The Ghosts of 221B

"The Ghosts of 221B" is the second episode of season one of The Irregulars. It first aired on Netflix on 26 March 2021.
== Summary ==
Broke and in trouble, Bea reluctantly partners with Jessie to find out who's stealing children's teeth. Spike spies on Watson and Sherlock Holmes.
== Plot ==
Still short of money, Bea is arrested for stealing a bracelet and jailed, where she is visited by the Doctor. Despite Bea having decided not to work for him again, she is forced to agree to help him when he threatens to have her sent to the workhouse unless she investigates another case. The Doctor informs her of two bizarre recent incidents where all of a child's teeth were stolen out of their mouths by someone whom the press have dubbed the "Tooth Fairy". He provides her with the victim's addresses, and tells her that a ghostly woman was seen at both locations. Bea tells him that Jessie thinks people are getting strange powers from somewhere, and again asks how her employer knew about Jessie's abilities. However, the Doctor refuses to answer either question.
Back at the Duck and Quiver, Bea convinces Spike to break in to 221B to learn more about the Doctor and what he knows. Meanwhile, she and Billy will investigate the crimes. Jessie insists on coming with them as she is the only one with psychic abilities. Billy is upset that they are working for the Doctor again, but Bea maintains that they have no choice. Meanwhile, Leo has once again managed to escape the palace with the assistance of his sister Louise. He finds the other teens just as they are leaving for the investigation. However, he gets a cold reception. Bea angrily tells him to help Billy with the interviews before storming off. Across town, a young girl who loses a tooth is shocked when she discovers that instead all of her mother's teeth have been removed.
Billy and Leo first visit the theater where one of the victims and her mother are employed. Mrs Machin explains that her daughter, Carla, had actually lost her last milk teeth several years before. The Tooth Fairy had in fact stolen all of Carla's adult teeth.
Meanwhile, Bea and Jessie investigate the area of the sightings in Balham. Jessie insists they split up in spite of Bea's misgivings. Jessie follows a young boy into a dilapidated building, out front of which is an old dentist's sign. She finds a woman buying something in the yard. Jessie explains that she is investigating the strange occurrences in the area, and the woman invites her inside. They go upstairs, where the woman knocks Jessie out with her breath.
Back on Baker Street, Spike breaks into 221B after the Doctor leaves. He finds a letter addressed to John Watson concerning a group called the Golden Dawn. However, he is interrupted by someone entering the building. Spike hides under the bed, which the man laws down on. The man plays the violin briefly, before stopping and vomiting on the floor. Spike manages to leave after the man passes out, passing a strange room filled with occult artefacts on the way out.
Billy and Leo next visit John Cooper, the father of William, the second victim. However, they fail to interview him as Cooper is immediately hostile to Billy due to his lower-class background. Billy tries to intimidate Cooper, but it fails when Cooper reveals that he is an ex-soldier and bodyguard. Billy storms off. Leo tries to calm him down, but Billy turns on Leo, venting his frustration with the upper classes looking down on him. He accuses Leo of being a "dabbler", someone who turns to slumming it with the lower classes after growing bored of a life of privilege. Leo begins to argue but falls down, revealing an inflamed knee. He asks Billy to keep his illness a secret.
In Balham, Bea notices Jessie is missing, and goes searching for her sister. She sees the dentist's sign, and enters just in time to stop the Tooth Fairy from pulling Jessie's teeth. They manage to restrain the woman by tying her to a chair. Bea finds a spirit board and tries to interrogate the woman about her powers, but the woman is unresponsive. Jessie enters the Tooth Fairy's mind, and sees a memory of her attempting to contact her father through the spirit board as she gained her powers. She also witnesses the woman's discovery of her father's body after his suicide. However, the woman then grabs Jessie and drags her into one of Jessie's own traumatic memories of life in the workhouse. Jessie leaves the Tooth Fairy's mind, and tells Bea that she thinks the woman is trying to get revenge on someone she blames for her father's suicide.
Jessie goes to find Leo and Billy, leaving Bea alone to interrogate the Tooth Fairy. The woman tries to convince Bea that the two of them are the same, and insists that if Bea knew her mother had been killed she would act the same way. Outside, Jessie returns with Leo and Billy. They notice a jawbone apparently growing in the dirt. Bea joins them just in time to see a clone of Carla Machin emerge from the dirt and run off with the clone of William Cooper that Jessie saw earlier. Bea realizes the Tooth Fairy is creating clones from the teeth she stole. The group returns upstairs to try and determine the intended victim. Bea remembers that the woman earlier said her father lost everything due to the land under the building, and Leo says that the land belongs to the wealthy Duke of Winchester. He realizes that William Cooper's father, John, must be the duke's bodyguard, while the duke will that same night be sponsoring a gala at the theater where Carla Machin works. They send Billy to go warn the duke.
At the theater, Carla's clone kidnaps her and steals her clothing. The show begins; the clone Carla lets in the clone William, who stabs himself in the leg to distract his father. Back in Balham, Bea tries to convince the Tooth Fairy to let go of her quest for revenge on the Duke. However, the woman insists the only way to stop her is to kill her. As the duke enters the theater and begins to give a speech, the Tooth Fairy possesses Carla's clone. She interrupts the duke, and point a gun at him. She denounces the duke for raising rents on his land and driving her father into poverty. To prevent his daughter from being saddled with his debts, her father killed himself. As she gives the speech, Bea considers killing the Tooth Fairy to save the duke, but ultimately decides that she can't do it. Billy, meanwhile, arrives at the theater and convinces John Cooper that his injured "son" is actually a copy. Together, they manage to stop "Carla" from shooting the Duke, and the clone is apprehended. The crowd scatters, and Cooper directs Billy to guard the duke and his wife and daughter in a dressing room.
Back in Balham, the Tooth Fairy angrily reacts to the failed assassination and mocks Bea for thinking that she is more moral than her. However, Jessie notices that the third skull that was earlier in the garden has disappeared. Realizing that the danger isn't over, they wonder who the third clone is, and when the Tooth Fairy possesses the clone they are horrified to hear her greet Billy. In the dressing room, the duke's wife suddenly pulls out a knife and stabs him. Billy attempts to disarm her but is soon overpowered and the "duchess" goes to stab him in the throat. To save him, Bea is forced to kill the Tooth Fairy, which immediately kills the clones as well. However, Bea is traumatized by her action.
Back at the Duck and Quiver, Leo decides to spend the night in the cellar with his friends to convince them of his intentions. Jessie, meanwhile, has another nightmare about the dark pit but is once again rescued by the Linen Man just as the masked monster catches her. The Linen Man impresses a moth on Jessie's wrist, and tells her she can use it to escape the nightmares. Jessie tells him that she looked into the Tooth Fairy's mind, and that it felt like a door had been left open, with the power on the other side available to anyone. The Linen Man explains that someone must have torn a hole in the barrier between the material and spirit worlds. He warns that the Rip will widen as more people reach into it for power, until eventually the barrier collapses, ending the world.
Jessie shares this information with the rest of the group, but they realize they will first need to find the Rip before they can think about how to close it. Spike remembers a strange map of London in 221B. He informs the others that the Doctor's name is John Watson, and shows them the letter from the Golden Dawn. Deciding that Watson knows much more than he is telling, they agree to start there. Bea visits the Golden Dawn's headquarters, where she finds Mycroft Holmes waiting for her.
== Cast ==
=== Main cast ===
*Thaddea Graham as Bea Cook
*Darci Shaw as Jessie Cook
*Harrison Osterfield as Prince Leopold
*Jojo Macari as Billy Chisup
*McKell David as Spike
*Royce Pierreson as Dr John Watson
*Clarke Peters as the Linen Man
=== Guest stars ===
*Sheila Atim as the Tooth Fairy/Jean Gates
*Edward Hogg as Daimler
*Charles Armstrong as Mr Bannister
*Brooke Carter as Georgina
*Keira Chansa as Lucy
*Emma Cunniffe as Laura Machin
*Alex Ferns as Vic Collins
*Edward Hogg as Daimler
*Nell Hudson as Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
*Ansu Kabia as John Cooper
*Evie Lew-Davies as Young Bea
*Ameen Mustapha as William Cooper
*Patrice Naiambana as the Duke of Winchester
*Jonjo O'Neill as Mycroft Holmes
*Muna Otaru as Maggie Cooper
*Lucy Russell as the Duchess of Winchester
*Harriet Turnbull as Carla Machin
== References ==
Category:Episodes: The Irregulars