Scholar Dr. Black's seemingly mundane assignment of sorting through the assets of the Barchester Cathedral library takes an eerie turn when he comes across the papers of the late Archdeacon, who plotted to gain his position through murder. However, he soon comes to discover something truly horrific about the wooden choir stalls in the church, which are tied to a famous local tree and a sinister local legend.
Late at night a gang of young men refuse to pay their bus fares, and assault the conductor. None of the other passengers or the driver intervene. After the incident everybody involved is interviewed in the studio about why they behaved as they did. Scene’s first play, specially commissioned for the series, was repeated late at night for an adult audience in December 1968, and shown again for schools to mark 25 years of Scene in 1993.