The Ruth Rendell Mysteries

Specials

TV-14

From cold, rock-strewn moors to comfortable suburban estates, award-winning writer Ruth Rendell explores the dark fissures between friends and family members that motivate murder.

Where to Watch Specials

10 Episodes

No Crying He Makes
E1
No Crying He MakesOn Christmas Eve, Wexford and Burden are called to the Kingsmarkham Hospital. A baby has been stolen from its pram and another baby left behind in its place, and it seems that the mother of the stolen child may also be in danger.
The Veiled One
E2
The Veiled OneGwen Robson, a middle-aged housewife who proves to have been a blackmailer, is found garotted in the car park of a suburban shopping mall. Wexford is no sooner on the case than a car bomb goes off and all but kills him, putting him in hospital. This leaves Mike Burden with the task of solving the case, but he goes off on the wrong scent. Wexford's analysis is better, though.
Put on by Cunning
E3
Put on by CunningWhen a world-famous flautist is murdered Wexford wonders if his recently returned daughter had anything to do with it. He becomes obsessed with proving that she is an imposter, even getting permission to travel as far afield as the USA and France to do so.
Achilles Heel
E4
Achilles HeelWexford goes on holiday to Corsica and on arriving home receives a call from a man he met there who claims his wife has been kidnapped. Wexford investigates and finds that the missing woman is in fact dead.
Talking to Strange Men
E5
Talking to Strange MenJohn Creevey has recently separated from his wife Jennifer and is still obsessed with her and Peter Mullin, the new man in her life. Many years ago his sister Cherry had been murdered and her fiancé, Mark Simms, now John's best friend, had been the prime suspect. When the police reopen the case and Simms is again under suspicion, John begins to doubt his friend's innocence, until Mark tells him of sordid details about Cherry's promiscuous past - and her relationship with Peter Mullin. When John discovers a series of coded messages hidden beneath a railway bridge, he throws himself into solving them, as a way of taking his mind off Jennifer. He believes that he has uncovered the communications of a gang of terrorists, not realising that it is just schoolboys at rival public sc
Heartstones: part one
E6
Heartstones: part oneLuke Crossland is a respectable widowed Church of England clergyman, with an important job in a cathedral... but his wife's death came about in strange circumstances, and now Luke's eldest daughter wants to know more about what happened...
Heartstones: part two
E7
Heartstones: part twoLuke Crossland is a respectable widowed Church of England clergyman, with an important job in a cathedral... but his wife's death came about in strange circumstances, and now Luke's eldest daughter wants to know more about what happened...
The Lake of Darkness
E8
The Lake of Darknesstuffy young accountant Martin Urban wins a fortune on the football pools, with the help of his friend Tim Sage, and plans to give it away. But then he meets and falls for Francesca, who, alas, is promised to another... Martin is drawn another way, which may even lead to murder.
The Fallen Curtain
E9
The Fallen CurtainIn the present day, a man goes back to the place where, as a small boy, he disappeared for a day. The circumstances were mysterious at the time and have yet to be explained.
Harm Done
E10
Harm DoneYoung Lizzie Crowne goes missing on the Muriel Campden housing estate, and a hunt for her body is under way when she turns up again. Another teenage girl vanishes on the same estate. Then, just after an elderly paedophile is released from prison, the three-year-old daughter of Fay and Stephen Devenish disappears, leaving them distraught. With the police apparently impotent, residents decide to take the law into their own hands.