

A soldier would be detected at once.

No - look for someone living alone close to the scene of the murders,

who can either return home quickly,

or hide his outer clothes safely.

-Prepare yourself for more murders.

-You keep saying that!

There is no motive for the murders so there is no reason to stop.

That is only conjecture.

-All circumstantial evidence is conjecture. It is often right.

-Mr Holmes is usually right.

221b Baker Street, please, cabbie.

-Someone should have sent for us.

-Someone has - the woman who sent the case.

-Why isn't she in the open?

-She uses a woman's art - intrigues us to Whitechapel.

-There is a small service I would like you to do for me.

-Yes?

Visit Murray's hostel to see Angela Osborne. They will say she is not there. Say she is. Create a scene.

Create a scene? What do I do then?

Then, Watson, you leave, of course.

# Guide me, O thou great Redeemer

# Pilgrim through this barren land

# I am weak but thou art mighty

# Hold me with thy powerful hand

# Bread of heaven

# Bread of heaven

# Feed me now and evermore

# Feed me now and evermore. #

You have to sing for your supper here.

# ..the verge of Jordan

# Bid my anxious fears subside... #

Be told, mate. If you don't sing, they don't give you no grub.

# ..and hell's destruction

# Lead me safe on Canaan's side... # Go on!

If you don't know the words, make a noise.

# ..Songs of praises

# I will ever give to thee Give to thee

# I will ever give to thee. Amen. #

You won't get no soup. I did not come to partake of the soup.

God has sent you down his manna!

We'll fit you in somewhere.

Will you please stop this unwarranted interest in my diet!

I do not want any soup!

Can I help you?

Yes, I'm sure you can.

..Sorry. My name is Watson.

Dr John Watson of Baker Street.

I am looking for a woman who is staying here.

Her name is Angela Osborne.

There's no-one of that name here. She IS here. I am certain of it.

You'd better speak to my uncle. Mary!

This way.

Hello, Watson! What are you doing here?

-Come to help us? Good!

-Dr Watson is looking for someone called Angela Osborne.

-I said I've never heard of her.

-What makes you think she is here?

-She gave this hostel as her address in a business transaction.

-When?

-About two years ago.

-Names mean nothing here, Watson!

Girls change their names as often as they change their clothes. I can't help.

-I'm certain she's here.

-I'M certain she's not!

You saw the people outside. I'm their only doctor.

I haven't time to answer questions about lost women.

I know she is here. I demand to see her!

-"Demand" be damned! Will you leave my surgery?!

-But...

Please, Dr Watson! Well!

Forgive my uncle. He works even at night. His work IS these people.

I insist on seeing Angela Osborne! I will not be put off!

Please! Something is very wrong! Saying you haven't heard of Angela Osborne!

You haven't seen the last of me!

I will not rest till I have found out what you have done to this girl!

CLATTER

(Dear, dear...)

-What are you doing?

-I've come to converse, not for fisticuffs!

-Who the devil are you?

-Sherlock Holmes. You may remember we met yesterday.

-Sherlock Holmes?

-Wouldn't we be more comfortable in here?

What's all this about, Holmes?

-How did you get here?

-I followed this young lady.

-I saw no-one.

-That happens when I follow people.

-Why did you follow Miss Young?

-She left when Angela Osborne was mentioned, as I expected.

-YOU sent Dr Watson!

-You'd better tell me the whole story.

-It's none of your damned business.

-There's nothing to hide.

As I said, I went to Paris and found my brother had thrown up his studies and returned to England.

For weeks I tried to find him, but...

Then, one night, a man came to see me. He said that Michael had married a prostitute.

Blackmail.

-He threatened to tell the papers?

-He was far cleverer than that.

He threatened to tell my father, who had just suffered a severe heart attack.

You've met my father. The family name is the meaning of his life.

-Surely he is a man of the world?

-The OLD world. The shock would kill him.

-So you paid?

-Are you still?

-The blackmailer came back three times.

I refused to pay until he told me the whereabouts of my brother and his...

That woman he married.

He said if I visited the hostel, Michael would be waiting.

-Was he waiting?

-No. But I met Dr Murray, and...I met Miss Young.

I told them my story. Michael had been helping Dr Murray.

He gave me the address of his lodgings but I found that he'd left.

-No-one has seen them since.

-And your blackmailer?

-He bought himself a tavern - the Angel and Crown.

-Did YOU know Michael Osborne?

-He left the day before I came to the hostel.

-It's a wretched story.

The good thing was that Edward - Lord Carfax - became interested in my uncle's work.

His money has kept the hostel going.

I saw Dr Murray's fight against the poverty and sin. It was the least I could do.

He bought this house, to be near.

I'd be grateful if you would mention none of this to my father.

There is one more thing.

-What branch of medicine was your brother studying?

-His ambition was to be a surgeon.

PIANO AND SINGING

# ..Food is dear, rent is dear Love is cheap for the time of year

# So grab the nearest miss And whisper while you kiss

# In...these hard times You've got to put up with anything

# In these hard times You mustn't pick and choose

# If you'renice and squeeze her tight She'll ask you round tomorrow night

# If you don't mind sitting without a light In these hard times

# Farmer Brown came to town To the cattle show

# Went to wet his whistle In the Hotel Cecil

# Lady fair saw him there All her neck and shoulders bare

# Said Farmer Brown, "Alack!" As he saw her dainty back

# In...these hard times

# You've got to put up with anything You mustn't pick and choose

# This dress you wear Leaves your neck and shoulders bare

# Lucky to be dressed up to there In these hard times

# Mrs Green, rather mean Went out last Saturday marketing

# And saw right in the gutter A codfish on a shutter

# Felt its gums, poked her thumbs All round the fish

# And said, "Oh, crumbs! It don't look nice at all!"

# Then the coster had to bawl: In...these hard times

# You've got to put up with anything

# In these hard times You mustn't pick and choose

# The codfish there's a sacrifice

# And, Ma'am, would YOU look nice

# If you had been torpedoed twice?

# In these...hard...times. #

< Come on, out you go. I've had enough of you. Out!

Holmes, you delight in embarrassing me! You invite me to dine then bring me to a low East End pub!

You'll bring light into their drab lives.

Welcome to the Angel and Crown. This way.

Sit down, please. We have always a warm welcome for guests.

-So I see(!)

-What would you have?

-Cognac.

< WHISTLE

Coo-ee!

You see the interest you're causing in the fair sex.

BLOWS RASPBERRY

Here you are, gents.

-Will you join us in a drink, Mr...?

-Steiner. Max Steiner. Dick - a glass.

A bad night. Everyone's scared off the street after dark.

These ladies come in for safety?

Here is always a selection - if you're so inclined.

A selection.

A selection? We did not come here for this reason!

-Then I can do nothing.

-You can give us some information.

-Information? What about?

-About the disappearance of Michael Osborne.

What did you say your name was?

-My name would alarm you, Mr Steiner.

-You're a copper.

Consulting detective. My friends at Scotland Yard would be interested in you.

-Watch what you say.

-Answer me or my friends will put you in the dock!

-Who are you?

-Sherlock Holmes.

-Seen Lord Carfax, have you?

-You know Angela Osborne well, I take it?

-How did you know?

-You had to have an accomplice in blackmail.

Compensation. I could have opened my mouth and collected from the press,

or kept it shut and collected from Lord Carfax.

I did the nobility of England a service.

Lord Carfax compensated me for my loss of business from the newspapers.

The governor of Brixton Prison will not call it compensation.

-Angela was on the streets when you met her?

-Born to it. Loved the game.

Most of them start because they have to. Not Angela.

Met her at the gangway when my ship tied up. I took up with her.

-And again when she returned from Paris with Osborne?

-His wife!

I always said she got her face and name from the angels and her heart from the devil.

-You don't know what happened to her?

-Disappeared from the face of the earth.

Well, gentlemen...

That's all I can tell you.

What possessed Michael Osborne to marry such a creature?

Because she got her face from the angels.

One of the most attractive women I ever met was hanged for murdering three children for insurance money.

I feel violent when I see a villain like Steiner enjoying the rewards of his skullduggery.

-Rewards?

-He ended up owning that pub.

Watson, though not luminous, you're an excellent conductor of light.

I am?

-What do you think became of Angela Osborne?

-That scoundrel said she disappeared from the earth.

And yet... And yet...

-Do you think Michael Osborne is dead?

-I never theorise without evidence, Watson.

It puts the estate in a mess - if the duke should die with no proof the elder son was alive or dead.

Watch your back. I saw movement in the shadow a moment ago.

RUNNING FOOTSTEPS GET FAINTER

Brisk work, Watson! Brisk work!

Upon my soul, Holmes! When you take a guest out for the evening you really do it!

-My apologies. Next time I'll take you to a quiet table at the Cafe Royal.

-I should jolly well think so.

Nothing like a piece of cold steel, eh, Holmes?

< DRUNKEN SINGING

< 'Ere we are.

Here's one. Two legs, even!

Wotcher! Cor! Sailor's rest!

We've walked a mile for that. Working up an appetite.

The girls are indoors. Scared to come out!

Must've known we was in port!

Don't worry. Jack and me, we'll look after you!

'Ere, don't fight over it, lads!

You girls were told to clear off the streets. I've got to earn a living!

Clear off, lads - go on. Miss - don't you live that way?

You coppers are ruining everything! Push off!

Aah!

WHISTLE BLASTS

Thanks to Jack the Ripper - yes, thanks to this brutal killer - the world is watching Whitechapel.

It's not the killings by a demented hand that the world finds horrible. It's the murder by poverty.

-The murder by misery, the murder by hunger!

-SHOUTS OF AGREEMENT

In Whitechapel... Whitechapel...

the cry of the starving, the moan of the sick!

We've tried to get one paragraph in the papers to expose what happens.

I've been myself to editors, hat in hand. It's not news, they said.

Pah!

Well, now it is news! One man has made us news!

SOME SHOUT AGREEMENT, SOME BOO

We'll have a riot. He's putting up this murderer as a deliverer of Whitechapel.

To seize a defenceless female, to stifle her cries and then...

How can anyone do this? Someone does.

Why? Why?!

A motive, sir? I'll tell you.

His motive is the punishment of Whitechapel,

as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah!

-I'll have to shut him up.

-No - you'll have to rescue him.

It is the social and moral crimes that must be ended in Whitechapel,

-not just the killings!

-ANGRY SHOUTING

Yes! It is the dealers in vice and the purveyors of sex

that the police must throw their force against, not just the killer!

I tell you there can be no peace in Whitechapel

-while licensed dens like the Angel and Crown...

-BOOING INTENSIFIES

..cater to the dissolute and the debauched!

BOOS AND ANGRY SHOUTS

WHISTLE BLASTS LOUDLY

BELL CHIMES HALF-HOUR

-Prime Minister - the Home Secretary.

-How's the battle?

The Leader of the Opposition has found the culprit. You.

Gladstone is in form. I was afraid of that.

I could see you were in for trouble.

Not just me. He'll demand that the Commissioner of Police resigns.

If he calls for a vote of no confidence, he might get it.

-You mean YOU might have to resign?

-Not I - just some of my ministers.

-Should we go down?

-As you please. I'm expecting a visit from Mr Holmes.

-That charlatan!

-Mr Mycroft Holmes is an valuable servant of the Crown.

-As long as he doesn't bring in his brother Sherlock.

-I shall ask him to.

-Why not approach him direct?

-Your department has antagonised him.

HE has antagonised THEM. He has been grossly offensive.

-Mr Mycroft Holmes.

-Show him in.

Please try to be discreet. It isn't going to be easy.

Mr Mycroft Holmes will wish to take charge of the investigation.

-Prime Minister.

-You know the Home Secretary.

And I will soon know your successor, unless the police do a better job.

I have confidence in them. There are none in the Commons.

-I sent for you because you have the tidiest brain in the Civil Service.

-I cannot deny it.

Knowing that you are engaged on the most delicate negotiations about the Peruvian copper concession...

You wish me to ask my brother to help apprehend the Whitechapel murderer.

- How did you know? - The early hour of the summons suggested a personal matter.

The Home Secretary's presence suggested a connection with the murders.

The fact that the Peruvian matter has been settled for three days

made me suppose you wished to consult my brother, so I have arranged to meet him.

-You mean you had anticipated my request?

-That, Prime Minister, is my business.

My Indian vase! Just look at it! I wish you'd find some other way of solving cases!

My dear Mycroft! This is a surprise! Watson, some sherry.

-I expected you to ask me about the Manor House case. I thought you'd be out of your depth.

-No, I solved it.

-It was Adams, of course?

-Yes.

-I knew that from the start.

-Thank you.

-Mycroft, is this a social call?

-Oh, yes. Purely social.

-How are you?

-Very well.

-Now the social call is over, let's get to business. I see you have come from the Prime Minister.

-Why?

You are not at your desk. You are dressed for Buckingham Palace but the Queen is at Balmoral.

This must be urgent. What does the Prime Minister want?

To find the Whitechapel murderer before he brings down the government.

-But...

-Any government which allows such poverty deserves riddance.

-Nor will I be engaged in political manoeuvres. Another glass of sherry?

-Thank you.

-QUICK FOOTSTEPS

-Inspector Lestrade must have urgent news.

He's written to us! A letter!

-Try to be coherent. Who has written?

-Jack the Ripper!

-You're already involved!

-A case of detection means more than any politician's career. Read it.

"Dear Boss, I keep hearing that the police have caught me.

"They won't fix me yet. I have to laugh when they talk about being on the right track.

"I am down on whores and won't rest until I do get buckled.

"I love my work. My knife is sharp. I want to get...

"to work right away. Good luck. Yours truly, Jack the Ripper."

-It was sent to the police?

-A news agency.

-It will be in tomorrow's papers.

-No - orders from up top.

-Every crank in the country would write to the papers.

-If it does not appear, there will be more killings.

-Why do you suppose he sent it to the news agency?

-For publication.

-Perhaps he's sickening of his crimes.

-Is he bluffing?

-No.

If his motive is to create fear, he's trying to achieve it without further killings.

If we publish it we add to the fear. The government wants to avoid that.

-You are asking them to aid him.

-If it does not appear, he will return to the knife. They MUST publish!

Orders - it cannot be published.

Then put every man you have on the streets of Whitechapel.

We've come to view the body of Miss Elizabeth Stride.

-With your permission.

-Be careful. Her head is almost severed.

-Have you found any clues yet?

-We've scoured Whitechapel, but nothing.

He left no bloodstained garments?

-No - if it is a he.

-A woman?

-The constable who found the body saw a woman...

-Correction.

-He reported seeing a woman's shape.

-What difference?

What he said is not what you said. A woman's shape in the fog could be a man in woman's clothes.

I hardly think it likely...

There is no pattern of behaviour in a deranged mind.

What can you tell us, Dr Murray?

Each murder is by the same hand.

-What about of the knifework?

-What?

-Does it not show surgical skill?

Hmm...

-It's the work of a doctor?

-Anyone with a modicum of medical training could do it.

A medical student, perhaps?

These murders are the work of a madman, but with medical skills, intelligence and education.

Intelligence? Education? This?

Yes. Take that letter. The grammar and syntax, though concealed, were the work of an educated man.

The writing was deliberately scrawled. We must not take the mask for the face.

-If you're right, Mr Holmes, it brings us back to the doctors.

-Don't be too sure, Lestrade.

Oh, well, I'd better be off.

I suppose he'll arrest the entire staff of the London Hospital.

Would YOU look for a doctor, Dr Murray?

-There is one medical student who will soon be under suspicion.

-Oh?

-Michael Osborne.

-What's he got to do with it?

Medical student who lived locally, had good cause to hate prostitutes, and has vanished.

-He has nothing to do with the murders.

-That may have to be proved.

The newspapers will relish the heir of the Duchy of Shires denying he is Jack the Ripper.

Consider his family and tell me what happened.

I have every consideration for his family, so I must say nothing.

SCRAPING ON VIOLIN I should have refused the request to call in my brother.

He was already engaged, with what result? Stalemate.

I should have realised only one person could solve this - myself.

I should have ditched the Abyssinian detente and the Nigerian loan. I...

Stop sawing away on that! It was a sad day when Mother gave it to you.

A sad day for all of us! It's his method. Method?!

This butcher boy has us all on the edge of a knife! This morning three more men were attacked in the street.

Carrying bags? Carrying Gladstone bags! They say he's a Russian.

Rubbish...! < SCRAPE!

Military intelligence has found no truth in the rumour.

How long has this been going on? Hasn't spoken since yesterday.

How long does it usually last? Sometimes days. I'm wasting my time!

I shall never understand why you've had that violin so long but never learnt to play it!

Act, Sherlock, act! Go to the scene of the crime! Use your powers!

Interview people! As Mother used to say, stir your stumps!

Don't bother to see me out, Watson.

Remind my brother he has never had so great a chance to serve his country,

or seemed so unaware of his responsibilities!

Or of the intention of the composer when he wrote that tune!

-He's quite right.

-You've rejoined the human race!

-I should be in Whitechapel. There will be another murder tonight.

-Eh?

-Come. We will scour the streets.

-What for?

-The detail that matters.

TWO SETS OF FOOTSTEPS

This is hopeless, Holmes.

If he were ten feet away, we wouldn't see him.

Fog to the murderer is like jungle to the tiger. It conceals him until he pounces.

-What do we do?

-We must continue. Jack the Ripper will not allow these conditions to go unused.

He is out now, Watson.

CLOCK CHIMES

MALE AND FEMALE LAUGHTER

APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS

'Ello, love!

You look like a sport. Do you fancy coming up?

Couple of shillings'll do it.

'Ang on a minute. I'll throw you down the key.

Catch!

Shut the door behind you. Can't take no chances with Jack the Ripper about.

You know something? I ain't been out in the dark for a month cos of him!

Come on in, then!

Come on.

'Ere.

That's a lovely coat you've got on, innit?

Could you make that ten bob for a special, Mister?

I do want to please you.

I haven't had a real gentleman like you since I started.

Don't think I've been on the game that long.

I'm proper new, I am!

SCREAMS

-SCREAM Holmes!

-Quickly, Watson.

Lemon Street Police Station. Tell Inspector Lestrade to cordon off the area.

Hello! What are you doing here?

-Chasing a shadow. How long have you been here?

-Since midnight.

-No-one's passed through here?

-Here?

Hello, Edward. Sorry I'm late.

-Mr Holmes?

-I came to see your uncle.

-Dr Murray is in the surgery. He asked not to be disturbed.

-Did he?

I'll take you home.

-MOANING

-Just a minute.

Dr Murray?

Oh, Holmes!

I'm sorry. I had a long postmortem on a poison case. I'm a bit tired.

-What are you doing here?

-Following Jack the Ripper.

-Here?

-He eluded me in the mortuary.

-The mortuary?

-He could have got into the hostel.

-He did. We will wait here for the police.

What makes you think they are coming here?

-You are the police surgeon. They will bring the body.

-Another prostitute?

-I would welcome the opportunity of a little chat.

-What about?

-About Michael Osborne.

-I told you before...

-He wasn't wanted under suspicion of murder before.

-What do you mean?

-It all leads to his knowledge of surgery.

-He could not have murdered anybody!

-Prove it!

Tell me about the night he found out his wife and Max Steiner were blackmailing his family.

You know about that?

Michael Osborne was one of the finest young men I've ever met.

In the six months he was here, I came to respect him as I've respected few other men.

You've heard about his wife - vicious, depraved creature!

He stayed with her in spite of everything.

One night, she brought Steiner here, to this very room.

-Michael heard from his wife's mouth their plan of blackmail. He was to be part of it.

-What happened?

Michael refused to have anything to do with it. There was a quarrel. Steiner attacked him.

He had no chance.

The sight of her husband being beaten wasn't enough for that woman.

-She was about to throw a bottle of acid at Michael.

-She didn't?

It's hard to know what happened. Maybe Steiner flung out an arm.

But the acid...

went into her own face.

When Steiner saw the horror of it, he rushed out to get me.

Her angel face was a diabolical sight.

I did the best I could for her.

A week later, Steiner took her away. I've not seen or heard of her since.

Michael Osborne got away?

Then why weren't the family, the police informed?

He didn't die, Holmes. Not quite.

Go on. Finish your story, Dr Murray.

Come and see, Holmes. Finish the story yourself.

You wanted Michael Osborne.

Here he is.

Whether it was Steiner's blows to the head,

or whether his mind could suffer no more of the world, I don't know.

This is how he's been since that night.

How can Lord Carfax let his brother remain here in that condition?

He doesn't know, Holmes. Nobody could recognise that poor creature.

-Why keep it to yourself? You should inform his father!

-What father?

He disowned him for wanting to do good instead of wasting his life in the pleasures of the aristocracy!

-He had a right to know.

-What about Michael? He must be happier here than in a padded cell!

No - his life is over.

-Let the world leave him in peace.

-That may not be possible.

-Why?

-You can't suspect that poor lunatic!

-All possibilities have to be considered.

-Dr Murray?

-Yes?

-Inspector Lestrade sent me for you, sir.

Lestrade, my dear fellow! Are you not well?

You'll see nothing like it this side of hell. What animal could have done this?

Prepare yourself for a shock, Dr Murray.

Come, Watson.

-Aren't you going to examine the body?

-There is a more important examination.

LOUD BANGING

I'm coming! Stop!

Always these drunk people!

What the hell do you want? You're asking for trouble! No. We're giving it!

I want to see the owner of this doubtful establishment.

You've got a nerve, coming to see me at this time in the morning!

The owner, not the hired help! Tell Angela Osborne I want to see her.

You are not going upstairs.

-Now there are several things I may do, Mr Steiner!

-All right.

But give her a chance. Let me warn her.

Warn her?

You can't just walk in on her. Not the way she is.

Come up.

Please sit down, Mr Holmes. Dr Watson.

You will forgive the inconvenience of the hour.

Night and day are indistinguishable here. A lamp turned down is my morning sun.

What do you want, Holmes? Out with it.

Excuse Mr Steiner's lack of hospitality. We never receive guests.

Mr Steiner's hospitality is noted for the lengths he will go to to provide comfort for his guests.

-It is profitable. I hope you won't spoil it.

-It is of no interest to me.

-Then why are you here?

-To ask the lady what she did with the knife.

-Knife?

-The one you removed from the set of instruments you sent me.

You are all I expected of you. Give it to him, Max.

It is a limited life in these rooms and I spend hours reading your cases.

I am grateful for the excellence of your narrative, Dr Watson.

Can you tell an admirer, Mr Holmes, how you knew I sent the instruments?

Someone wanted to interest me in Michael Osborne.

-The writing on the label was that of a woman with little education.

-How did you know I was here?

-I was told that you had been...

-Mutilated.

-Made odious to myself and to the world.

-It was obvious why you'd gone into hiding.

Why remove the scalpel from the case?

- To intrigue Mr Holmes. - We have only your word for that.

I believe the doctor thinks I am Jack the Ripper.

Why should Angela murder those women?

Of course, Dr Watson is observant. I hate all women. He knows why.

They're all prettier than I am. That's why.

The woman with the ugliest face in the world. Want to see?

But I WAS beautiful.

Eh, Max?

Ja. You were.

You can say it, Mr Holmes, that I hate women.

But I am not your killer.

As you can see, I am incapable of even stepping into the street.

-Why did you hate your husband so much?

-Who told you that?

Dr Murray.

To him, Michael was a saint. To me, a man who tired easily.

He seemed unbalanced. He couldn't take the discipline of medical study, or marriage.

-He tired of me and sent me back to work.

-You mean on the streets?

His father had cut him off.

I didn't earn enough. He thought up a way to get money from his brother.

-His was the blackmailing scheme?

-Who else?

He sent Max to Carfax because his father would never give him a penny.

Michael's father knew him for what he was - a vicious, worthless libertine.

-Vicious?

-If you call a man who throws acid into his wife's face vicious,

because she can bear him no more and is leaving him. Wasn't that vicious?

By God, Holmes, there's a woman of great character.

I'm afraid you're not probing deeply enough. Her scars extend beyond the surface.

-What do you mean?

-She may well believe her story to be the truth.

-Now let us pick up Michael Osborne.

-You know where he is?

-Come along, Watson.

Father, Mr Sherlock Holmes is here.

-I was not aware I had an appointment.

-You must prepare yourself for a shock.

-Mr Holmes has brought Michael back.

-I have forbidden your brother this house, Edward.

-I have not altered that.

-But...

-Do not argue.

-Your grace.

-You were shown out of my house on your last uninvited visit, Mr Holmes.

-I have come to save your family name.

-Tell him to get himself out of the mess.

I cannot do that, your grace. He is not capable of understanding.

-Of course he can understand!

-Your son is a pathetic imbecile,

incapable of understanding the smallest action.

He has suffered for his sins. He is outside that door.

I have brought him home.

-Edward.

-Yes, Father?

Have Michael put into his old room.

Of course.

Do it yourself. It's better. Not the servants.

And tell him...

I shall come and see him presently.

-Mr Holmes.

-Your grace.

-How did you find him?

-His identity was revealed by a doctor in a hostel for the destitute,

his mind by a lady in a public house, the Angel and Crown.

-I am indebted to them both.

-Thank you, Mr Holmes.

Holmes...

you know, don't you?

You know who Jack the Ripper is.

Who is he?

-I must keep that from you a little longer.

-Won't you arrest him?

-Knowing is not proving.

-We can't let him roam the streets.

No. We have work to do before the final curtain can be brought down.

We have been setting the scene for the last act of Jack the Ripper.

I wondered what we'd been doing.

DOG BARKS

- Anything? - No, nothing.

AAHH!

Good evening, Lord Carfax.

SHOT

AHHH!

AAHH!

HE SCREAMS WILDLY

MAX!

MAX!

MAX!

Angela!

AHH!

BOTH SCREAM

HE SCREAMS

How did you get out, Holmes?

I am well-known to be indestructible.

-I would not miss this excellent partridge.

-How did you know...?

DOOR CLOSES

How did you know it was Carfax?

Oh, Holmes!

His medical knowledge.

-When I dropped the case of instruments in his father's house, he picked it up.

-Natural politeness.

He put the instruments into the right niches. How odd, I thought.

A layman might ponder for a moment. Carfax did not hesitate.

But isn't it obvious Dr Murray...?

Nothing is more deceptive than an obvious fact. The letter was obvious AND revealing.

That harum-scarum diatribe in red ink - revealing?

Precisely. The writer described his murders as his work - "I love my work".

He was obviously a man of means who had no need of ordinary employment.

Dr Murray, who works hard, might have put "pastime". I ruled him out.

-You make it sound simple.

-It was.

In the Osborne family, I found insanity through four generations.

Carfax's reason hung on a thread.

That his brother should give the Osborne name to a common prostitute broke that thread.

Carfax was protecting the family name.

He'd never seen Angela but thought he could kill her by elimination.

He searched for her with his knife.

But Lestrade and the police...?

They do not know the identity of Jack the Ripper.

We need not disclose it. The Osborne family have suffered enough.

Lestrade has three buckets of ash but we will keep the name.

KNOCK ON DOOR Parcel for you, Mr Holmes.

Postmarked "Nottingham".

A-ha, the game's afoot again.

This is three years old. The flat brim with curled edges came in then.

It belongs to a man who has suddenly gone down in the world.

He is middle-aged, goes out little, with grizzled hair which has been cut in the last few days. Also...

MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH

Subtitles by Veronica Simpson BBC 1996