04x02 - Gone Tomorrow 2

[bunniefuu]

Professor Ryan,
my name's Petersen.

I've just been appointed
Coroner's Officer

for the Lincolnshire district.

Two hours ago, a helicopter
ditched in the North Sea.

We're throwing
everything we've got at it.

I bloody hope so.

How many on board?

TILSON: 16.

THORN: Oh God.

SAM: Ultimately, all we can
offer these men and their families

is the truth.

They're heading
for the airfield!

Come on!

Without an airframe,

the victim's bodies are the
only evidence we're likely to find,

which means it's
all down to you.

It's Alan, the co-pilot.

I've found a pulse!

He's alive!

Will he be alright?

I hope so, he hasn't
regained consciousness.

Just tell me you
didn't do anything.

What do you mean, do anything?

The helicopter, you
didn't do anything?

Do anything!

ANN-MARIE: You said
you'd do anything for us.

CONNEL: I would,
you know I would.

SAM: Watch is stopped at 16:07,

and bears the inscription,
"To my darling Matt. Love, Liz."

This man d*ed of a heart att*ck.

[HAUNTING OPERATIC THEME MUSIC]

[HELICOPTER ENGINE ROARING]

[MUFFLED, FRANTIC SCREAMING]

I take it I'm invited to
your next post-mortem?

I just wanted to get an idea of
what those men went through.

You any good at 3D jigsaws?

I've had some practice.

Right.

But the parts don't carry
quite as much paperwork.

Manufacturer, length of
service, who supplied them,

who fitted them,
who signed them off.

Who does sign them off?

The pilot, and the engineer.

Which is why I would like
to speak to the engineer,

since I can't
speak to the pilot.

I never realized just how

Flimsy they are?

There's nothing
between you and oblivion

but a few ounces of aluminum.

Bear that in mind,
next time your fly.

Thanks, I'll try not to.

I couldn't do your job.

Never been much good
with people, dead or alive.

No, give me
machinery every time.

We're all just so devastated.

I don't know how to go on.

No, I don't think we can.

I mean, all those poor men.

Well they must have been.

It must've been our fault!

Margaret, you're tired,
you're overwrought,

and you're not helping.

I'm sorry, Mr. Thorn.

And stop saying
sorry all the time,

this crash was not
the company's fault.

- It's just...
- Margaret!

Go home, take a few days off.

But I wanted to...

TILSON: Margaret, come on love.

Come on, I'll give
you a ring when

things calm down a bit, alright?

For God's sake Jim...

THORN: Can't you see
what's at stake here?

We can't just roll
over and admit liability,

we'd be finished.

We have to stick together.

Now come next Monday,
you and me and her,

and the whole bloody
town with be signing off.

KITTRICK: Early test results

on the pilot's blood samples.

Thanks.

KITTRICK: Interesting.

What?

SAM: Have you seen this?

Yup.

Says there was
alcohol in his blood?

I know.

First it was a heart att*ck, and
now you're telling me he was drunk?

No, I'm not saying that.

The amount they found
could simply be microbial.

The internal organs start to
decay and produce alcohol,

which shows up as a spike trace.

I've taken vitreous from the
eyes and samples of urine,

but I'm still waiting on the
test results from RAF Langley.

How long will that take?

Well, as long as
it takes, 12 hours.

Drunk with a heart condition?

I'm amazed he managed
to survive this long.

So much for my draft report.

Jim, chopper's
coming in with bodies.

SAM: We still have to find out

what caused the
puncture mark on his arm.

Don't tell me, heroin.

This meeting is
confidential, Mr. Thorn.

The rescue chopper's
coming back, with bodies.

[SIREN WAILING]

[CHOPPER BLADES WHIRRING]

[MUFFLED SHOUTING]

How many bodies?

[SIRENS WAILING]

Come up!

Gently, gently does it!

We found this as well.

[SAD VIOLIN MUSIC PLAYING]

Coming through.

Pieces of the helicopter.

Can you get them to Kittrick?

[HAUNTING VOCAL MUSIC PLAYING]

Start by numbering
the bodies left to right.

[INDISTINCT TALKING]

[TALKING/BAGS UNZIPPING]

Everyone listen, please.

Can everybody listen?

Our first priority
is identification,

so we can start to
inform the relatives.

Teams two and three,

I want you to work from the
number on the immersion suit,

taking note of any
personal effects.

Of course we're
shocked, we're appalled.

It was indefensible,
he was drunk.

A full inquiry, that's right,
but that's what it'll show.

Of course, good night.

Who was drunk,

Matt?

I saw him.

THORN: Did you talk to him?

No.

But the evidence is there.

I don't believe it.

Nor do I, all the
years I've known him.

Must be some mistake.

The only mistake was
letting him fly that chopper.

You weren't to know,
Chris, none of us were.

We trusted him,
and he betrayed us.

And now we have to put
it behind us and move on.

Chris,

how many?

What?

Bodies.



[HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING]

MAN: Stan, we need
some photographs, please.

Can we start
informing the relatives?

As soon as their
ID's been confirmed.

Still four men out there.

Well as long as they're
out there, they're not in here.

[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING]

Okay.

[SAD VIOLIN MUSIC PLAYING]

Michael Wellin?

No, I'm sorry.

WOMAN: Mrs. Williams?

Would you like to sit down?

Mr. Connel.

[FAINT SCREAMING AND SOBBING]

Damage to the legs, left
foot almost untouched,

apart from superficial
abrasions close to the ankle.

Would you mind
helping turn him over?

The right foot has
been deeply cut

at the base of the
ankle, but is intact.

Impact wound, photograph please.

MAN: Multiple
lacerations to both knees,

the right knee sustaining
the most serious damage.

Right ankle shattered
by what seems

a considerable upward force.

Thanks, I can manage.

MAN: There's very little
damage apparent to the left arm,

upper back, or the
back of the head.

Lacerations to the
right arm and hand

and what appear to
be fragments of plastic

lodged in the femur and in
the remnants of the right hand.

[SCREAMING]

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]

[SCREAMING]

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]

Can somebody

help with the clothing
on body zero-five please?

TONY: I understand
you had a friend on board.

CONNEL: Yeah, Jonathan.

You were the last one
to service Daytripper 15.

She'd done what,


Yeah, and plenty left in her.

TONY: When was the last
time she had a full service?

Uh, I don't know,
it's all in the files.

When was the last time
she had a part replaced?

[SIGHING]

I was impressed
by your workshop.

Well-ordered, every
tool calibrated correctly,

paperwork neatly
filed, most of it.

I couldn't find a
sheet for the tail rotor.

I'm not that hot on filing,

it can get frantic around here.

So you cut corners?

No, no!

I just sometimes don't
keep up with the filing.

So where is it, the sheet?

The in tray.

Then you did replace
a part recently.

Why pull the part
sheet, otherwise?

I replaced a rotor bolt.

When?

Last week.

So where's the certificate?

I really wish I could help you.

Thank you, Mr. Connel.

Are we finished?

For the moment.

[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING]

SAM: The whole body
looks as though the seat

disintegrated around it.

Most of the damage
is below the waist.

And there are fragments
of what look like seating

embedded in the buttocks
and small of the back.

Severe impact trauma
to both feet and ankles.

Do we have his
clothes still here?

MAN: Yeah.

Can I see the body charts
detailing the injuries?

What are you thinking?

There's no seating
plan, was there?

First come, first serve.

But would there have been anyone
who might have seen the men,

where they were sitting?

Tilson said something
about dropping off the mail.

Great.

[MUFFLED SCREAMING
AND SCREECHING]

I just dropped off
some mail for the rig.

I really didn't see
who sat where.

Who was the last man in?

I don't know.

Hold on.

De Sauza was sitting
here by the door,

and Marker was over
there by the far window.

Apart from that

No, that's great,
that's what I thought.

What did you think?

Oh, early days yet.

Thank you.

[SEABIRDS CALLING FAINTLY]

[SOFTLY CHUCKLING]

I think Newsome
ought to see this.

[DOOR SLAMMING]
LIZ: Professor Ryan!

Professor Ryan!

Get off!

Have you see this?

Seen what?

No, you don't need
to see it, do you?

Because you wrote it!

I had nothing to do with this.

"Medical tests have proved
that the pilot was incapable."

It was his heart!

SAM: Liz.

You know it was, you
told me it was his heart!

This is why, this, those
are the hours he worked.

That's the real
log, the one I kept,

the one I prayed I'd
never have to use!

It was Tilson and Jim
Thorn that k*lled my husband,

and you just spat on his grave!

I'm going after her.

Car?

Your red Vector.

Liz, wait!

[SIREN WAILING]

sh*t.

Do you mind stepping
out of the car, please?

I'm with the team
investigating the crash.

Might have had another
one, the speed you were doing.

Any license or documents?

No, my name's Sam
Ryan, if you call the airfield

I know who you are, Professor.

Then you'll know
this was important.

I was hoping to speak
to one of the relatives,

not much chance of that now.

Round here, we have
things called telephones,

saves a lot of rushing about.

Yes, I know, I'm sorry.

You people, you move
in, take over the place,

start rewriting history.

Do you want to give me ticket?

On your way, Professor,
and watch your speed.

Why did you pull
me over, and not her?

She was going a darn
sight faster that I was.

Do you want a ticket,
you can have one.

And what was that cr*ck
about rewriting history?

I know it's lies, right?

And I know why you
lot are telling them,

because you think
it's best all around.

But Davies was a good
bloke, he doesn't deserve that.

Were you on duty on Wednesday?

You pulled him over, didn't you?

Was he speeding?

He was always
speeding, he was a pilot.

I was always pulling him over.

And on Wednesday?

I stopped him,

and he gave me lots
of lip, so I nicked him.

Made him come down the station.

I even gave him a breath test,
but the machine was broken.

So he had to give
a blood sample.

Yeah, he was sober as a judge.

I knew he was, I was only
showing him, but he was furious.

He was red in the
face, he was swearing.

If I hadn't pissed him off,

he'd have been fine,
and those 15 other blokes.

It's why I couldn't tell anyone.

For what it's worth, I
don't think it was your fault.

Are you gonna
give me that ticket?

Not this time.

What was it you
call journalists, rats?

But you'll use them
when it suits you.

I'm sorry?

SAM: You leaked
that story to the press

to get your company
off the hook.

It's not just my company.

If we go, the jobs go.

Then the shops,
then the schools.

The rigs won't wait three
months for official findings,

they'll cancel their
contracts tomorrow

and take their business
down the coast.

So you sold out your
friend for a contract.

He sold us out when he
climbed into that cockpit drunk.

Well here's another
exclusive for you, he wasn't.

Professor,

milk?

Yes, thanks.

Okay, I want to
show you something.

You see the way the
material has been cut here?

The cuts run upward, suggesting
a violent impact from below.

Now this man had massive
injuries to his lower body.

His seat had almost
entirely disintegrated,

pieces were embedded in
his buttocks and lower back.

Victims zero-four and
zero-six showed similar trauma,

but to a lesser extent.

Victim zero-two, still less.

I've managed to piece together

where I think each man
was sitting in the helicopter,

from the very nature
and scale of their injuries,

together with an
eyewitness report

from the last person to see
them aboard, Chris Tilson.

Now he says Philip De
Souza was sitting here,

that Andrew Marker was
seated beside this window.

The further back the men
were sitting in the helicopter,

the greater the injuries
to their feet and legs.

Richard Johnson,
victim zero-five,

he was seated right at
the back of the helicopter,

he lost both legs.

Death row.

Furthest from the door.

SAM: At the start of the crisis,

Davies had suffered
a heart att*ck,

and had released his harness.

So he was unrestrained when
the nose section hit the water,

hence the trauma to his head.

Could the heart att*ck have
been caused by his drinking?

SAM: He hadn't been drinking.

What?

He was late for departure because
he'd been arrested for speeding.

He was taken to
a police station,

where they gave him
a blood test for alcohol.

The puncture mark on his arm.

He was stone cold sober.

I talked to the police
officer who took him in.

[CAR ENGINE RUNNING]

[SOMBER MUSIC]

It's almost as if there were
two separate accidents,

with the front section coming
down nose first into the water,

and the rear section tail first,

with this part hitting the
water at tremendous speed.

You don't think it broke in
half when it hit the surface?

No I don't.

When the rear section struck,

the floor collapsed upwards
with the most enormous force,

almost as if it was
hitting concrete,

and that's what caused the
injuries to the lower extremities.

How fast would it have to
be falling to create that effect?



If the front section had hit
the surface at that speed,

Monroe would be dead,
harness or no harness.

So you're talking about
mid-air structural failure,

with the tail section
coming completely away?

That's what the evidence
would seem to suggest.

Enough to give
any pilot a coronary.

Even if he hadn't
had a heart att*ck,

could he have done anything?

Well, not much, if he was
only flying half a helicopter.

The rotor bolt?

We've been trying to track down
the documents for a tail rotor bolt.

For the most part, the
engineer's notes are meticulous,

but this one sheet's missing.

The new bolt might
have been faulty,

might even have
been counterfeit,

but the end result would
have been the same.

If the tail rotor shears,

the fragments can hit the fuselage
at hundreds of miles an hour.

Fully loaded helicopter,
flying at 1,500 feet,

the stress on the airframe
would have been catastrophic.

Interesting theory.

We've had the heart
att*ck and the drunken pilot,

this one's the best so far.

There is just one more thing

I think we should bear in mind.

There's still four
men unaccounted for.

Frankly, I don't hold out much hope
for these men in these three seats,

but one man was sitting forward.

There's just a chance he might've
made it into the water uninjured.

You think so?

Who's the woman next to
Johnathan Williams in the photograph?

That's his wife.

If that's his wife,

I walked in on her having
sex with the engineer.

[PHONE RINGING]

Keith's dead.

What?

Gassed himself in his car.

Why the hell would he do that?

SAM: Looks like carbon
monoxide poisoning.

No obvious sign
of trauma or duress.

su1c1de, then?

Looks like a note, there.

I can't touch it
till they arrive.

Certainly not.

Don't tell the Coroner's Office.

[SEABIRDS CALLING]

"I'm so sorry.



If you deliberately wanted to bring
down a chopper, is that how you'd do it?

There are easier ways.

Is this what you're looking for?

Paperwork on the tail section.

This doesn't make sense,
the numbering's all wrong.

Let's go and find
Tilson and Thorn.

I'm gonna try and
talk to the co-pilot.

If Matt Davies was late,
maybe he signed off the part.

Shall I come with you?

Two might seem
like an inquisition.

Keith told me one of the
rotor bolts was damaged,

we needed a
replacement part quickly.

Keith fitted it, but there
was no paperwork.

We were already way behind.

I persuaded him and
Alan to sign off without it.

Why was there no paperwork?

It was an emergency,

I thought it would do
until a new part arrived.

You thought what would do?

I took a bolt from
the disposal unit.

There was nothing wrong with
it, it was time expired, that's all.

Keith only took it off
zero-seven a few days, it seems.

And they knew about
this? Keith and Alan?

No, I just told them
the paperwork was late.

I'm sorry, Jim,
I'm really sorry.

Sorry? Why are you
saying sorry to me?

There are 10 widows out there,


fathers, you bloody idiot!

I had no choice!

Keith woulda grounded the
helicopter, we'd have lost the contract!

You're always telling
me to use my initiative.

I didn't mean, God Almighty!

And you've known
this all this time?

What are we going
to tell the AAIB?

You mean what are
you gonna tell 'em?

We're in this together,
Jim, I did it for you.

I've always done
everything for you.

Then you can own up
to your mistakes for me!

You betrayed those
men, Chris, not me!

You don't gamble
with people's lives!

Look at this, six
months out of date!

You're supposed to
be General Manager,

why don't you do
something with it?

Jim!

What?

[CLANKING]

[TIRES SQUEALING]

[PHONE RINGING]

Tony!

Sorry.

Is it okay?

Little over five minutes.

[SEAGULLS CALLING]

Dammit.

Mr. Tilson.

How is he?

Mr. Newsome and
Mr. Kittrick want to talk to you.

Competitiveness, Chris,
that's the game we're in.

Every year, had to lay off
staff, cut back on maintenance,

fiddle the rosters when
we couldn't afford the pilots,

and cut cost to the
bone, into the bone,

so that Jim Thorn could
be friend of the people.

Everyone's hero.

He was my hero too.

I gave him everything,
I gave him my life.

- Come away from
that - Leave me alone!

Why did you have to?

We'd have been okay, we could've
picked up the pieces, carried on.

Why did you have to come prying?

No! 11 men are dead!

I shouldn't have to take
that kind of responsibility.

No, you shouldn't.

But he's still alive.

We know what happened.

Switching off the machine isn't
going to make any difference.

I did it for Jim.

I know.

You didn't want to hurt anyone.

You still don't.

Alright, Mr. Tilson,
come on, take it easy.

LIZ: I love this place.

I'm sorry, for lashing
out at you this morning.

It's okay.

I just wanted to tell you

that we've had the
test results back.

There was no evidence of
alcohol in your husband's blood.

He wasn't drunk.

I knew it!

But the heart att*ck?

We think the helicopter
broke up, mid-flight.

There was nothing anyone
could do to save those men.

Oh, God.

Thank you.

Is that Joann down there?

She's saying goodbye.

SAM: Have they found more men?

But they're calling
off the search.

You've called off the search?

There's a force seven
coming in from the northeast.

There's a chance one of those
men went into the water uninjured.

That was two nights ago.

Well what about their drysuit?

Professor Ryan, they've already
picked up three dead bodies.

We can't risk a chopper
crew for the sake of a fourth.

Just a bit more time, please?

We're still clearing
up one air accident,

I don't want to
start on another.

I'll contact Coast Guard,
tell them another 20 minutes.

Well, I hope you're right!

[ENGINE ROARING]

[SIREN WAILING]

[HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING]

Michael!

Let's go.

[HAUNTING OPERATIC THEME MUSIC]