Rowena Waddy

Rowena Waddy is a non-canonical character created for the 2009 ITV adaptation of Nemesis. She and he husband Martin Waddy are passengers on the "Daffodil Mystery Coach Tour" which Jason Rafiel had arranged for Miss Marple. Rowena Waddy is portrayed by Emily Woof. Martin Waddy had been badly wounded during the Second World War. During the bus tour, Rowena is seen as a devoted wife who is constantly helping her husband and urging him to enjoy the trip but not to over exert himself. At other times, she would comfort him and go to his support when he appears to be suffering from the PTSD associated with his wartime experiences.

Jason Rafiel had asked Miss Marple to solve a possible crime or put right an unknown injustice. Through the course of events in the tour, it becomes apparent that the crime or injustice has to do with the fate of a young girl named Verity Hunt. It also becomes apparent that all the passengers in the bus (which Rafiel contrived in various ways to bring on to the tour) are somehow linked to the girl. Rowena's link is however more difficult to elucidate and becomes even more mysterious when about halfway through the show, she is found murdered at the Bonaventure Rocks, a scenic area near the village of Medhurst. Someone had pushed her off a viewing spot on top of a high rock. Although Miss Marple found evidence to convince her that it was a murder and not an accident, there did not seem to be any motive.

The first inkling of a link turns up when, after his wife's death, Martin Waddy tells Miss Marple that he had for years been haunted by the name "Verity". He had advertised in the newspapers asking if anyone could shed light on this for him. Shortly thereafter he received two tickets for the "Daffodil Mystery Tour" with the name "Verity" on a card. This explained the presence of himself and Rowena on the tour. A second clue was that Martin said he was severely wounded at Dunkirk. He had spent months recovering before being reunited with Rowena and he could not remember very much about what happened before his injury.

Only at the end is it revealed that Rowena had been duped as part of an elaborate scheme by Sister Clotilde Merryweather to cover up her murder of Verity Hunt. At that time, Sister Clotilde had been a nun at St. Elspeth's Convent which was being used as a hospital. There was an unidentified patient whose name the nuns did not know.

After Sister Clotilde killed Verity, she needed a way to get rid of the body. She transfered Verity's body to the unidentified soldier's bed and wrapped her up in bandages and then announced that the patient had died during the night. Verity's body was then duly buried in an unknown soldier's grave. Meanwhile Clotilde had moved the unidentified soldier to a hidden room when she continued to nurse him and think of a way to get rid of him.

Clotilde found the solution when she read about Rowena Waddy in a newspaper. Rowena had refused to believe that her husband Martin was missing at Dunkirk. Clotilde planned to make the unidentified soldier into Martin Waddy. As the patient slowly regained consciousness, she spoke to him, mentioning Rowena and suggesting and persuading him that his identity was "Martin Waddy".

After "Martin" had recovered enough, Clotilde dressed up as an officer from Army Welfare and brought him, totally wrapped in bandages to Rowena's house and presented him to her as her missing husband. Rowena was delighted to see him, exclaiming that it was a miracle. As to how it was plausible that Rowena could not differentiate between the man Clotilde had brought and her real husband, Clotilde explained that Rowena was "clearly disturbed" and believed what she wanted to believe.

However years later, during the coach tour, Rowena appeared to recognise Sister Clotilde, also a tour passenger, as the Army Welfare Officer who brought "Martin" to her. She asked Sister Clotilde, for example, if she had ever been to Dorking (presumably where the Waddys lived) as her face looked familiar. This became a risk to Clotilde and she then contrived to kill Rowena.