British Network Television
‘Father Brown’: S02.E01. “The Ghost in the Machine”
Charlotte McKinley asks Father Brown to exorcise her house
In The Ghost in the Machine, the second series premiere, Father Brown’s (Mark Williams) presence is requested at the McKinley residence. Thinking someone at the residence requires last rites, Father Brown rushes over to the house. He soon discovers Charlotte McKinley (Hugo Speer) requires him to perform an exorcism.
Mrs McKinley, convinced the house is haunted by her sister, is terrified. Elspeth,Mrs McKinley’s sister, disappeared some nine years earlier. Father Brown, not believing in ghosts, reminds Mrs McKinley that there is a good possibility her sister could still be alive. The Catholic priest, instead of an exorcism, offers to bless the house. It is here that the chandelier crashes to the floor.
Father Brown, to ease Mrs McKinley concerns, performs the blessing. Mrs McKinley experiences a significant degree of terror when Elspeth’s portrait apparently comes flying towards her. Victor McKinley (Andrew Havill), disturbed by the entire incident, storms out of the house.
Sidney “Sid” Carter (Alex Price), even though he’s obviously every bit as spooked as the residents, stays the night. Based on Selina McKinley’s (Poppy Drayton) behaviour, not that it wasn’t obvious, it looks like she intends to get in his pants.
Later, even though the only exit leads past Sid and her daughter, Mrs McKinley vanishes from the drawing room. Sid, noting how all the windows are locked, is puzzled how Mrs McKinley could have left the room unnoticed. Shortly thereafter, stashing something in the cupboard under the staircase, we find Mr McKinley having returned home. Miss McKinley tells her father of her mother’s disappearance.
The following morning, to Father Brown’s surprise, we see Inspector Valentine (Hugo Speer) arriving at the residence. The Catholic priest is curious why Inspector Valentine would bring with him a rather large police presence. The answer becomes clear when the police inspector reveals it is more of a murder inquiry than a missing person’s case.
Believing Mr McKinley had murdered Elspeth nine years earlier, even though there was no body to support the case, Inspector Valentine thinks there is a strong possibility he could have done away with his own wife.
Mr McKinley, back in the day, had been struck of the doctor’s registry for misprescribing sedatives. Mr McKinley, knowing he could be in significant trouble with the law, seeks out Lady Felicia Montague (Nancy Carroll) for a supportive alibi. Lady Felicia isn’t willing to lie to the police for him. Mr McKinley, detained by the police for questioning, is soon transported to the Kembleford Police Station.
Inspector Valentine reveals, at some point the previous night, Mrs McKinley had placed a call to the police station reporting that she knew what happened to Elspeth. Mr McKinley, feeling it ridiculous he could be charged with kidnapping his own wife, denies any involvement in his wife’s disappearance.
Whilst Lady Felicia had initially been hesitant to provide Mr McKinley with a plausible alibi, noting the fix he was in, she supported him. Lady Felicia’s “testimony” causes the police to release Mr McKinley.
Meanwhile, at the McKinley residence, Miss McKinley discovers the items her father stashed when her returned home in the middle of the night. It is a case containing a bottle of pills and medical syringes.
Elsewhere, in the garden of the McKinley residence, Father Brown, Inspector Valentine, and Seth Wake (Paul Warriner) happen upon a skeleton in a collapsed embankment.
The skeleton, even though there hadn’t been any substantive evidence collected, is immediately suspected as that belonging to Elspeth. The presence of beads around the skeleton’s neck suggests it could belong to a young woman. Sid, even though he didn’t want to spread gossip, informs Father Brown that it was well known Elspeth had been in a relationship with Mr Wake.
Inspector Valentine, feeling Mr Wake could be responsible for the disappearances of both Mr McKinley and her sister, heads to the hotel where he is known to have been staying. Unbeknownst to the police inspector, when he arrests Wake, Lady Felicia is hiding in the bathroom. She sneaks out of the bathroom window and visits with Father Brown.
Father Brown has become engrossed with some writing he found written on the inside of a book dust cover. This is the book Mrs McKinley was reading moments before her disappearance.
Concerned that Lady Felicia’s truth is misplaced, Father Brown convinces her to speak with Inspector Valentine about the alibi she provided for Mr McKinley. The police inspector rejects the alibi Lady Felicia provides for Mr Wake because the one she gave for Mr McKinley was a compete fabrication.
It turns out, even though there were beads around the skeleton’s neck, it belonged to a man. Suspicion on Mr Wake, because of correspondence between him and Elspeth were found, remained uncleared.
It is later discovered, after a brief conversation between Father Brown and Miss McKinley, that she was responsible for the chandelier falling from the ceiling. She was also responsible for the painting falling from the wall. Miss McKinley, not having wanted to move to Kembleford, was trying to scare her mother into moving the family back to London.
Father Brown realises the significance of the beads found around the skeleton’s neck. With the necklace established as a rosary, Father Brown suggests the skeleton belongs to a Reformation-era Catholic priest. The historical significance of Father Brown’s suspicions point the Catholic priest towards finding a secret priest-hole. The writing on the inside of the book dust cover corresponds to a tiled pattern on a wall in the room that Mrs McKinley disappeared from. The code oddly doesn’t work.
Speak with Mr Wake at the police station, Father Brown discovers he and Elspeth were planning to elope. Elspeth, around that time, was doing a little investigative work of her own. She believed there was a family treasure hidden somewhere on the property.
When Elspeth never showed up at their prearranged meeting place, as Mr Wake puts it, he was convinced she had located the treasure and runaway with it. Mr Wake confirms the writing found on the inside of the book dust cover is in Elspeth’s handwriting.
The number one in Elspeth’s handwriting looks a lot like a seven. It is here that Father Brown realises he was pressing the wrong tile. Armed with this new information, Father Brown rushes back to the McKinley.
Arriving at the house, along with Miss McKinley, Father Brown discovers Mr McKinley is suffering from the effects of an apparent suicide attempt. The Catholic priest, after calling for a doctor to tend to Mr McKinley, goes in search of the priest-hole.
Once inside the priest-hole, Father Brown locates Mrs McKinley, the family treasure, and Elspeth’s remains. Elspeth, after becoming trapped in the priest-hole, met her death. Miss McKinley follows Father Brown into the priest-hole and accidentally closes the door. The priest-hole being soundproof prevents anyone outside hearing calls for help.
Not finding Father Brown at the McKinley, thinking the Catholic priest is wasting police time, Inspector Valentine places a call to presbytery and tells Mrs McCarthy that he will be pressing charges. It doesn’t take long for the police inspector, with help from Sid and Lady Felicia, to realise Father Brown and Miss McKinley are missing.
Inspector Valentine, thinking Father Brown could be at the church, heads to St Mary’s. The police inspector, even though he isn’t a believer, begs for a sign directing him to the Catholic priest’s location. On hearing a sound coming from beneath his feet, Inspector Valentine locates and saves Father Brown, Mrs McKinley, and Miss McKinley.
Mr McKinley recovers from his suicide attempt. It was his addiction to morphine that caused him to be struck off from the doctor’s list.
Inspector Valentine, after Elspeth’s funeral, informs Father Brown that he is leaving Kembleford and taking a job at London’s Metropolitan Police. The new position comes with a promotion to detective chief inspector.
Detective Chief Inspector Valentine introduces Father Brown to Inspector Sullivan (Tom Chambers). It doesn’t look like the new police inspector wants Father Brown to involve himself in his cases. He will soon learn we don’t always get what we want. As for DCI Valentine and Father Brown, even though they hadn’t always seen eye-to-eye, they amicably part ways.