As the first episode begins, Nurse Christine Dakers (Helen Aluko) wakes up to a phone during a nightmare. Arising from the bed, she exits her room and enters a hallway, where she encounters several other student nurses. She enters the dining hall, where she meets a blonde nurse who says, “I’ve read it properly this time.” The other nurse says she’ll find her later before leaving the room. In the dining hall, Senior Nurse Tutor Sister Gearing (Fenella Woolgar) alerts the nurses of a training demonstration headed by Lead Surgeon Mr. Courtney-Briggs. She encourages the nurses to do their best work as a black-haired nurse enters the dining hall and says, “don’t linger girls”, before making her exit.

 

It just happens, Nurse Heather Pearce (Beccy Henderson) is chosen to conduct the first demonstration for Mr. Courtney-Briggs. Nurse Pardoe (Alice Knotes) teases Nurse Pearce as she is chosen to be the first patient. As Nurse Dakers walks to the surgery, an unknown person in a red outfit scurries down the stairs. The nurses begin to prepare the surgery for the upcoming demonstration under the lead of Sister Gearing. Nurse. Pearce enters the surgery and questions the other nurses about her room. She says, “Have any of you been in my room”.

 

Nurse Goodale (Eliot Salt) replies, “Of course not”. Nurse Pearce continues to question the other nurses about missing possessions. Nurse Goodale responds, “Stop it, will you”. Sister Gearing alerts the girls of a 5-minute deadline. Nurse Pearce takes her place in a freshly made bed. Sister Gearing is questioning the nurses about intragastric feeding, as Mr. Courtney-Briggs enters the surgery. Nurse Dakers is asked to give an update on the patient, Mrs. Stokes, who had recently undergone a laryngectomy because of cancer of the mouth and is under an NPO (nothing by mouth) order.

 

Nurse S. Burt (Robin Kristoffy) explains a sodium bicarbonate solution, which is utilized to clean a patient’s mouth before an intragastric feeding tube is inserted into the mouth or nose. Nurse S. Burt continues to demonstrate the medical equipment required for the procedure. Nurse S. Burt smirks while explaining the procedure to the patient who is being played by Nurse Pearce. 19-year-old Nurse Heather Pearce is asked to place the esophageal tube at the back of her throat and swallow it. Nurse S. Burt ensures Nurse Pearce it will not hurt. Nurse Pearce swallows the esophageal feeding tube, all the while gagging. Nurse Maureen Burt (Alex Kristoffy) aspirates the esophageal tube to ensure it is situated in the stomach properly. Gastric fluid is withdrawn from Nurse Pearce’s stomach via the esophageal tube while the other student nurses watch on.

As a feeding solution is poured into the esophageal tube, Nurse Pearce begins to scream and clutches her abdomen. As she falls out of the bed, Nurse Gearing and Mr. Courtney-Briggs respond saying, “Out now”! Nurse Pearce continues to convulse on the floor. Gearing forcibly yanks the tube from her stomach and mouth while the students freak out. Detective Inspector Adam Dalgliesh (Bertie Carvel) drives a sports car into the driveway of the Nightingale House Nurse Training School. The driveway is dark and covered by trees, quite an eerie environment. As he continues, he loses the radio signal. As Detective Adam Dalgliesh prepares to enter the training school, he is met by Charles Masterson (Jeremy Irvine). They’ve met before and chat briefly before Dalgliesh belittles Charles for not securing the scene already.

They enter the training school while Nurse Pearce lies dead on the surgery floor. An Indian gentleman who appears to be the medical examiner explains to Masterson and Detective Dalgliesh, Nurse Pearce’s chest had been opened as a clumsy attempt to save her life. Rohan Chopra (Avin Shah) explains the cause of death was a corrosive substance. Charles enters and tells them about Pearce who was 19. Masterson tells Detective Dalgliesh, a disinfectant was missing from the toilet, which no one was able to locate. Mr. Courtney-Briggs enters the room to introduce himself to Detective Dalgliesh and Masterson. He confidently says, “the time of death was 9:41 pm precisely.” Gearing introduces herself before Briggs explains to the detective that he is due to return to the hospital two hours earlier.

Detective Dalgliesh requests everyone present during the failed medical training to be present during the investigation. Rohan questions Mr. Courtney-Briggs about his decision to open Nurse Pearce’s chest. He doesn’t understand since the medication could have been administered the medicine via the esophageal tube. Mr. Courtney-Briggs responded, “Sister Gearing pulled the tube out”. He explained his decision to open her chest to massage her heart and it was an “appropriate response”. Rohan heads to the mortuary while Dalgliesh asks if the next of kin have been informed.

Mr. Courtney-Briggs questions Detective Dalgliesh about his history of conducting discrete and quick inspections. Something is happening at the end of the month, and he wants it taken care of before then. He described Nurse Pearce’s death as a “stupid prank that back-fired”. Nurse Gearing questioned his explanation of the tragic event. She appeared to be in denial. Detective Dalgliesh explains to the student nurses, they will be required to answer questions and undergo fingerprinting. Nurse S. Burt and Nurse M. Burt looked concerned. Detective Dalgliesh asked the student nurses about the missing disinfectant. Nurse Madelene Goodale responses by saying she discovered the missing disinfectant while assisting Nurse Dakers to the restroom after the death of Nurse Pearce. Mr. Courtney-Briggs continues to monitor the time on his wristwatch throughout the investigation.

Matron Mary Taylor (Natasha Little) enters the room and tells Detective Dalgliesh to proceed. Nurse Pardoe says, “Maybe it was Nurse Fallon, the disinfectant, she was meant to be the patient today”. Sister Gearing explained that Nurse Fallon was taken out ill in the night to a hospital. Nurse S. Burt disputes the claims saying, “She was here this morning, I say her walking away from the house”. Nurse Goodale said, “She can’t have been”. Adam encourages them to rely on their own recollections and insists no detail is too small. Then, he tells Charles that he wants to talk to all of them, but Briggs can go as long as he stays on the hospital site. Matron Mary Taylor introduces herself to Detective Dalgliesh. She explains, she must be present during the student nurses’ interviews. Dalgliesh ignores her request, asking her to notify the next of kin. She asks him to meet with her as soon as he is finished here. Detective Dalgliesh inspects Nurse Pearce’s room and finds nothing extraordinary.

In her Bible, he finds a pamphlet about rehabilitating female prisoners. Materson informs Detective Dalgliesh that the Burt twins refuse to be interviewed separately. He agrees to make an exception for them this time. Nurse S. Burt provides her version of the events leading up to Nurse Pearce’s death. She claims to have retrieved the mil, which was utilized for the esophageal tube feeding, from the refrigerator. Nurse S. Burt claims housekeeper Miss Collins took the milk from the refrigerator. She reveals that the milk was then taken to the demonstration room where she and her sister opened it. They poured ½ pint of the milk into a beaker and placed it on a trolley. They prepared the other equipment for the demonstration while no one else was present.

Nurse S. Burt tells Detective Dalgliesh, “it was about a quarter to eight, so we went to breakfast”. She said Nurse Fallon was not at breakfast although everyone else was there. Nurse M. Burt smirks before saying, “Pardoe came a bit late”. Materson asked, “How late”. Nurse S. Burt responded, “about 15 minutes”. The Burt twins smirk throughout the interview. Nurse S. Burt continues to explain how she saw Nurse Fallon leave the house. She said, “It was definitely her, she was wearing her red suede coat”. Nurse M. Burt said, “We love that coat”. They laughed while Detective Dalgliesh continued the interview.

Detective Dalgliesh asked the twins what they thought of Nurse Pearce. Shirley says, “She was very religious”. Maureen says, “She didn’t really talk to us much”. Adam asks what happened to the milk next before the interview comes to an end. Detective Dalgliesh explains to Materson that someone could have tampered with the milk while it was left unattended during breakfast. Materson calls the student nurses “stupid”. Adam comments that the entire room smelled like cleaning fluid and the liquid poured like milk so they wouldn’t have thought otherwise. Then, Adam reveals a member of the cabinet is booked in the private wing for a routine operation and that is why Briggs wants them gone by then.

Materson and Detective Dalgliesh interview Nurse Goodall and Nurse Pardoe. During the interview, Nurse Pardoe says, “I was actually with someone in my room, a junior doctor”. Materson asked her, “Isn’t that against the rules, having a man in your room”. She jokes about getting caught red-handed. Gearing seems a bit upset by the idea that she was in her room with someone else and makes it clear she was alone. The interviews continue. Nurse Goodall tells Detective Dalgliesh and Materson about Nurse Pearce entering the demonstration room and questing if someone had taken something from underneath her pillow. When they said they hadn’t, Pearce looked satisfied like her suspicion had been confirmed. Nurse Pardoe calls Nurse Pearce a killjoy and malicious. She claims Nurse Pearce previously tried to blackmail her after she caught her with a guest in her room. She says Nurse Pearce never bothered her again, but she may have bothered someone else.

Nurse Goodall told Detective Dalgliesh, no one particularly liked Nurse Pearce. However, Dakers and Pearce have been seen together a lot lately. Nurse Dakers is upset and unable to answer Detective Dalgliesh’s questions. She is asked about the prisoner pamphlet but doesn’t have an answer for them. Following the interviews, Detective Dalgliesh goes to speak with Matron Mary Taylor who is with Sister Brumfett (Amanda Root). Brumfett came to see if she could help, but she wasn’t in the Nightingale House at the time of Nurse Pearce’s death because she was on her ward. Detective Dalgliesh asks to speak with Nurse Fallon, but Sister Brumfett refuses saying, “She had a temperature of 101 last night”. Brumfett wants to keep her in for several days, so Adam says he can visit her tomorrow then.

Matron Mary Taylor and Detective Dalgliesh get coffee. She claims to have reached out to Nurse Pearce’s Grandfather who said, “God’s will be done”. Her parents died when she was young. Matron Mary Taylor said she wanted to respond to Pearce’s grandfather that it could have hardly been God who tampered with the liquid feed. Detective Dalgliesh requests the files of everyone who was at the Nightingale House during the event. She claims the only person who can approve that is abroad, but Adam reminds her that she is in charge since he is away. Mary Taylor reminds him that he is coming into their house and she won’t let anyone be unduly pressured or intimidated.

Detective Dalgliesh and Masterson discover the disinfectant outside underneath the student nurse’s bedroom windows. It also could’ve been chucked from the toilets. They deliver the disinfectant to the housekeeper who confirms that it belongs to her. Masterson pulls a milk jug out of the refrigerator against the advice of the housekeeper. She confirms the Burt twins got it from her and it only arrived this morning. She has told the Matron she needs help and can’t be responsible for it anymore. Then, they visit Rohan who tells them about the autopsy and the fact that Pearce had over a third of a pint in her stomach. Adam asks about his comments regarding Briggs’s response. Rohan says they’d opt for CPR before suggesting Briggs was an army medic and can’t get out of the habit of hacking things apart. It was a regular concentration and whoever did this likely meant for her to die. As they leave, they agree it is murder and Dalgliesh says they should keep them together since it is likely personal and nobody else would be at risk.

Mary shows Dalgliesh the hallway that she sometimes lets the students use since they don’t have much privacy. When asked about a possible outsider, Adam says he doubts it before reassuring her that a constable will be posted outside tonight. She reveals the house is supposed to be haunted by a kitchen maid who was abused and hung herself in the woods. Once they leave, the students talk about the detectives being sexy before Pardoe says she is going to lock her door tonight even though that won’t stop Pearce’s ghost. That night, Charles and Adam go out and look at the files. They learn that Briggs and Gearing were both in the military. Charles says he excels in making assumptions before we learn that Adam’s wife recently died. That night, Dakers begins freaking out. In the morning, police are called to the scene because Dakers is trying to run away.

She is taken back and questioned. Dakers says she wanted to go home and see her mother. Adam reveals he found that same prison leaflet in Dakers’ luggage so she might be hiding something. Daker admits Pardoe dropped a ten pound note a few weeks ago and she took it. She knows she should’ve given it back, but she didn’t. She sent the money to her mom because she is cold all the time and needed a coat. However, Pearce found out that she took it and started calling her a thief. Mary doesn’t think she is a thief though. She pleads with them not to tell her mother. Adam gives her a break, says Masterson will make her a cup of tea, and he’ll take her statement. Once they step out, Mary tells Adam that it is easy to make people into scapegoats. Although Adam believes her, he admits it gives Dakers a reason to get rid of Heather Pearce. Next, Adam visits Josephine Fallon (Siobhan Cullen) who knows about him and his poetry.

She confirms she left early that morning and had a virus. He admits he hasn’t written a lot recently before asking Josephine about playing the patient and whether anyone would want to hurt her. Then, he asks about her red coat. Adam asks her about leaving Nightingale House yesterday although she denies it and encourages him to ask the nurses. When she gets sick, Brumfett rushes in and Adam leaves. He tries to get a statement from Brumfett after that. She has already written it down for him and gives it to him on a piece of paper. Briggs confronts Adam because the murder is now in the newspaper, so Charles reminds him they need a witness statement from him. Briggs gives them a rushed version of his actions before the murder. He insists he didn’t know Pearce, but he knew Gearing from Cairo. Briggs admits he recommended her for a job here before ridiculing them and leaving.

Adam returns to the scene of the crime before Charles joins him and reveals the disinfectant bottle didn’t have any fingerprints, so it was likely wiped or they wore gloves. It is consistent with the substance Pearce ingested. Josephine interrupts and reveals she has been discharged. She confesses to coming back to Nightingale House because she left some personal letters on her bed. Pearce was a snoop, and she didn’t want to become a laughingstock. She promises she came in and out. After they make arrangements to get her statement signed, she asks if he would sign a copy of his book. He promises to do. Charles asks about the book although Adam isn’t eager to tell him about it. Once Charles leaves, Adam notices a woman in the woods and decides to approach her.

He enters and confronts the woman who he calls Morag Smith (Lily Newmark). She knows who Adam is and explains Pearce gave her money and read the Bible to her. Adam reveals he grew up on Bible stories as well before saying he is sorry she lost her friend. She explains she went to get away from Collins the housekeeper because she is always on her back. Smith begins talking about the disinfectant and argues it wasn’t in the milk. She confesses that she drank the milk while trying to flirt with him. When Adam returns to Charles, he says she realized she was supposed to be helping with breakfast and filled up the milk bottle with a bottle nearby. With the new timeline, it could still be any of the women who went to breakfast, but it is more likely it was someone who didn’t. They suspect Briggs or Fallon. While Josephine gets a drink downstairs, Adam studies the case files in his room.

Dakers offers Josephine some of the water and fills the cup for her before saying she is glad she is okay. Brumfett and Mary share a drink while Josephine returns to her room. She sits down Adams’ Collected Poems book on her nightstand and pours a drink. Adam remembers what Fallon and Brumfett said and it seems they’re contradicting one another. He rushes to the school only to find Josephine dead in her bed.

 

Dalgliesh Review

Although we’re just one episode in, it feels like Dalgliesh could be a fantastic detective drama with the magnificent Bertie Carvel as the lead. The murder of Heather Pearce was horrific making it impossible to turn away. The other characters were equally interesting although the relationship between Adam Dalgliesh and Charles Masterson sealed the deal for me. The drastic difference between the two creates a dynamic relationship and entertaining viewing.

My only complaint is that we didn’t get to learn much about the characters. I’d like to dig deeper into the lives of Adam Dalgliesh, Charles Masterson, Josephine Fallon, Heather Pearce, and the first case’s other characters. There is still plenty of room to improve. If it can hit the right notes and tighten things up a bit, it could be a fun show for fans of the novels. Overall, I enjoyed it although I got a bit lost at times and needed subtitles and a slower speed.

The opening episode scores a 7.5 out of 10. All Dalgliesh recaps will be available on Reel Mockery here.