The Frighteners
Peter appeared
as Raymond Walker in episode six of the third series of Heartbeat.
The Frighteners was written by Brian Finch and broadcast on Sunday,
7 November 1993 on ITV.
Episode
Synopsis
Nick is called
in when Greengrass attempts to take the law into his own hands and
Kate asks his advice about a patient who is being threatened.
© TV Times
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Regular Cast |
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Guest Cast |
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PC Nick Rowan |
Nick Berry |
Jane Thompson |
Dora Bryan |
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Dr Kate Rowan |
Niamh Cusack |
Raymond Walker |
Peter Gilmore |
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Sergeant Blaketon |
Derek Fowlds |
Jennifer Bradshaw |
Susan Jameson |
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Claude Jeremiah Greengrass |
Bill Maynard |
Eric Bradshaw |
Dave Hill |
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PC Ventress |
William Symons |
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PC Bellamy |
Mark Jordan |
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Peter With Heartbeat star, Nick Berry
Part 1
The episode opens with
Claude Greengrass walking across the village green with his dog,
Alfred. As he passes Jane Thompson’s cottage, the two exchange a few
words. “I Love My Dog”, sung by Cat Stevens, is heard as man and dog
wander through the woods, Alfred soon running off and Claude calling
after him. A man’s feet are seen, stepping cautiously …… a gun is
loaded ….. and then the man is seen at the top of a small rise, gun
in hand and accompanied by a golden Labrador, looking down on
Greengrass and Alfred. He aims and fires, narrowly missing the pair.
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A shaken Greengrass
recognises the man and asks what Walker is up to. “You’re
trespassing, Greengrass …….. Shove off, the pair of you ……” Walker
takes aim again but Greengrass does as instructed and the two men
walk away in opposite directions, each with his dog.
Jane, an elderly lady, is
working in her greenhouse when Greengrass walks by again. She talks
to Charlie, saying that Raymond Walker is a “right little Hitler”.
The camera focuses on a photo of a man in his sixties - Charlie, her
recently deceased husband.
As Constable Nick Rowan
leaves home, Greengrass stops him to report the shooting incident.
Nick asks Claude if he was on Walker’s land but the old scoundrel
insists it is a public right of way. The policeman agrees to speak
to Walker.
In the next scene Dr Kate
Rowan (Nick’s wife) is leading an exercise class of middle aged and
elderly people. Mrs Thompson arrives with her daughter, Jennifer
Bradshaw. The older woman is clearly independent and does not like
being fussed over.
Nick speaks to Walker who
says he wasn’t shooting at the dog. He explains that his sheep have
been harassed by dogs recently.
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While out walking by a
stream while off duty, Ventress sees something moving in a bag …… he
pulls out a tiny kitten which he takes away with him. PCs Ventress
and Bellamy are playing with the kitten when Sergeant Blaketon
arrives and asks what a kitten is doing at the police station; he
then steps in a saucer of milk.
Jenny is worried about her
mother who lives alone. She tells Kate that Jane says she has been
getting “funny phone calls”, plus she has found her mother talking
to her father. Jenny wants her mother to move in with her.
Blaketon tells Rowan that
Walker has complained about him - the latter has powerful friends -
and Rowan is instructed to tell Greengrass to keep away from
Walker’s land.
That evening Mrs Thompson is
at home …… someone in a public telephone box makes a call ….. Jane’s
phone rings ….. she tells Charlie’s photo she’s not going to answer
….. the ringing eventually stops. Jane hears someone outside, sees a
face through the window and then someone knocks and knocks on her
door - she’s clearly frightened.
Part 2
Kate visits Jane who tells
her what has been happening; she makes it clear she does not want to
move in with her daughter. The doctor says she will get her husband
to come round.
Claude attempts to walk
across Walker’s land again but the farmer has had a keep off,
private land sign erected. He just looks at Greengrass who turns
round and walks off. Meeting Rowan, he shows him the sign but the
policeman says it is a civil matter and he cannot do anything.
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The constable continues on
his motorbike to the Thompson cottage where he finds Jane playing
Procul Harum’s “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” to her plants. She tells him
she has been getting phone calls for several weeks. Rowan says he
will get the exchange to intercept her calls and tells the woman to
phone him if anything else happens.
Over lunch Nick and Kate
discuss Walker’s action in fencing off the right of way and Jane.
Nick is unsure whether her story has been made up through
loneliness.
That evening Mrs Thompson
again hears noises outside. Nearby, Greengrass also hears
something. Jane makes a phone call but the line is cut.
The next morning Claude
shows Nick the broken panes in Jane’s greenhouse and says he knows
who is responsible. It emerges that Raymond Walker has been trying
to buy the cottage and had made Mrs Thompson a couple of unusually
high offers.
The policeman visits Walker
at his home but the man has an alibi for the time when the
greenhouse was vandalised. When asked why he wants the cottage,
Walker says he wants to knock down the cottage - “It ruins the view
from my lounge window”!
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A friend of the farmer, a
high ranking policeman, has spoken to Blaketon who warns Rowan to
keep away from Walker’s land.
Whilst trimming the grass
edges in his garden, Walker receives a visitor who says it would be
to both their advantages to have a chat about Jane’s cottage - they
enter the house together. Next we see Jane moving out of her
cottage, clearly upset at leaving.
Part 3
Dr Rowan arrives at the
cottage where Walker tells her he has bought the place and that Mrs
Thompson has left.
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Kate goes to Jenny’s home
where she meets Mr Bradshaw. He says Jane has moved into an old
people’s home, having refused to live with them. The doctor visits
the home and finds her patient “down”. She refuses to tell Kate why
she sold the cottage. Jenny arrives as Kate leaves and they exchange
a few words.
In bed, Nick and Kate talk
about Jane - both are puzzled why she left.
Jane “escapes” from the old
people’s home and goes to Charlie’s grave.
Nick detects a funny smell
in Blaketon’s office. He shows the sergeant a piece in the paper -
Walker is building fifty bungalows on his land - but Blaketon tells
him to “drop it”. Ventress and Bellamy enter the office, the former
holding the kitten and he is told to get rid of the animal. Ventress
says he can’t put the kitten down; his fellow constables also
refuse. Blaketon demands the kitten and takes it, saying he is going
to the vet.
Rowan, presumably called by
Walker, arrives at Jane’s former home to find the man and his
workers outside - Jane has locked herself in the cottage.
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Nick persuades the woman to
let him in and she tells him she did not want to sell the place.
Eric, her son-in-law, told her he was going to accept Walker’s last
offer whether she liked it or not. He thought he could do this since
Jane had signed the deeds over to the Bradshaws when she had been
poorly the year before; when she recovered Eric told her not to
bother to sign them back. Nicks asks Walker if he owns the cottage
and he replies not officially but that he has the owner’s permission
to demolish it. He is informed that Bradshaw isn’t the owner and in
fact the man could be facing an investigation.
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Nick and Kate visit the
Bradshaw home to let Jenny know her mother is safe and at the
cottage. They talk to the couple, as a result of which Jenny
realises her husband was responsible for the calls, disturbances and
vandalism at her mother’s. She backs up his alibi but once the
Rowans have left, she confronts her husband. He admits
responsibility - Kate and Nick standing outside hear the raised
voices …..
Jenny arrives at the cottage
- she has come to stay with her mother, having left Eric. She tells
Jane it’s time to let her father rest in peace.
Rowan advises Blaketon that
Greengrass (who the sergeant can’t abide) is suing Walker about the
right of way. Ventress enters the office to pass on a message from
the vet - Blaketon left the inoculation certificates behind. The
supposedly hard-hearted sergeant’s secret is out! The final scene
has Blaketon alone in his office, holding and talking to the kitten.
Note
Since Anne guested in the
previous episode of Heartbeat,
Chilly Reception,
I assume she and Peter stayed in Yorkshire together whilst both
episodes were filmed. As far as I’m aware, these two Heartbeat
episodes are the closest the couple have come to acting together
since The Onedin Line, though they have been interviewed jointly on
television a couple of times. (I have been told that Anne & Peter
did a play together but so far have not come across any information
about a joint venture - if anyone knows anything, we would love to
learn more.)
DR, August 2004
Television 90s
Television
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