Fallen Angel

Episode 1

The Four Last Things

Mary Appleton is ordained as the female curate in the fictitious diocese of Roslington. During her service, she is heckled by an old lady named Audrey Oliphant, while her carer, Angela Wharton (Emilia Fox), hides in the background behind the altar. Angela turns out to be a serial killer, and she kidnaps the Appletons' five-year-old child, telling her somewhat reluctant accomplice Eddie that 'this one is not like the others.' She then sends the girl's parents on a wild goose chase, and emotional roller-coaster, by leaving a number of other child body parts around the city, all of which bear some link to their daughter, including her boots, her cut hair and ribbon. Eddie (Mark Benton) later, whilst rummaging through some of her belongings, discovers evidence that Angela had faked her own death, and is possibly an imposter. Michael (Oliver Dimsdale) reveals to his wife that when he was 11, he knew a girl named Rosie, who threatened to get back at him because he got her in trouble after having witnessed and reporting a murder. Michael also reveals Rosie's obsession with a young priest and heretic named Francis Youlgrave, a man who was himself obsessed with transubstantiation and supposedly ate the flesh and blood of orphaned children from the slums of North London. Rosie is later revealed to be hiding under the guise of Angela, having stolen Angela's identity, quite possibly after murdering her in order to use the body in her death deception. The child, Lucy (Jade Sharif), is brought back safely, but not before Angela brutally murders Eddie when he tries to hide and save Lucy from the former's murderous wrath, and return her to her parents. When they catch her in the act of slashing Eddie's throat, she attempts to implicate him as a pedophile, claiming to have been acting in the interest of protecting the child.