So...what was that smell at the sideboard? :)

A dead cat?

Or perhaps the smell of smoke from the cat rubbing two fish fingers together to start a fire X-D

I suspect it's the odor from a bottle of the antiseptic TCP, which is mentioned repeatedly in "We Have Put Her...", Season 2, Episode 2. Victor probably stored the bottle in the sideboard and forgot about it.

"No, not with the pastry!"

I couldn't smell it.

The ending of the episode seemed to imply it was connected to Victor's old tote bag he carried to go shopping. Margaret noted the smell was gone to her mum on the phone while he was out with the bag. Victor then returns and places the bag atop the sideboard to remove his stolen tweed coat and later sniffs the area above the open bag saying he too can smell it now.

I suppose it may not have been notable in the open air while shopping with a mostly closed bag but, if stored in a tightly closed in storage area, the mystery stench could have intensified inside that small airspace again.

When the bag was shown open at the market stall, it contained; the starter pistol; a large white container of something like a cleaner or other fluid; also a small box in plastic shrink-wrap.

Does anyone know if the squib rounds from starter pistols leave a smell on the pistol at all? Also,an older leather bag will have absorbed any number of offensive aromas from anything carried inside it over the decades. Victor was always retrieving articles of rubbish he found strewn everywhere and he had a fondness for all types of weird food items.

I think the smell was mainly a version of a MacGuffin - it just acted to drive the jokey bits in that episode.

Eeek!!! I'm getting dressed.