Once the world was full of wonders
but it belongs to humans now.
We creatures have all but disappeared ...
demons, vampires and witches...
hiding in plain sight
fearful of discovery
ill at ease, even with each other.
But, as my father used to say
in every ending...
there is a new beginning.
Hi, Fred. - Good morning.
Good morning.
MUSIC: Song of Home by Ashmole 782
♪ Home is the trace of the past we leave behind ♪
♪ And home is the place that I yearn for all the time ♪
♪ But I can't look back ♪
♪ Times are changing yeah, yeah ♪
♪ No I won't lose no rearranging, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ You know that I must follow dreams ♪
♪ you come with me, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ so I'm leaving... ♪
No, stop!
HER HANDS BUZZ
INDISTINCT CHATTER
HEAD OF FACULTY: Please, join me in welcoming back to Oxford...
this year's visiting research fellow.
As many of you know, she took her DPhil in the history of science here.
And after publishing two prize-winning books
she was awarded tenure at Yale
one of the youngest ever to have been awarded that distinction.
We are delighted to have her back amongst us.
Dr Diana Bishop.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Alchemy.
In the 17th century, alchemy was at the very heart of the study of nature
and a precursor to modern chemistry...
..and death. All parts of the natural world, be they animate or inanimate
were believed to experience these stages.
Although these images were often interpreted as allegory
they actually represent the chemical processes...
With access to the Bodleian Library's collection
of unique manuscripts owned by Elias Ashmole
the 17th-century antiquarian, astrologer and alchemist
I will continue to explore the role that alchemy had
in 17th-century thought
and how it influenced great scientists such as Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle.
Thank you. - ADIENCE APPLAUDS
Very stimulating. - Thank you.
There's an opening coming up soon in the faculty.
I'm drawing up a shortlist of candidates. Would it interest you?
Er, yes.
We'll need to evaluate all your work.
The talk that you just gave today - I assume it's ready to be published?
It is, it is. It's almost finished.
Well, I'd need it by late October. - Absolutely.
I look forward to reading it. - Thank you.
Diana, that was brilliant.
Gillian Chamberlain at a lecture for alchemy? What a lovely surprise.
DIANA: It's been, what, four years since I've seen you?
GILLIAN: Almost six, actually. Can't believe it.
When did you arrive? - Over a week ago.
I've been practically living in the library. I haven't even unpacked.
It is so good to see you.
It's like...
No, it's like coming home, nothing's changed.
Tell me about it.
I'm not regular faculty, that's all.
Still no vacancies for a classical historian.
I'm sorry.
If there is anything I can do. - It'll happen.
Otherwise, Oxford's still great.
The coven's pretty active. We're meeting tonight for the equinox.
You'll know loads of us if you wanted to come.
I'm still not comfortable around magic.
Not after what happened to my parents.
I still find it...
I just find it difficult.
Do you not use your powers at all?
I am a walking disaster on that front.
My powers are so unpredictable.
This morning, it happened by accident in public.
I mean, no one saw, but they could have.
You should speak to Sylvia about that.
She's the head of coven now. She might be able to help you.
It's OK. I'm used to it.
BELL TOLLS
QUIET WHISPERING
INDISTINCT CHATTER
I hear your lecture impressed a few people yesterday.
So, now you've got to get that paper finished, right?
What do you need?
Ashmole 37, 92, 183 and 782. - 782.
No problem. Be with you shortly.
Thanks.
TUBE POPS AS IT OPENS - CYLINDER WHOOSHES
OBJECT CLUNKS IN TUBE
WHISPERING SOUNDS
Hey!
Hey. - How's it going?
Oh, just the usual, you know.
There you go, the Ashmole manuscripts.
Thank you.
Right, so, I'm out by the call desk.
Maybe we could have a coffee later? - Yeah, great.
Awesome. See you. - OK, bye.
HEART BEAT SOUNDS
QUIET TYPING SOUNDS
LIGHTS BUZZ
SOUND OF A HEART BEAT
MAN: Christ! Someone needs to fix the lights.
MOBILE PHONE RINGS
Is it happening to you? - Yes.
Our blood...
it's reacting to something.
DIANA GASPS
BIRDS SQUAWK NOISILY
Sorry, sorry.
DIANA PANTS
GILLIAN BREATHES HEAVILY
Dr Bishop?
INDISTINCT FOREIGN CHATTER
WOMAN: I'm such an idiot, I... MAN: Just need to check the fuses again.
WOMAN 2: We close at 5.00.
MANY CHATTERING VOICES GET LOUDER
Dad.
Dad?
Diana!
What happened in there?
GILLIAN: Did you feel it? I don't think the humans did.
That Ashmole manuscript, there was something weird about it.
Did you see anything unusual?
Diana, are you all right?
Diana?
Where are you going?
MARCUS: So I presume I'm seeing you tonight.
No. - Come on.
No. - James, look, I've found a new place.
JAMES: I've just been on a 12-hour shift. I'm going home to crash.
Last week was a mistake and I admit last week was a mistake.
That's what you said last week. - Tuesday's better than the weekend.
You can get a booth, it stays open till 3:00am...
3:00am, midweek? Are you off your rocker?
And I'm pretty sure the DJ plays almost exclusively '90s R&B.
See, when I'm not on shift, I'm in bed by 12.
How come you never look tired? - I'm not a lightweight like you.
A-huh.
Have a good sleep.
Five-a-side next week! - If you're awake.
CAR CRASHES - IMPACT GRUNT
BODY CRASHES TO THE GROUND - CAR TYRES SQUEAL
No!
James, mate!
Hang in there, James.
MARCUS BREATHES HEAVILY
MARCUS GRUNTS
JAMES GASPS
JAMES GROANS
No.
MARCUS PANTS
Matthew, have you been here all night?
She's a witch, Miriam, a powerful one if her family's anything to go by.
Who is?
The academic I overheard outside the Bodleian.
She's a direct descendant of Bridget Bishop
the first woman to be executed at the Salem witch trials.
You think what happened yesterday was witchcraft?
I don't know, but she'd just taken out an alchemical manuscript.
An Ashmole manuscript.
Come on, Matthew
it's not possible.
What, that she's found Ashmole 782? Why?
Because you've been looking for that book for over 100 years.
Longer.
Ever since I began to believe that it could help us understand our origins.
It's missing.
It's always been missing. How could this witch have found it?
Perhaps it wasn't missing.
Perhaps it was waiting.
DIANA GROANS
Dad.
SCREAM-LIKE SOUND
MAN ON RADIO: Next up on Radio 4 - BELL TOLLS
it's Rebecca Ali with Woman's Hour.
MOBILE PHONE BUZZES
Hello.
Hey. Er, it's me.
Hey. You alright?
It's five o'clock in the morning, Diana.
I know. I know. I'm sorry.
Something's happened.
You all right, honey? - DIANA: I was in the Bod studying.
I took out a manuscript.
But it was bewitched or something.
Was it a grimoire? - It was an Ashmole manuscript.
There were alchemical illustrations. - Uh-huh, what else?
Er...
Moving under the pages.
I couldn't read it.
Definitely sounds like it was bewitched.
How did you unravel the spell? Did you say any words?
There was no witchcraft involved, Sarah.
How many times? You know I refuse to practise.
I couldn't wait to get rid of it.
I returned it. - What?
Diana, we've always told you...
if you ever come across something magical...
you should always, always, try to understand it!
Honey, what is happening? - It's Diana.
She's discovered some magical book.
That is not even why I called. It's...
It's what happened afterwards.
I think... I think I saw Dad.
What do you mean, you saw your dad? - He was just as I remembered him.
What do you think it means?
Well, honey, we're not gonna know now, are we?
You've given it back. Really, Diana, it's time you faced what you are
a witch!
We've been over this, Sarah. I'm an historian, that's what I am.
Oxford might offer me a professorship.
Oh, honey! That is wonderful news, Diana.
Well, I don't have it yet.
I have to get a paper written.
Wai t! Wai t! You can't just hide in your work.
You saw your father. This is important.
If the book is bewitched, there's no telling how you unlocked the spell.
You have to take the book out again. Work out what's going on.
That may be what you would do, Sarah, but I'm not you.
I called for your advice, not another lecture.
Well, you know how she feels about all this.
Give her time to cool off, honey, and try again.
Y753 BCY?
You say the car took off at speed.
Are you sure that registration number's right?
Positive.
I have very good eyesight.
POLICE WOMAN: You say you left the hospital at 5:30.
But you didn't call the incident in until 6:15.
MARCUS: I was giving him CPR. - For over half an hour?
Yes.
I'm a doctor. I was trying to save his life.
Hey, Matthew.
Think of the risks you took. You could've been seen.
James was my friend and a brilliant doctor.
I couldn't bear for all that potential to go to waste.
Did you even get his consent?
Christ, Marcus!
How many times do you have to be told?
Alright, I messed up.
Why didn't it work?
That's what we need to find out.
KEYBOARD CLATTERS
DOOR OPENS
What's he doing here? - Marcus is our new research subject.
Another failed siring.
Would you take his bloods and do a cheek swab? Thank you, Miriam.
Hello, Miriam.
Hello, Marcus.
I'll need that.
And roll up your sleeve.
I can take my own blood.
Not in my lab, you can't.
INDISTINCT CHATTER
You should've told me.
You knew that there'd been other failed sirings, so why the secrecy?
You're not meant to be siring anyone.
Do I have to haul you both out of here or can we finish our wine first?
You know I didn't plan to sire James.
If there had been more time, I would have asked permission.
And if I'd known there was a risk of failure
I never would have attempted it.
Matthew, his last moments
were ugly, confused
and desperate, but he didn't know why.
I did that.
He was my friend and I took his death away from him for nothing.
DOOR OPENS
The reason I didn't tell you...
is because we're all in the dark.
We know there's a problem, but we don't know the cause
and that's the reason...
that we need the book.
Matthew thinks Ashmole 782 covers early creature history.
It could help us understand our evolution
our origins.
The witches cannot be allowed to have that information.
Some would want to use that knowledge to destroy us.
So what do we do?
I talk to Dr Bishop.
And if need be...
we take the book for ourselves.
RAPID TYPING
SHE WHISPERS: Notes and Queries?
Where are you?
Goddamn!
Yours, I believe?
That's a nasty burn.
You're a vampire.
Professor Clairmont.
Biochemistry. - Dr Bishop.
I found your article on colour symbolism
in alchemical transformation fascinating
and your work on Robert Boyle's approach
to problems of expansion and contraction quietly persuasive.
You have a wonderful way of evoking the past for the reader.
Thank you.
I'm hardly likely to forget you now, after that.
I didn't think that witches were allowed to show their magic in public.
I didn't mean for that to happen.
Not in control of yourself, Dr Bishop?
I'm perfectly in control.
Thank you.
Now, if you'll excuse me, Professor Clairmont
I have to get back to my work.
SHE TAPS ON THE DOOR
Focus.
Gillian. - Sylvia.
Is everything all right?
The disturbance we all felt. Your text said if anyone knew anything.
Yes?
I think maybe I do.
BELL TOLLS
INDISTINCT CHATTER
KEYBOARD CLATTERS
DOOR OPENS
DOOR CLOSES
Anything of interest?
You're following me. - Well, we work in the same place.
It's hardly strange that our paths should cross again.
You knew who I was yesterday.
I'd call that a professional hazard.
Your photograph's on the back of all your books.
Checked in with the staff at the Bod.
You were in and out of there in five minutes max.
You were looking for me.
Not because you enjoyed my thesis on Robert Boyle.
What do you want, Professor Clairmont?
That's a fair question.
You called up an Ashmole manuscript earlier this week
and something happened
something that disturbed you.
Was it Ashmole 782?
I'm assuming you used magic to retrieve it.
Why do you care? Alchemy's not your area.
This is about a great deal more than just alchemy.
Where's the manuscript now?
Where it always is. You can't take books out of the Bodleian.
Excuse me. - Dr Bishop, please hear me out.
No one has seen that book for a very long time
and it's not just me who wants it. Word is spreading.
It might be safer for you
if the creatures of Oxford knew that it was longer in your possession.
Is that a threat?
No. It's a warning.
You need to be careful.
I will be.
Goodbye, Professor Clairmont.
BELL TOLLS
Sean. - Yeah?
I need a drink.
NOISY INDISTINCT CHATTER
For you. - So now I know what you drink.
I know what you read.
Pretty much everything pre-1800.
What else is there?
Oh, come on.
Family? Brothers, sisters?
I'm an only child.
I, er... I was actually raised by my aunt and her partner.
Oh. - Yeah.
My parents died.
Both of them?
Car crash or something?
They were, er... They were murdered.
I shouldn't have asked. You really don't have to talk about it.
It's OK.
They were on a research trip
to a village on the Ukraine-Russia border.
We think the villagers turned on them.
They thought that they...
that they were witches.
Witches?
Some people still believe in witches.
That magic is real.
They believe in other creatures too. - Superstitious crap.
I don't know how people can still be so ignorant.
We're living in the 21st century.
I'm so sorry, Diana.
CAR DOOR SLAMS
GUN COCKS
DOOR CRASHES
No one's here. The bed's still warm though.
She can't be far away.
We never are.
Where'd you come from, witch?
KNIFE WHIZZES - MAN SHOUTS
SHE MUTTERS AN INCANTATION
I found him in the local pub.
Told him about the witch in the woods.
Humans and their prejudices.
Tell me...
are you always this assertive?
The equinox gives me an edge.
You've proven yourself more than worthy, Satu.
I shall take you to be sworn into the congregation.
But we have work to do first.
There's been a disturbance.
He's already put in his requests.
These are his two. Give them to him, will you?
Sure.
Hey. - Hey.
What's going on? - Some hotshot scientist
has graced us with his presence.
Sorry, he requested 83.
Yours, Professor Clairmont.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Professor Clairmont.
DIANA SIGHS
I'm sorry, am I bothering you?
No.
I'm just surprised you find a southern exposure comfortable.
You don't believe everything you read, do you?
Alright, then.
I thought that you might like some company.
The library's busy today. Quite a few witches here.
You see?
Hey.
So what? They often work in here.
They're here to watch you.
I did warn you that other creatures would take an interest in you.
They're looking at me because I'm talking to you.
They are not the ones with the problem.
MAN: Do you mind?
Leaving so soon? - Yeah.
BELL TOLLS
Hey!
Diana.
Hey.
That was a vampire.
Yes, yeah. - What was he doing in the library?
I don't know any more than you do.
But he talked to you.
Yeah, he'd read my works.
It's not a big deal.
They're very dangerous and they hate us as much as we hate them.
Hopefully, he'll be gone by tomorrow.
Yeah.
I'm going back to my rooms to work. - OK.
Sure.
GILLIAN SIGHS
WATER SPLASHES
DIANA BREATHES HEAVILY
Welcome to Oxford, Mr Knox.
It's such an honour to have you in our city.
Come in. Don't linger out there.
So, Miss Chamberlain.
Hello.
Please, sit down. - DOOR CLOSES
Now, tell me exactly what happened?
There was this Ashmole manuscript in the Bodleian Library
an alchemical one. - Old?
Medieval, two clasps, distinctive binding.
My friend took it out.
If it's the book I think it is
then I've been looking for it for a very long time.
What's the name of your friend?
Um... - You heard him.
The name.
Diana Bishop.
Do you actually think it's safe down here in the dark, Dr Bishop?
Are you stalking me?
I'm merely pointing out that rowing on your own is a risk.
So...
The Book Of Life, what did you do with it?
I don't know what that is.
A witch of your powers, how could you not know?
Just because you saw me in the library. That was unusual for me.
I don't use magic. - Don't lie to me, Diana.
I can feel your power.
If you want the book, why don't you go get it?
I told you, I gave it back. - I don't believe you.
OK, let's say I'm lying. What are you going to do?
Rip my head off to get the truth out of me?
I could.
But it's not how I operate.
I'm going to say this to you one more time.
I don't have your book.
Ashmole 782 has been missing for centuries
and yet you were able to call it up.
Aren't you curious why?
That book has never appeared to me or anyone else
no matter what we've done.
Only to you.
It could be the key to our survival
so isn't it strange that the only creature who can summon it
is a witch who can't control her magic?
Walk past me slowly.
No sudden movement.
Go!
But don't run.
HAMISH: What's going on?
I came up here to get away from a witch. I'm craving her.
Good hunting.
HAMISH: If you hurt her, you'll never forgive yourself.
KNOX: Vampires abuse their longevity to gain far too much control.
GERBERT: This dead tourist is a brazen vampire killing.
MATTHEW: Other creatures will want the book. - Why is it so important to you?
It could tell us how we...
created vampires.
If we created them, then we could uncreate them.