Episode 6

LAURA LINNEY: This is "Masterpiece."

RALPH: My esteemed partner, Mr. Merceron.

Soon to be your esteemed partner, gentlemen.

LINNEY: Previously, on "Poldark."

ROSS: Despard was falsely accused by Hanson himself because he tried to stamp out such greed and brutality.

GEORGE: My reputation has been utterly ruined.

Make him the villain.

Forgery is a hanging offense.

The day is named.

There's now only one solution.

Ned was set up!

I will stand by him.

Stay where you are!

WICKHAM: I warned you what would happen if you failed to keep him out of trouble.

Now, if he falls, he takes you with him.

LINNEY: "Poldark," right now, on "Masterpiece."

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ DEMELZA: Friends, on behalf of Captain Poldark, who sadly can't be with us here today, but who has gifted us this land for the building of our school, it do give me pleasure to lay the first stone and to ask a blessing on our mission, which is to bring knowledge and learning to all.

(cheering and applauding) (chuckles) ♪ ♪ ROSS: Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker!

Can any here give me reason why a loyal, high-ranking, servant of the Crown is being held awaiting trial, without redress, in the most squalid of conditions?

Is this how we reward devotion to duty?

These accusations are demonstrably false.

Colonel Despard is a devoted patriot who has been grossly misused by the Crown.

(members clamoring) ♪ ♪ ROSS (voiceover): My Dearest Demelza, My hopes of a swift release for Ned have come to naught.

Indeed, there's no prospect of release at all.

Still, I will not give up his cause without a fight.

ROSS (voiceover): I've petitioned Pitt, Canning, Addington.

Does no one comprehend there's no grounds for Ned's arrest?

Captain, could it be that I've overestimated your capabilities?

Essential for a covert role is the ability to remain silent and unseen.

Is silence appropriate in the face of... What is appropriate is detachment.

To be invested in an outcome, or a friend, is a threat to any mission.

A mission I never sought.

Yet you accepted the terms.

And now, when the subject has run his own head into a noose, you continue to champion him.

Detach.

For your own sake.

Step away.

(people talking in background) CARY: Your maiden speech in the House has not endeared you to the tender-hearted.

GEORGE: Despite my saying what everyone knows, that slavery is the foundation of our empire?

It's becoming less fashionable to say so.

The irony is, I've no opinion one way or the other.

I was merely following instruction.

Ah, good to see you, My Lord, Your Ladyship... On the matter of Miss Hanson...

Does the connection still serve us?

It serves me to know that Ross and Despard will be brought to heel.

The girl is incidental.

Papa, you must know that I did not wish Mr. Poldark to ask for my hand.

That's very wise of you.

I told him to wait.

And I hope I can prevail upon you...

In Honduras, do you recollect how little you saw of me?

I was building with my bare hands the foundations of our fortune.

Your fortune.

Do you think that I would consent to throw that all away on some disgraced and penniless boy?

He was not disgraced!

(inhales): You know he was falsely accused.

(quietly): One day, you will thank me... (sniffs) ...for providing you with a mate that matches your station.

♪ ♪ (waves crashing) DEMELZA: Jeremy, Clowance, hurry up and finish your breakfast.

Make haste, Morwenna will be expecting you.

Here, take an apple each.

Can Garrick come?

No, he may not.

Prudie, coats-- Jeremy, your books.

Clowance, can you get your shoes on, please?

Sit down.

I'll take 'em.

No, I'd rather.

Zacky Martin's here to see 'ee.

What?

ZACKY: Good morning.

Zacky-- come in, come in, go through there.

PRUDIE: Make haste, me little chibbies.

♪ ♪ (chuckles) Must you be in such haste to escape?

Were it up to I, I would never leave this bed.

(chuckles): Nor I.

Having feared it for so long, I have much to make up for.

Five minutes?

Ten?

(both chuckling) I waited awhile, mistress, to be sure, but now there be no doubt.

Ore comes up from the mine, is stored as we be long to do, but when it come to be processed, only half remains.

And the rest?

How long have you known?

Two month ago I first suspicioned, but this past week, I put men on to weighing and measuring, and now there be no doubt.

Someone's stealing our ore.

But... (exhales) Must it not be someone with a knowledge of the workings and the movings of the mine?

One of our own?

Sadly, yes.

(door clanging, man shouting) (door clangs, Ned catching breath) Well, friend, am I not living proof of the adage, "A healthy mind in a healthy body"?

(chuckling): I think you've looked better.

(Ned sighs) I'd look worse were it not for my wife.

Whose acquaintance with this palace has taught her who can be bribed in order to make my life faintly less degrading.

Most of the guards think I'm a witch.

So I can threaten them with spells as well as coins.

(chuckles) (man groaning in distance) The dulcet tones of happy inmates, helping to advance medical science.

So far, I've been spared the privilege.

Excuse me while I, uh, hex the guards into ensuring that continues.

Please do.

Guards?

(door clanging, creaking) (footsteps retreating, door clangs) (keys jingling) The nights are long here and afford one ample time for reflection.

What do you reflect?

How I should have played the game.

Kept my head down and my mouth shut.

(sighs) One way or another, I'll get you out of here, Colonel.

(quietly): Captain.

♪ ♪ Regarding Despard's impending trial, Lord Ellenborough's the judge, Sir Spencer Perceval the Crown.

It seems the prosecution agree that while the due process of law must be observed... Hmm, trial by 12 good men.

True justice sometimes requires a little assistance.

And in this case, the names of a hundred potential jurors have been circulated by the Crown amongst their trusted associates in order to ascertain where their sympathies might lie.

And who has been entrusted with this selection?

(door opens) Gentlemen?

Mr. Merceron.

(people talking quietly) ♪ ♪ He will not be swayed.

So now we have no choice.

None.

But how shall it be managed?

Leave that to me.

I'll send word.

♪ ♪ Well, if the Crown doesn't kill him, prison will.

Kitty's bribes may be all that saves him from being tortured.

Is this true?

Oh, yes.

And sanctioned by governors, I'm sure.

Who can prevent them?

There might be someone who could advise me.

ROSS: I've been documenting everything concerning Ned's predicament.

It appears the governors have turned a blind eye to his plight, whether through negligence or, or in exchange for bribes.

As magistrate, is it not in your power to call the governors to account?

(exhales): Perhaps you think I'd do better to petition Parliament to force the governors to act.

I would not advise it.

Let me think on it.

You were right to bring it to my attention.

May I keep the record?

♪ ♪ I think I'd prefer to retain it, sir.

As you wish.

Thank you.

(door creaking, closes) ♪ ♪ JEREMY: Slow down, Clowance.

I can't catch up.

Here, Morwenna.

Thank you.

(Garrick barking) CLOWANCE: Jeremy!

Jeremy, can you get a stick for Garrick?

JEREMY: Coming.

♪ ♪ JEREMY: Got one.

You do know if folks see us walking out together, they'll think we're courting.

(chuckling): I said that to Drake once.

And see how that turned out.

I shall always regret how things ended 'twixt my brother and thee.

And yet, in the end, maybe not.

For it may yet all turn out for the best.

(chuckles softly) ♪ ♪ Whoa.

Well... you're a quick learner.

You're a fine teacher.

If I dared... instruct thee on another matter.

Rosina.

She'd make a fine wife.

Maybe I need no instructing there.

So, will 'ee ask her?

Maybe.

(exhales) TESS: Preacher Carne!

'Tis well met.

May I ask 'ee, be there any hope for sinners?

Surely.

Can a body learn to live a good and purer life?

Anyone can do that.

Could 'ee maybe teach me how?

But perhaps I am too great a sinner for thy God to forgive.

The Lord would say there be no such thing as a body beyond forgiveness.

His mercy be praised.

(forge fire crackling) (bell tolling) According to Joseph, the girl is still consorting with my brat of a stepson.

And does that distress you?

Not in the least.

The pain will be all the keener when they come to be parted.

(wallpaper rips) GEORGE: A small, private ceremony.

I've scarce been widowed two years.

A grand affair would be vulgar and ostentatious.

As you wish.

I will leave you to communicate arrangements to the happy bride.

Cecily!

Prepare yourself.

It will be the day after tomorrow.

(door creaking) Get up.

Turn around.

Arms behind your back.

(chains clinking) ♪ ♪ (people talking in background) GEORGE: A useful part of a gentlemen's education, to see a traitor condemned.

Especially such a tiresome one.

(door clangs) (people murmuring) ♪ ♪ (chains clinking) CLERK: All rise.

(footsteps approaching) ♪ ♪ Gentlemen of the jury, we see before us today one of the most heinous traitors this country has ever known.

Edward Despard was present at an illegal political meeting.

His fellow conspirators, including disaffected members of the armed services, had illegal oaths in their pockets.

They were plotting nothing less than the cold-blooded murder of the king.

(men shouting) How would they achieve this?

By turning a ceremonial cannon on his Majesty's carriage as he passed on his way to the House of Commons.

And the ultimate aim of this act of terror?

To signal the start of a revolt to overthrow the government and Crown, and to establish a republic to emulate that of France.

(people clamoring) Outrageous.

(clamoring continues) He'll be laughed out of court.

There's not one ounce of proof.

ERSKINE: No doubt.

(fire crackling) MAN: Sir?

♪ ♪ CECILY (voiceover): My love, We must act immediately, or we are lost.

PERCEVAL (voiceover): What other explanation could there be for a gentleman of the prisoner's standing to be consorting with the rags and tatters of society?

Perhaps he did not consider them as "rags and tatters."

PERCEVAL: Did he have a motive... (whispering): This is nonsense.

You have to do something.

If the... ERSKINE: How credible is it... that a handful of "rags and tatters" would seriously believe they could overthrow the government and Crown and single-handedly establish a republic?

More to the point, is it likely that an experienced and highly decorated Army colonel would share that delusion?

I invite you to consider not how improbable its success appears to you, but how probable its success might appear to them.

(men talking, birds squawking) I keep thinking how it must be for Kitty.

And for Ross.

I dearly wish I was there.

What with this theft at the mine... Well, here's where you're needed, sister.

'Specially with such fainaiguins afoot.

DEMELZA: He needs watching.

I'll go.

You have my forks fettled in time for supper.

♪ ♪ (animal chittering, birds chirping) ♪ ♪ (people murmuring) PERCEVAL: Would you, sir, please state your name to the court?

I never once saw this man in the Oakley Arms.

I doubt many of these witnesses were ever there.

So they perjure themselves.

For a price, I imagine.

PERCEVAL: "The King is our enemy."

And how many times did you hear him say this phrase?

MAN: Multiple times.

PERCEVAL: Multiple times.

Thank you very much.

♪ ♪ PERCEVAL (voiceover): And what was the precise words that you heard the defendant speak in the Oakley Arms?

He said that we should kill the king.

How do we refute this?

We don't.

PERCEVAL: And how many times...

Enough of this.

MAN: On numerous occasions.

Call me to the stand!

(murmuring) ♪ ♪ (grunts) ♪ ♪ Over there!

Someone is watching us.

♪ ♪ Get her!

Leave it where it is!

♪ ♪ (men shouting) ♪ ♪ You will not take the stand.

That's absurd.

Who better to speak for myself than I?

Someone who can say of you what you cannot say yourself.

(people murmuring) (murmuring stops) I served with Colonel Despard in the American war.

Even though it was a war we lost, his commitment to his country and fellow soldiers never wavered.

If you lose this one, you'll have me to answer to.

Stitch him up, Enys.

His war is not over yet.

ROSS (voiceover): After the war had ended and I had returned home, he continued.

To the Spanish Main, to fight alongside Horatio Nelson.

As a young officer in Jamaica, he dug ditches, built fortifications, risked his life countless times in battle.

In the disease-riddled swamps of Honduras, he learned that survival depended on working with the so-called rags and tatters of society-- Native Indians, convicts, slaves.

Giving to all-- regardless of sex, color, class, or creed-- the right to have a say.

He asked the question: Should nations be ruled by force, by an elite, or by consent?

Everything he has ever done has been in service to the Crown.

To suggest now that he seeks to murder his sovereign and overthrow the nation for which he has labored unswervingly is, is, frankly, risible.

He is a patriot of the highest order, and the Crown should honor him.

(men murmuring assent) Instead of attempting to cover up its mistreatment of him by inventing crimes he did not commit.

(people murmuring) ♪ ♪ (people murmuring) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ We need to get Dwight Enys on the stand.

I suppose it's worth a try.

And were ye recognized?

I don't think so.

I was too far away.

Let's round up a passel of men and head straight for Jacka's.

Nay, I think we should wait.

We've still no clue what them up to.

Or whether it is our ore they're shipping away.

What else could it be?

I've no wish to confront 'em without just cause.

'Tis better to watch and wait.

DRAKE: And catch them in the act?

Agreed.

So we give 'em no sign we suspect 'em.

'Specially not that one.

That's if she's involved, and so far, there's no proof of it.

I served with Colonel Despard as army surgeon during the American war.

During that campaign, he sustained a number of serious head injuries.

Subsequent tropical fevers and further cerebral wounds-- all sustained in the service of the Crown-- have taken their toll, and I believe that permanent and irreversible brain damage has occurred.

As in the case of James Hadfield, the true character of insanity reveals itself not as wild frenzy or raving madness, but as delusion.

There is no doubt in my mind that Colonel Despard is delusional.

His actions, his speech, his view of himself and his place in the world clearly indicate that he is not of sound mind.

I therefore ask the court to release him and allow him to receive the humane treatment appropriate to his condition, which I will personally undertake to supervise.

(clamoring, applauding) ♪ ♪ CLERK: All rise.

♪ ♪ Let's hope we're in for a lengthy wait.

Yes.

The longer they argue, the better the chance of acquittal.

(knock on door) (door closes) ♪ ♪ GEOFFREY CHARLES (voiceover): My dearest Cecily, we leave tonight.

He has arranged it.

(people murmuring) Already?

They took barely ten minutes.

I know-- Surprise to me.

Excellent.

Why?

(clears throat) It means the jury agreed without arguing.

What did they agree?

What should they have agreed?

Uncle Ross's friend should go free.

Uncle Ross?

(coldly): He's no relation of yours, boy.

♪ ♪ (breath trembling) CLERK: All rise.

♪ ♪ Have you reached a verdict?

We have, my Lord.

ELLENBOROUGH: Do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?

We find him... guilty, my Lord.

(audience gasping, murmuring) ♪ ♪ My Lord, we do earnestly recommend the prisoner to mercy, on account of the high testimonials to his former good character and eminent services.

'Twas not enough.

Does the prisoner wish to make a final statement?

Innocence is its own statement, my Lord.

It now remains for me to pronounce the dreadful sentence of the law, which is... that you be taken to a place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck.

But not until you are dead, then cut down and your bowels taken out and cast into the fire before your face... (audience shouting) Your head to be taken off and your body quartered.

(people murmuring) ♪ ♪ (catching breath) CLERK: All rise.

♪ ♪ ERSKINE: I'm amazed.

Such a sentence has never been pronounced in 50 years.

Can we not appeal?

I regret there's nothing more we can do for him.

♪ ♪ Break him from the jail?

I'll need you to get me into the prison in the first place.

(glass clinking, pouring liquid) I am known and always watched like a hawk.

Whereas you... DWIGHT: Caroline, help me knock some sense into him.

Dr. Enys will do whatever is required.

Caroline, are you mad?

Because Dr. Enys recollects that he himself has been the beneficiary of such an escape.

Do you really compare the two?

I was a prisoner of war, captured in the service of my country.

CAROLINE: Kitty, you must pack.

Ross will find you somewhere to hide till you can get safe passage to Jamaica.

DWIGHT: Very well, I will join you, to make sure he doesn't break more heads than he needs to.

You're insane.

(inhales, exhales) (people talking in distance, dog barking) ♪ ♪ (knocking) GUARD: Yeah?

Dr. Ransome to see the prisoner Despard.

Who?

Man sentenced to hang tomorrow?

Been taken ill, and I'm ordered to attend on him.

(bag falls) Be careful with that bag, fool.

Drop it again, and I'll have you horsewhipped.

Small token for your pains.

(door unlocking) ♪ ♪ Friend of yours sends a message.

Kitty?

You know Kitty?

Asks if you would kindly leave the door open in exchange for these.

(coins jingling) (unlocks latch, door creaks) ROSS: Don't stand there idling.

The guards change at midnight.

Guards?

Kitty has drawn us a map.

It's basic, but it gives us an idea.

We have just under ten minutes to reach the outside before a new patrol comes past.

You're breaking me out?

Did you think this was a social call?

(chuckles): You are both magnificent.

We are.

Dwight, however, will not be joining us.

What?

He'll return to the main gate, say he's attended the prisoner, then leave.

Absolutely not.

This is purely pragmatic.

If one guard has told another guard there's a physician here, that physician must be seen to leave.

It will give Ned and I more time to escape.

Very well.

First... (man shouting in distance) ♪ ♪ Well, then, you madman.

Best of luck.

(door creaking, closes) ♪ ♪ (door creaking) Shall we?

♪ ♪ (door closes quietly) (door creaking) Good night, Dr. Ransome.

Good night.

♪ ♪ Shall we breakfast together before the execution?

Uh, no.

I have another engagement.

Ah, yes, that one.

Hopefully not as bloody.

(Merceron laughs) (wind whistling, driver urging horses) Do we break the journey?

Only to eat and change horses.

So we will not lie together till we reach Gretna Green?

We will not lie together till we are man and wife.

(gun fires, horse neighs, Geoffrey Charles groans) Lord save us!

(horse neighs) Is it highwaymen?

MAN: Open the door.

(chains clinking) ♪ ♪ (man coughing) ROSS (whispering): Quick.

(footsteps approaching) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (quietly): According to Kitty's map, this leads directly to the cellars.

Sewers.

ROSS: Not my ideal mode of exit, but beggars can't be choosers.

This one can.

And he chooses to stay.

What?

The moment I'm missed, where do you think they'll look?

I've already arranged for a safe house.

Here in London?

And what about Cornwall?

You think they won't come for your wife, your children?

Cannot prove it was I.

(scoffs) Who else would be mad enough?

My friend... A soldier must know when to retreat.

No, no.

No, Ned, not this time, not when we've come this far.

Have you ever seen me weep?

No.

In court today, I did.

Not when I heard the verdict, but when I heard my friend describe who he thought was me.

But he was describing more than me.

He was describing an ideal.

And he was describing himself.

♪ ♪ You are everything I have sought to be.

But better.

A soldier... but also a statesman.

You will make the world a stronger, fairer, wiser place.

(door clangs in distance) ♪ ♪ (quietly): So leave me here.

Go finish what I could not.

♪ ♪ (key jingling, door opens) (door clanks, closes) (keys jingling, door creaks) ♪ ♪ (poking) Get up!

(exhales) God Almighty, can a man not sleep in peace on the eve of his execution?

(exhales) (bell tolling) ♪ ♪ Uncle Cary said I'm to have a new mama.

That's not true.

No one can replace your mama.

For either of us.

♪ ♪ NED: Will it do, do you think?

I think it will.

(bell tolling) (breathes deeply) Come.

Let me look at you.

(bell tolling) (sniffles, exhales) That first day you arrived at the Bay, you had a button loose.

(chuckles) I asked you to mend it.

(sniffles) And afterwards, you asked me what you could do for me in return.

(chuckles) And you laughed and said... "Mend the world."

(voice breaking): "I fear that's too great a task."

(voice breaking): But you did mend the world.

(trembling): For so many of us.

And for me especially.

And now I must quit the world.

(breathes deeply) Wishing I could leave you a better legacy.

(inhales): But you have left me the best.

♪ ♪ Here.

(crying softly) (sputtering, crying) ♪ ♪ (crying softly) (bell tolling, birds chirping) (bell tolling) Sir...

Your daughter is blameless.

This was my idea, and I fully accept... Not true.

I suggested it, and Mr. Poldark was merely the agent of my... Why do some people fail to understand where their best interests lie?

(door slams) GEORGE: Why is he here?

I thought he might appreciate the spectacle.

Let us hope so.

(chuckles softly): Why the despair?

Miss Hanson is not altogether lost to you.

As wife to me, she will in effect be your stepmother.

(chuckles) Shall we begin?

Did my mother ever tell you why she married you?

My father died with debts, and there you were, throwing your guineas at her feet.

But her heart belonged to one man only.

It wasn't my father, and it wasn't you.

Brave effort.

Almost worked.

Let us proceed.

♪ ♪ VICAR: Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today... (crowd clamoring) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Would you like a blessing, my son?

No, thank you, Father.

VICAR: If any of you can show just cause why they may not be lawfully married, speak now or forever hold your peace.

I wish to declare... ...that it's barely a day since...

...I gave myself, body and soul, to Geoffrey Charles Francis Poldark.

GEOFFREY CHARLES: So if you wed her... You will always wonder, is her first child mine or yours?

♪ ♪ (exhales softly) (exhales softly) ♪ ♪ (doors open) (footsteps approaching slowly) ♪ ♪ You will live to regret this, my dear.

And so will he.

♪ ♪ (doors close) (exhales shakily) (murmuring) My Lord, may I have your permission to address the people?

Fellow citizens, I come here, having served my country faithfully for 30 years, to suffer death for a crime I did not commit.

His Majesty's ministers know I am innocent.

Yet they choose to destroy a man because he's been a friend to truth, liberty, and justice.

(crowd shouting "Shame!")

(crowd clamoring, booing) Nonetheless, I hope that falsehood, greed, and tyranny will be vanquished.

♪ ♪ And this nation... (laughs softly) which I have loved... will one day be a beacon of democracy, freedom, justice, and humanity.

MAN: Let him free!

WOMAN: Let him go!

Let him go!

(crowd clamoring for mercy) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (quietly): Shall we have rain, do you think?

(crowd clamoring) ♪ ♪ (stifling cries) ♪ ♪ (crowd clamoring) Dear God, could he be pardoned?

(murmuring) MAN: Pardon!

(breathing shakily) The prime minister has seen fit to remit part of the sentence, to wit: the taking out and the burning of the bowels, the dividing of the body into four parts, and the beheading.

The prisoner will hang.

(crowd gasps) ♪ ♪ (screaming, crying) ♪ ♪ (Kitty continues crying) (crowd murmuring) ♪ ♪ (Kitty continues crying) ♪ ♪ (crying) ♪ ♪ CARY: It could be argued you had a narrow escape.

A more pliable female might better suit.

There will be no other female.

(Ross crying, door opens) So justice has been done.

Has it?

And hell awaits.

I imagine he'll find it an improvement on this place.

Oh, I trust not.

The governor has his reputation to consider.

The governor should be strung up.

You think?

Oh, were you not aware?

The governor of this prison is I.

♪ ♪ This will be your world for the next month.

And then?

We travel to Honduras.

(door slams, locks) (rattling knob) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (seagulls squawking) ♪ ♪ ROSS: Demelza.

Ross.

(exhales) ♪ ♪ You've no idea how glad I am to be home.

♪ ♪ Judas!

I never thought that... Poor Ned.

Poor Kitty.

And you.

What do it mean for you, that your friend was declared traitor?

Will your good name suffer?

Do I care?

Well, not now perhaps, but...

If I never see London again, it'll be too soon.

(exhales) Did you weep?

When he died?

What good would it have done?

(breathes shakily) ♪ ♪ You should not stopper up tears, Ross.

You should weep for him.

For the better part of him.

It is the better part of you.

♪ ♪ I'll walk on and lay the table for supper.

♪ ♪ (sniffling, crying softly) (sniffles, breathes deeply) (crying softly) (sniffles, footsteps approaching) My love?

(object hits head) ♪ ♪ MAN: Compliments of Mr. Merceron.

(footsteps retreating) LINNEY: Next time, on "Poldark"...

Anything?

Poldark has vanished.

Vanished?

DWIGHT: Am I not bound to help the wife of a friend?

Now the widow of a friend.

ROSINA: Tess be up to some wickedness.

My father is, too.

RALPH: They must be stopped!

(Demelza screams) RALPH: Before they do any more damage.

LINNEY: "Poldark," next time, on "Masterpiece."

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