Time of Death

***Time of Death*** is the third episode of the first series of *Night Terrace*. It was released for digital download along with the rest of series one on 23 October, 2014, and first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on May 5, 2019 as part of the 7th Dimension. It was repeated on 11 November, 2020 as part of a nightly repeat of season one.

## Synopsis

The house lands Anastasia and Eddie in 1920s Dorset where they are swept up in a murder mystery, investigated by glamorous sleuth Miss Baker. But the bigger mystery is that they’ve met the victim before...

## Plot

Anastasia and Eddie land by the seaside, and she teaches him observation skills by deducing they are in early twentieth century Lyme Regis (via a sign). Suddenly there’s a gunshot and a woman who looks like Sue runs from the bushes.

She dies from her wound, but not before saying Eddie’s name and delivering a strange message. Then amateur sleuth Miss Leaina Baker and the local constabulary arrive on the scene, panicking Eddie who's worried about looking suspicious.  Miss Baker is nonplussed and seems immediately taken by Eddie, and deduces many details about him and earning his admiration.

After assisting in moving the body, who turns out to be a Lady Susanna Harkwood, the travellers are invited back to Lambert House where, in the midst of a fancy dress party, Miss Baker is about to reveal the culprit behind not only Lady Harkwood's shooting, but the poisoning of Sir Jeffrey Smythe. She reveals several suspects to the assembled crowd before announcing that Mr Bell - Sir Jeffrey's butler - is the murderer, thanks to his obligations to the Ancient Order of Benevolent Gardeners. While Eddie is enthralled, Anastasia is bored by Miss Baker's theatrical style, and insists they leave, asking a servant in a dodo costume to show them the exit.

On the way back to the house Anastasia reveals a new theory about Sue: that when Susanna Harkwood was killed near the house, it recorded a psychic imprint of her image and personality, which it's been using to communicate with them - even in their subjective past. She also warns him off any interest in Miss Baker - and tells him not to have sex in the past to avoid paradoxes.

Back in the house, they turn on the taps to leave, Anastasia noting Eddie's dirty teaspoons in the sink. The house travels only very briefly before appearing exactly where they left - and, shortly after they go outside, disappears on its own. Dismissing Eddie's theory that they need to complete a "quest" to put things right, Anastasia goes off to look around, asking Eddie to wait in case the house returns.

Anastasia runs into Lady Harkwood and realises the house has taken them back in time; "Sue" gives her another brief cryptic message before disappearing. Worried that if Eddie finds out he'll do something stupid like trying to prevent Sue's murder, she heads back to Lambert House to find him. Eddie meanwhile runs into Miss Baker, not realising that it's her first time meeting him, and goes with her back to the house, eventually realising he has gone back into time. He does go looking for Sue, who gives him another cryptic message before running off.

Anastasia, disguised in a servant's party costume, finds Eddie and makes him wear a costume too; the disguises work, and they interact with their past selves never realising who's under the mask. After their past selves leave, and Miss Baker has named Mr Bell as the murderer, Anastasia unmasks and exposes the real killer: Miss Baker! Various clues led her to realise that the "sleuth" is a serial killer, ingratiating herself with unpopular aristocrats so she could murder them and pin the blame on someone with a real motive. Goaded into confessing, Miss Baker is taken away by the police.

Anastasia and Eddie head back to the house, and finally make sense of Sue's messages by putting them together in order from her perspective: she was telling them that the teaspoons in the sink sent the house backwards through time. Eddie washes them up and they continue on their travels.

## Cast and characters

* Jackie Woodburne as Anastasia Black
* Ben McKenzie as Eddie Jones
* Petra Elliott as "Sue"

### Guest Stars

* Virginia Gay as Miss Leaina Baker
* Dave Lamb as Constable Agnew
* Andrew McClelland as the Colonel and Mr Bell
* Amanda Buckley as Countess Summerfield

Additional voices: Anniene Stockton, Allan Carey and the cast.

## Notes

### Continuity

* "Sue" appears as "Lady Susanna Harkwood", who seems to have had an existence before the arrival of the house, just as "Sue" did on the *Starship Australis*.
* Eddie has grandparents from England, or at least somewhere in Great Britain.
* Anastasia is trained in temporal paradoxicology. She suggests to Eddie that trying to work out Sue's existence will be painful for someone not so trained. By contrast, she was not trained in fairies.
* Anastasia says there's no such thing as ghosts; her theory is that Sue is a "psycho-arcitecturally-recorded freeform electromagnetic semi-sentience", an empathic recording caused by Sue dying close to the house.
* At least one of Anastasia's lab assistants died.
* Anastasia has once before seen her future self; she doesn't reveal any details of the incident, but describes it to Eddie as "one of the worst things that has ever happened" to her.

### Australian references

* Miss Baker is a parody of traditional detectives in general, but also has many things in common with Phryne Fisher, Australian protagonist of the television series *Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries*, adapted from the books by Australian author Kerry Greenwood. Both Greenwood and Miss Fisher are from Melbourne, and her adventures take place in the 1920s.

## External links

* Bandcamp - Splendid Chaps Productions | ***1.3 Time of Death***
* On the Terrace podcast: Killing Time

## References

 **Season One**
 **Season Two**
*Things That Go Bump in the Night Terrace* · *Ancient History*
 **Specials**
 **Hello! My Name is Eddie**
 **Night Your Own Terrace**
 **Horatio's Travels**
*Messages*