Wycliffe

- Season 4

(1997)

Karen Drew marries John Leigh three weeks after meeting but John is murdered and robbed in their honeymoon hotel while Karen is out walking. All the wedding guests were strangers who answered a newspaper ad and all have alibis, putting Karen squarely in the frame. Wycliffe also tries to help an old man who killed his terminally-ill wife at her request.

Caravan site owner Bernard Tyzack is stabbed to death by usually non-violent thief Mick Sennam. Sennam says he was paid only to frighten Tyzack, who, unknown to his family, was a fraudster and pimp. Too frightened to name his employer Sennam kills himself in custody. Kersey is blamed though ultimately he gives Wycliffe the means to uncover the truth.

Seven jars of baby food from a local supermarket are poisoned by a blackmailer demanding 50,000 pounds, though the motive turns out to be for personal revenge, not opportunism, with a specific victim in mind. Meanwhile Kersey is investigated by Superintendent Le Page, following Sennam's death in custody. He is hostile but Wycliffe puts in a strong defence for him.

Famous yachtswoman Paula Tresize goes missing after her boat 'Lone Voyager' is sabotaged and wrecked. A woman's body is found at china clay pits owned by the Davis brothers who were in a land feud with her but Paula's much younger husband Ben identifies it as Paula's doctor, Joanna, who was about to emigrate. Joanna has been shot with Paula's gun and had led her to believe she was mentally ill. Wycliffe, whilst propping up an embittered Kersey, still waiting on Le Page's findings, must establish why.

Morna Petheric runs over and kills Dinah Curran, insisting that Dinah was a ghost come back to haunt her. The pathologist notes that Dinah bore stab wounds from years earlier and Morna believes she killed her when she was a little girl. Dinah was once married to Morna's uncle and her infidelity with Morna's father caused somebody, not necessarily Morna, to take drastic action, as Morna's mother is forced to confess. Superintendant Le Page returns. Her report fully exonerates Doug Kersey but criticizes D.C.C. Stevens for bad management.

Hectoring land-owner Lionel Penmore is shot dead and the chief suspects are his tenants Kevin and Laura Kessell. Penmore has tried bribery and violence to evict the pair and their baby, Flo, from the house where Kevin was born, in order to pay off huge debts following the collapse of a business deal. Wycliffe unmasks the real murderer but Penmore's vengeful family exact their own revenge on the Kessells.

Unpopular Ray Gurney, landlord of the noisy Ship Inn, is murdered. Informant Gary Tregenna points the police towards Sam Venning, who has married Gurney's ex-wife Lisa and resents her giving him money to bail out his pub. Venning admits to visiting Gurney but he did not murder him. Gary, however, is considerably less innocent than he makes out, as Lucy Lane discovers.

Grinning teenage yob Tully literally gets away with murder when a judge must call a mistrial because Wycliffe's man Sergeant Noble failed to follow procedure. An inquiry results in Noble's demotion but when Lucy is ordered by Stevens to reopen an old murder case the experience leads Wycliffe to be extra careful to avoid technical errors, although the outcome leaves a nasty taste. At least Tully gets what's coming to him, allowing Wycliffe to atone for his failure to fully help the victim's family. Circumstances also endorse his decision to stay on as a policeman.