1 9 8 8 (UK)
6 x 50 minute episodes
Roy Marsden returned once more as the gentle, poetry-writing detective Adam Dalgliesh in the latest PD James murder story to receive the TV treatment from Anglia Television.
Recently appointed to Scotland Yard’s newly-formed Sensitive Crimes Squad, the super-sleuth is called into action when Tory MP Sir Paul Berowne (Bosco Hogan) is found dead in a crypt at St Matthews Church in Paddington with his throat cut.
A homeless man is also dead in the room with him.
Berowne had been receiving poison pen letters which referred to the death of his first wife and to his shaky second marriage to Lady Barbara (Fiona Fullerton), who is having an affair with Stephen Lampart (Simon Ward). She is naturally one of the suspects, but about a dozen other suspects also have good motives, and Dalgliesh is baffled.
This time around, Dalgliesh is assisted by ambitious young Inspector Kate Miskin (Penny Downie).
The fine cast also included Dame Wendy Hiller as Sir Paul’s aristocratic mother, who will stop at nothing to protect her family. Derek Newark, Kate Buffery and Matthew Marsh were featured, as well as Avril Elgar as Emily Wharton, the lonely church worker who discovers the body and becomes a key witness in the case.
Commander Adam Dalgliesh
Roy Marsden
Lady Ursula Berowne
Wendy Hiller
Lady Barbara Berowne
Fiona Fullerton
Inspector Kate Miskin
Penny Downie
Emily Wharton
Avril Elgar
Father Francis Barnes
Oliver Ford Davies
Stephen Lampart
Simon Ward
Darren Wilkes
Tat Whalley
Ivor Garrod
Rob Spendlove
Evelyn ‘Mattie’ Matlock
Gabrielle Lloyd
Sarah Berowne
Kate Buffery
Dominic Swayne
Matthew Marsh
Gordon Halliwell
Derek Newark
Theresa Nolan
Rebecca Saire
Gran
Constance Chapman
Insp. Nick Robins
Robin Marchal
Sir Paul Berowne
Bosco Hogan
Carole Washburn
Morag Hood
Frank Musgrave
Geoffrey Chater