Intelligent Design (2)

Benison College is being renovated, and the work uncovers something the building has been hiding for fifteen years: the desiccated body of a student who vanished back then, found in an attic. The remains are those of Soo-Min Chong, a Korean student, and the discovery ties directly into the murder of Rev Martha Seager. Seager was the last person to see Soo-Min alive, Carl Drew was her boyfriend, and she was Martha's organ scholar at the chapel.

The past and present collide around the college. Lewis, Hathaway and Hobson work the new crime scene while the surviving figures wait anxiously: Carl and Stella Drew, Rachel Cliff, Dr Yardley. Then Hathaway finds Adam Tibitt's body at the school, a simple suicide note beside him, and Adam's former teacher Carl Drew is left wondering whether he pushed the boy too hard. Forensics adds the final twist, revealing that a close relative of Adam's had been inside Seager's car.

But the attic discovery gives the second half its grimmest image, a girl's disappearance reduced to bones in a box while the college went on renovating around her. The organ scholarship turns out to be the key, and the episode builds to its confession without mercy.

Colin Dexter, Helen Jenkins and Stephen Churchett wrote it, and Tim Fywell directed. Edward Fox plays Dr Yardley, Alison Steadman is Rev Martha Seager, Miranda Raison plays Stella Drew, Ariyon Bakare takes Carl Drew, Crystal Leaity plays Rachel Cliff, Josh Bolt is Adam Tibitt, Clare Holman plays Dr Hobson and Rebecca Front appears as Ch Supt Innocent. Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox lead.

The resolution comes fast once Martha is found stabbed to death, the killer losing control and trying to cover tracks that keep leading back to the same place. Fifteen years of silence finally gets its accounting. It is a bleak ending to the story, but a proper one, and the college keeps its secrets only a little longer.