Cadfael: A Morbid Taste for Bones

The Set-up: Young Brother Oswin (Mark Charnock) is having his first blood letting, when Brother Columbarnus has a seizure and then reports a vision of the "Virgin lady" when he is brought to and given the milk of the poppy to ease his pain. Brother Jerome (Julian Firth) is left to watch over the ailing brother and asks him if the vision was of Winifred, a Welsh Saint. Brother Columbarnus does not say, so Brother Jerome continues to ask him until finally Columbarnus shouts out "Saint Winifred!" Brother Jerome hurries off at this point to tell Father Radolfus (Terrence Hudman) of the miracle. Prior Robert (Michael Culver) shows up straight away and Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) is not far behind. Through some discussion, the Abbott grants Robert's desire to seek permission from the Welsh Prince and the Welsh Bishop to bring the body of Wiinifred back to the Abbey at Shrewesbury.

The Rest: The brothers, led by Prior Robert are sent to Wales to retrieve the bones of the Virgin Saint. Brother Cadfael is sent to hold the purse strings and keep the Prior honest (more or less). The local lord is opposed to this undertaking, and after Prior Robert tries to bribe him, forcing Cadfael to be the witness, the lord denounces their cause and states the saint will only leave if he is dead. Of course he is killed and it is made to look like the boyfriend of the lord's daughter, for her boyfriend is not her betrothed. Columbarnus has another vision that the Saint wishes to leave to the Abbey in Shrewesbury and that the dead lord can be buried in her spot.
The Saint's body is recovered, the lord is buried and then Cadfael notices that much of the poppy juice is missing after needing it to calm the betrothed of the dead lord's daughter, who had placed her boyfriend's arrow in an already existing knife wound. It is not long before Cadfael has devised a plan to get Columbarnus to confess to the crime. There is a struggle between the murderous monk and the boyfriend and the monk falls, hitting his head on a giant rock and snapping his own neck. Cadfael makes it look as if Columbarnus has been called home to God, but really he engineers the return of Winifred to her grave and places the body of Columbarnus in the reliquary.

Commentary: The book that this episode was based on was the first Cadfael novel that Ellis Peters published, presumably the first she wrote. It would have been interesting to start the television show with this one. I think it would have framed Brother Jerome in a slightly different light - sure he is still Brother Jack-ass, but it's as much out of ignorance and superstition as it is out of spite and hate and other un-monkly things.
Hey - where was the new Hugh? Wait, if this is the first book's story and the actual first episode was the based on the second book, which it was, then there is no Deputy Sheriff Hugh Beringar at this point, he's still just some minor noble. Um, okay. I guess it's bets that they didn't fare to far from the source material. The story didn't really need him, or his hair, this time anyway.

The Proof: The juice of the poppy. Or rather the lack thereof, for what should be a full bottle is almost nearly empty.