SPOILER WARNING!
This article is a synopsis of Professor T – The Anatomy of a Memory, Season 1 Episode 1. If you have not watched the episode yet then please be aware that the information here, will explain what has happened in the episode.
Fireworks light up the night sky while the sounds of “Broken Hearted Melody” by Sarah Vaughan fill the air. We meet a short-haired blonde woman, who rides her bicycle with a masked companion and another man by her side.
Parking her bike, she catches sight of a group of individuals leaving the university building, their faces covered by white masks and brandishing weapons. Unfazed, she grins a cheerful goodbye to them and strides into the halls of the University of Cambridge.
Inside, she walks the long, shadowy corridors, where the atmosphere shifts to an eerie silence. A man in costume then leaps out to give her a fright, instead of feeling fear she laughs. Utilising misdirection, the scene distracts viewers from the real surprise that lies ahead.
A car’s headlights momentarily light up the room, revealing her walking with someone else slowly following behind her.
She makes her way to the bathroom, and there are flyers on the walls advertising a fancy dress party, which explains her laid-back reactions to seeing people in horror costumes. The music from the party can be heard in the background.
She leaves the bathroom stall and catches sight in the mirror of someone wearing a mask.
Assuming it’s just another partygoer in costume, she grins and tells the person not to be such an arse.
She rips off the mask, only to be met with the sight of a balaclava staring back at her. Realising that it is not someone she knows, she panics and attempts to run away from him.
The masked individual quickly grabs her, covering her mouth, and forces her back into the bathroom stall.
She attempts to scream but the party music drowns her cries.
After the title credits roll, we’re introduced to a rather meticulous man who takes handwashing to a whole new level. Meet Professor T, who carefully scrubs his hands before slipping on a pair of white gloves. He adjusts his spoon until it’s perfectly straight, then dives into his morning ritual of sipping coffee and polishing his shoes.
Stepping out of his house, he positions his feet just right to walk across the two yellow lines on the road, pausing to gaze at a gated house. He does a double take after spotting a “for sale” sign.
Professor T envisions himself on the creaking swing in the garden, while a woman presumably his mother calls him inside, which saddens him. Just then, a male voice shouts, and the young Professor T is visibly scared.
Back in the present, his assistant sanitizes his desk, then as she exits the hall she discreetly passes his briefcase to him, in a scene that feels straight out of a spy movie.
Professor T arrives at the lecture hall at 9am on the dot and begins his lecture by using hand sanitiser then wiping his hands with a tissue.
Abruptly, a figure enters the hall and grabs the Professor’s briefcase then pushes him onto the floor.
Professor T, non-chalantly picks himself up off the floor and transitions into his lesson on perpetrator identification. His students look on in shock and the professor sets out a multiple choice test on identifying the culprit.
Arriving at the University, DI Paul Rabbit, DS Lisa Donckers and DS Dan Winters are discussing the case, a woman was raped in the bathroom stall.
The case took place in the public toilets, so there is DNA everywhere making it difficult to collect for evidence.
The victim is in a state of shock and can’t remember anything about the assault.
DI Rabbit then drops a significant detail: the woman’s necklace was taken during the attack, piquing Donckers’ interest. She immediately asks if she can follow up with Diana, the rape victim, eager to dig deeper into the case.
Back at the lecture hall, Professor T is disappointed at the test results for his lesson on perpetrator identification. He calls his students ‘a battery farm of headless chickens’ – a harsh comment that no doubt upset them.
Donckers enters the classroom and explains that crime is traumatic which is why it is difficult to relay memories from a crime.
“Crime is inherently traumatic. Both victim and witness may fall foul of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis.
The hypothalamus sends signals to the pituitary and thest the adrenal gland releasing cortisol. This leads to tunnel vision,
a narrow snapshot of the event encodes on to the brain. Within seconds this memory starts to fade…to become contaminated.
Turning us into unreliable narrators. A violent event leaves a wound which spreads and infects everything. Trauma scrambles
the senses, ladies and gentlemen. It transforms even the most lucid mind into a labyrinth.” – Professor Jasper Tempest
After the lecture, Donckers tries to recruit him for the case. However, Professor T insists that his interest in crime is purely academic; he prefers to keep his hands clean, as we all know.
The suspects are being narrowed down to male key card holders only and then cross checked to known sex offenders.
Donckers and Winters are revealed to have had a night out, hitting the town for drinks just the day before. Donckers, however, insists that whatever happened was all a mistake and meant nothing to her.
While going through the crime scene photos, Donckers spots some writing on a stall, ‘R 17 5’
This cryptic message brings back the haunting memories of a rape case from five years ago involving Doncker’s friend, Saskia Dawson.
At a party, Saskia wanted to head home, but Donckers chose to stay behind. When Saskia reached her dorm room, a man in a balaclava and overalls forced his way into her room.
Since that night, Saskia has avoided her.
There were carvings on the Saskia’s bed frame marked with the ambiguous text ‘E 16 33’ similar to that of the current rape case and her necklace was taken.
Meanwhile, the professor is finally able to contact his mother Adelaide, she’s been avoiding his phone calls. When she finally picks up, she’s multitasking, giving her chihuahua a bath.
The Professor reveals that he knows that his mother put their childhood home up for sale. Adelaide quickly corrects him, calling it their “former home” and insists they need to sell it because they’re sitting on a gold mine especially since Jasper hasn’t set foot in the place in a very long time.
Just when things couldn’t get more chaotic, the Dean strolls into the office. Jasper had a complaint following his remark calling his class ‘animals’. He corrects this to be “chickens”, a flock of gutless chickens, to be exact!
He is reminded by the Dean that his tenure can be taken away in cases of their reputation being brought into disrepute or in cases of gross moral turpitude. He fires back that they can debate what “gross moral turpitude” really means, leaving the Dean taken aback and promptly exiting the room.
Winters heads over to meet Henry Watson, the canteen guy, who had indecent exposure charges. But before they could talk to him, Henry runs and manages to escape!
Meanwhile, Donckers brings Diana Tyson, to meet Tempest.
Tempest suggests they could try hypnosis to access her repressed memories. He reveals that her loss of memory is because she is disassociating—a coping mechanism the brain uses to shield itself during extreme situations. At the mention of hypnotherapy Diana is hesitant, sensing this, Tempest stops the session.
DC Christina checks in with Winters, asking if he’s doing okay and reminding him that he should be working with Donckers. Winters explains that she’s been in touch with her old criminology professor, which Christina quickly recognizes as Professor T.
On a rooftop somewhere, Tempest finds himself lost in thought, reminiscing about his troubled childhood.
Donckers and Winters then try to visit the house of their next suspect, Dennis Banks, who is a cleaner at the university.
Donckers expresses her gratitude to Winters for covering for her in her moments of absence, and he claims she owes him one. Winters, then asks if she’d like to come to his gig that night. She smiles, but the moment ends as the door swings open to Jasmine Banks, Dennis’ wife.
Jasmine greets the two detectives and at the house it is clear that the couple are Christian. They have Jesus candles, a statue and paintings. Jasmine explains to the detectives that Dennis was home at the time of the incident, watching Gordon Ramsay.
At the university, a woman walks past the maintenance man, unaware of the danger lurking behind her. She steps into the lift then a man follows her inside.
Walking to her dorm room she is attacked, the man lunges at her, but she pushes him away. He manages to snatch her necklace, but just as he’s about to assault her, she dispenses her pepper spray. She runs but stumbles down the stairs, hitting her head and bleeding.
Meanwhile, Tempest paces along the yellow lines at night, deep in thought. He makes a call to stop the sale of the house.
Just then, he receives a text from someone in his contacts labeled “X,” asking him to come to the police station tomorrow morning. As he scrolls up from the message, their previous exchange from May 14th, 2009, catches his eye: “I never want to speak to you again!”
Winters is visibly annoyed that Donckers didn’t attend the gig he invited her to.
Tempest arrives, and Christina ushers him in. He repeats he does not want anything to do with the case despite the attempts by sergeant bossy-boots, Lisa Donckers!
However, he quickly joins the team after a word with Christina.
Jasper then profiles the culprit, outlining the typical characteristics of offenders in cases like this. He notes that the perpetrator is often men aged 25 to 35, has parents divorced usually in childhood and have experienced excessive discipline or abusive behaviours during childhood. They tend to be single, anti-social, struggle with intimacy, and may have a low IQ.
Tempest confirms that it must be someone who works at the university as Donckers had found a similar case that happened 5 years ago that they believe are linked.
The Suspects in the case:
- Henry Watson: Works in the canteen, has no alibi, and has a minor criminal record.
- Dennis Banks: Holds a contract with the cleaning company and has served time in prison.
- The Caretaker: Was working in the building at the time of the incident, has no alibi, and has a drink-driving conviction from ten years ago.
As they delve into the case, they discover that the inscriptions found on the bed frame are biblical verses. The five-year gap between the crimes suggests the culprits loss of control.
The inscriptions are Revelations Chapter 17 Verse 5 and Ezekial Chapter 16 Verse 33
‘Oh profane woman you bribe your lovers to come from all directions for your harlotries’
Tempest suggests that they might be dealing with a churchgoer.
They suggest there may be more victims and to look into similar cases happening at the university.
“The purpose of education is to replace a narrow mind with an open mind,” he adds.
Amidst the tension, Christina and Jasper share a playful tango.
Donckers and Winters visit nearby hospitals and discover a woman Millie Standish, is currently in a coma she also attended the same university as the other victims. Her bagged clothes reveal traces of pepper spray.
Donckers and Winters believe her to be another victim of the serial rapist, only this time she was able to stop him before anything
Diana is brought in for a hypnosis session with Tempest and Donckers.
Tempest reassures Diana that she is safe in the “goldfish bowl” of her psyche, and asks if she wants to step outside. Although she likes being a goldfish content in her bowl, the knowledge of another victim compels her to help.
Rabbit, expresses a desire to sit in. There is tension between the two and Tempest remarks that Rabbit should focus on the issues going on in his private life. The small spat causes Rabbit to storm out and Donckers chastises him that Rabbit’s daughter was killed in a hit and run accident.
With Rabbit out of the way, Tempest goes back into the interrogation room without Donckers.
Tempest then enters the interrogation room alone with Diana, who is there as an observer rather than as herself. Together, they replay her memories from that day.
During the replay, Diana notices a tattoo of four or five dots on the man’s hand, a prison tattoo. This leads them to Dennis Banks, who has a history of serving time. They decide to pay him a visit at his home, where he’s found in a bird house. When asked to show his hands, they spot the tattoo and promptly take him into custody.
Dennis had previously spent four years in jail for robbing a newsagent. He then finds work as a cleaner, where he ended up cleaning up after people his own age. This possibly frustrated him and was the catalyst for his crime.
After committing his first rape, he dated then married Jasmine, pausing his criminal urges.
“Your eyes look to God, but your thoughts turn to the devil,” Professor T muses.
Tempest’s mother was going to tell him about the house after an offer was made even though she would need his permission to sell the house.
Tempest explains he has stopped the house being sold and will live in it, his mother in shock says he would need a gallon of bleach and a bunch of wet wipes to even enter into the house. He claims he wants the home because that’s his. While his mother sees the house as a shell of unhappy memories.
Meanwhile, Winters receives a call from the hospital that Millie is no longer in a coma, and he rushes to share the news with the Professor.
Dennis explains that Jasmine had been acting strangely. Dennis claimed to have taken something to help him sleep and then hears Jasmine making a phone call.
Professor T reveals Millie is no longer in a coma, and Donckers grills Dennis to tell the truth of the incident. He finally admits to raping Saskia, Diana and the attempted rape of Millie.
Tempest is marking papers when he receives a curious gift—a black fish accompanied by a card that reads, “I stepped outside, thank you, Diana.” This prompts him to reflect, leading him to step inside his house.
Tempest then finds himself at his childhood home, where the sounds of a lecture echo in the background, creating a surreal atmosphere.
Meanwhile, Rabbit sits at his desk, sipping alcohol from a mug adorned with a child’s drawing, lost in thought as he gazes at a picture of his late daughter.
In a heartfelt moment, Doncker visits Saskia to share the news that the rapist has been caught, they hug.
As the Professor enters his home, haunting scenes from his childhood play out in his mind. He looks up the stairs, and the chilling image of someone hanging presumably his father confronts him, leaving him grappling with the shadows of his past.
Tempest then finds himself at his childhood home, where the sounds of a lecture echo in the background, creating a surreal atmosphere.
Meanwhile, Rabbit sits at his desk, sipping alcohol from a mug adorned with a child’s drawing, lost in thought as he gazes at a picture of his late daughter.
In a heartfelt moment, Donckers visits Saskia to share the news that the rapist has been caught, they hug.
As the Professor enters his home, haunting scenes from his childhood play out in his mind. He looks up the stairs, and the chilling image of someone hanging presumably his father confronts him, leaving him grappling with the shadows of his past.
