© ITV Pic/Mark Bourdillon
MIDSOMER MURDERS
RED
IN TOOTH AND CLAW
DETAILED
SYNOPSIS
© ITV Pic/Mark Bourdillon
Under cover of darkness, local Estate Agent Seb Huntington releases animals from their cages at the Belville Small Pet Show. Someone confronts Seb and the following morning Ailsa Benson arrives to set up her pet food stall to find Seb dead, surrounded by escaped bunnies...
At
the crime scene Barnaby and Winter meet Locum Pathologist Dr Oliver
Marcet. While Winter hides his disappointment that Kam is on a
course, Barnaby learns the victim died from a stab wound to the neck.
Hearing Ailsa Benson's alibi, Barnaby and Winter next interview Seb's
distraught girlfriend Tegan Langton and her boss. Hall owner and Pet
Show patron the stately Delphi Hartley. Finding no reason anyone
would want to harm Seb or sabotage the show, they leave Tegan to be
comforted by best friend Shray Varma - watched from afar by the
mysterious Errol Judd. Barnaby and Winter go to see Cleo Langton,
Tegan's mum and Seb's boss at the Estate Agents, and discover Seb was
trying to get Delphi to sell the hall, but Delphi wasn't interested.
Theorising the murderer might be a competitor sabotaging the show,
Barnaby and Winter next visit Best In Show defending champion Timothy
Benson, whose alibi unwittingly throws suspicion back onto his
estranged wife Ailsa. Timothy is distraught to discover Hercules has
been kidnapped. Meanwhile in a secret room an unknown figure strokes
the sleeve of a luxury fur coat.
When
Winter gleans from Seb's computer that he was sabotaging the show,
Barnaby posits that someone murdered Seb to stop him. Winter reveals
that local hotelier Perry Tressel has form for animal rights
campaigning and fits the bill. Winter follows up on Ailsa's dodgy
alibi at the pet shop, learning of her affair with charming builder
Jayesh Varma and sensing Ailsa is hiding something. At the pet
friendly hotel he runs with wife Belinda, Perry dismisses his
activism as ancient history. Upset at having uncovered wife Ailsa's
affair with charming builder Jayesh Varma, Barnaby witnesses Timothy
accuse fellow competitor Cleo of stealing Hercules so she will win
Best In Show. Cleo drives off, passing Errol Judd. She immediately
turns round and attempts to run him over.
Back
at the show Barnaby witnesses workmen taking the sponsorship boards
down and tasks Winter to looking into Delphi's finances, finding
she's broke. Confronting her, Barnaby discovers Seb sabotaged the
show to try to force Delphi to sell the hall earning him a big
commission. When Errol reveals to Tegan he is her long lost father,
Tegan reacts angrily towards Cleo - she lied saying he was dead.
However, driving home it is Cleo who struggles for breath and ends up dead...
When
Oliver reveals Cleo died from respiratory distress, Barnaby cleverly
identifies it was murder. Digging into ex-husband Errol, Winter
uncovers a colourful past that puts him in the frame - along with the
angry Tegan, vengeful Timothy and the Varma's, who Barnaby discovers
were suing Cleo for negligence. Facing financial ruin, Delphi reveals
to Tegan she owns the luxury fur coats and plans to sell them to save
the Hall and show - but they've been stolen. Tracing Cleo's movements
helps Winter to find the scissors used to kill Seb. Discovering they
belong to Timothy Benson leads Timothy to confess - not to killing
Seb or Cleo, but to the fact the real Hercules had died and he'd
replaced him with a look-a-like. Fearing he'd be caught led to the
kidnapping. When Winter catches Ailsa and Jayesh with Delphi's
missing fur coats, their revenge plot is foiled. Back at the show,
Errol is knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant.
Learning
Errol plans to take Tegan away with him, Barnaby deduces the murders
are all linked to Tegan, and Errol is in mortal danger. Racing back
to the show, Barnaby & Winter arrive just in time to catch the killer.........