Created by: Anthony Horowitz
Episodes: S1 Ep 03
Original airdate: 10 November 2002 (UK)
Genre: Crime / Drama / Mystery
Running time: 120 min
As World War II rages around the world, a police inspector fights his own war on the home-front in investigating murder, robbery, and espionage on the south coast of England.
#1.03: A Lesson in Murder
Director: David Thacker
Script: Anthony Horowitz
Episode Cast: Nicholas Audsley, Madeleine Worrall, Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Oliver Ford Davies, John Shrapnel, Anthony Howell, Allan Corduner, Danny Dyer, Greg Prentice, Cheryl Campbell, Christopher Fox, David Tennant, Elliot Cowan, Ian Puleston-Davies, Ken Drury
Story Description: David Beale, a conscientious objector, dies in police custody. A brick bearing a threat is thrown through the window of Gascoigne, the tribunal judge who had him arrested and Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle begins an enquiry.
However, when Joe, a young evacuee staying with Gascoigne, becomes the victim of a grenade booby-trap at the summerhouse, the investigation turns to murder. Foyle and Detective Sergeant Milner suspect someone is out for revenge and go through Gascoigne’s cases for clues.
An imperious man in his late fifties, Gascoigne lives in a grand house with his intensely reserved wife Emily and their daughter Susan. Susan has been banned from having a romantic alliance with Peter Buckingham, because Gascoigne considers him beneath his daughter’s station.
Foyle’s enquiries lead him to the factory where Peter works. But when he is barred from the site – which apparently makes munitions – he becomes suspicious.
Sam Stewart, Foyle’s driver, becomes friendly with Tony, an English-Italian waiter who works in his father’s restaurant, where Foyle frequently eats. Tony confides in her that he has joined up, so she is shocked when he is found prowling around Gascoigne’s house with his acquaintance Jack Winters.
Milner is sent as a bodyguard to Gascoigne but he is dismissed when he is accused of being caught in a compromising position with Susan. Within hours there’s another murder.
Could the death of the young evacuee be a smokescreen for a maze of family conflict and prejudice against pacifists? And what is the real work of the factory?
Sophia’s Role
Sophia plays the downtrodden daughter of Lawrence Gascoigne
Quotes from Sophia
“Susan is repressed by her family and the society she lives in. She’s a victim of parental bullying and the cold, bleak nature of the house reflects the dynamic of the family. Her parents treat her like a 14-year-old instead of 22 and she still dresses like a child.”
“She is sensitive, compassionate and full of life. The film sees her battling between the strong morals imprinted in her brain by her family and what she feels in her heart. She’s fallen in love with Peter, knowing she is going against her family’s morals. It’s a classic struggle against class. She also takes in an evacuee in an attempt to bring some kind of humanity into the house.”