In episode 2, Carol (Bronagh Waugh) called in ‘Ridley‘ (Adrian Dunbar) to assist when a young woman was found murdered. Like the first episode it kept us guessing until the end.
If you want to avoid all spoilers, stop reading this article now.
The episode opened up in the dead of night with a white van driving across Pennine moorland. It stopped near a wind turbine and the driver took a body out of the back and buried it nearby in a shallow grave. It was later discovered by the turbine engineers.
At home, Ridley was reminiscing about his family and a time when his wife suggested they bought a boat to restore together. Back in the present, while working on the boat Ridley received a call from DI Carol Farman about the body on the moors. He went straight to the scene and was briefed by DCI Paul Goodwin (Terence Maynard).
Dr Wendy Newstone (Georgie Glen) was examining the body and had identified a blunt force trauma to the back of the head. She wasn’t able to determine the time of death at the scene but was sure the woman and been killed elsewhere and dumped. There were no personal effects or identity documents present. However the woman did have a distinctive tattoo and some unusual flowers had been placed at the scene.
Harry Graylish, the wind farm owner, arrived and wanted to know details of what had happened. Farman filled him in and he was mostly co-operative but rather angry that the disruption would be costing him money. Ridley spotted a young man nearby called Kit McKellen (Zak Douglas) who was taking photographs so went to have a word. The man asked if there had been a murder and showed some tyre tracks he’d discovered. Ridley sent him on his way. Forensics found a staff ID card and DC Darren Lakhan (George Bukhari) showed it to Ridley and Farman. It was from The Palace Hotel for a Gabriela Baldoni.
It turned out that Ridley knew the hotel manager, James Mallors, so he and Farman paid a visit. Mallors said that Gabriela had left his employment a couple of weeks ago due a disagreement with Janey, the housekeeper. Janey showed Farman the room that Gabriela had shared with her colleague Elena (Pat Dynowska). She appeared to have left behind some of her possessions. Janey explained that the disagreement had been over Gabriela being late on shift again. Janey also showed Farman Gabriela’s passport which showed she was Italian.
Ridley and Farman spoke to Elena to see if she knew anything. She explained that Gabriela had been seeing someone with money who might have been married. Elena also said she had texted Gabriela to see if she was ok and eventually had received a reply to say she was and had gone back home.
Back at the station, Lakhan informed Ridley they had information that Kit McKellen was known to the police. He saw himself as a crime vigilante and had previously been cautioned for wasting police time. Ridley suggested they run a background check. Farman and Lakhan briefed the office on the evidence discovered so far. CCTV taken from the hotel was the last known sighting of Gabriela and showed her leaving with a suitcase. They decided to try and trace her movements between leaving the hotel and turning up dead.
Newstone presented Ridley and Farman with the results of the postmortem. Gabriela had been killed by two fractures to the base of her skull. Newstone felt these were probably caused by something like a hammer or crowbar. She also found lesions on her neck caused by strangling and recovered some blue fibers from the scene. Newstone explained that Gabriela had probably been buried for 10-14 days. Ridley realised that she must have been dead when the text to Elena was sent.
In the evening Ridley stopped at Marling’s for a drink with Annie (Julie Graham). She asked about the murder case but Ridley wasn’t able to give her details. Before he left she reminded him of the upcoming rehearsals. Meanwhile, Kit spent time with his online pals on The Kill List forum, a true crime Internet community, discussing the case. Kit told them that he was working with Ridley.
Back at the station, Lakhan had been investigating Gabriela’s social media accounts and discovered she had quite an active social life. One thing in particular stood out, she was a member at a local snooker club. Farman and Lakhan paid them a visit and spoke to Jenna Noble (Rhiannon Clements). She confirmed Gabriela was a regular and last time she was in she seemed to be sat waiting for someone.
Ridley returned to the station and found Kit was waiting to speak with him. He asked Ridley what he discovered at the hotel. Ridley realised that Kit had been following him. Kit did have some useful input and explained that Gabriela’s tattoo was known as a Jelica, which is associated with the Balkan regions. Ridley thanked him and Kit gave a business card that said he was Senior Data Analyst at the Coroner’s Office. Kit said they made a good team and should pool their resources.
Ridley used the new information to look into the tattoo and evidence gathered so far. He went with Farman to brief Goodwin on the latest progress, they discovered that Gabriela was a fake identity and her documents were forgeries. They suspected she was really Albanian.
The latest developments led them back to the hotel to speak to Janey. She was initially defensive but after realising the seriousness of the situation she opened up. She said Gabriela had walked in off the street and that Mallors was off sick for a couple of days. They spoke to Elena again and she confirmed that Gabriela grew up in Berat, Albania. She was reluctant to reveal more but after realising she could be in trouble she pointed them at a man called Stuart who frequented the snooker club.
The police raided the snooker club and Jenna said he wasn’t there. Ridley took a look round the upstairs offices and found a cache of fake ID. Stuart came out of the bathroom and took flight. Ridley shot after him in pursuit and he and the other police officers were able to apprehend him.
Down the station, Stuart was interviewed and initially played dumb. After they laid out the information he changed his tune. He confirmed that he had provided the forged documents in exchange for money. The police ran his DNA against the evidence from the crime scene but the results were inconclusive.
Ridley checked out Kit’s forum and discovered that Gabriela’s portmortem report had been leaked. After checking with Wendy, he realised that it must have been leaked by Kit who worked at the Coroner’s Office. Ridley confronted him and he explained that he did it to gain points on the forum which won him a spot on the podcast. He explained to Ridley that he could get a bit fixated on things. Ridley gave him a bit of extra information on the case which delighted Kit.
A search on Gabriela’s phone records turned up that she had made several calls to Harry Graylish. They spoke to Graylish and he initially denied knowing her but after hearing of the phone records he changed his story. He said that he had been seeing her but had recently ended it. He was worried that telling the truth would have alerted his wife to his infidelity. Ridley tracked down Mallors and the conversation revealed that he’d been introducing the girls to his male guests.
Back at the station, Goodwin pulled Ridley in after Kit’s forum had named Graylish as a person of interest. Goodwin was furious that Ridley had given Kit information. Farman later calmed him down and suggested that Ridley apologise. He was adamant that he would never compromise a case and suggested they even bring Kit in as his methods might be useful.
Lakhan set up an initial meeting with Kit. Before it started, Ridley gave him a telling off for leaking information and naming him. Kit briefed the team on some of his methods but they decided not to bring him in. Lakhan announced a breakthrough that a taxi had taken Gabriela to Graylish’s home. They searched a flat owned by him and found a bag of clothes and blood stains on the floor.
Graylish was brought in for questioning and he denied seeing her or murdering her. He did let slip that he had been to the flat recently and Ridley put pressure on him. He broke down and said that he couldn’t have hurt Gabriela because he loved her. They next spoke to Graylish’s wife and discovered that she knew of the affair. She was confident that he wouldn’t have left her. She revealed that during a recent party she saw the taxi arrive. She spoke to Gabriela and sent her on her way but never told Harry about it.
Carol felt they had enough evidence to charge Harry but Ridley wasn’t convinced he was their man. Ridley paid another visit to see inmate Michael Flannery (Aidan McArdle). Flannery asked about the murder and asked if Ridley was after help. Flannery gave some useful hints about sociopaths including that the culprit would make a mistake. It jogged Ridley’s memory about the flowers they found with the body and he remembered that Kit had mentioned the flowers without being told of them.
He went in search of Kit at work but found he was only a filing assistant. They gave out his home address and Ridley headed over. On the drive over he went through recent events and realised that Kit had been hiding in plain sight the whole time. He tried to call Farman but she was having an evening with her son Jack. He left a voicemail asking for backup.
A flashback revealed that after speaking to Graylish’s wife, that Gabriela made a call to talk to Stuart. Instead Kit answered and offered to pick her up. He did and took her back to his place. She saw he had lots of photographs of her and started screaming. Kit panicked and ended up hitting her with a heavy paperweight which killed her.
Kit wasn’t home so Ridley had a poke around. He discovered lots of newspaper clippings about the case and even one about the murders of his wife and daughter. Kit arrived and Ridley explained about the mistake of mentioning the flowers. He revealed that he made the forged ID’s for Stuart and he had an obsession for Gabriella. Kit picked up a knife but Ridley managed to keep Kit distracted by talking to him until the police arrived.
At the station he revealed everything and they realised he’d misread the situation and become infactuated with her. They told him he had a family and he gave them her real name – Mina Albescu. They discovered that she had been a missing person for over 15 years. Ridley was upset at himself not realising sooner. Goodwin offered to let Ridley have a cupboard to keep his stuff at the office.
Elsewhere in the episode, Carol’s wife Geri (Bhavna Limbachia) announced she wanted them to have another baby. It took Carol by surprise but Geri had put a lot of thought into it. Carol later confided in Ridley took his advice to speak to Geri. When she got home their son Jack explained that Geri had gone away for a couple of days. They spoke about the possibility of a new baby in the family and Jack said he was fine with it.
At the end of the episode, Ridley performed again at Marling’s, singing “As the Dawn Breaks”. The next day he laid flowers where Mina had been found.
‘Ridley’ continues at 8pm Sunday on ITV.
