THE KILLINGS AT BADGER'S DRIFT

First Broadcast: March 23, 1997

Shortly after looking for an orchid, the Spurred Coral Root, Miss. Emily Simpson, a retired school teacher in the village of Badger's Drift, witnesses something disturbing and rushes back home. The next morning, she is found dead in her cottage.

Barnaby and Troy are put in charge of the case and it is supposed that Emily Simpson broke her neck, and nothing is too suspicious about her sudden death. However, scuff marks on the carpet noticed by Bullard suggest that there may have been more to it.
Lucy Bellringer, Emily's good friend and next door neighbour, persuades Burnaby to look into the case, saying she was definitely murdered. Lucy tells Barnaby that Emily went out looking for the orchid and came back, forgetting to padlock her tricycle and slamming the door shut. It is not long before a search in the woods is carried out, and when the Spurred Coral Root is found, Barnaby is more interested in the surrounding area than the orchid. The flattened grass and broken bramble doesn't look as if it's just been used for picnics.
Later, two phone numbers dialled by Emily are recovered, one asking for a number in Brighton and one to a help chat line. The woman who took the call, Terry Bazeley, explains to the detectives that Emily had seen something, and she didn't know who to talk to about it, and that at one point she mentioned 'just like poor Annabella' - could this be linked to the accidental death that occurred in the village the year before, when Bella Trace was shot dead?

 

DCI Tom Barnaby

John Nettles

DS Gavin Troy

Daniel Casey

Joyce Barnaby

Jane Wymark

Cully Barnaby

Laura Howard

Dr. George Bullard

Barry Jackson

Emily Simpson

Renee Asherson

Lucy Bellringer

Rosalie Crutchley

Dr. Trevor Lessiter

Bill Wallis

Barbara Lessiter

Diana Hardcastle

Judith Lessiter

Jessica Stevenson

David Whitely

Christopher Villiers

Dennis Rainbird

Richard Cant

Iris Rainbird

Elizabeth Spriggs

Henry Trace

Julian Glover

Phyllis Cadell

Selina Cadell

Michael Lacey

Jonathan Firth

Katherine Lacey

Emily Mortimer

Anne Quine

Barbara Young

Mary Sharpe

Avril Elgar

Terry Bazely

Cory Pulman

PC Angel

Neil Conrich

Vicar

Nigel Ashbridge

Giovanni

Simon Godwin

Policeman

Paul Putner

Counsellor 1

Peter Jordan

Counsellor 2

Marlene Sidaway

Counsellor 3

Jonathan Oliver

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Screenplay

Anthony Horowitz

Director

Jeremy Silberston

Producer

Brian True-May and Betty Willingale

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