[ Drums drumming ]
♪ By earth and air ♪
♪ By fire and water ♪
♪ So shall you hear our call ♪
[ Singing in foreign language ]
♪♪
Powers of birth and rebirth,
we call upon you to cure the nagging cough
of our dear friend, Reverend Mother Adrian.
- I could never remember this bit.
- ♪ Sources of life and light, we invoke you ♪
[ Singing in foreign language ]
♪♪
- I've christened the sparrow Mr. Truman.
I call all my waifs and strays after American presidents.
First there was Washington the hedgehog.
- Then... - Twas 'ere, Miss Thimble.
[ Screaming ]
[ Bird squawking ]
♪♪
- I'm going to stick my neck out and say this wasn't an accident.
♪♪
- Our poor victim was a female, between 30 and 50, I'd say.
Burnt to death.
Great Slaughter's very own Joan of Arc.
Or Pamela Reeves.
No?
Agatha Christie's "Body in the Library"?
Found in a charred vehicle,
but already dead when the match was lit.
Which may be the case here, too, by the way.
There's a knife wound in the back of the neck.
From this, perhaps.
♪♪
An athame,
the traditional knife of witchcraft.
- You think Tom was right then, Sister,
that this is the work of... of witches?
- Well, the ritualised human sacrifice,
the inverted pentacle, which is a symbol of the devil,
voodoo doll.
Yes. This is straight out of a black magic textbook.
♪♪
What's that?
♪♪
"Jackie."
If only all corpses were so considerate.
- My folks had a gardener 'round a few weeks back.
Her name was Jackie. Jackie Rice.
- Thanks, Button. Useful place to start.
♪♪
Sister?
♪♪
Oh, yes.
A silver chalice.
♪♪
Used for mixing potions and remedies.
Yes. I'll check it for useable fingerprints.
♪♪
- Witches in Great Slaughter, eh?
Shouldn't be too hard to find.
- Well, they won't be dressed as in The Wizard of Oz, Sam.
They'll be doing their best to look exactly like everyone else.
- You mean there are witches in our town
pretending to be real people?
♪♪
What sort of dancing, Tom?
I-I see. And how many of them?
- Four of 'em. Witches... [ Babbling indistinctly ]
White dresses? Are you sure?
[ Babbling indistinctly ]
- What did he say? - Apparently, they were trying
to cure the Reverend Mother's cough.
What's wrong, Sister?
- Well, white dresses, a healing charm?
What Tom saw were four white witches.
Wouldn't be seen dead sacrificing humans,
if you'll pardon the pun.
How perplexing.
It's happening again!
- Oh, no. - Where are they?
Where are the Satanists?
Let's not jump
to any rash conclusions, now, Reverend Mother.
Rash conclusions?
A human being has been sacrificed.
- [ Crowd murmuring ] - Well, according to Tom,
those Satanists were trying to cure your cough.
My cough? Nonsense.
- You did say it felt a lot better this morning,
Reverend Mother.
15 years ago,
we found a witch living in our midst,
and we banished her!
- Ohh, absolutely. [ Crowd murmurs ]
- Now those devil worshipers are back.
- Oh. - Sister Boniface,
I order you to share their names,
that we might remove them from the town!
[ Crowd shouting angrily ]
Okay, quieten down.
Sister Boniface will do no such thing.
Now, if you could leave with your vigilante mob
so we can continue with our investigation.
- To dispel the devil, you must first accept that he lives.
Hallelujah.
- Maybe we should leave them to it.
Reverend Mother.
Go, children, go.
Go.
- I'm surprised they didn't bring pitchforks.
This is definitely Jackie Rice's house?
According to my dad.
Right.
[ Knock on door ]
Jackie?
[ Knock on door ]
[ Door opens ]
It's open.
♪♪
Jackie Rice? It's the police.
♪♪
Pentacles,
wand, and a broomstick.
- Something tells me we're in the right place.
Well done, Button.
[ Object clatters ]
♪♪
Come here.
Right.
Got her.
Miss Hartwood?
Hello, Peggy.
- M-Miss Hartwood's my old dinner lady.
- Right. Well, I want to know what you're doing here.
- Well, I believe she's trying to protect Jackie Rice.
Witch tradition has it
that when a member of the coven dies suddenly,
one of their fellow witches
must burn all evidence of them being a witch.
So you're a witch, as well.
- We're going to turn over your house anyway,
Miss Hartwood, so?
Yes, alright, I'm a witch.
Gosh. That sounds strange.
But, Miss...
You made the best apple crumble ever.
I still do, Peggy.
- How did you know that Jackie was dead?
I was at last night's Sabbat.
I waited for Eliza afterwards at the crossroads nearby.
I wanted to ask her something about gardening.
Who's Eliza?
- Jackie. Eliza's her witch name.
Mine's Hyacinth.
Go on.
Glinda and Jocasta had gone.
When Eliza didn't come,
I went back to the clearing.
I saw the fire.
The mask and the earrings and the locket.
I knew it was Jackie.
I didn't know what to do.
I've been up all night.
- Was there any conflict in the group last night?
There was one moment.
You alright, Hyacinth?
♪♪
- Sisters, there's something I-I need to share with you.
I, erm...
I arrived here early this evening
to find Glinda putting a curse on me.
- What? - Why on earth would she do that?
- I think she's worried that I want to take over the coven,
but I honestly don't. And...
The thing is, I think it was a dark moon curse.
But isn't that a death spell?
You must have misheard.
Glinda is the whitest witch in England.
Yeah, I know she is.
Okay.
This one is for Joe the postman.
Poor man's hurt his back.
♪♪
- Had you noticed tension between those two before?
No,
although Eliza once told me she thought Glinda hated her.
- So, Glinda, Jocasta, what are their real names?
- No, I've said too much already.
- Miss Hartwood, protecting the identity
of a suspected murderer is an offence.
- But neither of them are murderers.
- Well, we'll be the judge of that.
An oath is an oath, Sam.
♪♪
So, the blood found next to the corpse is B-negative,
the same type as Jackie Rice.
Isn't that a rare one?
- Found in only 2% of the population.
Jolly helpful.
Her dental records will confirm the identification.
- And cause of death? - I believe Jackie died
from a single stab to the neck with the athame knife
and was already dead by the time the flames touched her body.
Thank the Lord.
[ Bell tolling ]
- Strange. Prayers aren't for another hour.
♪♪
- We learnt from the Tituba incident 15 years ago
that Satanists look just like us.
So I tell you this.
Trust no one.
Suspect everyone.
[ All murmuring ]
- Do you think there could be a witch with us right now?
Quiet, please.
♪♪
It's a challenge, certainly.
- My good friend Betty Jessop showed great courage
in unmasking Tituba all those years ago.
So now we must identify the witches Tom saw
and banish them from Great Slaughter!
[ All murmuring ]
- Mrs. Ape, who lives off the high street,
I reckon she's a witch.
What makes you say that?
- Well, she's got four cats, and she talks to herself.
- Thank you, Dottie. We'll certainly keep an eye on her...
- I don't trust Miss Ogley, either.
Her skin is terrible,
and she's always lighting bonfires.
Another helpful suggestion.
- Erm, might this be a good time to point out
the historical overlaps between witchcraft and Catholicism?
- For example, coven comes from the word convent.
Thank you, Sister Boniface!
- Reverend Mother, there's something you should see.
♪♪
[ All whispering indistinctly ]
♪♪
- Well...
♪♪
Oh, gosh.
♪♪
- Sister Reginald, you will organise
a round-the-clock vigilance
of all the entrances to the convent.
Let no one in.
Sister Peter, follow the police.
Report back on anything you find.
- Understood? - Yes, Reverend Mother.
♪♪
[ Bird cawing ]
♪♪
- "The Satanist Tituba was unmasked
thanks to the discovery of her Book of Shadows
by local nurse Betty Jessop on a house visit.
This book is now in the possession of the Bugle."
- Crikey. - What's a Book of Shadows?
Erm, a witch's diary.
A repository full of her charms, spells, and potions.
Losing that would have been like losing a limb for Tituba.
"Reverend Mother Adrian has insisted
Tituba and her daughter be banished from Great Slaughter."
- They said it was official police business. I'm sorry.
[ Sighs ] What do we say?
- Norman Whalley by name, Wally by nature,
We are a free press, Norman,
not the servants of the ruddy police!
Now watch and learn.
I think you must have me confused with my predecessor.
All reviews to see the archives go through me,
not the office monkey.
Mr. Rugg. Just the man.
What happened to Tituba's Book of Shadows?
Why don't you ask your boss?
Reverend Mother Adrian?
After we published excerpts,
she accused us of proselytising Satanism.
Whipped up local feeling to the point we agreed to burn it.
And did you?
- A ritual book burning made a much better story.
We even let the Reverend Mother light the match.
- Do you mind if we hold onto these?
Yes.
- Well, we'll be confiscating it as evidence.
Thank you for your assistance.
- I-I'll see you around, Peggy?
♪♪
Norman!
[ Door slams ]
- This nurse Betty Jessop did a pretty good job of snooping,
by the sounds of it.
- Betty's no snoop. She's a good friend
of Reverend Mother and a regular dinner guest here.
- Well, maybe Tituba really has come back for revenge.
Maybe.
Having her Book of Shadows made public
would have been a huge humiliation for Tituba.
- Where do banished witches go, I wonder?
I have no idea.
But I have found a couple of unusual friends on this chalice.
Micrococcus luteus and Pseudomonas aeruginos.
- [ Chuckles ] Sounds like a pair
of Roman gladiators.
They're unusual bacteria
typically found in a hospital environment.
From a nurse, perhaps.
- Gosh. Someone's left in a hurry.
- There was no toothbrush in her toilet.
Look at this.
Good Lord.
- Either Betty Jessop was a witch, or...
she's very much into Halloween.
Oh, Sam, look at this.
Glinda.
Looks like Lucy's moved out.
- Probably because she found out her mother was a witch.
Oh, no.
Oh, poor Lucy.
She was in my class at school.
- What's Reverend Mother going to say when she finds out?
- I don't know. But please, can I be there when you let her know?
- I have to say, the craftsmanship on these things
is outstanding.
♪♪
[ Birds singing ]
What is it, Sister?
- Well, Heather Hartwood described Glinda
as the whitest witch in the country.
And everything in that chest points to white witchcraft.
- So why would she sadistically murder a fellow witch?
- Maybe Tituba has taken over Betty Jessop and corrupted her.
- You sure the Reverend Mother hasn't taken you over, Button?
Felix?
You alright?
- These flowers, they're so beautiful.
You know?
Ah, and that bird song.
It's easy to forget when you're investigating a murder,
but, you know, isn't life wonderful?
Mm.
- I'll, er, try and track down Lucy.
See if she knows where her mum is.
Good idea.
Er, but keep it on the Q.T., eh?
We don't want anyone in the village to find out
that Betty Jessop is our prime suspect.
♪♪
- Well, Betty Jessop couldn't drive,
and there are no sightings of her at the train or bus station.
I've got a team out looking locally for her.
Ah. Care to enlighten me, Sister?
- Oh, enlighten, yes. Very good, Sam.
I examined the letters Heather Hartwood was holding
and found an unexpected guest.
Citric acid in the form of lemon juice.
Invisible ink.
Bingo.
You wonder, Sister.
- "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.
I've read your last letter a hundred times,
and I can't stop smiling."
- Heather and Jackie were together.
- Jolly happy, too, by the sounds of it.
Mm.
Oh, no.
- "How could you abandon me? I still love you,
but now when I see you, I hate you, too."
- Jackie broke poor Heather's heart.
How terribly sad.
- But looking on the bright side, we now have another suspect.
- I never met anyone like Jackie.
How lovely.
- I want to show you something, actually.
So, I've been working 'round here.
And this is the bee orchid.
It's so cunning.
It imitates a female bee,
lures lovesick male bees onto its petals.
It's very clever.
♪♪
Then one day, she stopped it.
No explanation. No apology.
You must have been devastated.
Is that why you killed Jackie?
To avenge her rejection of you?
No!
You know, hurting people, it isn't...
It's why I like being a white witch.
All the kindness.
- We know that Glinda is Betty Jessop.
You and Betty are the only suspects in this murder
unless you tell us the name of the fourth witch.
Sam.
An oath is an oath.
[ Shouting indistinctly ]
♪♪
[ Bird cawing ]
♪♪
[ Frog croaking ]
Sir?
- Ah, Button, what have you got for me?
- Lucy Jessop's still in Great Slaughter.
- I've got an address. - Ah, excellent.
Let's go and pay your schoolmate a visit,
see if she knows where her mother is.
[ Indistinct conversations ] What's that?
Miss Thimble's cakes don't usually generate a frenzy.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
♪♪
What's going on?
♪♪
Everything alright?
- Lordy! Miss Thimble into a little frog!
- You're saying that is Miss Thimble?
- Oh. - Oh! Oh, poor Dottie.
- It's nonsense. Dottie's just gone off somewhere
without telling him where she was going.
[ Babbling indistinctly ]
Where is she?
Let me through!
[ Grunting ]
Miss Thimble, I order you to tell us who did this to you.
Lord.
If the witch is here,
can you maybe point at them?
- Dottie has not been turned into a frog.
Tituba?
Tituba? Are you in there?
- Oh, you've all lost your minds!
Poor Mrs. Clam.
- Something weird's going on, sir.
Look at what's happening to Sergeant Livingston.
- Felix's good mood is certainly unnerving.
Guess when it started?
When you put that photo of Tituba in his pocket.
Did you find anything out
from the police investigation, Sister Peter?
- Nothing at all yet, Reverend Mother.
- This is crazy. Peggy, you know my mum.
Does she seem to you like a witch and a murderer?
- She's always been very kind to me.
- Lucy, this wax on your shoes, where did you get it?
- No idea. - The thing is, it matches wax
from the candles at the crime scene.
Matching up these soil fragments will confirm things, of course.
- Or you could start telling us the truth, Lucy.
For your sake and your mother's.
- Life in this place won't be worth living.
- We will be discreet. You have our word.
- My mother initiated me into the coven when I was 12.
And yes, I was at the Sabbat last night.
- So you and your mother are close?
We were.
But we had an argument a week ago.
I told her I wanted to leave the sisterhood, try other things.
Last night was the first time we'd spoken since.
♪♪
- I'm going to the new forest for a few days
to make peace with your decision.
- Okay. - Sorry to interrupt you, ladies.
Betty, can I have a word?
Of course.
I'll come see your new place when I get back.
♪♪
- Is this where you think your mother is, in the new forest?
- She made that same trip a few years ago,
after my father died.
According to Heather Hartwood,
your mother put a fatal curse on Jackie.
She stayed behind with Jackie last night,
and now Jackie's dead.
- My mother would never hurt anyone.
- Which would mean either you or Heather killed Jackie.
- Unless you believe Tituba really did come back
to Great Slaughter.
- Peggy, Sister, I want you to search this room.
♪♪
- [ Laughs ] - I can't tell Reverend Mother.
- What can't you tell me, Sister Peter?
[ Bell tolling ]
- The police suspect that Betty Jessop
is one of the witches and quite possibly the killer.
Betty? Don't be absurd.
Do they honestly think that I would have a witch as a friend
- and not realise? - But, Reverend Mother,
earlier you said you can never tell who the Satanists are.
Suspect everyone. Trust no one.
- Yes, but Betty is a close, personal friend,
a regular visitor here. I mean, if she's a Satanist,
well, then...
♪♪
Give that back.
♪♪
A Book of Shadows,
with the seal of Lucifer.
"Private. Read and be cursed for eternity.
Signed, Tituba, May 1928."
Clem burnt that.
Who gave you this, Lucy?
- I have no idea. Three months ago, I found it
in the basket of my bike on the high street.
But whoever put it there, I'm so grateful.
Why?
- Well, it's a damn sight more interesting
than my Book of Shadows.
I tried out a light hex on my mum.
- What happened? - Oh, she tripped over
and smashed her favourite teapot.
It was exciting.
Did you try anything else?
This, for example?
- No. Look, I just wanted a bit of fun.
♪♪
Maybe Tituba made two copies.
- Witches only ever keep one Book of Shadows.
[ Sighs ]
- What are all these signs and squiggles?
Oh, it's Thelemin,
a symbol-based language of the occult.
I can't claim more than a working knowledge.
- Well, while you work on your fluency, Sister,
circumstantial evidence favours Betty Jessop.
But even if Jackie was threatening her position,
would she really have murdered her for that?
The daughter Lucy had a black magic streak
and a human sacrifice instruction manual
but no motive as yet.
Heather, on the other hand,
had a strong motive in heartbreak,
but she wouldn't say boo to a goose,
let alone barbecue someone.
Oh. Reverend Mother.
Is it true, Sister?
Is Betty Jessop a witch?
Aah!
No! No, no, no, no. It's not possible!
I saw you burnt!
Get that apparition from the convent.
That's an order, Sister!
♪♪
Can't explain it. Sorry.
I can.
- Shut up, Norman. - We've got to tell them
- the truth, Clem. - I'm warning you.
- Three months ago, there was a break-in overnight.
I was the first in the next morning, and only one folder
- had been touched. - The Tituba folder?
- A copy of the front-page article had been taken from it,
and, er... And the contents of...
this envelope.
- "B-O-S."
The Book of Shadows.
Alright.
I held onto the book because it was dynamite.
I decided to bide my time until I could publish it.
And I burnt an identical-looking black book
in front of the Reverend Mother.
Then I hid the original in that folder
- Clem made me promise to keep quiet.
That's why I didn't report the break-in.
- Because I didn't want to cause panic.
You've seen what the locals are like about this stuff.
- Thank you for your honesty, Norman.
It's a heartwarming reminder
that people are fundamentally decent.
♪♪
- So who stole it from the Bugle, Betty, Lucy, or Heather?
Well, none of them.
Thanks to clever, old dactyloscopy,
I've matched a fingerprint from this envelope
with the victim.
Jackie Rice stole it?
Hyoscyamus niger.
Datura stramonium.
Salvia rosmarinus. That's rosemary to you and me.
- Sister, stimulating as this botany lesson is...
Aconitum napellus.
Now, you're a nasty, little thing, aren't you?
Look at your neighbours. Belladonna.
Hellebore. What an unfriendly lot.
Why did Jackie want you around, I wonder?
What's that?
♪♪
"Do what thou wilt."
Engraved with the seal of Satan.
Well, that settles it.
Jackie Rice practised black magic.
♪♪
- But why would Tituba join a white witch coven?
- Same reason a fox enters a hen house... to wreak havoc.
- And a jolly good job she was doing.
She'd broken Heather's heart, led Lucy astray.
- That's it. That's our motivation.
Betty had found another Tituba,
but this one was corrupting her daughter.
Betty couldn't take any chances, so she had to die.
- What was the quote that was on the chest?
"All is permissible when done out of love."
- Tom found Betty's bag. She's in the woods.
♪♪
Mother of us all,
gather us in your arms.
Give us comfort in the loss of our sister, Eliza.
Witches!
We were looking for Betty Jessop,
but Tom's stick led us to you!
- Well, that, and this being the same place you met before!
Shh!
In the name of our Lord, I order you witches
to reveal yourselves.
Please?
♪♪
Heather Hartwood. Good Lord!
Lucy, my poor child,
corrupted by her Satanic mother!
You're wrong, Reverend Mother.
I'm the only evil one in my family.
- You turn that frog back into Miss Thimble!
I'm ordering you now!
[ Shouting indistinctly ]
- We don't turn people into frogs.
- You cured Reverend Mother's cough.
Who knows what else you can do.
They did not cure my cough!
Where is Miss Thimble?
I'm here, Reverend Mother.
- Where the hell ha' you been ta?
I been worried about you!
I thought you been turned into a frog!
[ Shouting indistinctly ] I thought we'd lost you forever!
[ Sobbing ]
- I took Mr. Truman to the vet in Cirencester.
The good news is he's going to be alright.
[ Frog croaks ] General Eisenhower,
what are you doing here?
He's been coming into my cafe. Funny chap.
He's got a thing for Victoria sponge.
Told you!
[ Drum drumming ]
Betty.
We've got her at last.
Come on, Sister Peter.
♪♪
My, my.
What is it, Sister?
- Well, Peggy, our corpse still has its appendix.
But Jackie Rice had hers removed 19 years ago.
She grew it back?
Now, that really is magic.
- Hang on. More likely I've been fooled.
Betty Jessop still had her appendix. It fits.
But where's the motive?
♪♪
"Be brave. Love carnage.
My darling daughter of Satan, Eliza."
♪♪
Oh, golly.
♪♪
The body in the fire, it's Betty Jessop.
Murdered in an act of revenge by Jackie, Tituba's daughter.
- Who then framed Betty for her own murder.
- Brilliant, Sister, obviously. Just one question.
Why has Jackie lingered in Great Slaughter?
- Because she hasn't finished her revenge mission.
- What, so who's her next victim, Lucy?
- No, er, the only other person she blames
for her mother being punished is, erm...
Oh, heavens above.
- Shouldn't we head back to the others, Reverend Mother?
Nonsense!
♪♪
[ Shrieks ]
[ Crying ]
I can't do this!
Coward!
♪♪
[ Birds cawing ]
♪♪
Tituba was my mother.
And this was her concoction.
She called it The Python's Embrace.
She never recovered from the humiliation
of what you and Betty Jarvis did to her.
She died six months ago.
But you've got about an hour to think about that
before she suffocates you.
♪♪
[ Gasping ]
♪♪
Find Reverend Mother! Quick!
Erm...
♪♪
[ Wheezing ]
♪♪
Reverend Mother!
♪♪
Oh, what's happened to you?
I believe she's been poisoned.
The Python's Embrace.
I have one hour.
Erm... okay.
Python's Embrace. Python's Embrace.
Erm, Python's Embrace.
Ah, yes.
Erm, right.
Erm, I can picture an antidote, but time is short,
and the recipe is long.
Erm, Peggy, take Reverend Mother back to the convent.
Put her in bed and stay with her.
Right, Sister.
Felix, let's go gardening.
[ Bird cawing ]
Quickly.
♪♪
- Mother would never tell me what happened to her
in Great Slaughter.
All I knew was that two women had ruined her life.
So after she died, I came here to find out.
I dropped into the newspaper office, and I read the story
of how Glinda and that nun humiliated her.
So I joined Glinda's coven.
Tearing Hyacinth's heart in two.
Pouring evil into Jocasta's innocent mind
through her mother's diary. Both delicious.
But killing Glinda was the most perfect moment of my life.
So what's on your mind, Eliza?
In the name of Tituba,
I summon the spirits of darkness and vengeance!
♪♪
All that pain that my mother had felt
passed through me and into Glinda's neck.
And I felt purged.
♪♪
[ Breathing heavily ]
♪♪
So I went back to hers, packed back for her retreat,
and headed to the woods.
- You must have known you couldn't trick us forever.
- All I needed was time to poison that nun.
And then I'd rejoin my old coven in Exmoor.
Best laid plans, eh?
- My only regret is that it's unlikely I'll be hanged.
I am ready to join the next life.
♪♪
[ Wheezing ]
Less than five minutes to go.
Come on, Sister.
- Here's another cold flannel for you, Reverend Mother.
[ Wheezing ]
♪♪
Oh, oh, thank the Lord.
- This should do the trick, Reverend Mother.
Drink it all up, please.
And the leaves.
That's it.
♪♪
[ Sighing ]
Thank you.
♪♪
[ Sighs ]
[ Indistinct whispering ]
♪♪
- I'm going to carry on my mum's work.
Protect the sisterhood against the threat of black witchcraft.
I'm pleased.
And will you stay in Great Slaughter?
- This town is no place for an outed witch.
- I am very sorry to hear about your mother.
- She was always extremely fond of you, Reverend Mother.
- I shall keep a place in my heart for her.
- At least the Reverend Mother now understands
that not all witches are the same.
- See them both swiftly off the premises.
- Maybe not. [ Chuckles ]
♪♪
- I'm going to eat your cake in a minute, Felix.
Have it. I don't care.
I know what's happened.
Now that he's burnt that photo of Tituba,
the curse of happiness has been lifted from him.
- What, and now he's back to his old, gloomy self?
That is a good theory, Button.
Nonsense, but I like it.
- Do you want to know why I was so happy?
Two days ago, I received this letter from Victoria
announcing that she'll be coming to England next month.
- Oh, how wonderful. - Mm.
So why the long face now?
- Well, this morning, I received a second letter from Victoria
informing me that due to her auntie falling sick in Tobago,
she has had to put her plans on hold
indefinitely.
Oh, no.
- I'm starting to wonder if she'll ever make it to England.
- Well, I'm sorry to hear that, Felix.
- It's good to have you back, though.
There you go, General.
Go and inspect your troops. Toodle-pip!
[ Frog croaks ]
I still can't believe
people thought I'd been changed into a frog.
[ Babbling indistinctly ]
[ Chuckles ]
[ Frog croaks ]
♪♪