'Inspector Ellis' Tackles Police Corruption in "Callorwell"

After last week’s introduction to the formula, Inspector Ellis’ second episode opens with the titular detective and her bagman, DS Chet Harper, summoned to Callorwell Police Station in England’s picturesque Peak Region. Awaiting them is suspected drug dealer Carla Duffy (Orla Charlton), gleefully watching the clock tick down; DI Jenny Kavanagh (Jenny Rawler), the officer leading the case, has disappeared, leaving DI Jamie Morrison (Sam Marks) in charge. Ellis and Chet notice the official police station sign has been spray painted with the advice Do Not Enter. 

Morrison introduces Ellis and Chet to the team, downplaying Jenny’s disappearance; however, Ellis believes she’s likely missing because she was working on the Duffy case. Jenny’s request to DCI Hain (Tim Dutton) for personal leave, citing stress, was sent via text, not, as protocol demanded, via email to her superiors. Hain claims Jenny’s request for leave was typical, sneering she was an attention-seeking troublemaker. Jenny’s friends, DC Leah Thompson (Aoibhéann McCann) and Sgt. Frank Landry (William Travis), offer to help Chet with the case files and their database, only to be interrupted by Morrison announcing Jenny’s body has been found in a wooded area by dog owner/conspiracy theorist Tim Jones (Paul Mallon). 

At the morgue, CSI Christine Bennett (Kirsten Foster) reports Jenny was found on broken glass, stabbed in the femoral artery, and her phone missing. Anyone could have stolen it and texted Hain. Ellis is convinced Jenny knew her attacker, so their next visit is to Jenny’s husband, Adam (Jonathan Harden), and his teenage son, Mark (Michael McCloskey-Ooi). Adam explains he was out of town at a conference and came home to find her missing after he begged her to quit due to the harassment and bullying, but Jenny was determined to make a formal complaint. Adam handed in some anonymous letters Jenny received, but they disappeared.

Ellis visits Hain at home, where he fakes sympathy for Jenny’s death. Ellis isn’t fooled, saying he knew she was opening a harassment case. He has no real alibi other than drinking with Morrison, driving home drunk, and sleeping in the spare room, so there are no witnesses. Meanwhile, Chet talks to Morrison, who is still arguing over the seriousness of the situation. Chet notices Leah hovering and follows her outside. She’s upset but knew Jenny had issues with Hain and was recently upset by a student overdose connected with Duffy’s operation.

Chet finally gets access to the digital files as Ellis learns Jenny’s autopsy showed her 18 weeks pregnant. That’s when their boss, Leighton, calls for an update, allowing Ellis to report the uncooperative officers. She then tackles the station staff with a list of needs: phone records, Jenny’s car forensics, her gym locker contents,  plus all letters, case files, and HR records. Morrison claims that Adam’s letters were misfiled and destroyed by a probationary officer, who has been terminated. Sure Jan.

Since Adam didn’t mention his wife was pregnant, Ellis brings him, pointing out Jenny didn’t have much support. He counters he’s being framed for her murder. Luckily, Jenny’s work BFF, Naomi McKeith (Stephanie Levi-John), calls, and Ellis gets confirmation Adam was controlling, isolating and had a vasectomy years ago. After viewing footage that proves Adam left the hotel on the night of the murder, they hit him again and get a confession he lied but also claims he wasn’t controlling. He let Jenny go to the gym three times a week! Adam may be guilty of coercive control, but he continues to insist he didn’t kill his wife; he was at the hotel with his affair partner. 

Documentation shows Jenny was specially trained and excelled at sexual offense cases with a high conviction rate until Hain and Morrison undermined her and framed her as revealing a suspect’s identity, and he brought a case against her. After Morrison hints Hain might have been the father, Ellis visits Hain, who is not pleased to see her again. However, confronted with Jenny’s pregnancy, he’s genuinely shocked. (He was out of the country about 18 weeks ago, so he has an absolute alibi.) He seems equally horrified to learn of the disappearing death threats. 

Frank Landry winds up turning in Jenny’s death threats, claiming he was protecting the station. Jenny’s affair partner is identified as Carla’s son, Curtis Keog (Fionn Ó Loingsigh), by Leah, who also hands over Jenny’s burner phone. Ellis uses it to call the one number on Jenny’s regular phone they couldn’t identify, only to be forwarded to Carla Duffy. Ellis doesn’t blink; she just asks to speak to Curtis. When Carla asks why, Ellis says an armed unit is heading for her business. Unfortunately, the armed unit takes too long, and the place is empty when they arrive. 

Ellis and Chet head to the Keog family home, where suspicious-looking minions watch as she approaches Duffy. Carla pours tea, assuring Ellis she never puts work before family. As Jenny was carrying her potential granddaughter, this is now family business. No one objects when they arrest Curtis.

Leah is still at the station when they arrive and starts screaming at Curtis that he’s a murderer. Chet pulls her aside to calm down, but she merely spews that the man who found Jenny’s body, Tim Jones, is a flasher; everyone knows; no one does anything. Another victim, a student named Emily, reported a rape; the case was never even documented. Chet shows Leah the death threats, but she wants no part of it and quits, walking out. Chet confronts Morrison, who shrugs at Leah leaving and walks away.

In the next room, Ellis interviews Curtis, who claims they fell in love right in this interview room. He was saving them both from their families. He’s here for her sake now, to see justice done. He admits Jenny did destroy evidence on his behalf, but he didn’t know until after. They were supposed to run away together the night she disappeared. Chet orders Curtis Keogh’s phone records as he and Ellis head to the hospital where Naomi works. She is stunned to learn the baby’s father was Curtis, saying Jenny hated everything about drugs. Asked about the student rape case, she admits she ran the test kit but buried it at Morrison’s request, and Emily died of a subsequent overdose. 

Tim Jones is mentioned in one of the death threats, so Ellis and Chet go in pursuit of Tim Jones, only to find Leah already there, accusing him of writing them. Ellis tells Jones it was Leah who leaked his name to the press, not Jenny, who never showed up to meet Jones as arranged. Jones has Jenny’s gym bag, which he claims he “just found;” Chet arrests him as Ellis looks inside the bag, finding a passport and a ton of prescription drugs. Someone was undercutting Carla, and Jenny must have figured out who, but why did she hide them?

Ellis suddenly has an idea to go to the University campus and question Mark, Adam’s son/Jenny’s stepson, to see if he knows who deals drugs there. He’s not home, and a quick search uncovers more prescription drugs, only to see Mark try to pull a runner when he realizes he’s been caught. Mark admits he knew about Jenny and Curtis and feared Carla would come after him. He sold Emily the drugs but refuses any responsibility for her overdose. When Jenny realized it was him, she placed half of his stash in her bag and told him she’d handle Duffy. He never saw her again. 

However, Ellis is working backward up the chain. She and Chet return to the hospital and corner Naomi, who admits she sold the drugs to make ends meet because the NHS doesn't pay a living wage. When she learned Jenny was planning to leave with Curtis and didn’t even share the news about her pregnancy, Naomi realized Jenny had figured out Mark got the drugs from her. The two met in the woods and started screaming at each other, and then things turned physical. Jenny fell onto the broken glass; upon realizing a super large shard had hit her artery, Naomi stopped the bleeding but let her die for choosing the Duffys over her. 

As Ellis and Chet leave the police station for the last time, they notice the graffiti on the station board has been cleaned up. It may represent a new beginning for the dysfunctional Callorwell team.

Inspector Ellis continues with one more episode, next Monday, November 18, 2024. Season 2 is not yet greenlit.