The evil Kitty Campbell
Kitty Campbell (Honor Blackman; 1925-2020) is the main villainess from "Old and Cold," episode 2.04 of New Tricks (airdate 30 May 2005). She is a famed TV chef who was once the co-host of a cooking show back in the 1960s.
Kitty's on-screen partner was her husband, Bertie Campbell, but the series was halted due to Bertie's sudden death. In the beginning of the episode, tabloid writer Chris McConnell approached DSI Sandra Pullman with suspicions that Bertie was actually murdered by Kitty herself, which ended up putting UCOS on the case. An interview with Kitty's former PA, Binky Baxter, revealed a shocking secret: Bertie was a closet homosexual, and he and Binky engaged in an affair with each other during the show's run. Due to Kitty's public image, and homosexuality being taboo (and illegal) at the time, Binky stated that the affair served as Kitty's motive for murder, while showing Sandra and Jack Halford an inhaler, claiming that it was the murder weapon.
The inhaler contained a medication known as Aetheraline, which was controversial due to causing heart attacks, and after learning that Kitty had Bertie change doctors and put him on Aetheraline, she was heavily suspected. Sandra and Jack's meeting with Kitty ended on a sour note, as Kitty antagonized Sandra by mocking her for being unmarried, but despite this, a study of the medication revealed that it was only deadly to asthmatic diabetics, and since Bertie wasn't a diabetic, Kitty was originally cleared. However, while the UCOS quartet watched the Campbells' final show at Brian Lane's home, Esther (Brian's wife) noticed Kitty making several mistakes, with Gerry Standing stating that the nerves were due to the fact that she was going to kill Bertie later. A further investigation revealed that Kitty's father had overseen a lawsuit regarding Aetheraline, and that led to the conclusion that Kitty did, in fact, kill her husband.
Kitty had learned about Aetheraline's deadly effects from the lawsuit; that while it only killed diabetics, it was still fatal in high doses. While harboring anger over Bertie's gay affair, the evil Kitty laced the paella (one of the dishes on the show) with a heavy dose of the drug, with Bertie fatally succumbing to the medication after eating the dish. Sandra confronted Kitty with the facts, but in response, the arrogant villainess denied the claims and then chastised Sandra again, this time for (in Kitty's mind) surrendering her femininity for power and competing in a man's world. There was not enough evidence against her, but Sandra (due to being angered and antagonized by Kitty) decided to release the updated file to McConnell, who published it in her tabloid. Though it was not revealed whether Kitty was officially arrested, the final scenes showed Kitty dodging the paparazzi after the story was released, while it was also revealed that her business took a massive hit due to the allegations.
Trivia[]
- Honor Blackman appered as Pussy Galore in the 1964 James Bond film "Goldfinger".