The Franchise Affair episode 1 - starring Patrick Malahide (1988) - mystery detective
The Franchise Affair: A Classic Tale Revived on Screen
The Franchise Affair, a gripping television series, has captured the attention of audiences with its thrilling narrative and complex characters. Based on the 1948 novel by Josephine Tey, the story has been adapted several times, most notably in a TV production in 1962 and again in 1988. The plot centers around a schoolgirl's claim of being kidnapped and forced into servitude by two women at a mysterious mansion known as 'The Franchise'. The ensuing investigation and trial peel back the layers of truth and deception, challenging the viewer's perception of innocence and guilt.
The 1988 adaptation, is particularly memorable for its atmospheric setting and strong performances. Patrick Malahide, Joanna McCallum, and Rosalie Crutchley brought depth to their characters, creating a compelling drama that resonates with audiences even today. The series' ability to maintain suspense and provide a nuanced look at the British legal system of the time is a testament to the quality of the source material and the skill of the filmmakers.
The Franchise Affair stands as a classic example of how literature can be effectively translated to the screen, preserving the essence of the original work while exploring the visual and dramatic possibilities of television storytelling. For those who appreciate a well-crafted mystery that delves into the complexities of human nature, The Franchise Affair is a series that continues to intrigue and entertain viewers across generations.
The Franchise Affair, a gripping television series, has captured the attention of audiences with its thrilling narrative and complex characters. Based on the 1948 novel by Josephine Tey, the story has been adapted several times, most notably in a TV production in 1962 and again in 1988. The plot centers around a schoolgirl's claim of being kidnapped and forced into servitude by two women at a mysterious mansion known as 'The Franchise'. The ensuing investigation and trial peel back the layers of truth and deception, challenging the viewer's perception of innocence and guilt.
The 1988 adaptation, is particularly memorable for its atmospheric setting and strong performances. Patrick Malahide, Joanna McCallum, and Rosalie Crutchley brought depth to their characters, creating a compelling drama that resonates with audiences even today. The series' ability to maintain suspense and provide a nuanced look at the British legal system of the time is a testament to the quality of the source material and the skill of the filmmakers.
The Franchise Affair stands as a classic example of how literature can be effectively translated to the screen, preserving the essence of the original work while exploring the visual and dramatic possibilities of television storytelling. For those who appreciate a well-crafted mystery that delves into the complexities of human nature, The Franchise Affair is a series that continues to intrigue and entertain viewers across generations.
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03:00I beg your pardon, Miss Bennet. Which file was that?
03:06The Calthorpe transfer. I asked for the papers an hour ago.
03:11It's tough.
03:12The relevant documents are in Mr. Robert's indray.
03:20Sometimes I wonder if that woman was actually born like the rest of us.
03:25I think she was knitted by the Ministry of Labour.
03:29She could have told me an hour ago that you had the wretched file,
03:32but oh no, not our Tuffy.
03:35Neville?
03:36Hmm?
03:38Do you ever feel that you've been left out?
03:41Left out of what?
03:43Life.
03:45What's going on out there?
03:47Can't say I do, old chap.
03:50What?
03:51Don't you ever feel this is it?
03:54This is all you're ever going to have?
03:56This, that?
03:58Dearie me, what brought this on?
04:00Oh, I don't know.
04:02Perhaps I need a holiday.
04:04You need a holiday, Robert?
04:07Aha.
04:09Wills, conveyance, seeing investments, mall wills.
04:13What happened to life?
04:15The most exciting thing I've done since VE Day is fall off a horse.
04:19Well, at least we got through it in one piece, old man.
04:22It's the inevitability of it all.
04:25I found a Miss Tuff's biscuit routine. Have you ever noticed?
04:28Digestive Tuesday and Thursday, ginger Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
04:32Never varies.
04:33Summer or winter, hell or high water.
04:35You seem a bit put out. Why don't you call it a day?
04:38Don't be ridiculous, Neville. It's only four o'clock.
04:41Good Lord, Robert.
04:50Senior partners, old chap, can do what they like.
04:55Impudent lackey.
05:26I can't understand where she's got to. It's only ten minutes' walk from the school.
05:30Mrs Wynne, I don't want to keep on at a subject which must be unpleasant for you.
05:34Has Betty spoken any more about the week she was missing?
05:40Why Betty?
05:42How can anyone be so cruel?
05:47That's a heart.
05:50Ah.
05:52Why don't you clean that? Don't start, Mum.
05:54Inspector Grant's been waiting such a long time.
05:56She doesn't want to go, dear love.
05:58I'm afraid I have to insist that she does.
06:00Can't you make an arrest without her?
06:02The poor kid's scared stiff.
06:04You've no need to be frightened, Betty. I'll be there with you.
06:07How do you expect her to feel going into that house again?
06:09She says she won't, unless I go too.
06:12Betty?
06:14Does she really have to do this?
06:16I'm afraid so, yes.
06:18She's made a very serious accusation.
06:20Bloody right it's serious.
06:22Leslie.
06:23I'm afraid this business has got him all worked up so he can't think straight.
06:26They must be mad who beat her up.
06:28You didn't see her that night.
06:30Her face all swollen and covered in blood.
06:32Do you think she made that up?
06:34Leslie.
06:35I have seen the doctor's report. Thank you.
06:37Now, Mrs Wynne, we really should be going if you want Betty home before dark.
06:40All right, love.
06:41Don't worry. Mrs Scott here will look after her.
06:43What about a tea?
06:45I'll make sure she gets a sandwich.
06:47At the Milford station.
07:04What are you staring at, you nosy old cow?
07:47Come on.
08:18I'm so glad to have caught you, Mr Blair.
08:20I thought you might have gone for the day.
08:22My name's Sharpe.
08:24Marianne Sharpe.
08:26I'd rather not explain over the telephone what's happened,
08:28but I'm afraid I'm in trouble and I need a lawyer.
08:31I mean, I need one now, this minute.
08:34Will you come, Mr Blair?
08:36I'd be so grateful.
08:38I'm afraid I can't.
08:40I'm afraid I can't.
08:42I'm afraid I can't.
08:44I'm afraid I can't.
08:46I'd be so grateful.
09:10I live with my mother at the Franchise.
09:13I'm sure you know the place.
09:15About a mile out of Milford, on the Larborough Road.
09:43I'm afraid I can't.
10:13I'm afraid I can't.
10:35Mr Blair, I'm Marianne Sharpe.
10:37Good afternoon.
10:38Come in, please.
10:44I'm afraid I left the gates open.
10:46I hope that's all right.
10:48Thank you so much for coming.
10:50I'm more grateful than I can say.
10:52Inspector Hallam gave me your name.
10:54We haven't been in Milford very long, you see.
10:56Well, I know you and your mother by sight.
10:58Or at least that splendid car of yours.
11:00The police are in here.
11:02I take it it's nothing to do with your car.
11:05When people say they're in trouble in Milford,
11:08it generally means one of two things.
11:11Either an affiliation order
11:13or an offence against the traffic laws.
11:15I doubt if Scotland Yard are terribly interested
11:17in minor traffic offences.
11:19Scotland Yard?
11:23I haven't murdered anyone, if that's what you're thinking.
11:26The point is, are you supposed to have murdered someone?
11:29I'm supposed to have kidnapped someone.
11:34You know Inspector Hallam, of course.
11:36And this is Detective Inspector Grant.
11:38Glad you could come, Mr Blair.
11:40Couldn't very well proceed until Miss Sharpe had some kind of support.
11:43Is there to be a charge, Inspector?
11:45I'm supposed to have abducted and beaten up someone.
11:47Beaten her black and blue, apparently.
11:49Beaten her?
11:50That girl sitting outside in the car.
11:52Perhaps I'd better do the explaining, Miss Sharpe.
11:54Yes, do. After all, it's your story.
11:56Sit down, Mr Blair.
12:00Will your mother be joining us?
12:02I hope not.
12:03But she lies down in the afternoon.
12:06I'm hoping we can get this whole business over and done with
12:08before she wakes up.
12:18Just before Easter, Mr Blair,
12:20a 15-year-old schoolgirl called Elizabeth Kane,
12:23who lives near Birmingham,
12:25went to spend a short holiday with a married aunt who lives in Larborough.
12:29She went by coach because they pass right through Larborough
12:32and she'd be within a few minutes' walk of her aunt's house when she got off.
12:36After she'd been with her aunt for a week,
12:39Mrs Wynne received a postcard from the girl.
12:41Mrs Wynne?
12:43The girl's parents were killed in an air raid in 43.
12:46Mrs Wynne's a legal guardian.
12:48In this postcard, the girl said she was having a lovely time
12:51and was going to stay on with her aunts for a bit.
12:54When she hadn't arrived home the day before she was due back at school,
12:58Mrs Wynne telegraphed to find out what was going on.
13:01She learned that Elizabeth had stayed on in Larborough
13:04for only three days after sending that card.
13:07Her aunt had seen her off at the coach stop
13:10on her way home two weeks previously.
13:13It's on the 28th of March.
13:15Mrs Wynne went straight to the police, of course,
13:18but given the time it took for the telegrams to go back and forth,
13:21it was almost three weeks before anyone realised anything was wrong.
13:26Then one night she turned up,
13:28suddenly, late at night, on the doorstep.
13:31In a terrible state.
13:3320th of April.
13:34And I mean terrible, Mr Blair.
13:36Some of the bruises were still visible much later
13:38when she made her statement to me.
13:40That child had been very extensively knocked about.
13:46It was a week before the police had a full statement from her.
13:49To begin with, all they could get was that she'd been kidnapped.
13:52She was completely hysterical.
13:54From where had she been kidnapped?
13:57The coach stop.
13:58I thought you said her aunt put her onto the coach.
14:01No, only to the stop.
14:03The coach was late.
14:04The suggestion is, Mr Blair,
14:05that my mother and I enticed a schoolgirl into our car
14:08and then into this house,
14:09and that we beat her almost senseless every time she tried to escape.
14:13If you don't mind, Miss Sharpe...
14:14Do you wonder that I wanted help in a hurry?
14:24The girl says in her statement
14:26that while she waited at the coach stop,
14:27it started to get dark and then to rain.
14:30The coach was very late,
14:32or at least that's what she thought.
14:48Then a car pulled up on the curb.
14:51At first, she could only see the driver,
14:53a woman wearing a bright silk scarf round her neck.
15:00She asked the girl if she wanted a lift.
15:03The woman told her that the Birmingham coach had already gone,
15:06and she could get another from Mains Hill in about 40 minutes.
15:12She was very grateful for the offer of a lift
15:14and got in beside an older woman in the back.
15:18But very little was said on the journey.
15:20The older woman never spoke at all.
15:24It wasn't until the car suddenly left the main road
15:26that the girl realized they were no longer heading towards Mains Hill.
15:34The younger woman told her she still had plenty of time before the coach left,
15:38and that she could get another lift.
15:42The younger woman told her she still had plenty of time before the coach left,
15:46enough time for a cup of tea.
15:50Soon after that, they pulled off the road.
16:01The younger woman got out and opened some large iron gates.
16:12Then the car was driven up a drive to the house.
16:15It was too dark for her to see what it looked like.
16:32They went through a hallway first,
16:34and then into a large kitchen where the younger woman made her a cup of coffee.
16:38And then into a large kitchen where the younger woman made her a cup of coffee,
16:41not tea.
16:53While the girl drank coffee, which she didn't like,
16:56the younger woman apologized for the state of the kitchen
16:59and told her that they had no maid to help them.
17:02She asked the girl if she was looking for a job.
17:05The girl said she wasn't.
17:08No maid at all? No, there wasn't a maid at all.
17:11Come on.
17:36She doesn't remember much after that until she woke up in the attic.
17:40She remembers both women dragging her up a flight of carpeted stairs,
17:46and then a second flight with something hard underfoot.
17:50Come on.
18:07When she woke up, she found herself lying on a bed in a room
18:11with a round window which wouldn't open.
18:14The door was locked.
18:16She had been kept prisoner, Mr. Blair, for over three weeks
18:20and repeatedly beaten by both women or deprived of food
18:24if she refused to mend the linen they brought her.
18:30I know domestic help is scarce nowadays, but that is ridiculous.
18:34There's no end to the extravagances of human conduct, Mr. Blair.
18:39To enlist a servant by forcibly detaining her, Inspector,
18:42would say nothing of starving and beating,
18:45and no one is going to be that absurd.
18:48No normal person, certainly.
18:51Perhaps Miss Sharpe can provide an alibi for the 28th of March?
18:54No, of course I can't.
19:08Our days here hardly vary at all.
19:11I couldn't possibly remember what I was doing six weeks ago.
19:15Could you?
19:16Yes.
19:20How did the girl escape?
19:22She tried to get out of the roof at first,
19:24but they caught her breaking the window and beat her almost senseless.
19:29Then she noticed that they always left the key in the lock,
19:32and one night she managed to poke it out with a pencil
19:35and pull it back under the door on a piece of paper.
19:38How resourceful.
19:39And when she got out of the house, she just ran.
19:42She was picked up semi-conscious on the Birmingham Maisel Road.
19:46And her suitcase?
19:47Never saw it again.
19:54Three strange men.
19:56How extravagant, my dear.
19:58Would you present them to me, please?
20:01This gentleman is Detective Inspector Grant from Scotland Yard,
20:05Inspector Hallam from Milford,
20:07and this is Mr. Blair from Blair, Haywood & Bennett.
20:10Blair, Haywood & Bennett?
20:12So you occupy that lovely house in Milford High Street?
20:15Part of it, yes.
20:16It needs re-tiling.
20:18Yes, I'm afraid it does.
20:20This is difficult to explain quickly, but I'll try.
20:24The police have brought a young girl here...
20:26You shouldn't be sitting in that chair. You're much too heavy for it.
20:29Hallam, since you're up, perhaps you would...
20:32Yes, excuse me.
20:38There's a schoolgirl waiting in a car outside.
20:41She was missing from home last month.
20:43She told the police that she was locked up in an attic
20:46by two women who beat her and starved her.
20:49I see.
20:50And was she referring to us?
20:52I'm afraid we seem to fit the description.
20:55So does the house.
20:57She described the house quite minutely, Mrs. Sharp.
21:00And the occupants.
21:01How remarkable.
21:02And what did we beat her with?
21:04A silver-topped cane and a dog lead.
21:09We have no dog, Inspector.
21:11I take it you've brought this person here
21:13so that she may identify us as the people that held her prisoner.
21:16Have you any objections, Mrs. Sharp?
21:18On the contrary, Inspector.
21:20I look forward to the meeting with impatience.
21:23It's not every afternoon I go to my rest a dull old woman
21:26and rise a potential monster.
21:28Can you imagine a more nightmare piece of nonsense?
21:31Believe me, Miss Sharp,
21:32I've come across many stories much more incredible.
21:35You have my sympathy, young man.
21:37Why is that, Mrs. Sharp?
21:39Well, I imagine criminal lunacy is a little out of your line.
21:42Oh, really, Mother?
21:43Just a little.
21:44However, the distractions of Milford are pretty mild.
21:47I find all this very stimulating.
21:51Excuse me.
21:56Ah, hello.
22:15Now...
22:18Have you ever seen either of these women before?
22:23Yes, these are the women.
22:25I have never, to my knowledge, seen this girl before.
22:29I did not give her a lift anywhere on any occasion.
22:32She wasn't brought into this house either by me or by my mother,
22:36nor was she kept here.
22:39Mrs. Sharp?
22:44The two people on beating terms were distressingly ill-acquainted.
22:48It's understood, then, Mrs. Sharp, that you also deny Miss Kane's story.
22:51Yes.
22:53Miss Kane, this is a very grave accusation.
22:57If you have any doubt, any doubt at all, you must say so now.
23:01Are these the two women who detained you,
23:03took your clothes from you, forced you to mend linen, starved you and beat you?
23:07Yes.
23:09It's the girl of Virgin.
23:11Mrs. Sharp, I do not think that's relevant.
23:13Well, I do.
23:14If I'd been missing from my home for any length of time,
23:16it's the first thing my mother would have wanted to know about me.
23:19Inspector Grant, are we to be arrested now that this girl's identified us?
23:23Certainly not.
23:24No, things are a long way from that.
23:26And what do you propose to do?
23:28To go around this house so that Miss Kane's various descriptions
23:31of the rooms she says she was taken to can be verified.
23:34If they are, I report to my superior
23:36and he decides in conference what further steps to take.
23:39That's an admirable caution, Inspector.
23:41Now, if you'll excuse me, I shall go back to my interrupted rest.
23:44Don't you wish to be present when we go around your house?
23:47Oh, dear, no, I've not the slightest doubt Miss Kane will identify our attic.
23:50I shall be surprised beyond words if she failed to do so.
23:53She's already proved herself a most remarkable liar.
23:56Goodbye, Mr Blair.
23:58I do hope you continue to find a stimulator.
24:02I take it you have no objection to letting Miss Kane see the relevant parts of your house?
24:06No, of course not.
24:07The car?
24:08Ah, yes.
24:09The car's in the garage at the back of the house.
24:11Shall we, then?
24:17Sorry.
24:25Sorry.
24:55The
25:24Blair's Affair continues next week at the same time, 5.55.
25:545.55.
26:245.55.