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Destroying Angel

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Destroying Angel is the second episode of the fourth series of the popular ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders and first aired 26th August 2001.

Synopsis[]

DCI Barnaby and DS Troy investigate the murder of Gregory Chambers who was killed when out in the woods mushrooming. He was one of four people who had recently inherited a portion of his employer's estate, principally a local hotel. With his death, his one-quarter share now passes to his wife, Suzanna, who has been having an affair with Tristan Goodfellow. It would also appear that Gregory was having an affair with Annie Tyson, who is four months pregnant. When Tristan is poisoned with a type of mushroom known as Destroying Angel and the other heirs of the estate are put at risk, Barnaby looks to find a common connection.

Plot[]

Death 1: Gregory Chambers is mushroom hunting in the woods. He sniffs a mushroom and records information about it on a recorder. He uses a brush to clean the mushroom and cuts a piece. Cue Ominous Music..... He is shot with an arrow. Ooo Eeee Oooo Eeee Oooo...

Funeral: People arrive for a funeral. Suzanna Chambers views the drive from the Easterly Grange Hotel. Tristan Goodfellow walks up. Suzanna says "Inside," to him. She and Tristan view the coffin of Karl Wainwright and then start making out.

Evelyn Pope and husband Woody Pope arrive. They greet DCI Tom Barnaby & Joyce Barnaby. Joyce is taking over the Croquet Stall in the Village Fete from Woody. "Mr. Punch still keeping folks on the straight and narrow?" Barnaby asks Evelyn. Julia Gooders & Kenneth Gooders arrive. He stays in the car listening to a sports broadcast. Denise Daly arrives with flowers and is told to go away by Suzanna. "If you'd done your job properly, Karl would still be with us."

Suzanna gives a speech at the funeral. After the funeral, a couple ask about using the hotel grounds for the fete next year. Suzanna tells them they will have to find somewhere else. Evelyn Pope asks Suzanna where Gregory is. "Oh don't worry, I'm sure he'll be back in time for your Punch and Judy show even if Karl's funeral wasn't important enough for him."

Barnaby tells Joyce that "Evelyn has quite a reputation. There was a woman here in the village being battered by her husband awfully for years. Evelyn 's Punch and Judy show included some not too oblique references to her husband. The next day, she walked into Causton Nick and pressed charges. There's always one or two locals holding their breath when Mr. Punch takes the stage in Midsomer Magna."

At the reading of the will, Kenneth Gooders decides to start even though Gregory Chambers has not arrived.

Meanwhile, at Evelyn Pope's house, Woody is playing croquet with Joyce. Clarice Opperman, Evelyn's niece, watches from a window.

Kenneth Gooders, "I leave the hotel and my modest capital to be divided equally between Suzanna Chambers, Gregory Chambers, Julia Gooders and Tristan Goodfellow. I know I can trust them to run the hotel in the same traditional manner." Murmuring among the people at the reading.

Evelyn introduces Clarice . She says she will have to do the Punch and Judy herself for the Grenvilles birthday party. She asks Tom to help load the car and to help at the other end setting up. At the Punch and Judy show, the children are laughing. Julia Gooders gasps when the puppet says he will call the constable and have the other puppet locked up. Julia runs away.

"Any news on Gregory? I wonder if we should check the hospitals?" Clarice asks Barnaby. Tom calls Troy and asks him to check the hospitals for Gregory Chambers. Tom & Evelyn pass by Annie Tyson on their way home from the party and ask if she has seen Gregory. She says no. They ask Suzanna if she has seen him. She says no. "Maybe he's gone walkabout." They visit the pub and an announcement is made asking if anyone has seen Gregory. He wouldn't have missed the Punch and Judy show. The villagers meet at the Red Lion Pub. Suzanna passes by in her convertible and stops to ask what is going on. Clarice says they are searching the woods. "Suzanna can't you feel it? Something is wrong.. What if he is lying out there concussed from a head wound from a bad fall or a falling branch?" Suzanna says it is ridiculous and says she is late for the designers and drives off. Tyson, the hotel gamekeeper, drives up next but refuses to help in the search. The villagers search the woods along with Barnaby. Clarice. goes off alone to "check something." Suzanna drives up later and runs after the searchers. She tells Barnaby that a bag is gone and some of Gregory's clothes are missing. "I'm afraid you've all been wasting your time." Then a dog finds a severed hand under a log. Ooo Eeee Oooo Eeee Oooo

Dr. George Bullard says that Suzanna identified the ring on the hand as Gregory Chambers' . The hands were removed to hamper identification. A hacksaw was used. Julia Gooders is upset to hear the news. Kenneth tells her he will have to go to the hotel. At Evelyn's home, Clarice asks who could have done it? Evelyn drops a glass handed to her by Woody.

Kenneth shows Barnaby and Troy a room at the hotel to work in. Kenneth tells Barnaby the results of the will. "Mr. Wainwright was childless and wanted to pass the hotel onto the people who made it a success." Suzanna is the manager, Julia does the books, Tristan is the chef and Gregory helped out generally. Suzanna will inherit Gregory's share of the estate.

Evelyn gives Clarice a new Mr. Punch puppet. She wants Clarice to do the Punch and Judy show at the fete. Evelyn knows she is ready after seeing how she did at the Grenvilles party. "Put your trust in Mr. Punch and Mr. Punch will put his trust in you. It's all about trust," says Evelyn.

Colin Salter walks into a room in his house and says "they found a severed hand in the woods" to his housekeeper, Florence, who is doing her nails. "But what if someone saw the car? They'll be asking questions. They'll be snooping," says Colin. "Then they'll find out just what a naughty boy you've been, won't they," replies Florence and Colin puts his hands over his backside.

Barnaby asks Troy if he checked the hospitals. "No reports of any one-handed maiming casualties." So they can assume Gregory Chambers is dead. Troy says, "It's just as well..He'd only have been able to manage a Judy show after that." Troy wonders if Gregory was topped to stop him from exposing a local scandal. Barnaby says that is a bit fanciful. Suzanna drives up and says "I understand you want to talk to me," to Barnaby and Troy. "You've heard rumors that I have a lover. Well it's true. I've been having an affair with Tristan for the last 8 months. It doesn't mean I didn't love Gregory. Just not in a physical way. Sadly, he wasn't blessed with any great enthusiasm in that department."

The recipients of the will all have alibis...Suzanna claims she was at the hairdressers and had to drop by the florists yesterday. Kenneth tells his wife to take another pill for her nerves. She hits him with a bouquet of lilies. He tells Troy that Julia is not up to being interviewed just yet. Kenneth says he drove through the forest yesterday and had a meeting in Causton. Julia Gooders gives Tristan an alibi. Tristan claims he was in the kitchen and then had a meeting with Julia. No one seems to have had the time to commit the murder and dispose of the body. Police are searching the woods. Barnaby and Troy go to look at a lake.

Tristan is doing sit-ups. Suzanna comes in to watch him and puts her hand on his stomach.

Tyson is drinking in his house. Annie comes in. "They found a severed hand. Why didn't you tell me last night they were searching the woods." Tyson tells her "Somebody got a bit careless. No point in fretting about it. A man plant's his seed and then decides he doesn't want to own it he should expect the worst." Annie hits him over the head with a chair, and they go to blows in the house loud enough to hear the fight outside.

Barnaby and Troy come by the Tyson home and find a bloody chair leg. Tyson walks into the kitchen with blood running down his head. The kitchen is destroyed. He tells them his daughter went wild. She broke the chair over his head. He tells them that Annie is "up the duff" with Gregory. Four months pregnant. But he didn't kill Gregory. Tyson tells Barnaby that he saw Colin Salter in the woods. Colin didn't like Gregory for collecting all them wild mushrooms. "Denuding the woods," Colin said. Barnaby and Troy go to Colin's house and he comes to the door naked wearing an apron. He asks them to make an appointment.

Suzanna is shocked to hear that Annie is four months pregnant by Gregory. Barnaby says, "Apparently his enthusiasm in that department is greater than you thought." He asks Suzanna about Colin Salter and his relationship with Gregory. Suzanna says Colin didn't want Gregory in the woods because he wanted the woods to himself. He likes it "out in the open" with his housekeeper,

Barnaby and Troy come across Annie Tyson sitting by a campfire with Gregory's clothes burning in it. She starts crying. They search her truck and find blood in the back. She is arrested.

Barnaby and Troy go to Evelyn's house and watch Clarice rehearsing. Barnaby asks if Gregory was planning to include anything at the Punch and Judy that would have resulted in someone trying to silence him. Evelyn can't think of anything. He tells her that Annie has been arrested. She can't believe it. Clarice drops a polaroid photo of a mushroom.

At the police station, Barnaby and Troy ask Annie who put the clothes on the fire. She says her father didn't do it. Annie says she was in the woods yesterday. She was supposed to meet Gregory and go to the funeral together. He told her after the will was read they would have a new life together.

Someone drops a letter for Tristan and Suzanna through a mail slot. They drop same for Julia and Kenneth. Someone puts mushrooms in a bowl containing other mushrooms in the hotel kitchen. Next we hear Tristan vomiting. He has eaten the mushrooms. Barnaby and Troy drive up and Suzanna runs out thinking they are Colin Salter. Colin arrives and takes his time locking up his car. Colin brings his briefcase in to examine the mushrooms. Tristan has been experiencing vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps and feelings of intense melancholia. Colin picks up a white mushroom. Tristan ate some of those. Colin does a test on the mushroom and says they are Amanita Virosa. "Common name Destroying Angel. There will be a remission on the third day. But it's a false one. On the fourth or fifth day the enzymes that attack vital organs increase and the liver and kidneys are irreversibly damaged. There are no antidotes. By the time stomach cramps have started it's already too late."

An ambulance takes off with Tristan. Suzanna claims someone planted those mushrooms. Suzanna says they should put Colin on their list of suspects since he didn't approve of Gregory picking the mushrooms. Colin claims he was in the woods taking a ramble with his housekeeper yesterday morning. Suzanna runs out and says Julia found a bag of mushrooms on her doorstep. She thinks they are poisonous as well.

The gardener at Evelyn's goes off on a motorbike.

Death 2: Colin examines the mushrooms at Julia's house. They are also Destroying Angel. Julia runs in the house to tell her husband that the mushrooms are poisonous. They had received a death threat. Kenneth tells her that "no one is trying to kill anyone." He goes to the drinks cabinet which slowly falls over on him. Someone had removed the screws attaching the cabinet to the wall. Barnaby checks Kenneth's pulse. Coming Salter pokes his head in and says "Problem?" and Julia screams.

Outside, Suzanna tells Barnaby and Troy that Tristan also received a death threat. She denies that she or Julia received one. Gregory and Tristan threw the threats away. A drugged Julia comes out and says she can't do the Tombola at the fete. Barnaby doesn't believe that Suzanna and Julia did not receive death threats. Tyson drives up and tells Barnaby that he needs to release Annie from jail. "She'll go loopy in there." He calls Suzanna a "double crossing swine." Barnaby is going to release Annie. She couldn't have delivered the mushrooms since she was in jail.

Evelyn talks to Barnaby and Troy about the poisonings. Barnaby asks why Tyson would call Suzanna a double crossing swine. Woody says it's to do with the hotel. The new owners have big plans to modernize the hotel and sell off the rest of the estate to finance it which means Annie and Tyson will lose their home and jobs. Both of which old man Wainwright promised them for life. It was in a contract or piece of paper. Gregory mentions a piece of paper in the script for the Punch and Judy show.

Evelyn and Woody go to the fete. They ask Suzanna about Tristan. She says he is dying. Evelyn tells Suzanna that the Punch and Judy show is a tribute to Gregory using the script he wrote before he died.

At the fete the band is playing. There are cakes and plants for sale, a croquet stand and an archery stand. Barnaby goes over to talk to the man in charge of the archery to ask who is good at archery locally. Tristan is. Suzanna and Julia show up for the Punch and Judy show. A piece of paper is mentioned. "Heads will roll if the truth ain't told." A policeman comes up to Barnaby and shows him Gregory's cleaning brush that was found in the woods near the lake. Barnaby and Troy head to the woods and find blood near the tree where Gregory was cutting the mushroom. It's the same mushroom in the polaroid that Clarice took.

On the road, someone puts down a piece of wood with nails in it across it. Clarice and Evelyn drive over it and their tires are punctured. They manage to wind up in a field. It was a deliberate attempt to kill Clarice and Evelyn. Barnaby asks to see the polaroid of the mushroom. Clarice tells him that Gregory used to try to teach her about the mushrooms.

That evening, Suzanna is talking on the phone to Julia telling her to calm down. Julia picks up the phone at her home. She demands to know who it is. Tristan lies in the hospital writhing in pain. Someone sneaks into Julia's home.

Barnaby comes to the realization that the piece of paper was a will. There was another will. A newer one.

Death 3: Someone sneaks into Julia's bedroom and is shot. It turns out to be Suzanna. Julia didn't realize who she shot until she turned on the lights. Suzanna had been carrying a knife. Barnaby talks to Julia. She had a shotgun in the bedroom because she had received a phone call saying "You are next. We are coming to get you." She says it was Gregory. "He's alive. Maybe Tristan never actually killed him. Now he's come back and is killing us one by one." Suzanna, Kenneth, and Tristan were all involved in a conspiracy to murder Gregory. They planned to kill him because of the new will. Julia could have told the police. But it was her husband who was involved.

Death 4: (Actually the first murder). Suzanna found out about the new will from Wainwright. He told her they weren't going to get anything. She realizes that Gregory has the new will. She tells Tristan to lock the door. Then she puts a pillow over Wainwright's face and smothers him.

Karl and Gregory were very close. Gregory was the only one he could trust with the new will. Suzanna, Kenneth and Tristan knew Gregory would have the will on him. So they decided to murder him. Suzanna also tried to kill Evelyn and Clarice. Barnaby and Troy go to talk to Tristan. He tells them that Suzanna called him about Julia being upset and he told Suzanna to silence her. Tristan says they should have got away with Gregory's murder but when disposing of the body parts, he saw Colin Salter and Florence in the woods. The bag must have split. He didn't realize the hand had dropped out. Then they decided to implicate Annie. Tristan reaches under his pillow and pulls out the new will. It was his insurance. He thought if Suzanna could murder one husband, she might just be tempted to murder another.

A builder comes to the police station and says Julia Gooders told him to unscrew the drinks cabinet from the wall. She said they were going to sell it at auction. Troy tells Barnaby that Julia went crazy overnight and has been sanctioned. Then Barnaby recalls when Evelyn told him how Clarice is a natural mimic. Troy comes in to tell Barnaby that they found the body. Weighed down and placed in a raft on the lake. Then an arrow is used to deflate the raft, which sinks.

Evelyn is measuring out pills and writing a note. Barnaby and Troy go to Evelyn's house. Barnaby tells her all that happened. Now they just need to know the avenging angel responsible for Tristan, Kenneth and Suzanna's murders. Evelyn tells Barnaby she learned all about mushrooms when Woody was in Bordeaux. Evelyn says Gregory didn't mention a new will. But when Denise Daily, the nurse, said she had witnessed Wainwright's signature, Evelyn guessed it was the new will. When Suzanna accused Denise of being incompetent, Evelyn knew it wasn't true. So she guessed there was another reason Suzanna wanted her away from the funeral. Denise thought Gregory was the other witness to the will. Evelyn made the phone calls to Suzanna and Julia last night. Barnaby tells Clarice, "Your aunt is confessing to the murders of Tristan, Kenneth and Suzanna." Clarice cries "Why didn't you tell me?" Evelyn says that Clarice wasn't involved in the murders. She picked the poisonous mushrooms but she didn't know what they were. Evelyn asked Ben, the gardener to deliver them and then gave him a holiday in Ibiza. Evelyn had asked Clarice to take the polaroid. She'd be able to tell if Gregory had been there that day. She noted that if Suzanna, Kenneth and Tristan had had been innocent, they all would have reported the threatening notes. Clarice says "why didn't you trust me?" Evelyn tells her that she would have been facing life in prison if she had been involved. Evelyn also wrote the Punch and Judy script for the fete. She knew that if Julia was the only one left, she would crack. Barnaby tells Evelyn that Annie is the sole beneficiary of the new will. Evelyn says that Karl Wainwright was Annie's father.

Death 5: Evelyn dies in Woody's arms. Evelyn left Woody a letter. Clarice reads it to him. Evelyn wishes Woody to be as happy as he can be with the rest of the time he has left.

Death 6: Will be Tristan Goodfellow.

At the Barnaby's Tom and Joyce are playing croquet. Joyce makes comments to throw Tom off his game repeatedly. Tom admits he did genuinely care for Evelyn even with her mass murders in consideration.

Cast[]

Galleries[]

Body Count[]

Prior to the Episode

In the Episode

Supporting Cast[]

Episode Images[]

Arrests[]

Notes[]

The following actors and actresses who appeared in this episode have also appeared in the following episodes

Trivia[]

  • The conspiracy to kill Karl Wainwright is inspired by the William Marsh Rice case. Rice, a businessman, was poisoned with chloroform by his valet at the behest of a barrister, Albert T. Patrick, who forged his will in an attempt to manipulate the Rice estate.
  • Kenneth Gooders to his wife after she finds out that their mushrooms are poisonous, "No one is trying to kill anyone." Then the drinks cabinet slowly falls on him.

The Trials and Tribulations of DS Gavin Troy:

  • Busy listening to a sports broadcast in the police station when Barnaby calls him to check hospitals for Gregory Chambers.
  • When going to interview Colin Salter, is aghast at Colin's attire (an apron and nothing else)

Goofs[]

  1. Kenneth Gooders: "Will you please calm down. No one is trying to kill anyone." He opens the cabinet doors and the cabinet starts to rock. What makes it fall away from the wall?
  2. The first bottle that breaks has nothing in it.
  3. When the cabinet is falling on Kenneth Gooders, he puts his hands up to stop it then he curls up in a ball facing toward the windows. However, when Barnaby and Troy come over to check on him his wrist is outside of the cabinet. No way that this could have happened since his body was nowhere near the edge of the cabinet when it fell.


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