1:59

I looked where

2:02

she was pointing. At

2:06

the end of the crypt, a black archway

2:08

led out, and I could just make out

2:10

the shape of more stone steps leading

2:13

upwards. Meanwhile,

2:15

I was crouched in the undergrowth in the woods

2:18

on top of the cliff with Eleanor Peck and

2:20

Marcus Byron. We were doing

2:22

our best not to be seen by some unwelcome

2:24

new arrivals. Oh shit. Are you okay? Oh,

2:27

I think I'm getting crumbed. Is this it? It is.

2:30

What a shithole. It's a fixer-upper, Billy. A

2:35

nice little hobby for you when you're political for your

2:37

hits, if it is. I hardly think that's likely.

2:39

I think you'll find that's up to me. Oh, for God's sake, beat me up. Are

2:42

they going in already, do you think?

2:44

I do think.

2:45

But they're not coming out again.

2:47

Are you not ready? Yep,

2:49

yep. Jesus, you're all somewhere. It's wonderful.

2:56

Anyone who didn't walk in there with us does

2:58

not walk out again.

3:01

Is that clear? Oh

3:04

wow. Yeah.

3:09

Okay, so we've stepped into the, I think

3:12

it's called the nave of the church, and

3:14

it's big as you can probably hear.

3:16

The

3:19

nave of the church is covered in dust and cobwebs,

3:22

the pews, the altar at the far end,

3:24

the pulpit,

3:26

and the weirdest thing, the

3:28

sights and the cats,

3:30

the weirdest thing is the light.

3:32

Warm sunlight streaming in through

3:35

these huge, filthy windows all

3:36

along one side. It's

3:38

very warm in here. Beneath the seabed,

3:41

actually, but there's

3:43

sunlight. The

3:47

Victorian essence is pointing to the cross above the altar,

3:49

or at least it should be a cross, but

3:51

it isn't. So

4:00

are we thinking that the church is repurposed

4:02

at some point?

4:15

Okay,

4:18

what's the plan? I'm working on it. We'd

4:21

watched Caroline Morse and her brother and several

4:23

armed men enter the dilapidated house.

4:26

Now we had to decide what we were going to do.

4:29

We have to go in there. We really don't. You

4:31

saw all the guns, right? Kennedy and Victoria

4:34

are in there. Yeah, well I'm not worried about Victoria. We

4:36

need to call someone. Yep. Who

4:38

are you calling? One suit. It's

4:41

me. Yeah, we found it. Kennedy

4:44

and Ness are inside somewhere. We've just watched a bunch

4:46

of armed Nazis follow them in.

4:49

No, he's with me. Let alone the pack he's here to.

4:52

Is that Parker? Well, he wants to go

4:54

charging him on Indiana Jones. Let me talk to her.

4:57

Yeah, I'm worried he's not stable. I'm worried none of you are stable.

4:59

It's a breach.

5:01

It has to be. So we should... I

5:05

know that. Are you sure? Tell

5:07

her I'm going in and I don't need her permission. Did

5:10

you hear that? Yeah.

5:11

All right then. I'll

5:15

call you after.

5:18

Come on then. For the rest of

5:20

what I think this is a bad idea. You're going in there? We're going

5:22

in there. I'm not going

5:24

in there. Fine, wait out here then.

5:27

Pretty more armed Nazis show up. Give

5:30

us a whistle or something. Behind

5:33

the altar there's a small room. Called

5:35

a Vatican. There's

5:38

a desk in here. And floor to ceiling bookshelves.

5:41

Jesus. What? These

5:44

books.

5:45

Nivet, Vonis, Koote &

5:48

Goolen, Un-Alfred

5:50

and Kooten. They don't look that

5:52

old on their own. Not as old as a church.

5:56

So this is our first proper evidence that

5:58

people have been here since

5:59

it became possible.

5:59

of the brief. It is a nasty book.

6:02

The Varmus Mysterio. Oh wow.

6:04

The Book of Thean. What's that? It's

6:07

widely assumed she made it up, but here it

6:07

is. It works. Don't touch

6:09

that. But it is, isn't it? The Necronomicon, yes. And

6:13

even patch here, that's a really big one. It's a very big one. It's

6:15

a very big one.

6:16

It's a very big one. It's a very big one. It's a very big

6:18

one. It's a very big one. It's a very

6:20

big one. It's

6:21

a very big one. It's a very big one.

6:28

The

6:31

department

6:31

has specialists. I can't remember. It's a physical

6:33

house. I can't remember. The Illinois Dictionary

6:36

says that it was on the wrong thing in a book like this. It says,

6:38

the missing virus is brain diseases

6:41

and linguistic food. So this is a child

6:43

in a hospital and they're looking for it? No. No,

6:46

I mean, I'm sure it's a bonus, but they

6:48

could get their hands on a copy elsewhere. Whatever they're

6:50

looking for, we haven't found it yet.

6:58

By this point, we have found the

7:00

entrance to the cellar and found a wide

7:02

stone staircase that wounds

7:04

down through the darkness.

7:05

I can't see anything. I

7:08

won't let you do anything. Do you want

7:10

to see whatever's there? No. I

7:13

want to be at home. I can't

7:15

see academia. Yeah, I'm sorry

7:17

about that. You'll be even sorrier when you

7:19

have to drag my license across. I'm assuming

7:21

that there's evidence to ZeirModOSIs. The

7:25

lots-of-c close scientific studies to

7:28

look at, actually, the human body, and the

7:31

animal augment of retina. Another discovered contact

7:33

with me. Another friend? Is

7:38

anything for a better generalistic don't

7:40

be able to Killer-based? You can't verify

7:46

and respond?

7:52

I have crossed in

7:54

with the head of the worm and how

7:56

you were to believe shooting in the head hurt. I'm

7:59

glad to be in a hurry.

7:59

child.

8:03

On the other side of the nave from the vestry

8:05

we found another small door. This

8:08

led onto a narrow staircase that wound up

8:10

the inside of the church tower. With

8:13

nowhere else to search we started to

8:15

climb.

8:17

At the top of the tower was a

8:19

small room maybe 15 feet

8:21

square and at the center of each

8:23

wall there was a tall narrow louvered

8:25

window. Sunlight was streaming

8:28

in from one side, illuminating the

8:30

cloud of dust we had kicked up when we opened the

8:32

door. The glass in these windows

8:34

was just as dirty as it had been downstairs

8:37

but the windows themselves

8:38

were lower

8:39

so it was possible to see out.

8:43

I hesitated but I couldn't resist a peek out of the window.

8:51

It doesn't make any sense. It's

8:54

like fog.

8:56

But then where's the sun coming from? And

8:58

there are shapes like rooftops. I

9:02

think it's a town.

9:04

Dunwich? Not Dunwich. I

9:06

thought you said we were in medieval Dunwich. No, I said we

9:08

were in a breach. This building probably

9:10

belongs to medieval Dunwich

9:11

but what you're seeing out there, Marcus

9:14

calls it the dreamland. It's

9:18

not real? It wasn't real, it would be dangerous.

9:20

I think this is it.

9:23

Oh

9:24

Jesus. I

9:26

thought I had kicked an old sack of something but when

9:29

I looked down I saw that what

9:31

had looked like a sack was actually a suit of clothes

9:34

badly degraded and within the suit

9:36

a skeleton

9:38

curled up in the fetal position.

9:46

Was he trapped up here?

9:48

No, at least that's not

9:50

what killed him. Looking at the charring

9:53

on the bones. It's almost like he's been struck by

9:55

lightning. That's how Robert Blake supposedly

9:57

died.

9:59

Okay, watch.

10:04

E-M-L.

10:07

Edwin M. Lilybridge.

10:11

You've already heard Kennedy describe the bridge

10:14

we had to cross to get into the church. What

10:17

I would love to describe, but can't do

10:19

justice to,

10:20

is Eleanor Peck's face when she saw

10:22

it. Okay, well, the chief Nazi was right.

10:24

I'm not walking across that. He wasn't the chief

10:27

Nazi. She is. Pardon me the point? You

10:29

want to go inside? We have to cross the bridge. I

10:31

don't want to go inside. You don't want to hang around

10:33

out here either, trust me. Why? What's out here?

10:36

It's a breach. Could be anything

10:38

along at any moment. Oh,

10:42

I don't feel so good. Eleanor is right. She has to

10:44

go. She's not making excuses. Look at her. Eleanor

10:48

had gone very pale.

10:49

Her face clammy.

10:51

Her eyes unfocused. You with me?

10:55

I thought this might happen. We need to get her in there. Why?

10:57

What's going on? She's not herself.

10:59

She hasn't been the person

11:01

telling.

11:02

In the center of this small room, there

11:05

was a weirdly shaped stone pillar,

11:07

about four feet high.

11:09

The sides of the pillar were covered

11:10

in strange carved symbols.

11:13

On top of the pillar,

11:14

dead center, was a small box.

11:18

The dust on here was so thick that we had both

11:20

missed the object at first glance. I

11:24

had thought the box was made of gold, but the

11:26

metal was duller than that and a shade that

11:28

I hadn't seen before. It was decorated

11:30

with more strange sinister engravings.

11:33

Just step back a little. Okay.

11:44

What is it?

11:46

It was about four inches long.

11:49

A piece of dark crystal with strange red

11:51

veins

11:51

running through it. It was like

11:54

nothing I'd ever seen. The

11:56

colors seemed to throb in my eyes

11:59

and images of it.

11:59

dark, roved figures, moving

12:02

through an endless desert filled my head. I

12:05

saw towers

12:05

under the sea and vortices of black

12:08

and purple mist floating in infinite space.

12:10

You

12:15

okay? Look away. Don't

12:18

touch it. This

12:21

is what they were after.

12:22

I suspect it's what's been keeping the breach

12:24

open.

12:27

So what do we do? Let me take you with us.

12:34

We headed back down the narrow steps to the ground

12:36

floor of the church. My

12:39

head was pounding. My

12:41

vision soft around the edges.

12:43

Just looking at that strange crystal

12:45

for a few moments had brought on the

12:47

worst migraine of my life. You

12:51

okay? I

12:53

think I just need some air. Air. Daylight.

12:58

I need to be back in the real world. Okay? I'm okay.

13:00

Just...

13:00

I'm down. I'm good.

13:10

Kennedy? I'm okay. You have

13:12

no idea what you're doing. What

13:23

do we do? You don't do anything. You

13:26

don't take care of it. It's wee. Eleanor!

13:31

Eleanor! Alright,

13:33

she's gonna be fine. I

13:38

did.

13:38

I'm working on it. Come

13:40

and get it, you big, nasty bitch. We

13:44

have to do something.

13:46

Eleanor?

13:49

No. Hello, Mary.

13:51

You've got us on

13:53

the bottom. What

13:56

are these people? Nazis. Mary.

14:04

I can't account for what happened next.

14:06

One moment, Eleanor Peck seemed to be having

14:08

some kind of epileptic fit on the floor.

14:11

The next,

14:13

she and Marcus Byron were moving rapidly

14:15

away from me into the shadows.

14:16

Marcus? Kennedy!

14:19

Rock! Max! Hey!

14:22

Frank! Ooh! Oh!

14:25

Oh! Oh! Oh!

14:27

Oh! Kennedy!

14:30

Are you okay? No! Oh!

14:33

Oh! Oh! Let's

14:35

go. What about Marcus and Eleanor? What's going

14:37

on? Marcus! Mary, we're leaving. Mary!

14:41

Oh! Oh!

14:43

Marcus! Marcus! Oh,

14:45

God! I don't even know if you feel the love. I can't believe I'm in

14:47

the wrong place. Okay, let's all calm down. We can talk about

14:49

this. I think Max, I can't believe you. No! No!

14:53

Marcus! I got it. No!

14:56

No! No! Marcus!

14:59

I got it. No! No!

15:02

No! No! No! No!

15:06

No! No! No!

15:09

No! No!

15:10

No! No!

15:13

No! No! No! No!

15:17

No! No! No!

15:20

No! No! Marcus!

15:23

Mike!

15:23

It's gone! It's

15:26

all gone!

15:27

This is the house I don't- Max! No,

15:30

I'm here, but Marcus! Oh, this is

15:32

even the third or fourth time I'd lost him in a breach,

15:34

I think. But he's trapped in there with- Oh, no!

15:36

No, no, no. He's not stuck there with them. They're

15:39

stuck in there with him. Whoo! Bop-bop!

15:42

You're okay. Who? Oh, uh, one second.

15:44

What? Wait, where are we? What

15:47

happened? After

15:49

that, Eleanor

15:53

was whisked away.

15:59

by Victorian Ness, along with the weird

16:02

artifact we found in the church. We've spoken

16:04

to Eleanor since she seems to be back to her

16:06

old, irascible self,

16:08

with no memory of anything that happened after we entered

16:10

the church. Eleanor has no

16:12

idea who Mary is, and Victoria

16:14

Ness claims not to know either.

16:16

Victoria reckons this was some kind of psychological

16:19

disassociation, breach trauma,

16:21

she calls it.

16:22

But we don't buy that.

16:24

We listened again to the

16:25

recording of Parker and Eleanor, made during the end

16:27

of the last season. Parker

16:29

clearly refers to Eleanor as Mary. There's

16:32

something we're not being told here.

16:35

Parker of course remains unavailable for comment.

16:38

And Marcus Byron is still missing,

16:40

supposedly.

16:41

But is he though?

16:43

I found in my apartment woke me up the other night. And

16:46

when I walked through, there was no one there. But

16:48

there were wet footprints on the carpet in the hall,

16:51

and the unmistakable smell of old

16:53

tobacco and oud hanging in the air. I

16:56

think Marcus got out of there. I'm just

16:58

hoping he left Caroline and Wilberforce behind.

17:01

Speaking of which, there's quite a media storm

17:03

surrounding the disappearance of Wilberforce Ashton

17:05

Heath. But the tide of public

17:07

opinion seems to be rapidly turning against

17:10

him. A few well-targeted

17:12

leaks have got the media sniffing around some

17:15

rather unsavory, far-right organizations

17:17

that Ashton Heath was in cahoots with.

17:20

We don't know where this information came

17:22

from,

17:23

but we do know a few disgruntled Department

17:25

of Works employees who might have an axe to

17:27

grind.

17:29

So what now?

17:32

Did we get closure? No,

17:35

of course we didn't.

17:37

Neither of us is really clear on what happened in the church

17:39

or what the mysterious crystal object that

17:41

Victoria Ness spirited away was. We

17:44

could of course try to ask Victoria, but she

17:46

seems to have vanished into thin air.

17:49

I do feel like it was kind of a win though,

17:51

for once.

17:52

We struck a blow at least, and put the brakes

17:55

on whatever the establishment was up to this time. Right,

17:58

although it has left us without a studio.

18:00

Most of our equipment is still locked up in a

18:02

police station somewhere and we're having to work out

18:04

of my flat Using our field equipment

18:06

and a laptop lean and mean it

18:08

is quite liberating and a lot

18:10

cheaper. I do not miss the tech

18:14

So

18:15

we're off the grid as it were But

18:18

I do think that could be an advantage and

18:20

we might already have another story

18:23

We've been contacted by a police inspector

18:26

called John Legrasse

18:28

He thinks he might have something that's

18:30

up on our street He's giving

18:32

a talk at the Royal Archaeological Society

18:34

next week and he's asked if we'd like to come along

18:37

Sounds fancy doesn't it just

18:39

a change of pace would be nice something

18:41

a bit more Gentile maybe

18:44

we'll let you know how we get on in the meantime

18:46

I'm Matthew Hayward and I'm

18:49

Kennedy Fisher and this was

18:51

the Haunter of the Dark In

18:57

the Haunter of the Dark Kennedy

19:00

Fisher was played by Janet

19:02

Carpenter Matthew Haywood, Barnaby Kaye,

19:04

Marcus Byron, Ben Crow, Eleanor Peck, Nicola Walker

19:10

Victoria Ness and Laura Gibson,

19:13

Katherine Cantor Caroline

19:16

Morse, Kate Isett Caroline

19:21

Morse, Kate Isett, Paramus,

19:24

Leveque and Ian Bartram, Michael

19:26

Maloney Diane Netley,

19:29

Abigail Thaw, Wilberforce

19:31

Ashton Heath and Sir Gottfried

19:33

Tillingast,

19:34

Rufus Wright Slide,

19:37

Ferdinand Guiget

19:39

Sound design was by David Thomas

19:42

the music was composed by Tim Elsenberg

19:46

It was written and directed by Julian

19:48

Simpson the producer was

19:50

Sarah Tomplin and the executive

19:53

producer Karen Rose it

19:55

is a sweet talk production

19:57

for BBC Radio 4 and BBC South

20:16

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