The Memory Jar Part 1 – As this episode of Ridley begins, Tara Dunning (Emily Stott) yells at Leo to tell him they need to hurry. Rob Dunning (Tachia Newall) warns her that Colden Road was flooded yesterday. Rob will be out all day. Tara said they would stop at Jackie’s on the way home from school so Leo can have his tea there. Celia Machin (Maggie Steed) greets Sarah. Before long, Rob receives a call from the Willowdale Primary School. Rob picks up Leo and takes him home. Tara is shown frantically speeding down the road and ignoring a call from Rob. At the police station, DCI Paul Goodwin (Terence Maynard) talks to DI Carol Farman (Bronagh Waugh) about Tara Dunning. Her husband reported her missing yesterday after she failed to pick her son up from school.

They talk about the case with DC Darren Lakhan (George Bukhari). Carol confirms they’re already declaring it a critical incident. Darren says it’s a firestorm on social media. There is a village group with 200 members. The moderator’s name is Simon Beamish who is also the landlord of the village pub, The Two Tubs. Carol asks for a team to do a house-to-house search in Colden. Before long, she calls Alex Ridley (Adrian Dunbar) to tell him about the case. Alex agrees to meet Carol at Tara’s house. They speak to Rob about Tara’s disappearance. Rob claims he didn’t have any concerns about her behavior. He was out all day because he needed a new ignition coil and a car rim refitting. Rob says Tara works at the café in the village part-time. Rob eventually reveals that Tara is depressed so she takes medication. She’s been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Rob insists she would never harm herself.

His sister, Sarah, enters with Leo seconds later. They talk about doing a public plea and getting a DNA reference sample. Carol suggests using a hair brush belonging to Tara. Carol and Alex speak to Sarah outside. Sarah says Tara threatened to leave Rob before because nothing he did was ever good enough. Carol and Alex briefly discuss that revelation. Harry Bentham (John Michie) tells Annie Marling (Julie Graham) that he’s thinking about changing the pub. He tells her to keep the place buzzing and to leave the rest to him. At the station, Darren confirms Rob was likely 25 miles away when Tara disappeared. Ridley mentions the fact that she had bipolar. Tara’s vehicle was on the moor road near Colden Crags about 4 p.m. yesterday. Carol and Paul speak to the media about Tara. Police find Tara’s vehicle and notice blood on the windshield. Dr. Wendy Newstone (Georgie Glen) tells Carol and Alex that they found secondary tracks so a second vehicle may have been involved.

Someone else was at the scene. Wendy found a phone under the passenger seat. They’ll need to check the blood for a match. Carol and Alex speak to Celia who has early-onset Parkinson’s. Celia says she was unfocused when she last saw her. That wasn’t unusual since she stopped taking her medication a few days before. Celia tells them about an incident with one of the customers, Jason Dover. He always came in when she was working and made it his business to speak to her. Some of his comments were inappropriate. Celia warned Tara not to indulge him. She eventually had to warn him off. At the station, Darren says Tara paid for a train ticket for travel three days ago. There were three other visits in the last three months. She used her debit card in the meter at the station car park. Dr. Vikram Assi (Ash Tandon) leaves the hospital because he has meetings with the parole board. Rob tells Carol that Tara would drive up to Colden Crags to clear her head.

Rob confirms the phone belonged to his wife. He is asked about the ticket to Renton. Rob explains Tara was volunteering at a charity shop there. He believes it was called St. Botolph’s. Rob claims his sister never gave Tara a chance. He learns there’s going to be a search party. Carol learns that Jason Dover has previous arrests for sexual assault. They go to the pub where they speak to Simon and Sarah. They briefly talk to Simon about the search before turning their attention to Jason Dover (Micky McGregor). They speak to him outside. Jason admits no one in Colden knows about his past. He insists he didn’t do anything wrong. When asked about the inappropriate comments, Jason says it was just banter. He was doing some coppicing near Coatbridge on the day of Tara’s disappearance. He says it was Jensen Mill Rangers. As they leave, Carol tells Alex that Coatbridge is only a few miles from where the car was found.

Jason tells Sarah there is nothing to worry about. Alex speaks to Dr. Samantha Larsson (Suzanne Packer). Harry tells Annie he’s booked Carla for the headline spot. She’s not happy that he didn’t ask her first. Annie reminds him that’s Ridley’s spot, but Harry says he hasn’t come around in a while. They argue about the club and other things. Alex speaks to Jack Farman (Tareq Al-Jeddal) who is cleaning up trash. Jack complains it’s going to be months before he’s finished. He feels like he’s let his mom down. Next, Wendy confirms the blood in the abandoned vehicle was Tara’s blood. They ruled out any familial matches from the evidence in Tara’s car. They found an unaccounted for palm print on the exterior driver’s door window. Simon tells Celia that the police wanted to speak to Jason. He learned about Jason’s history. Darren loses a bet on a horse race.

Alex and Carol tell everyone about the new evidence at the police station. Darren says the woman from the charity shop claimed she never saw Tara. Darren invites Ridley out for a drink. Simon speaks to the searchers and calls out Jason. Alex and the others learn that Jason’s name is all over social media. Darren is still waiting on word about Jason’s alibi. Later, he tells Alex that Tara might’ve been calling the psych unit just outside of Renton. They talk about things going on in Darren’s life and how he’s having difficulty with his finances. He asks Alex if he could lend him some money like five grand. Jason watches Celia from outside her house. Simon tries to get in touch with Celia. Carol speaks to Janet Clinton (Emma Bispham) at the psych unit. Tara comes there every four weeks to see her mother, Mary Jane Bulmore. Janets calls Dr. Assi to see if they can speak to Mary (Jill Myers). Darren tells Paul that Tara called Celia on the day she disappeared, but Celia never mentioned it.

Assi tells Alex and Carol that Mary was sentenced to the hospital on diminished responsibility after killing her husband. He had been abusing them for years. Mary claims Tara stays away to punish her for what she did. A few weeks ago, she could tell something wasn’t right with Tara. She thinks Tara was frightened. Assi tries to end the interview. Mary claims they keep her locked up. She quickly shows Alex the bruises on her arm. In private, Assi claims Mary self-harms. He says Tara saw herself as a ticking bomb. Assi explains why he didn’t think much of it when Tara didn’t show up. Darren searches for Celia Machin. He enters her house and finds her at the bottom of the stairs. Wendy says she fell down the stairs and broke her neck. She believes she could have been pushed. Some kitchen surfaces have been wiped down. Ridley finds a card for Jason’s business.

Ridley looks around and notices that jewelry hasn’t been taken. He tells Carol it seems like it has been staged. Carol will get the laptop checked out. Wendy confirms the prints match Jason Dover who is brought to the station. Jason insists what happened with the girl was consensual. He denies doing anything to Celia and Tara. Jason did work for Celia because she wasn’t capable of doing it anymore. He admits to being inside her house previously. Jason says he was at Sarah’s all night. He hadn’t told her about the conviction. A neighbor saw his van parked outside Celia’s house. Jason admits going around there, but he claims he just wanted to apologize. They talked on the doorstep. Carol speaks to Sarah about Jason. Sarah says Jason used to ask her about Tara. She might’ve shared stuff that she shouldn’t have. For instance, she said that their marriage was a sham.

Jason got it when she told him it was too early to move in together. That frightened Sarah. Sarah believes he’s finished in this village. Annie calls Alex to see how he’s doing. Wendy tells Alex that Celia died of a C1 fracture of the spinal cord. They found biological markers in her brain. Her brain was deprived of oxygen for some hours. It took her a while to die. There is nothing tying her murder to Jason. Wendy says they found dark woolen fibers on the body. They don’t match anything the victim was wearing. The tire tracks at Colden Crags and the palm print do not match Jason. Wendy tells him that Tara’s medical records are interesting. She was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis after the birth of her son. Tara spent time in a specialist mother and baby unit. She was off her medication because she was pregnant.

 

Ridley Review

The seventh episode of Ridley certainly wasn’t the most interesting. Much like the prior episodes, the show is really hindered by its excessive runtime. Last season, there were four episodes that spanned an hour and a half. Now, those episodes have just been cut in half. It’s still necessary to watch both episodes to get the full story.

In particular, this episode felt like it plodded along forever and there’s still another one awaiting the most patient viewers. The episode was too similar to so many others. It’s just one red herring or twist after another. Any evidence likely won’t matter in the long run because the killer will be caught on a whim as usual.

The episode also had lots of side stories that vary in level of satisfaction, but most of them felt like a waste of time. For instance, there is the whole club thing going on with Annie, Ridley’s conversations with the doctor, Jack working, and so on. The show is watchable but just barely.

It’s really too long and boring. The episodes and stories should be cut in half so this thing would just get to the point already. The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Ridley can be found here. Find out how to support our independent work at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss Ridley with others here.