Whitstable Pearl

== Whitstable Pearl == Season 1 - Episode 4

Episode Title: "Disappearance of Oare" Aired on: June 05, 2021

Hi, Mike. It's me.

Just wanted to hear how you're holding up.

And because I needed someone to talk to, I guess.

I went to her grave today and put up some lilies.

I know it's just a date,

but somehow it hit me full-force today

like she's a phone call away

and I just can just pick up and talk to her.

Strange, isn't it?

One second and everything changes.

Anyway, call me if you want to talk.

Come on, Ruby. Find that angel for the top.

Do you think it's a bit too much?

It's Christmas, darling. It can never be too much.

I once saw Arnold Schwarzenegger on top of a plastic sledge

being pulled by six elves wearing bikinis.

Even that filled me with the holiday spirit.

More is more.

Uh, Mum, do you still want beef and oyster pie on the menu?

Oh, can we skip it this year? I hate making it.

Have we ordered enough champagne?

I ordered, Pearl, and I can assure you there's enough.

Champagne and decorations --

that's all the holiday spirit needs.

Hmm, absolutely.

That's why Jesus died for mankind.

So no pie then.

Not unless you wanna make it?

-Hmm. -I could make it.

Yeah, okay. I'll help.

Oh, God.

That's what love looks like, dear.

You should try it sometime.

Do you remember that?

Dad got it.

He said I could choose any one I want, and I chose that.

Right, you two are in charge of pies, then.

Hi. Pearl Nolan.

Okay. Right.

A note?

It is small,

but you can't beat the view.

These flats are selling like hot cakes.

You're lucky to have snapped it up just in time

to make it your own little nest before Christmas.

Mr. McGuire?

You okay?

Yeah, absolutely.

Just admiring the great sea view the brochure promised.

Yeah, okay.

Uh, I'm just gonna leave the keys here

and, uh, leave you to it.

Hope you like the flowers.

Merry Christmas.

Pearl.

Please have a seat.

So your husband disappeared, yeah, seven years ago?

His car was found abandoned by a slipway in Oare.

I was three months pregnant.

And the police?

Police were there.

By the car. Nothing.

No body.

And then they found a suicide note so they,

um, stopped looking.

What do you think happened?

He's alive.

And he's out there somewhere and he needs me.

What did the suicide note say?

I never saw it.

They never showed it to me.

And how would you like me to help?

I don't need to see a note to know

that my husband didn't kill himself.

No one believes me.

And then this came through my door.

It was just posted through the letterbox.

Told the police?

They'll say it's just someone being cruel.

They won't...

They say it's not enough to reopen the investigation.

They think I'm mad, you see,

because I believe that he might come back.

The rest of them think he's dead.

Them? Who -- Who are them?

The people who were in our lives.

They've abandoned us now.

They told me to let him go.

But how could I do that, huh?

Tell me how?

How can I let my son believe that his daddy

didn't want to meet him?

That he wasn't enough to stay alive for?

No.

This -- This is the truth.

I know it in my bones.

They're Robert's.

He painted them.

They help me keep him alive.

Have you ever lost a child?

No.

It's God's way of testing us, isn't it?

He takes away what we love the most

to teach us not to be selfish.

And it's His way of reminding me every day

that what He gives can be taken away just like that.

Like my son.

Minister Cameron says they never really leave us.

They're just watching us,

and we're spinning so fast we don't see 'em.

But if we slow down, we can catch glimpses of 'em.

Hmm.

They're all watching us until we slow down enough to join 'em.

Christina said that there's --

Christina doesn't live in the real world.

Um, I'm just trying to help.

Christina turned away from us.

And from the light.

She won't let us take Arthur to church,

won't let him be baptized even.

She can live her life how she wants,

but to do that to her son, the selfishness.

Look, I know this is hard.

But I'm just trying to find out more about Robert.

What was his life like?

No, I don't wanna talk about Robert.

Robert betrayed us.

He betrayed God's gift.

I lost two children that day.

I lost the light of my life.

No, I don't want to talk about Robert.

Sorry, I -- I'm just trying to help Christina

to understand what happened.

- Oh. - She'd got this note.

-And she's been -- -Yeah.

She sent us that, didn't she?

She probably wrote 'em both to persuade the police that...

My son is dead.

They both are.

Christina is sick.

And cruel.

The only one who can help her now is Minister Cameron.

You tell her that. You tell her.

Sorry. Sorry, I didn't...

I...

I am sorry.

My, uh, my wife, s-she, uh --

Evie has never fully recovered after the accident.

What accident?

Robert had a twin brother, Mark.

He died.

Uh, they went swimming out at Oare.

Red flags were up, but, uh, he was only 12.

They swam out.

Mark got caught in the undercurrent.

He never should've been out that far.

Robert was the better swimmer.

And he screamed for help, but there was no one there.

Just Robert and somewhere underneath him, his brother.

I'm sorry.

It wasn't Robert's fault, but he blamed himself.

They were our world.

And, um, and Evie, uh,

couldn't believe God could do that to her,

so she needed someone to blame.

And then when Robert ended his life, uh,

and left us with nothing,

she knew she could've saved him if she'd just...

Christina doesn't think that Robert's dead.

Look we all believe in -- in --

in whatever helps us from going insane.

My wife believes in the minister and God.

Christina has -- has her own reality.

Our sons are dead.

Robert is dead.

Please just stop this madness now.

So you didn't put a 30-pound frozen turkey in your pram?

Well, how could I?

My baby was in the pram.

I hate to tell you,

but your kid's never gonna play piano.

And its head is missing.

Probably feels a bit cold too when you're breastfeeding.

-I want a lawyer. -Oh, bloody hell.

Just -- Just stop.

Find out if there's actually a baby somewhere

that we need to worry about.

Maybe she stuffed the turkey with it.

Guv, I have something for you.

I know you just bought an apartment,

and I know you would never get round to buying a tree,

so just, you know, pimp her up a bit.