Death in Disguise is the fourth episode of the first series of the popular ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders and was first broadcast on 6th May 1999.
Synopsis[]
At The Lodge of the Golden Windhorse, Bill Carter falls down the stairs to his death. DCI Barnaby and DS Troy encounter an eclectic group of commune residents.
Plot[]
Ian Craigie is the "master" of a new-age commune. The Lodge of the Golden Windhorse. He argues with his partner, William Carter, who wants to "cash In." They founded the centre to scam the rich but over time, Craigie came to believe in the objectives and the good work they did. Commune residents hear arguing and run to see what is happening. They discover Bill at the bottom of the stairs.
May Cuttle hustles over to DCI Tom Barnaby's house to get his assistance. Barnaby tells Joyce Barnaby "It's May Cuttle from The Lodge... She's here again. Say what you like, but I'm not here. Treats me like her local bobby!" May barges in with Joyce trying to stop her. She finds Barnaby hiding in the living room with a fish bone. She tells him Mr. Carter is a "shade of gray." May drives him to the commune.
Ian Craigie greets Barnaby. Barnaby recalls that Joyce attended one of their courses at 20 quid per session. Plus VAT. DS Gavin Troy and Pathologist, Dr. George Bullard are there. Bullard says William Carter broke his neck. No one saw him fall. Bullard says he'd apparently been drinking. May pipes up "NO! Bill didn't drink." Barnaby tells Troy to get statements. Split them up before they invent an official version. Craigie says he met Carter shortly after coming out of prison.
Troy and Barnaby are driving off. Troy nearly runs into a truck and gets hay on his head. He says he's taken the driving course four or five times. Christopher Wainwright climbs off the truck, which has stopped at the entrance to the Lodge of the Golden Windhorse. . . Ken Beavers tells him, "We have you down for a self cleansing of the spiritual pathways." Heather Beavers says, "That slight chill you feel? Don't be alarmed. It's only a departing spirit. His earthly name was William Carter." Trixie Channing tells him that Bill Carter fell down the stairs and broke his neck.
Barnaby greets Cully. She says she has auditioned for a part. 50 other women auditioned for the part. Barnaby says there are 3 witches so that shortens the odds a bit.
Barnaby and Troy go to the "funeral" held at the commune. Everyone is dressed in robes conducting the service under a tree. The coroner has told them that Bill's death was accidental. Bill Carter was a small-time con man. No grudges against him, no money owing. May Cuttle comes up and says to the detectives, "Bill was so touched. He came through this morning, asking who'd be here." Christopher Wainwright is kissing a pretty young girl, Suhami /Sylvie Gamelin.
Trixie is riding in the car with Ken and Heather Beavers and bees. They get a flat tire and Ken gets out to change it. Heather strokes the top of the bee container. Trixie tells her she's heard singing to the bees helps calm them.
At night, there is a thunderstorm. In his room, Craigie takes some pills. He goes to the top of the stairs. He sees Bill's body- hallucination. He goes to look for Tim. The other residents go outside in the rain to look for Tim. A large cannon ball falls off the roof, barely missing Chris and May. Craigie looks up and sees Tim inside.
The next morning, May plays the violin. A mailman brings mail. Trixie rushes to collect it. Chris goes looking for Suhami who is with goats. He kisses her. Chris shows her a tire iron which he claims he found it on the roof. Implying someone used it to dislodge the cannon ball from last night. Reporters spot Ken and Heather Beavers. Ken tells the reporter there have been two attempted murders and one was successful. Ken wants to know how much the reporter will pay for the story.
May Cuttle, Chris and Arno take the cannon ball to Barnaby's office. Barnaby says, "There are easier ways of killing people, Mr Wainwright. And how... did your would-be murderer know that you would all be out in the storm,directly below his line of fire?" Barnaby says he will need more to go on. May tells Barnaby that she heard voices in the Craigie's room two days after Bill Carter died. Craigie sounded rather desperate. He and someone else spoke in a hoarse kind of whisper... "Why couldn't you have left well enough alone. If they do a post mortem... Then, a couple of nights later, two in the morning, I heard someone rifling through Bill's room. I went to look. They scuttled out of the window, down onto the terrace and in through the front door." Barnaby says "that means that someone was from the commune. Not a burglar." "Why didn't you say something before?" says Troy. May says, "It didn't mean anything until the cannonball. Maybe whoever I disturbed in Bill's room thinks I recognised them." Arno says, "So, that means the cannonball was really meant for May, Inspector." While at the police station, May starts receiving 'messages' from Gauis Quintus, chief taster for a roman general 75 A.D. Gauis tells May there are "dark forces" at work.
Ava Rokeby, county press calls Barnaby. He hangs up on her. The detectives go out and buy ice cream cones. Barnaby says, perhaps we ought to take May seriously. Troy mimics May "What? 'Why couldn't you have left well alone?' 'If they do a post mortem..." "It's not much to go on. As long as we haven't missed a vital clue," says Barnaby. "Like what, sir?" asks Troy. "The dark forces at work, Troy," says Barnaby.
Guy Gamelin calls his wife asking if she wants a lift to their daughter's birthday party. She is drunk and then snorts cocaine.
On the TV, there is an interview, "You've attracted many allegations, Mr Gamelin. You've replaced over half your regular workers with casuals." Guy says, "So? They need to eat as well." Suhami is watching the TV. She tells Chris that she is not who she says she is. She points to the man on the TV. "He's a total bastard, and proud of it. He's cruel, vindictive, immoral and coarse. He's also my father."
Heather and Ken Beavers tend to their bees. Arno asks Tim to take a message to May. Guy Gamelin drives into Tim as he is running. Tim rolls off the side of the car. Guy yells at him, "You bloody moron! If you've done any damage..." Arno asks, "What happened?" Guy says, "That thing ran out in front of me." Arno says, "Oh. No prizes for guessing where he's off to." Trixie walks up and says, "Hello, Guy. Have you come to buy us up for a song? Make us an offer we can't refuse?" Arno follows Tim who climbs a tree. "That's it. He'll be here for hours!" says Arno. May says, "At least we know where he is." Guy tells Trixie he has come to see his daughter- it's her birthday. Suhami runs up, sees her dad, and runs away. Suhami asks Craigie why he invited Guy. She is very upset. Craigie tries to calm her. Craigie greets Guy. "Where's my daughter, Mr Craigie?" says Guy. "You'll see her at supper," says Craigie. "I said, where is she? Meaning, I want to see her now!" says Guy. "And I said, at supper." says Craigie.
Felicity Gamelin drives up in a taxi. She takes a drink from her flask. Arno hits the gong.
Guy follows Craigie in for dinner. Guy wonders what the dinner is. Arno says, "Nut roast. From our own trees. Vegetables from the garden. Bread from our own flour. Mushrooms from our own com-" Suhami walks in. Everyone claps. Guy points to a seat beside him and she veers to the other side of the table. Tim falls out of the tree as Felicity walks toward the house. She screams.
Guy passes an envelope around the table to Suhami. Tim runs in and goes to Craigie. Felicity comes in laughing. She is drunk. She points to Tim and says he fell out of a tree. Felicity says, "I'm amazed that he's still alive." Guy says, "This, I'm ashamed to say, is my wife." Felicity goes over to Trixie and hugs her, "Sylvie! Sylvie, how are you dear?" Suhami says, "Over here, Mother! And that, my friends, tells you everything about us. My mother, stoned out of her mind. My father abusing her. And me wondering where to hide my face." Guy says, "You haven't done badly out of it." Suhami says, "In the only terms you understand, Father - money - no, I haven't. My inheritance. All £3 million of it. Before my 18th birthday. Thank you, Daddy." She gives the envelope to Craigie. Guy is furious. Craigie says he has not accepted it yet.
They all go into another room and the lights are dimmed. May starts to regress. She closes her eyes and breathes in and out. "My name isn't May. It's Gaius Quintus. (she says in a deeper voice) He is in a forest. A clearing. Roman Britain, 75 AD. We're moving north to build a wall. But here we are, settled for the night. A wild boar is roasting in the embers as a slave turns the spit. I come out of the tent. The General follows me. Will today be the day? Will someone have a grudge against Rome? A personal hatred for the General? I, Gaius Quintus, will be the first to know. 'But where are my vegetables, slave?' says the General. 'There on the fire, sir. Mushrooms in a skillet.' Help me! Help me! My throat's on fire." May falls to the ground. She wakes up.
The lights are turned on and Craigie points to the people at the other end of the table. Tim cries and hugs Craigie. He has a knife sticking out of his chest.
The police arrive along with Dr. Bullard. The knife has a piece of gold thread there on it. Tim moans and cries in the other room. Bullard pulls off Craigie's wig.
The police go talk to the residents. Heather says, "It's obvious, he's been astrally harvested." Barnaby says, "How do you explain a carving knife stuck in his chest?" Heather replies, "A celestial lance!" Tim sobs. Guy yells at him to shut up. Trixie says if someone had stabbed Craigie, they would have blood all over them. The only one covered with blood is Tim.
Barnaby says he will conduct interviews in the morning. Troy stays overnight in a sleeping bag outside Guy Gamelin's door. Felicity asks Guy how he did it- kill Craigie.
At the Barnaby house, Barnaby tells Joyce that the people at the lodge- he misread them. He thought they were harmless. Clearly one is not. If Carter was murdered and Barnaby had caught his killer, maybe Craigie might still be alive. Joyce asks what Sergeant Troy thinks? Barnaby says, "He thinks I'm a bastard." Barnaby made him stay overnight at the lodge in case one of the visitors does a moonlight flit. Guy Gamelin- his daughter hates him, his wife hates him.
The next morning, Barnaby wakes Troy up. "Ten minutes, Troy. Solarium, downstairs. Heavy day. Killers to catch." Outside, the residents of the lodge are performing a ritual. Clearing the astral pathways for Craigie's journey to the Ark of the Gathered Souls. Barnaby talks to Trixie first. She has a more earthly view of life than some of your friends. Trixie shows the detectives where everyone was last night. Troy writes it down. "During her regression she ate a mushroom. It was clearly a toadstool. She grasped her throat. Then she fell backwards here. We all gathered around. Then, when the lights went back on, there was the Master." No one saw anyone stab Craigie. Tim was sitting at the Master's feet.
Barnaby asks Trixie why she wears so much make-up. She refuses to tell him. Ken and Heather Beavers bring the detectives acorn coffee. Then Ken gets a phone call. It is Ava. Barnaby asks Ken to look at the diagram that Troy made of where everyone was sitting. They tell Barnaby that Guy would have liked to kill Craigie because Suhami gave her inheritance to him.
Barnaby gets a phone call and dumps the acorn tea in a plant when no one is looking. The lab says the thread was from a tapestry, heavy material. Tim starts howling. Guy howls back. The detectives go to see what is going on. Tim is holding Guy's jacket. He's upset because Guy said that Craigie tried to con Suhami out of her inheritance. Guy accuses Chris of being after Suhami's money. Chris says he didn't know she had any till yesterday.
Barnaby says to Guy, "You're the only one here I know anything about." "You only know what I tell the press." Tim watches from above in the tree and puts his hands out as if to strangle Guy. Guy tells Barnaby he's only been there for less than 24 hours ago. He may stay longer so he can check out Chris.
May comes in to tell Suhami, "Good news! I've persuaded your mother to stay on." Suhami says, "May, my mother is a drսg addict. Being waited on hand and foot by you is not going to cure her!"
Barnaby asks Chris about his experiences covering the war in Rwanda. He knew nothing of Mr Craigie before he came to the lodge. He arrived the day Bill Carter died.
Barnaby asks where Craigie's will is. May tells him Arno has it. Arno says he doesn't know where it is. Craigie made it out a few years ago. In it he made everything out to Bill Carter. A few days ago, Craigie took it off him. He wanted to change it.
Troy tells Barnaby that Craigie could be Albert John Cranleigh. Reading Jail, 1972. That's when Carter was there. Cranleigh was in for some time-share racket. They found a six figure sum hidden underneath his floorboards. Released with a forwarding address. Mrs. Cook, a Bed and Breakfast in Upton. Troy is going to see her tomorrow to show her a photograph of Craigie. Troy found something else- a brоthеl managed by Ken and Heather Beavers. The detectives go to ask the Beavers what happened. They tell the them that no-one was ever pressured or hurt. As several senior policemen could have told the court, but didn't. They'd been fined £87,000 and felt bleak. Craigie gave them a new way of life. Something to believe in.
At dinner that evening, Barnaby arranges a dish of parmesan and a pepper shaker on the dinner table to show what happened on the night of Craigie's murder- They're all gathered round listening to May Cuttle. She collapses. They all go to her... and bunch up. All... except Craigie... and Tim. They're over there. 30 seconds later the lights go up and Craigie has a knife in his ribs. No fingerprints on the handle and any on the blade wiped as it went in. And the garlic bread? Twelve feet away. What happened?" Joyce says, "The pepper stabbed the Parmesan."
On the TV, an announcement is made about Christopher Wainwright..."The groom, a BBC cameraman, worked in Rwanda where his bride was a doctor." Barnaby says, "If that is Christopher Wainwright... who's the fellow at the lodge?"
Back at the lodge, Ava Rokeby and cameraman Terry Lightfoot run away when Barnaby drives up. "How's life in the gutter? Still making things up as you go?" Barnaby says. Troy says to Lightfoot, "You give me the film you shot and I won't nick you for it."
At the lodge, Barnaby goes to speak to Chris. "Mr Wainwright. Who are you? What's your name? It isn't Christopher Wainwright!" Chris says, "Andrew Carter. I'm Bill Carter's nephew." Chris says, "Bill was the nearest I had to a father. He wrote to me in Madrid after Christmas. He wanted to leave here - sell his share in this place. But Craigie wouldn't buy him out. So, I said I'd come and stay for a few weeks, see if we could get things worked out." Chris says, "In Madrid, I was waiting tables, lifeguard, crewing in the Med. I even worked a year at the Circus." Chris thinks Tim is the killer. He also thinks that the cannon ball falling was meant for him.
Barnaby looks in Craigie's room. Troy steps on a loose board and finds a manilla envelope where the will is. Barnaby suspects that whoever gets the money may have had a good reason to kill him. Craigie left The Lodge jointly to Miss Cuttle and Arno. There is a condition. They have to continue the good work.
Barnaby goes to talk to Tim, who is hiding in a tree. Barnaby climbs in the tree and talks to Tim. Barnaby says, "I think I know what happened to Bill Carter. What I don't know is who killed the Master. You were sitting beside him. You must have seen him do it. Either that... or you stabbed him yourself. Did you see?" Tim says, "M... Ma...gic. Magic? He was killed by magic?"
May Cuttle is playing the cello. She asks Arno if he killed Craigie. Arno says he had no idea about the new will. May says, with their new responsibilities, they will have to grow up. Arno asks if May killed Craigie. She is outraged.
Troy goes to speak to Mrs Cook. He steps in a cowpie. The cows are blocking his way. He runs to the door. Mrs. Cook identifies Cranleigh from a photo. She says, "Such a quiet voice and lovely manners. His friend was rather different." Troy asks, "You knew him too?" Troy drinks tea and has treats. Mrs. Cook, "Yes." They were going into business. She knew Cranleigh had been in prison. It's the first thing he told her. It's why she remembers him so well after all these years. His honesty. Troy says he really must go, even though that cake is begging him to stay. Mrs. Cook says she has been told her cake is rather persuasive.
Barnaby says, "You took your time! Where have you been?" Troy says Craigie was Albert Cranleigh. And she recognised Bill Carter too. Craigie was an ex-villain. He meets another villain and they set up The Lodge of the Golden Windhorse. Presumably as a con. Barnaby shows Troy a course list. Those are the courses on offer at The Lodge this year. Barnaby thinks The Lodge began life as a con, but then Craigie began to believe in what he was doing. And those he gathered round him - May, Arno, Heather, Ken, all the others - they became... his family. But Carter, they fell out.
May Cuttle calls the police and demands that he come immediately. Guy Gamelin is dead. They find him on the floor. And May says Trixie's gone.
Bullard reports to Barnaby that "Craigie was dying of cancer. Hence the baldness - chemotherapy. Begs the question, who'd want to kill a dying man? Guy Gamelin didn't commit suicide. The empty bottle in his hand... Should have held heart pills. No trace in his stomach, though. So, it was a heart attack. The man reaches for his pills, there's none there and he dies. Except, why wasn't his bottle full? The man's a millionaire. He had people to fetch and carry, organise his life in every detail. Someone took them off him and watched him die?"
Since Trixie Channing waited for the postman every day and every time she picked out a blue envelope from the mail. Barnaby and Troy go to the house listed on the envelope. They hear giggling. They go in the kitchen and Troy sees a bag with the gold thread design on it. May Cuttle's got one, Suhami's got one, Trixie's got one. Gold thread like on the knife.
They go upstairs where Trixie is in bed with Raymond Jennings and ask Trixie to come downstairs for a little chat. Trixie asks how they found her. Barnaby shows her the blue envelope. Barnaby says, "Guy Gamelin died yesterday and you disappeared. Are the two related? Could you explain the cryptic note, 'The time has come'?" Trixie says that Raymond's wife is a husband-beater. And when Raymond and TrixieI got friendly, she went for Trixie too. But yesterday Raymond's divorce came through. So he's free of her. They are planning to go to France. Barnaby says, but not for a few days until he closes the case.
Barnaby discusses the case with Troy. Bill Carter, murdered possibly, Craigie, murdered definitely, and Guy Gamelin, just left to die. Not passionate, just... pitiless. Barnaby goes to get a few more beers. He watches the darts game.
Barnaby asks Suhami if she spoke to her father before he died. Suhami says Chris told you that Tim may do something drastic. Barnaby and Troy speak to Ken and Heather Beavers. They said they got home just as the Master was looking for Tim. So, when the cannonball fell, they were at the back of the house, looking for Tim.
Barnaby says to Tim, "My sergeant believes that you murdered Bill Carter. Carter and Craigie were having an argument. They made for the stairs. "Why won't you buy me out?" Carter asked, or some such words. Craigie tried to calm him, but Bill was furious. He reached out for Craigie and that is when he was pushed." Barnaby thinks Tim pushed Bill. Barnaby says to Arno that Carter wasn't drunk not at all. In fact, he was stone-cold sober. Arno tried to force whisky down him to make it look as if he'd fallen because he was drunk. "Hence the words May overheard. 'Couldn't you leave well enough alone?' 'If they do a post mortem...' Shall I finish the sentence? '..they won't find any whisky in his stomach.'" Arno says he lied to spare Tim the agony of being arrested. Barnaby says, "Tim, there's one more thing I need to know from you. That night of the storm when the cannonball fell, were you up on the roof?" Barnaby asks Tim to show him where you were hiding. Tim shows him the room. Barnaby tells Arno to "keep an eye on Tim. Don't let him out of your sight."
Later, Barnaby and Troy arrive back at the Lodge. On the roof, Chris is trying to push Tim over the side. Chris yells, "Get off me." Troy runs up to the roof. Barnaby and the residents see Chris and Tim struggling from below. Barnaby moves a couch under where Tim falls. "Get an ambulance," says Barnaby. Chris asks if he is all right repeatedly. Barnaby says, "That's three times you've asked. His state of health must bother you. I'm very happy to tell you that, he'll be fine. Which isn't what you wanted to hear, is it? You just tried to kill Tim. Just like you killed Ian Craigie. Tim saw Craigie point as he fell, not at Guy Gamelin, but at you. And Tim's begun to talk again. And you're afraid that any day he'll tell us all about it." Barnaby explains that Chris has tried to pin everything on a defenseless boy. Even a cannonball. A simple act of God in a storm. What might he do to Suhami... given time? Chris used Suhami as a business opportunity. Chris says he found a tire iron on the roof during the storm. But it wasn't on the roof in the storm. Mr Beavers had a puncture that evening and used it to remove a hubcap. Chris did kill Ian Craigie. Barnaby says he had a little chat earlier that day with the director of the Circus Nacional in Madrid. "He misses you, by the way you would do everything you were asked to. Lion taming, trapeze work... knife throwing. He said you were 'lo hace estupendamente'. You were bloody good at it!"
Felicity asks, "Did he kill my husband too?" Barnaby says, "I think your daughter did that. I think she went to the guest room for a talk with her father. It became a quarrel and he had a heart attack. He fell, perhaps calling out for his pills. She took the bottle." Chris says, "No. That's not how it went. 'Give them to me,' he said, like I was a servant! And I thought of her, and how miserable he had made her over all those years. And, that a girl like that should end up in a place like this. I poured them into my hand and put them in my pocket." Chris is taken away by the police. Tim is taken to the hospital.
Barnaby and Joyce take Cully out to dinner. They toast Cully who got the part she had auditioned for. Ava Rokeby comes by for the story that Barnaby had promised. Barnaby asks her who her contact was at the manor. He guesses Ken Beavers. Ava says her lips are sealed. Barnaby asks how much she paid him? 1500 quid. Barnaby gives her the story about Ken and Heather Beavers being brothel keepers.
Cast[]
- John Nettles as DCI Tom Barnaby
- Daniel Casey as Sgt. Gavin Troy
- Jane Wymark as Joyce Barnaby
- Laura Howard as Cully Barnaby
- Barry Jackson as Dr. Bullard
- Judy Cornwell as May Cuttle
- Charles Kay as Arno Gibbs
- Michael Feast as Ian Craigie
- Colin Farrell as Ken Beavers
- Diane Bull as Heather Beavers
- Stephen Moyer as Christopher Wainwright (Andrew Carter)
- Miles Anderson as Guy Gamelin
- Susan Tracy as Felicity Gamelin
- Robert Pickavance as William Carter
- Daniel Hart as Tim Riley
- Tilly Blackwood as Trixie Channing
- Anna Bolt as Suhami / Sylvie Gamelin
- Mary Healey as Mrs. Cook
- Graham Turner as Raymond Jennings
- Dolly Wells as Ava Rokeby
- Ashley Artus as Terry Lightfoot
- Caroline Lintott as Researcher
- Jon Glover as Interviewer
- Geoffrey Beevers as Newscaster
- Siobhan O'Carroll as Waitress
- Brett Allen as Police Officer (uncredited role)
- Brett Reylander as Police Sergeant (uncredited role)
- Guy Thompson as Roman General (uncredited role)
Galleries[]
Body Count[]
Prior to the Episode
Consumed poisonous mushrooms in 75 A.D. (latin for year). The intended victim was the Roman General.
In the Episode
Pushed down a flight of stairs and broke his neck (accidental death).
Killed with a knife that was thrown into his chest during a psychic regression.
While having a heart attack, his pills were withheld from him.
Supporting Cast[]
(Andrew Carter)
Episode Images[]
Arrests[]
- Christopher Wainwright-
- For stabbing Ian Craigie
- Withholding medication from Guy Gamelin resulting in his death.
- Attempted murder of Tim Riley
- William Carter's death was not ruled a murder.
Notes[]
The following actors and actresses that first appeared in this episode have appeared in subsequent episodes:
- Charles Kay - Vixen's Run
- Miles Anderson - Last Year's Model
- Susan Tracy - King's Crystal
- Tilly Blackwood - The Axeman Cometh
- Mary Healey - Midsomer Life
- Caroline Lintott - Ring Out Your Dead, Sins of Commission, and The Straw Woman
- Brett Reylander - Blood Will Out and A Tale of Two Hamlets
Trivia[]
- This episode was the last episode based on a novel by Caroline Graham, her final two Barnaby novels "A Place of Safety" and "A Ghost in the Machine" have never been adapted for television.
The Trials and Tribulations of DS Gavin Troy:
- Troy nearly runs into a truck carrying hay with the result that he gets a headful of hay through the sunroof.
- Barnaby made Troy stay overnight at the lodge in case one of the visitors does a moonlight flit.
Quotes[]
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Goofs[]
- As the sergeant is crossing a yard containing a herd of cows running by, on the far right one of the bulls gets sidetracked and stops running and begins mating with a nearby cow as the rest of the herd continues running by. The camera quickly moves away but it is clearly visible for a second or two.
- When May Cuttle is regressed as Gaius Quintus "he" states that it is the year 75AD. BC and AD did not come into use until the 6th century.
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