After the 1830's a suicide could be buried in consecrated ground but the funeral had to take place at night. There was a get out clause that if the coroner's verdict was'suicide whilst of unsound mind' then the clergy would bury them.
I meant in the sense of the changeover perhaps being an integral part of the story. Something along the lines of Tom Barnaby being badly injured by the murderer part way through and John Barnaby coming up to investigate and then at the end Tom decides to retire and John decides to stay on in MiRABommer
If it wasn't a lifelike plastercine head, the actress would have knelt beneath what looked like the dressing table top and stuck her head through a hole.