We take a look at what’s coming up as BBC1 prepares to screen the final five episodes of the second series of The Coroner, much of it filmed in and around the South Hams. The 45-minute episodes are broadcast on weekdays at 2.15pm.
Places we’ve spotted on it so far include Dartmouth, Salcombe, Bolberry Down, Totnes, Berry Head, Hallsands, Start Point, Slapton Sands and Hope Cove... We are sure there are others we’ve missed from our list ...
Monday
Life
An anonymous phone call from someone who claims to know the whereabouts of missing teenager Sophie Marsh’s body prompts a forensic search of Dartmoor. Much to her mother’s distress, no body is found.
Jane (Claire Goose) and Davey (Matt Bardock) are both called in to investigate the death of an inmate at a nearby prison.
When addict Charlie MacKendrick is found dead in his cell by another prisoner, Davey assumes it’s a straightforward drug overdose. But when the new prison governor Maggie Fordham Bryce (Michelle Austin) fills Jane in on Charlie’s background as a burglar with a possible stash of cash on the outside, Jane suspects something more.
Searching Charlie’s cell for answers, Jane finds a letter addressed to her from Charlie’s cellmate, the chilling Sydney Stone (Matthew Marsh) who is appealing his conviction for Sophie Marsh’s murder.
Although Davey warns against meeting up with such a manipulative child killer, Jane does it anyway with Davey by her side. She wants to know if she can solve both cases and offer some peace to Sophie’s mother – but by so doing is she unwittingly putting her own daughter in danger?
Tuesday
Perfect Pair
A mystery man is found dead on a country lane next to a Porsche and Jane must find out who he is and what happened to him.
Davey traces the car number plate to a local ‘boy done good’, Jason Daniels, (Louis Tamone, pictured) – but his wife Anna (Daisy Beaumont) says that the body isn’t his.
Clint (Oliver Gomm) is amused by the victim’s distinctive private tattoo and the team begin to unravel the secrets of this man’s adventurous sex life. When Davey tries out the sports car for size, he finds a mobile phone that leaves him and Jane trying to work out if Jason knows more about the victim than he’s letting on – especially when they discover he is Jason’s office window cleaner, Fred.
Jason suggests that Fred must have stolen his car, but when the post-mortem shows Fred was the victim of a vicious attack they wonder if someone really wanted to hurt Fred– or if is this is a case of mistaken identity.
Wednesday
The Foxby Affair
Jerry Foxby (Iain Batchelor), a playboy aristocrat who mysteriously vanished in the 1990s, becomes of interest to Jane.
Jerry disappeared after telling the police he’d killed a prostitute on his yacht – and now his younger brother, Oliver (Chris Larkin), would like his death to be certified so that he can claim the family title.
When Jane receives a tip-off from Helen Boyd, who claims to be the dead prostitute, it gets her attention. Taking the new lead to Davey he dismisses it as just another crackpot theory to add to the pile.
Jane won’t let it go and looks for help elsewhere. She asks The Foxbys’ long-serving housekeeper Peggy (Sandra Voe) to dish the dirt on the family. Despite being ever loyal, she gives Jane the feeling she knows more than she’s letting on. When Helen is found dead and the evidence points back to The Foxbys, Davey starts taking Jane seriously – but is he too late to take his place in the history books as the one that caught Jerry Foxby?
Thursday
Pieces of Eight
A group of thieves dressed as pirates steal thousands of pounds from a security van under the cover of Ligthaven’s Pirate Festival.
Despite Davey being in hot pursuit, the van is abandoned at the old fish market and the pirates vanish into the crowds.
That same morning, Jane and Clint are investigating a battered body found washed up on a crowded beach. The injuries to his face make him unrecognisable and the only clue to his identity is a distinctive skull tattoo. Both Jane and Davey are stuck with their cases but after having a bet to see who can solve their case first, Mick (Ivan Kaye) provides Jane’s only lead; the tattoo shows the faceless man is on the darts team at his pub.
Meanwhile, Davey is dealing with businessman Don Shapur (Ramon Tikaram), the owner of the fish market. John ‘Blackbeard’ Fraser (David Sterne) tells Jane that he doesn’t know the whereabouts of his darts teammates Tony or Dick – and then Dick’s wife Ruby identifies Jane’s mystery man as her husband Dick.
When Tony turns out to be the ex-caretaker at the fish market and the only man on the darts team unaccounted for, it seems Davey and Jane are after the same man. Will they catch their missing pirate and find his stolen treasure?
Friday
Crash
Teenager Ellie Patterson (Macy Nyman) dies after her car skids out of control and hits a wall.
Jane and Davey realise that she’s the niece of their school friend Cath Lowe (Kate Miles) and have to break the sad news. Later at the mortuary Davey reveals to Ellie’s mother Debbie (Emma Handy) that Ellie was actually the passenger – someone else was driving.
Debbie accosts Ellie’s boyfriend Nick (Stefan Healy) who denies seeing Ellie that night and says she must have been with someone else. At the police station Davey tells Jane that Ellie’s car was wiped of prints – whoever was with her knew what they were doing.
Jane shows Davey Ellie’s forensic post mortem: if she’d stayed in the car she might have survived, but she was moved, which caused her right lung to collapse. Whoever pulled her out of the car effectively killed her...