by Reg Dixon
click here for cast list

Episode 9 - "25B main Street Part 1" (May 18th 1998 11:15am)

Yaxley Farcett drove slowly along the Main Street of his new patch, Barnham in Cambridgeshire. It was a small village of only a couple of thousand people. He had been given only sketchy information by his superiors in Bradford and he could now tell the reason why. He had driven past the pub that Jak Jackson had mentioned, The Skaters Run, and it seemed a world away from what he was used to in Yorkshire. Apart from the pub, there was a post office and not much else apart from houses, which Yaxley had to admit were rather nice. He ground to a halt outside number twenty five and got out of the car. By the time the door had slammed shut there was already someone on the door step. "Weeeell. You must be Mr. Farcett" said a woman who looked to Yaxley to be in her early forties. She had aged quite well but be seemed to be clothed from a wardrobe that had seen nothing new since about 1975. She was wearing a denim skirt and a white crocheted top through which he could see a black bra. "Urrghh" thought Yaxley "The clothing world dream ticket. Not". The woman continued to wait on the doorstep while Yaxley got his holdall from the boot of his Escort. He didn't want to appear too keen as his first impression was less than encouraging. "Weeell Mr.Farcett. You're not what I expected at all. Much younger. They told me you're an Inspector. I was expecting someone who looks like that nice Lewis from Inspector Morse. Yaxley mumbled something about promotion being slightly easier in the Drainage Division and then had a thought. "How do you know I'm Yaxley Farcett anyway" he said in a tone not a million miles away from a nine year old. The woman laughed, "Listen lovely, it's not every day we get a detective come to the village and you with your basketball cap and Beebok plimpsolls stick out a mile." She extended a hand and said "Su Parsons. Your new landlady". She winked and said "Everyone calls me Su. What do we call you ?" Farcett groaned to himself. He was hoping for an anonymous landlady. Someone who turned up once a month for the rent and then cleared off. This was a 'cup of coffee, luv ?' landlady who would be an intrusion. "Yaxley'll do fine" he replied.

Mrs. Parsons showed Yaxley in and took him upstairs to his room. It was a bedsit with shared kitchen and bathroom. The carpet was in two different sections, split down the middle and the settee looked like it was about twenty five years old. He made a mental note to ring the personnel department in Bradford that had arranged this for him. His first priority would be to find somewhere else. Mrs. Parsons disappeared and Yaxley emptied his holdall out on the bed; jeans, T-shirts, socks and pants.

All his other stuff was laying about in the car. He sank into the armchair and remembered the roll of film in his pocket. He took it out and threw it from one hand to another thinking that he'd better ask Mrs.Parsons where the nearest Boots was. No good sending it away. It'd be days before he got it back.

The prologue - Episode One -  Episode 2 - Episode 3 - Episode 4 -  Episode 5 - Episode 6 - Episode 7 -  Episode 8 - Episode 10 -  Cast List - 'Did you see the wrist watch in Ben Hur' ?- The Colly Continuity Page.

Comments to drove@ely.org.uk

Who Dunnit? Your suggestions Please.

James Brown says "I suspect a fallen pitchfork from one of the overhead helicopters ferrying a local farmer to the office of KLFM for one of their match reports on a Lynn home game."

World Leader reckons "I think that Monica woman did it. Damn girl never could keep her mouth shut. And she was always letting things drop". Yours World Leader