[gentle music plays] Someone's gonna have to tell the Witchfinder General he's gonna need a new right-hand man.

I need to take the suspect to the court of assizes.

[Thomasine] And you won't even let me go?

Why on earth would I agree to that?

'Cause you can't get to Chelmsford in time.

We'll be there on time.

In fact, we'll be there later today.

[Rafe] Captain, we weren't expecting you so soon.

-Captain?

-[Cumberlidge] That's John Stearne.

-[Hebble] Was.

-[Cumberlidge] That's John Was.

Why do your eyes keep flicking over there?

Need to go over the bridge.

Thought I might look at the bridge.

Careful!

She could cast a hex on any one of you.

-[cavalier] Blow the bridge!

-Ahh!

[mysterious music playing] [Gideon] This is not catastrophic.

This is manageable.

If you could eat anything you wanted right now, what would you eat?

Plenty of villages beyond these trees.

Get to one of them, floor a couple of horses, off we go.

We should be in Chelmsford marginally after dark.

Like if I was a witch and I could cast a food spell and you could eat anything you wanted to, what would you eat right now, do you think?

Just need to get through this forest,which isn't really a forest if I'm honest.

It's more of a wood.

Well, it's a thicket, isn't it?

It's a copse.

I'd have a bag pudding.

What are you talking about?

I was just talking about, if you could eat anything right now, what would you eat, do you think?

Just to sort of pass the time.

Yes, you can pass the time by examining the woodland.

Or your conscience.

Nothing wrong with my conscience.

Just have to borrow a couple of horses once we get to the Vale of Dedham.

Dedham Vale?

Are you joking?

I'm not going through Dedham Vale.

You are going through Dedham Vale.

You're a prisoner and you'll do as you're told.

No one goes through Dedham Vale.

My dad told me all about it.

They've lost their minds.

A man lost his daughters in there who went in there to sell cakes and they never came back.

Well, we don't know that they came to any harm.

-Where'd they go then?

-Well, maybe they met some brothers and settled down.

-There were six of them.

-Maybe they met six brothers.

-I don't think so.

-We're talking about Suffolk, they have big families.

[horse whinnies] Okay, let's go.

Come on, let's go!

Excuse me, swan.

Sorry.

Madam, stop!

Stop!

[breathing heavily] Where are you going?

South.

South.

Now are you going near Chelmsford?

Going to Chelmsford.

Ooh, this is ideal.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

-Is that to me or the horse?

-I'll need my costs covered.

Your costs for the... You're going there anyway, aren't you?

So there are no costs.

And besides, we have no money.

Then just give us a bit of your honey.

Well, what?

-This is stealing.

-Dad always said don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

This is not a gift horse.

This is just a horse that's left its mouth unattended.

Smoke, look.

Right.

[bees buzzing] Let's do the job properly.

Okay, okay.

-Someone's coming.

-[man] Oi!

What the ... are you doing?

-Have you been in the hive?

-No.

If you've touched my bees, I'll shove them up your ass one by one like rosary beads.

You definitely haven't touched them?

No.

Just looking at them.

Quite unusual.

Bollocks, unusual.

What's unusual about them?

Well, your skeps are made from willow.

-Skeps?

-Yeah.

What do you know about skeps?

Well, usually you would reinforce the base with hazel.

You've opted to use willow.

Presumably to stop them warping in the wet weather.

I have, yes.

It's not reinforcing the base, is it?

It's called... [both] Spleeting.

Sorry our smoke scared your bees.

-Scared them?

-No, the smoke doesn't scare them.

It quells them.

-If you scared them, you'd know about it.

-[laughs] Oh yes, you would.

-[beekeeper laughs] -Do you tend to these every day, or...

I do, yeah.

You know, I mean...

I know we're not supposed to work on the Sabbath but... -Try telling the bees that.

-[laughs] This is nice, isn't it?

Just two men having a nice chat about bees.

[both laugh] [dog barking] You've the softest elderly hands I've ever held.

That's just a knob of butter in the morning.

-You butter your hands?

-Yeah.

You butter your hands?

That's right.

And it works beautifully.

Now, are you going to tell me what's upset you?

They're saying that it was Master Gideon that killed Mr. Stearne.

Then you must go and warn him.

Godspeed and good luck.

Cumberlidge, we ride for Cromer in an hour so the horses will need a belly full of hay and a going over with the dandy brush.

You could do with a couple of strokes yourself.

I don't have a horse.

You don't have a horse?

Then yours is a thorny task indeed.

I will say, do find him.

I remember my father was wrongly accused of poaching.

I tried to reach him before the gamekeepers did.

-Did you find him?

-Oh, yes.

-Oh, thank goodness.

-Dead.

Moments too late.

What I wouldn't give to right that wrong.

Still.

If...

If you want to, you could help me find my master.

Oh.

Oh, we'd be happy to.

I could do for Bannister what I could never do for my father.

You just tell me where he's gone.

Ch... Ch... Ah, you promised not to.

Oh, Alice, bless you.

Promises are so important, aren't they?

I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

-Psalms.

-Psalms.

So, what if...

I say where he's gone, then you won't have been the one to tell me.

Your promise will be intact and we can save that life of his.

You just tell me if I'm right.

Chorley.

Chelmsford.

Cheltenham.

Chesham.

Chadderton.

Chiddingly?

Chard.

Chelsea.

Charlbury.

Chatham.

Chatteris.

Cheshunt.

Chester.

Chesterfield.

Chester-le-street.

Chagford.

Chaddesley Corbett.

Charlwood.

Cheadle.

Cheddar.

Chinnor.

Chichester.

Chippenham.

Chipping Campden.

Chipping Norton.

Chipping Ongar.

Chipping Sodbury.

-None of those?

-Second one.

Such lovely hands.

Come along, Alice.

[Thomasine] Nice of him to give us that honey.

For people that keep bumblebees as slaves, I think beekeepers are actually quite nice.

You met many beekeepers?

No.

Beekeepers are odd.

Thought your dad was a beekeeper.

Bee people are all the same.

Ooh, that's a very nice honey.

Ooh, try this honey.

Smell the honey.

Ooh, that's lovely honey, that is.

Tedious.

Tedious.

Their relentless veneration of bees.

I dunno.

Whatever makes you happy, I say.

Name a famous beekeeper.

I'm waiting.

[chuckles] There aren't any.

You can't get rich or decorated by keeping bees.

You can be rich in other ways besides money.

Yes, well, I want to be rich in other ways, and money.

You're a witchfinder.

-I am.

-My lad's a bit of a witchfinder, aren't you, lad?

A bit of a witchfinder?

You'll have to watch yourself.

I shall have to remember that.

[chuckles] He's found two now.

Local girls, like.

He knows all the questions.

Then again, it's just a bit of common sense, innit?

Well, no, you have to be able to read for a start.

[boy] I can read.

Oh, I bet you read nicely.

[gasps] You could teach me to read one day.

"An observation of the study of the nature of the foulness of witches.

For Dorothy."

Oh, no.

It's a summons from the court in Chelmsford.

It doesn't say "Chelmsford" on here.

Or "court."

Well, I've read Malleus Maleficarum in Latin.

I wonder whether your boy has done that.

-Might have.

-What about Demonology ?

-Um... -Um.

Yes or no?

-Yes then.

-And Stercus Equi ?

-Yep.

-Even though it doesn't exist and it means horse ... in Latin?

Oh.

No.

No.

Stop the cart!

Stop the cart!

Gooch!

Oi!

Gooch!

[folk music playing] One more step!

One more step and I will put a hex on you.

I mean it.

Ahh!

Ah!

Argh!

-Right.

You.

-[Thomasine screams] -You!

[grunts] -[Thomasine yelps] [Gideon groans] I was never summoned to Chelmsford.

-There's no letter.

-So what?

In Chelmsford, you get to be tried away from the lunatics in your home town.

And I get to offer my services as the right-hand man to the Witchfinder General.

Is this what this is all about?

A job?

You are so obsessed with people thinking you're important!

I care what people think, that's all.

And maybe if you would do that once in a while rather than just articulating anything that comes into your head then maybe you wouldn't be in this pickle in the first place.

-Don't you dare.

-People are frightened.

Yeah.

They think the devil walks amongst them.

They want certainty.

Now, anyone with half a brain would notice that and would try and fit in.

Would try and be like other people.

But not you, spend all your time down the tavern.

You rile all your neighbors.

You ask constant, constant questions.

I don't just accept what the men in the fancy hats tell me!

Yeah, well let me tell-- Let me tell you something.

It's the people in the nice hats that make all the big decisions.

Now someone like-- -What?

-You don't think I'm a witch.

I haven't said that.

Who said that?

-Why didn't you stay back?

-What?

When I threatened to put a hex on you before?

You didn't even flinch.

I did!

I remember feeling intense fear before asking the Lord to give me courage.

You dived on me straight away.

-I pray very quickly.

-For the sake of your career you would convict an innocent woman.

I'm not convicting anyone.

That is for the court to decide.

I am merely a, um... conduit would be the wrong word, but... -Just a horrible man.

-Yes, and you're my prisoner.

So we're going.

[mischievous music playing] Give me the map.

-Give me the map.

-Mm-mm.

-Give me the map.

-No.

I'm not going through Dedham Vale.

It's got the word "dead" in it.

Yes, it's also got the word "ham" in it.

Well, good luck getting that down.

You'd have more chance swallowing your bloody mouth, honestly.

Can't wait to see you get that down.

You're not getting that down.

Are you getting that down?

Don't get that down!

Stop getting it down!

Is it down?

That's unbelievable.

Let's head for the trees.

Bugger me.

Footprints.

People have been this way.

Yeah, us an hour ago.

Right, we're camping.

And you can extinguish that look, thank you very much.

We're still going to Chelmsford tomorrow.

I was always told it's dangerous to stay out at night in case of highwaymen.

Can you see any highways?

Highwaymen don't just rob on highways.

Yes, but highwaymen mainly rob on highways just like dung beetles don't just eat dung.

If they find an old leaf that tastes ... enough, they'll eat that too, but they're called dung beetles because they mainly eat dung.

[sighs] Right.

Have you done much camping?

[apprehensive music playing] The rabbit is a wily foe... but if I stay completely still...

I will hear him coming long before he reaches the exit... giving me that crucial split second advantage... -needed.

[grunts] -[leaves rustle] It's fine.

Let him go, let him go.

-D'you think?

-Mm-hmm.

Always let the first one go.

-A mark of respect between hunter-- -[leaves rustle] ...and hunted.

-Again, fine.

-Let him go, let him go?

We had not yet commenced the hunt proper.

We shall do so now.

-[leaves rustle] -[thunk] -[leaves rustle] -[thunk] -[leaves rustle] -[thunk] -[leaves rustle] -[thunk] [leaves rustle] Funny how if you just bend down and pick one up, they just let you.

-Possibly cotignac.

-Cotignac?

You were asking earlier what I would eat if I could have anything I liked.

Bread with cotignac.

It's a quince paste made with lemon and sugar.

-I love jam.

-It's not a jam!

It's an exquisite local delicacy from Provence.

In France.

Unusual for something to be exquisite and local.

Um, no.

Normally if something's exquisite it doesn't stay local.

We all end up eating it.

And if it's still local, it's probably not gonna be that exquisite.

Is that where you had cotignac?

France?

No, it's not.

I had it at a dinner with the Archbishop of Norfolk and several other leading figures of East Anglia.

I sampled the cotignac and I was possibly too... boisterous in my praise.

Ended up lodging a pheasant's wishbone in the old throat.

Had to be helped away.

I wasn't asked back.

[plays sad tune] That's sad.

It is sad, yes.

I've come to refer to it as the wishbone moment.

Not just because I choked on one but also because... when one pictures a wishbone there is a long, thin single bone.

If you like, my life up until that moment.

And then the bone bisects into two prongs and one of these is the less than successful path my life took after that moment involving small rooms in taverns and people who like bag pudding.

The other prong?

That's the life I should have had.

Renown, acclaim.

-So yes, it's sad.

-I meant the tune.

Oh, right, well...

I'll be playing an altogether more jaunty number tomorrow after meeting the Witchfinder General.

[plays sad tune] Do you know "Are You Sleeping Brother John"?

-[chuckles] -'Cause we could do that in the round.

There's two of us.

Didn't he ban music?

That puritan you like.

Oliver Cromwell.

♪ You be a man of noble fame ♪ ♪ Then tell me all the fathers' name ♪ ♪At the well below the valley-o ♪ ♪Green grow the lily-o ♪ ♪ Right among the bushes-o ♪ -♪ It's--♪ -It's outstanding, Alice!

I could listen to you sing all day... -Well, thank you.

-...and in a way, I feel I have.

Your master is a lucky man indeed.

He doesn't much care for my singing.

Well, he should try listening to Cumberlidge for entertainment.

I'd get better conversation if I put the bridle on him and had the horse sit up here.

-♪ There's--♪ -That being said, I do wonder if we shouldn't put the singing to one side.

We'd hate to be in the throes of musical ecstasy and miss a clue as to which way he journeyed.

Well, I can tell you which way he's gone.

You can-- You can see from the horse droppings.

These could be anyone's horse droppings.

Well, those could be anyone's, but these on the left, they're Master Gideon's.

You can tell 'cause they're a bit purple-y and he feeds his horse beetroot.

Why does he feed them beetroot?

So they do purple ... .

Quite the sleuth.

Like a bloodhound tracking a fox.

Or a pig snuffling for truffles.

Mm, it's a bit like truffles of snuffles, isn't it?

We must hurry.

Cumberlidge, off.

Give the horse a fighting chance.

You can trot alongside.

Haven't been camping in ages.

Suppose women aren't allowed to anymore.

Yes, they are, of course they are.

Meet in the woods, must be a coven.

Pick flowers, she's making a potion.

Swim in a river, why does she float?

I used to love swimming.

-My dad always says-- -I think that's enough talking now, don't you?

Nothing wrong with talking.

My dad says it's the only thing that separates us from animals.

Not true.

Clothes.

-My dad also says-- -Your dad also says, your dad also says.

Your dad does a lot of saying, doesn't he?

But not a great deal of being there when his daughter is accused of witchery.

Well, he went away.

When I was younger there was a bad harvest.

-He went to get work.

-So now he's migratory, is he?

Flying off to sunnier climes, flapping his big old wings.

Soaring off to Lowestoft.

[screeches] [screeches] Well, he didn't want us relying on the parish.

Comments as you go by, wiping spit off the door.

So he went away.

Last time I checked, families were supposed to stay together.

We will be in one place.

He's found work now.

-Oh.

-Says so in his letters.

Which you can't read.

Mom's friend can read and Mom would tell me until the pox took her last winter.

Do you think that he'd be writing me letters if he deserted me?

I don't know, no.

You know, it's not healthy to set so much store in other people.

Rely on one's self.

Pull up the drawbridge.

What if you love someone?

Don't.

I don't.

-You don't know what it means.

-I do know this.

Everybody has attachments.

Parents they've lost or a dog that ran away or a fiancée who backed out with four weeks to go before the wedding.

You can't dwell on the Christmases you spent together, the long walks, stroking her face with the back of your hand.

Oh, you've got smooth knuckles, I'm gonna call you "Smuckles."

You can't wallow in it.

You're from the wrong stock, draw a line, move on.

Buh-bye.

What's her name?

Long time ago.

I don't know, something like Dorothy.

-So, Dorothy, then?

-Yeah, it was Dorothy.

Yeah.

Are you not having your bunny?

I'm alright, I had that map.

Let's tie you up.

[gentle folk music playing] [birds singing] [grunts] [children shouting distantly] Come on, Gooch.

Up.

Gooch.

Gooch!

Up.

I can hear people.

There must be a village.

Come on, Gooch.

Let's go, come on.

Hurry up.

[sniffs] Smell that?

That'll be sausages.

That's Dedham Vale?

Well, what did you expect?

Jackals roaming the street?

Dead babies on spikes?

Lucifer manning the cider stall?

Well, I don't know.

I just got so many stories about how everybody just went completely berserk.

Where do the stories come from?

-Your father.

-And half the tavern.

Like June Roscoe and Old Demdike.

-Here we go.

-Randy Tom, Henry with the eye, Henry with the hair.

Bobby Four Tits and half the lads at the tannery.

Honestly, I hate to disagree with Randy Tom or any of the Four Tits family, but look for yourself.

-I might just go an ask.

-No, you won't just do anything.

You're gonna stay out the way.

Come on.

I will go over there.

I will have a lovely breakfast and then I will use my standing to secure the loan of a cart and horse to get us to Chelmsford today ready for the trial tomorrow.

Any sausages for me?

Shouldn't have thought so.

[strange music playing] Good morning!

Are your parents about?

-[strange music continues] -I love children.

Hello?

Hello?

[strange music continues] Do we know if this horse is taken?

Do we know if horsey likes apples?

-Hello?

-[eerie music playing] -Daylight robbery.

-Ah, no!

-The price of a good horse today.

-Ah.

Mind you, that one's just a pony and it gets terrible sore throats.

-Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

-Oh, it's fine.

He's just a little hoarse.

-Oh!

-[both laugh] Wonderful!

Really strong.

The pony doesn't think so, but then they are neigh-sayers.

-[both laugh] -That's another one.

That's two horse jokes.

Eleanor Jennings.

-Gideon Bannister.

-Gideon, eh?

-Ooh, a fine biblical name.

-Yes.

Commanded by God to defeat the Midianites.

Well, if I see one... [laughs] -No, but are you a man of God?

-I try to be.

-I'm actually transporting-- -James!

He's one of our lot.

I'm Minister Jennings and cleric of our little parish.

-So there are people here, then?

-[both] Yes.

-Well, you met my wife.

-The comedian?

[chuckles] Giving you the horse jokes, was she?

Yes, both of them.

Oh, I know, Puritans ought not to entertain frivolity.

But we're not really the finger-wagging types in Dedham Vale.

Oh, this is splendid.

A new friend and a man of good stock.

I saw you were looking at the horse, are you in need of one?

Yes, that's my mane concern.

I've got a horse joke for you.

-But of course.

-Absolutely.

A good Puritan like you, more than welcome.

But first, you must stay and enjoy the feast.

Ooh, a feast.

Now, then, I don't mind a feast.

Do you know what?

Some people warned me not to come through here.

-[laughs] Dedham Vale?

-Dedham Vale.

There's no safer place in England.

-[all laugh] -[Gideon] Of course not.

[grunts] [somber music playing] [twig snaps] [Gideon] Oh, this place is fantastic.

-We should get the feast started.

-Oh, wonderful.

What are we having?

-Having?

-Sausages, by any chance?

Oh, no.

It's more of a feast of renewal than a "feast" feast.

Please!

I have children, please!

-Wha... -We generally hang them but the occasional bonfire serves as a warning to others.

[Jennings] Susan was arrested this morning.

It's said that she muttered a malediction to being a horse.

Only arrested this morning and already tried?

[Mrs. Jennings] Oh, we don't much worry about trials.

Best not to dilly-dally.

When the locals identify a witch, that's good enough for us.

[Mrs. Jennings] When the people of Sodom and Gomorrah committed abominations, God didn't initiate court proceedings, he rained burning sulfur upon them.

Which is why when we get a witch, we like to pop her on the fire.

The devil's daughter must be put to slaughter.

-L-Lovely rhyme.

-Yes.

-Peter makes them up for us.

-He's our resident Shakespeare.

-I can see that.

-[Mrs. Jennings] Now... would you care to be today's starter of the flame, Mr. Bannister?

[Susan screaming] Flame?

[tense music playing] Oh, there they are!

I was meant to bury those witches a week ago.

You know when you just can't remember what you've done with something?

So, what are you doing here?

I thought I'd just sort of guard them.

-Guard them?

-Uh, because... witches, you don't know if the power's kind of still in them.

-Oh.

-Even after they're dead.

I don't want any kids sort of playing, skipping around, and they're still... like, still some sort of evil seeping out.

-I'm Richard, by the way.

-I am Thomasine, lovely to meet you.

Oh, uh, you always curtsy?

Only to people that I fancy.

-Will you do me a favor and pass me that shovel?

-Um, no.

Pick it up so I can look at your bum.

[chuckles] Wasn't expecting-- wasn't expecting that.

I think I'll-- I'm gonna get it, actually.

Cool.

See you later.

[exhales heavily] [gentle music playing] [Mrs. Jennings] Come along, everybody.

Gather.

It's customary to say a few words, be it a prayer or a favorite passage.

A prayer, verse or a phrase, then we can set her ablaze.

-[crowd laughs] -Thanks.

Bit of phlegm in my throat.

Um...

In these moments, I am reminded of a passage from the Old Testament.

An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

And I think what, um, the Lord is driving at there is he's inviting us to extrapolate that out, away from just eyes and teeth and towards all parts of us.

So for example, a thigh for a thigh or a lung for a lung or a, um... well, anyone?

-Lip!

-Lip would do it yeah, lip for a lip, yeah.

-A womb.

-Womb for a womb, yes, one for the ladies.

-But does God-- -A chin!

Chin is excellent.

That's world-class.

Yes, chin for a chin works a treat.

But does God literally want us to do harm to another just because we have had harm done unto us?

-[crowd] Yes.

-[Gideon] Going for yes.

-[crowd] Yes.

-Unanimously?

-[crowd] Yes.

-Okay.

-So then um-- -[Mrs. Jennings] Uh... -Yeah?

-Will this go on much longer?

Uh, no, no.

No, I'll just do my bit then I'll get her lit.

One for you, Peter.

In these situations, I always like to thank the Lord with a rendition of, "Are you sleeping, Brother John?"

What, the children's rhyme?

Well, how does Brother John pertain to Christ?

John was the um... Fourth wise man, often overlooked.

Um, I think only three of them, in the end, got the nod to visit the Christ Child.

Uh,John was sleeping, hence the song.

Um...

So let's give that a whirl, shall we?

So let's sing a round of, "Are you sleeping, Brother John?

", and let's start over here, so ♪ Are you sleeping ♪ -♪ Are you sleeping♪ -Just this quarter for now.

♪ Brother John?

♪ -And then at the back.

-♪ Brother John?

♪ ♪ Are you sleeping ♪ -Ready?

-♪ Brother John?♪ ♪ Are you sleeping ♪ And nice and loud.

Belt it out.

-Chap with the felt hat.

-♪ Are you sleeping ♪ -♪ Brother John?

♪ -And then eyes closed.

-[singing over each other] -Close your eyes.

Scrunch them closed as if you're actually sleeping.

-Peter knows what I'm talking about.

-[singing continues] Eyes closed.

Good fella.

Even if I go quiet, keep your eyes closed, keep singing.

-♪Brother John?

Morning bells are ringing ♪ -That's it.

♪ Morning bells are ringing Ding dang dong Ding dang dong♪ -♪ Are you sleeping ♪ -♪ Morning bells are ringing ♪ -♪ Brother John?♪ -♪ Ding dang dong♪ -♪ Morning bells are ringing ♪ -♪ Are you sleeping ♪ -We need to go.

-There's dead women everywhere.

We should have stayed on the cart.

There's a lynch-mob.

They're maniacs, all of them.

I did tell you this before we came.

No, you jumped to a conclusion.

I arrived at a conclusion.

It just happens to be it was the same conclusion.

-♪ Morning bells are ringing ♪ -♪ Brother John?♪ -♪ Ding dang dong♪ -♪ Brother John?♪ [singing trails off] [tense music playing] [Gideon] We need to move, before anyone sees you.

You just don't wanna lose your chance to impress the Witchfinder General.

I'm no good to you dead, am I?

You stay here, you will be cinders in an hour.

D'you want that?

-Or d'you wanna take your chances in Chelmsford?

-Chelmsford.

-[Jennings] You going somewhere, Mr. Bannister?

-Do you know this woman?

-Well, no, there, well, this is um-- -His wife.

[tense music playing] [Gideon chuckles nervously] [theme music playing]