01x03 - All the Lost Children

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The Anatomy Act will ensure that medicine in this country is practised only by qualified professionals.

I think this abomination is the work of someone trying to put astop to it.

What do you know about the Anatomy Act?

It's costing me my livelihood.

What would you do to stop it? m*rder?

m*rder? I'm a businessman.

Have a look for yourself. Incomings and outgoings. It's all in here.

I thought we were going to see your nurse.

Her lodgings are upstairs.

Pritty gave you something to remember him by.

Now I'll do the same. Bentley Warburton.

Honourable member for Walthamstow. I want to know his habits.

Where he goes, who he knows. Who pays him house calls.

Sir Bentley Warburton? A fellow Parliamentarian?

And your opponent.

What else did you talk about?

Her brother.

Lord Hervey. He runs a hospital of some kind. In the East End.

Mr Blake said to be sure you received this.

His latest work.

Should you find no use for it I would be glad to take it from you.

Tell me about Alice.

I saw her.

I liked her dress. She didn't want to give it up.

Billy forced her. Next day he took her away.

Where?

They just... (SIGHS) go.

Someone's been murdering to undercut our trade.

What if I could find them for you?

An Investigation into the Galvanic Reponse of Dead Tissue.

By William Chester, D.Phil. Christchurch. Name, please?

Sir William Chester.

Perhaps you need a maid, sir.

I already have one.

I can cook. And sew.

I'll look after you for the time being.

Besides, I need you.

What for?

Help lead me to Billy. And Alice.

That dress proves he took her.

I've got my uses, then.

As we all do.

I don't have anything for you, Mr Marlott.

Do you know that?

Frankenstein. Who doesn't?

Me. Until yesterday.

Tell me about it.

You didn't see the play?

Edmund Peake's Performers. Three or four summers back.

That season's hot ticket until Parliament shut it down.

Why's that?

Blasphemy. It's about this madman who finds a way to resurrect...

I know.

The whole world went twice.

Except you, apparently.

It set off quite a trend, for a while.

Trend for what?

Mothers giving birth to serpent children, people turning into wolves at midnight.

Which came first? Book or play?

Book, of course.

What do you know about the author?

Mary Shelley. One of Byron's crowd.

A rum lot. You've heard of him, surely?

No.

The Vampire Lord?

Poet, seducer, traitor...

Traitor?

Speaking up for Boney, as I recall.

Don't know much, do you?

I fought against Bonaparte at Waterloo.

I know that much.

Your turn now, Mr Marlott.

You said there'd be a story for me if I was to help you.

Well, I have. So let's have it.

I'll let you know. In time.

You promised me a story, Mr Marlott!

(DOORBELL RINGS)

(DOORBELL RINGS)

(DOORBELL RINGS)

The gentleman that came in. Where is he?

What gentleman?

I saw him enter not one minute ago.

Bentley Warburton.

I'm sorry, young man.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Is there another way out of here?

Do you see one?

(DOORBELL RINGS)

How could it be possible?

I don't know, sir.

I didn't take my eyes from him. One second he was there, the next, gone.

People just don't disappear into smoke, Nightingale.

No, sir.

Look, I'll keep on him like a barnacle next time.

Next time?

The girl from Cloth Fair's turned up. Flora.

Billy's girl?

The same.

It was Billy that took Alice, the butcher's daughter.

It was her dress. You're to buy Flora a new one.

And bring the old one back as evidence.

Think you can manage it?

Oh, and Nightingale? She's an important witness. Don't lose her.

Yes, sir.

Kentish Town!

Right you are, sir.

Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil, as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave?

I collected bones from charnel-houses, and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame.

Mrs Shelley?

Mr Marlott.

I take it you've come to bring me Mr Blake's work.

Not on this occasion. May I come in, please?

I will be brief.

You find me at work. I'm a writer.

I know.

You've met my creature.

Indeed. And was... unsettled by it.

Some might say that was its intention.

May I ask how it originated?

It came to me in a nightmare.

Hardly seems possible. A gentlewoman of letters.

Proving how little you can tell from outward appearances.

But we can't control our nightmares, can we, Mr Marlott?

The science in this story. How did you come upon it?

I invented it. I should have thought that obvious.

Galvanism?

Galvani was real, of course.

But his theories have no such application as they find in my book.

Or certainly not to my knowledge.

And where did you encounter them?

Through my husband, Percy.

A surgeon?

A poet.

May I speak with him?

I'm a widow these last four years.

Oh, my condolences.

The stitching together of corpses?

Quite an unusual notion, isn't it?

You might call it a... parody of the Resurrection. What brings you here, Mr Marlott?

You don't strike me as a man for idle speculation.

A crime I'm investigating.

The missing girl? Alice?

Yes. And others, too.

I still don't see how it relates to my poor creature.

Or, indeed, to the late Mr Blake's work.

You don't think we're responsible, do you?

I don't know what to think yet, Mrs Shelley.

How did you and Mr Blake come to know each other?

He was a friend of my mother's. Mary Wollstonecraft.

A novelist, like me.

Until I k*lled her.

She d*ed at my birth.

I'm sorry.

Don't be. Any further questions?

The title. Why Prometheus?

He stole fire from the gods and moulded human flesh from clay.

Like my Victor. A symbol of rebellion.

For you and Blake both?

For all of us... who oppose tyranny and oppression.

Tyranny and oppression? Or the laws of God?

What would he not do to defeat death, Mr Marlott?

Might we not defy God's laws... in order to be reunited with those we love?

(DOOR OPENS)

Percy!

Percy, there's someone I want you to meet.

Percy, say hello to Mr Marlott.

How do you do, sir?

(GRUNTS)

My family, Mr Marlott.

Mother, sister... daughters, husband.

All dead.

If you're seeking to understand my nightmares, you probably need look no further than that.

I wonder at your purpose here, Mr Marlott.

People like myself and Mr Blake create things that are strange and uncanny, where men may find themselves reflected.

Sometimes, people like yourself mistakenly come to us when strange and uncanny things happen to them.

Rather than looking in the mirror... and facing what is strange and uncanny in themselves.

Could I be right?

I'm sorry to have troubled you. Good day.

(DOOR CLICKS SHUT)

Pack some clothes and your school books. We're leaving immediately.

Why, Mama?

Do as I say.

What would he not do to defeat death, Mr Marlott?

(RAVEN CAWING)

Might we not defy God's laws... in order to be reunited with those we love?

(GASPS) It's all right.

I work for Mr Marlott.

I weren't thieving. Honest.

I didn't say you were.

What are you doing?

Trying to put them in order.

Why?

My Nan used to have cards like them. Tarot.

If you put them the right way they can tell you the future.

I'm to buy you a new dress.

Careful! Careful.

Thank you, sir.

Joseph.

Shall I throw it away, sir?

No. No, I'll take it.

Bring it back when it starts getting tight. I'll put a panel in the sides.

That way she can still wear it when her time gets close.

Why didn't you tell me?

I wasn't sure.

Well, you are now.

Does Billy know?

He thought I was a virgin.

He was saving me.

For himself?

For a gentleman.

But he spoiled the deal.

How?

Kept upping the price on him.

Billy didn't know, but... the gent he was trying to cheat found me in the market one day.

He forced himself on you?

He bought me things.

That print of the lost girl I had up on my wall.

One day he gave me a drink. When I woke, he was gone.

He didn't visit you again?

Why would he?

Or tell you his name?

You didn't tell Billy?

He'd have said it was my fault.

(SNIFFS)

I'm going to get rid of it.

No. You'll do no such thing.

What do you care?

It's a life!

What about my life?

Who will take me like this?

I will.

(SCOFFS)

(SIGHS) You can't.

I've got lodgings in Borough. She can come as my maid.

And when she's due?

I'll say it's mine.

I mean it.

I have a better idea.

Lord Hervey.

What about him?

He runs a hospital of some kind. In the East End.

I've already looked into him. And I intend to do so further.

Lady Hervey?

Mr Marlott.

How kind of you to call. Unfortunately you find me on my way out.

May I walk with you?

Mr Marlott will accompany me today, Lloris.

As you wish, my Lady.

A young girl has come to me for protection.

A stray.

I need somewhere to place her.

As a domestic?

She's with child.

Left to herself, I fear she may harm it.

How dreadful.

(CHURCH BELL RINGS)

When we spoke before you mentioned your brother's hospital.

Might there... be a place for her there?

Until her term is out?

You wouldn't play me for a fool, would you, Mr Marlott?

I don't follow, my Lady.

Daniel's no favourite of Sir Robert's, as you know.

And you're his agent. If you were looking for some means to place him under surveillance...

I've come to you in good faith, on behalf of this unfortunate creature.

And her child.

As a Christian.

I...apologise for doubting you.

It was unworthy.

(DISTANT ORGAN MUSIC)

Will you join me? Inside?

Of course.

(CONGREGATION SINGS HYMN)

(JOHN BUNYAN: To Be A Pilgrim)

♪ He'll with a giant fight ♪
♪ But he will have a right to be a pilgrim ♪
♪ Hobgoblin, nor foul fiend ♪
♪ Can daunt his spirit ♪
♪ He knows he at the end ♪
♪ Shall life inherit ♪
♪ Then fancies fly away ♪
♪ He'll fear not what men say ♪
♪ He'll labour night and day to be a pilgrim ♪

Priest: Let us pray.

Pastor: Dost thou, John, renounce the devil and all his works?

Dost thou renounce the carnal desires of the flesh... so that thou will not follow, nor be led by them?

I renounce them all.

Poor mite.

(BABY FUSSES)

I baptise thee, Katherine, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

To you, gentle Father we humbly commit this child, so precious in your sight.

Welcome her into your presence where there is no sorrow nor pain, but the fullness of peace and joy with you for ever and ever.

Priest: Amen.

Mr Marlott?

Excuse me.

I know how prayer can prompt unwanted thoughts.

Perhaps it might help you to share them.

My wife and daughter d*ed... on account of my carelessness.

How terrible for you.

Worse for them.

Maybe not.

Come.

We can discuss this girl.

You can't make me go.

You'll do as you're told.

May I have a word, sir?

I fear that this ain't right, sir.

She's with child. This may be putting her in harm's way.

I need a place to keep her safe.

And a reason to take a closer look at this man and his hospital.

This gives me both.

What of her safety, sir?

I'll judge the place and the man when I see them.

If I fear for her safety I won't leave her there. Swear it?

What do you mean by do I swear it?

Sorry, sir.

Good day.

Ma'am.

What now, sir?

Go back to Bow Street. Tell Forrester you're at his disposal.

I've no further use for you.

(HORSE NEIGHS)

Mr Marlott has told me of your condition.

This place isn't like other hospitals. You'll be looked after.

No-one will hurt you or do anything against your wishes.

If you don't like it, you'll be free to leave. We promise.

Isn't that so, Mr Marlott?

Yes.

I want to withdraw my funds.

May I have your account details?

I don't have them with me. The manager knows me.

Tom Pritty of Hatton Gardens. I've banked here ten years.

If you'd care to take a seat while we do the formalities?

I'm in a hurry. We'll be as quick as we can.

(KNOCKS DOOR)

(INAUDIBLE)

(DOOR SLAMS)

Here he is now.

Message from Mr Marlott. I don't work for him no more.

He's wanted at the bank. Urgent.

Collier's Bank? The body snatcher turned up.

Why's it taking so long?

Sorry, sir. It's a large amount of coin.

We may not have it all.

Give me what you have. I'll send for the balance.

I'll just tell my colleague.

Why are you sweating?

Am I, sir?

(DISTANT COMMOTION)

I hope, for your sake, there's a back way out of here.

Move!

Out of the way!

Move!

Out of the way!

Oi! You want to watch out!

(SHRIEKS)

(PANTS)

How did you find me?

Your account book gave us the name of your bank.

You greedy bastard. You had to come back for it, didn't you?

You can't blame me. I've got a family to look after.

Get up. Get up!

Fat lot of good you'll do them at the end of a rope.

Good punch. Yeah? I ain't going to run again. (PANTS)

I'll find the K*llers for you, I swear.

So why didn't you?

(PUFFS AND PANTS) I'm scared of them.

More than the drop?

Aye. Maybe.

Come on.

Mittram Abbey. My family bought it from the Crown when King Henry dissolved the monasteries.

In the days when we had money.

Appearances can deceive, Mr Marlott.

Daniel's work is funded by what remains of our inheritance.

The rest comes from charity.

What are you doing here?

Don't fret, brother. I've brought you a patient. Flora?

What's wrong with her? Her guardian wants her safely housed.

Till her confinement.

Peel's man? Here?

Mr Marlott wanted to see where she'd be staying.

This is not a hostel.

He's come to us for help, Daniel. Please.

There is a spare room in the tower.

Thank you, dear brother. I'll settle her in. Flora?

Child's yours, I take it?

Would it matter?

I noticed your condition when we met.

It's hereditary.

The child's not mine.

Then what's your interest in her?

She's an important witness. I'm from Bow Street.

I thought you worked for Sir Robert.

I do.

And your decision to bring her here purely fortuitous, I suppose?

No. I heard about your work from Lady Hervey.

I'm on my rounds. Come, if you wish.

You can see what I do here.

Why did they forbid you to speak in Parliament?

Because I would have exposed them.

As what?

Liars. Hypocrites. Monsters.

Sir Robert?

And Sir William.

He was my teacher when I was 17.

You studied surgery?

For a term.

Then abandoned it.

Why?

I don't believe one can discover the secrets of life by cutting up the dead.

Or by artificially animating them with electricity.

You mean galvanism?

Charlatanism.

How long have you had your condition?

Several years now. On and off.

Are you treating it?

Mercury?

That will send you mad before the syphilis does.

I have a natural remedy.

Experimental, but promising. Derived from...

I'm not here to discuss my ailment.

As you wish.

Cave baestiam. Beware the Beast.

The monks who ran this place kept a menagerie here.

I use it as a hospice.

She has a tumour.

The surgeons would take a Kn*fe to it.

And your method?

Using natural remedies to ease her agony.

You can't cure her?

No more can they.

There is very little we can do that nature can't, Mr Marlott.

This one might interest you.

(PATIENT GROANS)

Syphilis. Tertiary phase.

Shh. There, there. Shh. It's all right.

It's all right, it's all right.

Good. (PATIENT GROANS) It's all right. Shh.

You often get these fits in the final stages.

Your treatment didn't work, then.

Too late, in this case.

And in mine?

Maybe not. Though you might want to act quickly, Mr Marlott.

If Sir Robert's Anatomy Act passes I shall be forbidden from charging for my practice and have to shut down.

How much do you require for the girl's accommodation?

As much as you think it worth.

I'll make provision with Lady Hervey, if I may.

I take it then that you are satisfied with our level of care.

My thanks to you and Lady Hervey. I must get back to London.

(HORSE NEIGHS)

(SIGHS)

People like myself and Mr Blake create things that are strange and uncanny, where men may find themselves reflected.

Sometimes, people like yourself mistakenly come to us when strange and uncanny things happen to them.

Rather than looking in the mirror... and facing what is strange and uncanny in themselves.

(GASPS)

(BELL TOLLS)

(BABY MEWLS)

To you, gentle Father we humbly entrust this child, so precious in your sight.

Welcome her into your presence where there is no sorrow nor pain, but the fullness of peace and joy with you for ever and ever.

(SOBS)

You missed a bit.

Long way from home, ain't you?

(GROANS) Saints preserve us!

At least my goods is warm. Ha!

That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Warm goods.

Do you remember what you told me?

No.

Will three kings help you remember?

Five? Maybe.

The m*rder*r you're looking for, Mr Marlott?

I think I've found a way to get to him. How?

A puer gatherer, Edward Barkis.

He says he can set up a meet with him tonight, ten o'clock at the Fortune of w*r. Billy the child catcher?

That's my guess. What reason did you give?

Trade, of course. I said you was a surgeon.

It'll cost you. How much? Ten guineas.

How do I know he'll deliver?

You don't. But it's the best I've got.

Lock him up.

My pleasure.

Oi! Look here, Mr Marlott. I've done what you asked. I've got family.

I'm sure they'll survive another night without you.

Nightingale, when you're done, come back.

I may have a use for you, after all.

Yes, sir.

(DOOR CREAKS OPEN)

She's gone.

Mrs Shelley? When?

Yesterday.

Her and the boy.

Did she say where?

Not so much as a fare thee well.

Any idea how long?

Some time, though, by the looks of it.

Why's that?

Two trunks. Big ones.

Obliged.

My Lady says you may bring the boy's things round the servants' entrance.

Quickly, before Lord Shelley returns.

I don't want to stay here, Mama.

I told you... I have important business to attend to.

You must stay here with your grandparents.

What business?

It concerns my book. And the gentleman who came to call.

You must leave. Now!

Is your book more important than me?

Nothing is more important than you.

But it has caused great misery in this world.

And... I must make sure it doesn't cause any more.

Great misery, indeed.

Thomas. (SIGHS)

Our family name brought into disgrace.

Brilliant young lives snuffed out.

What next for your accursed masterpiece, I wonder?

Thank you for taking Percy in.

I shall...

(DOOR SLAMS SHUT)

Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of electricity.

On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us.

And, excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me.

(BANGING AT THE DOOR)

Sir William. I took the liberty of acquiring your address from Bow Street.

You called on me while I was away.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

What was it exactly you wanted to speak to me about?

The people who supply you with subjects for dissection, the resurrectionists.

I believe they may be the link I need to track down whoever made that thing.

Surely those children were m*rder*d, not resurrected?

Seems there are resurrectionists who m*rder, sir.

We've all heard these rumours.

You should speak to my porter, Pirkis, about such things.

He deals with that sort of thing.

Yes, I already did, sir.

Frankenstein?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Do you know it?

Heard of it.

Arrant nonsense, by all accounts.

Why?

It concerns references to galvanism, sir.

Galvanism?

Yes, sir.

Do you know much about it?

Not my subject, I'm afraid.

But I doubt you'll find anything of value in a book like this.

What's your interest?

Curiosity, sir. I attended a lecture on the subject.

Given by your cousin.

Garnet? Yes, he has his idiosyncrasies.

But, surely you've no time now for such idleness, given the urgency of your investigations?

As it happens, I intend to make an arrest very soon, sir.

Tonight, in fact. Billy Oates.

A man who abducts children.

Someone who could have made that monstrosity?

Or supplied whoever did.

Well, I won't keep you, then.

Thank you for calling, sir.

We're all fighting to the same end.

The book, sir?

Oh! I'll show myself out. Thank you. Goodbye.

(CLOCK STRIKES FIVE)

Do you like them?

I was only looking.

Go ahead.

They're pretty.

They do wonders.

Like what?

Stop you going blind, put you to sleep, help you breathe.

Almost anything, if you know how.

Is there one for getting rid of babies?

Is that what you want?

Yes.

I have promised Mr Marlott that I will look after you.

It's not his, though, is it?

Give it to the parish it's as good as dead.

I've seen it happen.

It might as well be finished now.

It would be kinder that way.

Please help me.

Have you found her?

No.

But I know who took her.

I'll bring him in. When?

Tonight.

Smile. You're meeting a friend.

(DOOR CREAKS OPEN)

Mr Marlott, Mr Barkis.

Delighted.

But I'm not here to speak to Mr Barkis.

Where's my man?

In the tunnels.

What?

That's what I'm to tell you.

Said he'd know.

Do you?

Show me.

This is where we keep the goods.

(SNIFFS)

Oh!

Will Murray's. He's doing well for himself.

Here you are. Barkis?

Doesn't bother me none. I smell worse every working day.

This goes down the tunnel under the market.

It's how they used to transport the bodies from here to the hospital.

Is that where he is?

That's what I was told.

(SIGHS) You know the way?

Well, I've been down there, but...

(CLEARS THROAT)

When we get back. I'd like it now, if you don't mind.

(COINS JANGLING)

Here.

The balance on our return. If we return.

Well, we don't know who's down there. Or what.

We'll be all on our own.

We'll have each other.

After you.

Go on.