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Dec 18, 2023 · Claws Out: Directed by Paul Gibson. With Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland. Frank Bailey is a pet detective whose methods irk some of the villagers, so when he is found dead in the kennel of a dog he was looking for, Inspector Barnaby has his work cut out for him.
- (172)
- Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman
- Paul Gibson
- Synopsis
- Plot, Part 1
- Plot, Part 2
- Plot, Part 3
- Plot, Part 4
- Plot Denouement
- Cast
In the idyllic village of Binwell, pets are going missing. Pet detective Frank Bailey and his crew are on the case- using technology to find missing cats and dogs. But, when someone commits murder, DCI John Barnaby and DS Jamie Winter investigate.
The scene starts out with a thermal image. Frank Bailey, his wife Kim Bailey, Madeline Saunders, Reece Fleming and several other people are looking for a lost dog. The thermal map shows a heat signature. Frank gets coordinates and it is Briar’s Farm. Frank detects a heartbeat in a metal tunnel. Reece digs away weeds and Frank pulls a dog out. Kim Bailey says into her walkie talkie, “Charlie One, subject located unharmed. Over.” William Fleming watches them through binoculars from a distance.
Back at their cars, Kim says, “It's going to be tight if you want to get changed.” Frank retorts, “What? You don't think this is a good look?” Kim says, “That's up to you. It's your award.” Madeline asks Reece if he is coming to the lunch. Reece says he will help with finding dogs, but doesn’t want to sit through Frank getting an award.
Lorna McIntosh is walking to her home and spies a “Cat Missing” post on the mailbox. She tears it down. Lorna walks into her house and greets all of her cats. “Hello! Kitty, kitty, kitties! Kitty, kitty, kitties! Mummy's home. Hello! Oh, look at you. Are you greeting party?” (She gives them snacks). “A little greeting party.” and picks up a cat who looks like the one on the Missing Cat post. She puts a collar on the cat and says, “Look what mummy's bought for you, hmm? There you go. Don't you look handsome?”
Inside the Tandoor Kitchen Restaurant, Frank Bailey is being photographed. The photographer says, “Okay, Frank. That's great. Nice smile, Frank.” Waitress, Daniella Saunders spills a dish on Kim Bailey’s lap. Kim jumps up and exclaims, “Are you serious? This is brand new.” Daniella apologizes and says she tripped. Frank says, “It runs in the family.” Daniella is incensed, “What? Being clumsy. Are you talking about my brother?”
Frank apologizes, “No, of course not. I just meant what your mother's always…” Daniella says, “You meant Edison. His accident.” Madeline Saunders, who is seated at a nearby table, says, “Come on, sweetheart. Just... Just calm…”. Daniella snaps, “No, Mum. Why are you defending him?” The chef, Eshani Hughes says, “Okay, Daniella, go and get some fresh air.” To Kim, Eshani says, “I'm really sorry about that. Let me help you with that.” Kim snaps, “I'm fine. Thank you.” Eshani tells Daniella, who was cleaning up the floor, to go outside and she leaves in a huff. Aden Hughes watches Daniella leave. “You ok? He asks. “No not really,” says Daniella. Kim says, “It’s ruined,” about her dress. Frank Bailey leaves the restaurant. Madeline continues to apologize to all.
At the Barnaby abode, Sarah Barnaby and her daughter, Betty, are trying to coax dog Paddy to come through a tunnel.
MURDER 1: Frank Bailey is lying in a dog cage outside the restaurant. Winter tells Barnaby that Frank is a private investigator, specializing in missing pet cases. He was at the restaurant collecting a local hero award. Fleur tells the detectives that Frank received a stab wound to the neck from a medium-sized blade and has been dead less than an hour. Winter says they are still looking for the weapon. There are multiple witnesses inside the restaurant saying that Frank was at his table until a few minutes before his body was found. So he was stabbed almost as soon as he went outside. There are drag marks into the kennel. In his backpack is camera equipment. Tai Yang found the body. He's a delivery rider who spotted the body when he came to collect a lunch order. He's also the victim's nephew. The girl standing and talking with Tai is a waitress, Daniella Saunders. Frank had an altercation with her. They've both given DNA samples and agreed to be interviewed at Daniella's home.
The detectives go to interview Frank’s wife, Kim outside the restaurant where she is sobbing. Kim says, “I told him it would end like this. Those people who steal dogs are dangerous. His body was found inside the kennel of the dog we were searching for. The family that own this restaurant have a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, Storm. She's been missing for four days. Frank was working the case.” Winter says, “Did he have any leads? Sorry, I... I wasn't trying to be funny.” Kim says they put up a lot on social media, press & posters. “There's so much money in dog theft now. There are organized gangs involved.” Barnaby says, “Pet detection is quite niche. How did Frank get into it?”
Kim says, “He used to be in tech. He launched an e-signature app type thing. I don't know how it works. I just know that, by the time I'd met him, it had made a lot of money. He was supposed to retire after he sold the company. Then our dog, Mabel, she was stolen. Well, no offense, but the police would have done more for a stolen mobile phone.” She was found eventually. “She was being used for breeding on a farm near Cambridge. It went in the local paper. Some other people started to ask for help and it just went from there, really.”
Winter asks if there was anyone outside of his PI work that Frank had a problem with? Kim says, “He had a...A feud with our next door neighbor, William Fleming. He's getting quite old. He's getting slightly...But he's harmless.” Kim says her relationship with her husband was normal- She loved him. She doesn’t know why he left the restaurant. He had an argument with a waitress after she spilled some food on Kim. Kim says Frank’s body was found inside Storm’s kennel. The police need to find the dog if they hope to catch Frank’s killer.
Inside the restaurant, Winter looks at the CCTV footage. Frank went out the back door and into the car park. Aden Hughes says they don’t have coverage of the car park. Aden and Eshani live next door to the restaurant. They were short staffed so Aden was helping out. He is a mortgage broker and Eshani runs the restaurant. Eshani says they did report the theft of their dog, Storm, to the police. The dog was stolen at the cemetery. Aden usually comes to walk the dog during his lunch break. There was a noise from the bushes, Storm ran towards it and then she was gone. They used Frank to find Storm, although it was a bit awkward since Eshani is Frank’s ex-wife.
At William Fleming’s house, he searches through his papers, finds an arbitration agreement between himself and Frank Bailey and puts it through the shredder.
Murder 2: At Tai’s caravan, someone plugs in something to an electrical outlet. Then Tai wakes up and struggles. He is electrocuted.
In the morning, Winter reports that Tai was found by William Fleming just after 9:00 AM. Fleur says, “Electric dog training collar- Banned in the UK. They usually emit a low-level electric shock using batteries, but this one has been tampered with.” Barnaby notices that it was wired up to the main power outlet. Tai has electric burns on the neck and scratch marks around the neck, probably caused by him trying to claw the collar off. Fleur adds, “Given the degree of rigor, I would usually say he'd been dead for at least eight hours. But with electrocution, the violent muscle contractions cause rigor to set in earlier, so it could be closer to four. I'll let you know when I have more.”
Barnaby and Winter discuss the case. An uncle and nephew killed two days apart, both involving some sort of pet paraphernalia. They need to find out if Tai was involved with Frank's PI work. Tai is still a suspect in his uncle's murder. He was covered in his blood. And Frank's death was going to make him a very wealthy young man if he made it to his 21st birthday. Or, assuming that Tai was innocent, he turned up moments after Frank had been stabbed, and maybe he witnessed something. The lock on the caravan door looks like it's been ripped off, which is presumably how the killer gained entry. But there is no evidence of a struggle inside? Smashing the door would supposedly alert Tai to an intruder, wake him up if he was asleep, and then, surely, he'd fight back to stop the collar going on. Unless the door was smashed after the event. Which the killer would only do if...They wanted to disguise the fact that Tai let them in. Or that they had a set of keys.
William Fleming is watching the detectives. Barnaby and Winter go to ask him how long had Tai been renting the caravan? William says since Easter. Tai said he wanted to save some money so he could go traveling. He had all sorts of plans. His girlfriend had come to see Tai. And William’s grandson, Reece. Then Perry comes up to defend William. Perry asks if the police are behaving themselves. Perry says he doesn’t want the police interrogating his dad. William says he and Perry both have keys to the caravan, they keep one spare under a rock and the Bailey’s have one.
At the Holmes residence, Eshani is speaking to the bank on the phone. Her bank account is overdrawn.
Barnaby and Winter go to talk to Kim Bailey over the fence. Kim asks if she should have security or something. Someone seems to be working their way through the family. Kim says Tai didn’t help out with Frank’s investigations as he wasn't interested. Barnaby mentions that Tai was due to inherit his half of the Bailey estate when he turned 21. Now Kim won’t have to worry about selling the house or splitting the estate. Kim sneers at the logic that she would kill Tai to prevent him from inheriting.
MURDER 3: Cue creepy music. A dog catching pole is slowly pushed through the kitchen window and lowered so that the loop fits around Lorna’s neck. She is strangled as the water boils and the cats watch.
At the crime scene, Winter explains to Barnaby that Eshani found the body. Apparently, when uniform returned Storm to the family, they told her where the ransom note came from. So Eshani came to confront Lorna and she found her. Lorna is lying on the floor and a cat is sitting on her. Fleur tells Winter to get rid of the cat. It is all over the forensic field. The dog catching pole, called a snare pole, is used for catching dogs. Winter says he was just there interviewing Lorna at 2:45. Fleur points out the cat food dispenser went off at 3:00. She was dead on the floor by the time it went off. The doors were all locked except for the kitchen window that was open.
Barnaby says the method is different from the other murders. Frank and Tai were both killed at very close quarters. So what was special about Lorna?” Winter says, “Maybe her murder is not connected to the others.” A dog kennel, a training collar, and then a dog snare- all items associated with dogs. A neighbor reported that Lorna let a man into her house at lunchtime today. Early 40s, slim, blue beanie, and a beard.
The detectives go to speak to Perry Fleming. Perry is mystified as to why anyone would want to hurt Lorna. Reece comes in and asks who Lorna was. But, William suggests they leave and shuts the door. Perry says he couldn’t believe what Reece was up to with stealing the dogs. Perry says he did visit Lorna at her home for about half an hour. They just talked about their old boss just being murdered. Perry was on the travel boat. “When Reece phoned us from the station, told us what he'd been doing, he said the dog had caused some damage. I've got someone renting it from tomorrow, so I thought I'd go and do some repairs.”
Inside the garden center, Perry is writing notes in cards. Barnaby comes looking for him. Barnaby says, “It won't look good if you run. We have DNA. When Tai fought back, when you put that collar around his neck, he scratched you.” Barnaby asks Perry to show them his arms. Perry rolls up his sleeve and there are scratch marks. Perry says, “I didn't want to hurt Tai. Or Lorna. It was only ever about Frank.” It was revenge for how Frank treated him at work and for what he had done to Perry’s dad. “Because people like that, they don't stop, do they? Not unless somebody stops them.” Perry says Tai saw “the blood on my clothes. I promised him cash, but then he was getting that inheritance. He didn't need my money anymore.” So the only way to silence him was to kill him. Lorna knew how much Perry despised Frank... she worked it out. “When I saw him going after my dad, it was like it was all starting up again. I couldn't let that happen, could I? Not when I wasn't going to be there to protect him.” Perry has cancer and won’t be around to take care of Reece, who will need another heart transplant.
Barnaby is having lunch with Fleur and Sarah. Sarah walks up with Paddy, “I just had to pay for that guy's dinner because someone jumped up and stole his sausage roll.” Barnaby says, “Seriously, Paddy, you know that there are...There are dogs who can lead blind people across the road, rescue people from mountains, sniff out disease. All we ask you to do is sit in the pub without causing chaos.”
Winter walks up with drinks. He says, “Perry's alibi for Lorna's murder checks out. He was on his boat. The pub's CCTV, it points straight across there. You can see his boat and that he was on it.” Barnaby exclaims, “Well, why did he just confess to killing her?” Winter says, “Maybe he's trying to protect someone. His father, his son. Neither of them could have killed Lorna. Reece was in our custody suite and William was there to collect him.” Barnaby muses, “If Betty needed an organ transplant, if her life was saved by someone's sacrifice, I'd do almost anything for them.” Winter says, “Madeline Saunders.” Barnaby says, “Madeline told me that her dog could sniff out cancer. Perry said no one knows about his diagnosis. But what if Madeline did know and used that knowledge to her advantage? What if Madeline is the one with the motive, not Perry, and she persuaded him to kill for her?”
Winter says, “But why would Madeline want to kill Frank?” Barnaby says, “I don't think she did. But she hated Tai, didn't she? She tried everything to keep him away from her daughter. And Tai turned up in that car park moments after Frank. Two men of the same height and build, both wearing dark jackets, both in full-face motorbike helmets.” Winter says, “You think Tai was the target all along? It was just a case of mistaken identity?” Barnaby says, “Wrong time, wrong place. It's possible.” Barnaby asks Fleur to let Sarah know they’ll be back. Paddy is running across the pub grass and Sarah is chasing him.
Winter is walking along the river. He calls Barnaby, “Sir, I found him. Uniform took him to the river to locate the knife. And you're right. It wasn't Frank being lured to the restaurant car park. It was definitely Tai. The takeaway that he was meant to collect was ordered to a church hall. When it wasn't delivered, no one chased it up. The whole thing was a trap.” Perry is in handcuffs at the river’s edge.
Barnaby goes to Madeline’s house. He asks Madeline about the dog that can sniff out cancer. Barnaby says, “He was good enough to spot Perry's illness wasn't he? You did an incredible thing, allowing your son's heart to go to Reece. I can't imagine how difficult that was and how grateful Perry was.” Madeline says, “He always said...if there was anything he could do. When I found the...drugs in Daniella's bag...I had to do something. And it is like...it all fell into place. (She starts to cry) Charlie (the dog) had been behaving strangely around Perry, and I eventually persuaded him to go to the GP, and he confided in me about his diagnosis. I saw a solution.”
•Neil Dudgeon as DCI John Barnaby
•Nick Hendrix as DS Jamie Winter
•Fiona Dolman as Sarah Barnaby
•Isabel Shaw as Betty Barnaby
•Annette Badland as Fleur Perkins
•Mina Anwar as Eshani Hughes
Paul Gibson. Helen Jenkins. The murder of a pet detective draws Barnaby and Winter into the world of dognapping.
Midsomer Murders – Season 24, Episode 3 Claws Out Aired Dec 18, 2023 Crime Drama Mystery & Thriller
Claws Out: After a pet detective turns up dead inside the kennel of a dog he was searching for, Barnaby and Winter are drawn into the world of dognapping, cat seduction, and animal investigation. Cast. Starring: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman. US TV RATING: TV-14.
- Paul Gibson
- Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman
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Dec 18, 2023 · Midsomer Murders. Claws Out. Available on Acorn TV, Prime Video. S24 E3: After a pet detective turns up dead inside the kennel of a dog he was searching for, Barnaby and Winter are drawn into the world of dognapping, cat seduction, and animal investigation. Crime Dec 18, 2023 1 hr 28 min. Information. Released. 2023. Run Time. 1 hr 28 min. Rated.
Really quirky plot with some highly comedic elements between Fleur, Jamie, Barnaby...and Paddy! The vibe of the episode really felt like it harkened back to earlier episodes, quite able to mix murder, light humour, and quite a bit of tragedy as well. Really kept me guessing as to who the murderer was as well!
