The Jonathan Creek Homepage > Episode guide > Season 2, Episode 4, The Problems at Gallows Gate

Episode guide > Season 2 > The Problems at Gallows Gate - Part I

Season 2, Episode 4
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Summary info
Writer:	David Renwick
Director:	Keith Washington
Original broadcast date:	(UK) 14 February 1998 on BBC1
Filmed in:	16:9 aspect ratio
Guest stars Stuart Milligan as Adam Klaus Clarke Peters as Hewie Harper Jennifer Piercey as Kitty Annabel Mullion as Felicity Vale Jessica Lloyd as Clare Sallinger Alistair Petrie as Duncan Procter Stephen Billington as Neville Bruce Andrew Barrow as Ben Calum MacPherson as Buster Georgie Glen as Mrs. Kilby Amanda Holden as Petra Akemi Otani as Kiko Stanley Townsend as Detective Inspector Barrison View guest cast

The caricature Felicity does of Duncan for his birthday. Felcity and Clare arrive at Duncan's birthday party. Duncan would like Felicity and him to be an item, but you get the distinct impression Felicity doesn't want to be! The house the party is being held in, is huge and very grand looking. As there are already a large number of cars parked outside the house, Felicity has to park in an orchard behind the house. They have to make their way through trees and an overgrown path to get to the house, and Felicity trips.

She is caught by Duncan, who saw her car pull up, and thought she might need a light to help get to the house. Felicity looks down and sees that she almost fell into a grave! Duncan explains, that it's the old family plot. When asked why it's been opened and two coffins can be seen, he fudges over the issue, saying he'll tell her later.

They proceed inside the house, and Duncan introduces her to the people she doesn't know. Felicity is a cartoonist, and for Duncan's present she gives him a caricature of himself. He loves it, and shows everyone.

Duncan Procter is found on the ground after jumping off the balcony After the party, everyone proceeds to their rooms where they are spending the night. Felicity proceeds to her room alone, Duncan doesn't look happy, but he doesn't say anything. Duncan's room is directly below Felicity's, and during the night he notices his light is swinging from his ceiling. He proceeds upstairs and discovers, Felicity in bed with his best friend Neville. Felicity seems a bit cold, telling him to deal with rejection and move on, which Duncan does. He moves towards the balcony, and proceeds to climb on the stone fencing around it. Neville and Felicity try to reason with him, but fail, and, in front of another man who has come into the room to see what all the fuss is about, jumps off the balcony, killing himself. Before he jumps he tells Felicity that the grave was opened up for him.

Meanwhile Jonathan is on the road with Adam, to help promote himself. Jonathan phones Maddy to ask her if she got his message last night about a jazz concert. He was wondering if she fancied going. She says she never got the message, and asked when he left it,

"I don't know, about 10:30. I rang your number, some guy answers, says he wasn't expecting you back for another hour..."

"Yes, that would have been the burgular, Jonathan"

Maddy's flat is in a complete mess with police walking round looking for clues. Maddy is no fan of jazz, but agrees to meets Jonathan at the club, as she doesn't want to be in her flat this evening.

Meanwhile, Adam meets a fellow magician who must be at least twice his age. He has a trick, that he wants to do, if Adam can spare the time to watch. He agrees, and soon we see an elderly man hanging upside down from a rope in a straight jacket over a small bath which it on fire.

In the car on the way back, Adam tells Jonathan a secret. The legendary Hewie Harper, the famous blind jazz musician, isn't actually blind! Eight years ago, he had corrective surgery, and only a handful of people know. However as his career has been built on his blindness, he continues to play the part. Jonathan is amazed, but agrees not to say anything. Adam only got 4 tickets to see Hewie play as he might appear in Adam's next TV special.

Back in the village of Gallows Gate, Felicity and Clare are trying to get on with their lives. Felicity is in her drawing room, trying to animate an octopus to laugh in time with a tape recording. She plays the tape over and over and eventually has enough, and walks out. Clare seems at a loss as to what to do.

Felicity makes her way to Neville's house, were he eventually answers her ringing of the door bell. However he clearly isn't pleased to see her, and repeats her words about rejection that she said to Duncan. He tells her he never really loved her, and as she stumbles backwards she trips over a pair of woman's shoes. She looks up to see another woman cooking in the kitchen. She then runs out of the house.

Back at Adam's house, his date for the evening, Petra, is still feeling ill, and isn't sure she can go to Hewie's concert this evening. She also tells him that his sister, Kitty, called to ask for a lift from the station, and is waiting upstairs for him. Adam is clearly not happy at the news, especially when Kitty calls him "Chester". So perhaps "Adam Klaus" is a stage name? Kitty is Adam's older sister, and she informs him she will be staying for 5 days. Adam's face drops visibly! She then proceeds to take Petra upstairs, and informs him that she won't be going to see Hewie in the state she's in.

At the club, Hewie is playing his trumpet and we see Jonathan, Maddy, Adam and Kitty sitting around a table listening. After the show Adam introduces them all to Hewie. When he meets Maddy, he feels her face, and his hands move down to admire her....contours!

The sign Maddy has on her door to all burglers. Later on, Jonathan tells Maddy about Hewie's eye-sight, as they get out of a cab outside her flat. She's disgusted! Maddy has a sign on her door which reads, "To All Burglars, Don't bother, I've been done."! Maddy has a friend who will be coming in on Saturday to fix some new locks to the door.

Things seem to be going fine, but as Maddy starts to clear up her place, Jonathan gets a bit huffy. She has immediately gone towards the sofabed, a not-so-subtle hint as far as Jonathan is concerned. He switches on the light, and sees how bad her flat is. He expresses his sympathy by saying, "Wow". She replies that it has taken her all day to straighten out the place!

Maddy has asked Jonathan to stay for a few nights, just until the locks are fixed, as she would feel safer. He has agreed, but tomorrow maybe a problem, as he has a badger watch on. She's welcome to come along, but as it means staying still and quiet for long periods of time she might not like it! The badger watch is in the village of Gallows Gate.

Back at Gallows Gate, Felicity is unloading her car with shopping. She spots another car near the house, it isn't one she recognises. As she enters the house, she sees Clare sitting drinking tea with Kiko, the new woman in Neville's life. To make matters worse, Kiko is understanding about Felicity's hostile feelings. Felicity cracks while Kiko is talking about how happy Neville is, which in turn should make her happy too. Kiko leaves the house, with less hair then when she came!

Kitty is caught on the Sun bed by Hewie Back at Adam's house, Hewie has come by for a visit. Once again he does a "feeling of the contours", but this time on Petra, and in front of Adam. Hewie gets a fright later on when he comes across Kitty on a sunbed. Kitty doesn't know that Hewie's sight has been restored, so she isn't worried about being caught with just her knickers on! Hewie, however doesn't know where to look!

Kitty then takes Hewie to where Adam and Jonathan are. Jonathan is showing Adam a new trick which will involve Hewie. Adam asks her when she'll be off to visit cousin Milly. She, tells Adam, that Milly rang to cancel, and that she won't be going out this evening. Adam then takes Jonathan aside and gives him a "Royal Command" to take Kitty with him on his badger watch.

So, that evening, Jonathan takes Maddy and Kitty along to his badger watch. Maddy hasn't quiet got what they will be doing, and has brought a camera along complete with flash. Jonathan tells her she can't use it, and Kitty puts it in kinder words! Maddy doesn't seem very happy that all they will do is watch them. It isn't long before Maddy has fallen asleep and Jonathan has to wake her because she's snoring!

Meanwhile back at Felicity's house, she is putting some washing over her radiator to dry off. They are roughly 2 pairs of black nylon stockings. As she puts the last one on, the phone rings and she leaves to see who it is. She leaves the answering machine to take a message as she isn't in the mood to talk to anyone. As she returns to the radiator, she notices one of the stockings is missing, she calls out for Clare, but gets no answer. She walks round the house, looking for someone, pulling back curtains, when she hears a noise. Going to investigate, she discovers a cat which she promptly throws out (not literally I hasten to add!). She closes the door, and walks into the front room to find the keys to lock it with. As she picks up the keys, we hear the sound of the door bolts being locked.

Meanwhile back at the badger watch, Kitty needs to use a toilet. Jonathan whispers directions to her, and gives her a torch to find her way. Getting to the toilet is fine, but Kitty loses her way trying to get back to the watch. She finally stumbles across a house, and hears screaming coming from it. She uses Jonathan's binoculars and sees Felicity being strangled. Kitty runs back to the hut, totally ruining the badger watch, and tells Jonathan and Maddy.

The answer phone tape is missing Obviously, Maddy smells a story and is all for going to investigate. Jonathan isn't so keen, claiming it could well have been something kinky, and that they are jumping to conclusions. Maddy has a look round the back of the cottage, but can't see anyway in. She then proceeds to break a window and let herself in! She looks around the front room and notices the tape from the answering machine is missing. She then calls for Jonathan, who jumps in through the window to find Maddy in the bathroom looking at Felicity who is dead in the bath. It's obvious she's been strangled, and Maddy finds a pipe under the sink (as in a smoker's pipe not a sink pipe!). It looks suspiciously like the one Duncan smokes. Jonathan also finds something. A few pairs of stockings in the bin.

They then have a look in the kitchen as that's where Kitty saw it happen. Jonathan finds another stocking, but this one is torn. There is also a lot of broken crockery etc. strewn around the kitchen, which shows signs of a struggle. The back door from the kitchen is locked, and the front door is bolted from the inside. Maddy comments that it looks like one of Jonathan's locked room problems. He replies that they could have left via the back door, locking it on the way out. He stops in mid sentence when he spies some keys on the working surface of the kitchen. Maddy takes them, and opens the back door, putting pay to Jonathan's theory!

Finally Maddy calls the police! While they wait, Jonathan asks her to look at the stockings he found in the bin, and tell him what's wrong with them. Three have been washed, and one has been worn but there aren't any rips in them. She can't see anything wrong with them. When she asks what she's looking for, Jonathan just comments, he was just wondering why they were in the bin.

The police soon arrive, and Maddy unlocks the door to let them in. She tells them she had to break a window to get in. The policeman in charge, Detective Inspector Barrison, tells them to wait outside and give a statement to a PC. As they go, Clare is coming home, and wonders what is going on. Before the police can stop her she goes into the house and finds Felicity. The strange thing is, she knows exactly where to look...or is that just me?

At the police station, Barrison runs through Kitty's statement,

"Age, young-ish. Hair, Average colour. Clothes, dark-ish. Face, you didn't like the look of it one little bit."

It's not much to go on. But Kitty tells them she would recognise the man again if she saw him. They then show her a picture from Duncan's party. She immediately spots the man she saw strangling Felicity, and points him out. They ask Clare if she can identify the man in the picture. She tells the police that the man is Duncan, and that he killed himself three weeks ago, so he couldn't possibly have murdered Felicity.

To be continued.......