Death In Holy Orders Part 1 – As this episode of Dalgliesh begins, George Gregory (Lloyd Owen) is shown out on a stroll. Eric Surtees (Lloyd James) is out hunting. Eric watches a few cars drive by. Agatha Betteron (Phoebe Nicholls) brings in the laundry. She looks outside and notices two vehicles. Agatha tells Father John Betterton (Anton Lesser) that he’s there. She urges him to shape himself. Agatha argues that John has nothing to be ashamed of and they’re stronger than he is. John doesn’t believe they are. Father Sebastian (Richard Lintern) and Father Peregrine (Michael Jenn) join Dr. Emma Lavenham (Claire Goose) and Archdeacon Matthew Campton (Andrew Havill). Emma is there to assess the altarpiece. Matthew says they’re interested in selling it. Inside, Raphael Arbuthnot (Charlie Cain) and George talk about the new trustee and the others outside.
Raphael says he’s not invited to the meeting. George thinks he should’ve been since it’s his home they’re discussing. Raphael suggests this will be bringing it back for John. Eric tells Karen Surtees (Phoebe Sparrow) that the Archdeacon has arrived and she needs to be careful. Father Peregrine asks Matthew if he means to close Saint Anselm’s after almost 100 years because of one scandal. Matthew insists they have no intention of closing Saint Anselm’s. Instead, it’s about changing the way the college is run. Matthew mentions democratization. He admits it’s a problem that John Betterton remains on the staff. Now, people see Saint Anselm’s as everything that is wrong with the church. He wants to prove to the country that they’re listening and that they can change. They discuss the possibility of increasing scholarships for state educated boys.
Matthew says the council is interested in getting their hands on any tracts of land they care to sell. Then, he mentions the doom. Matthew points out that it could fetch up to 2 million pounds. He says that is their publicity campaign. Matthew says they can invest in outreach work and inner city parishes. Peregrine argues that the doom is the spiritual heart of the seminary. Emma goes to the chapel so she can look at the doom. DCI Adam Dalgliesh (Bertie Carvel) listens to a news report at home. DS Daniel Tarrant (Alistair Brammer) visits to say he’s been accepted to the senior command program. He suspects that was down to Dalgliesh. Once he’s finished, he’d like to come back and work with him. Dalgliesh thinks they should wait and see. Daniel asks about Kate Miskin. John and Agatha join the others in the church. Raphael approaches John in private to tell him it’s good he came. He believes the man will be gone soon. Raphael tells Agatha it doesn’t help that she shows John up.
They argue about their relationship. Raphael says he wants the old Agatha back. Archdeacon Matthew Crampton speaks to Father Sebastian alone. Sebastian wants Matthew to admit that this is personal and he wants to humiliate him. Sebastian thinks it’s because she picked him instead of Matthew, but Matthew claims he is talking nonsense. He reminds Sebastian that he’s not asking him to resign or close the place. They argue about John being allowed to stay in his position. Later, Matthew receives a note asking him to come to the church or the doom will be damaged and made worthless. He goes to the church. The next day, Emma finds John in the church and Matthew dead. Adam Dalgliesh arrives at the scene a short time later. He talks to Daniel Tarrant about the crime. Daniel says he had to lock in Agatha who smelled of alcohol. SOCO has been held up because of flooding. An art expert, Emma, found John with the body. Dalgliesh steps outside to ask Emma what happened this morning.
Emma tells him how she found Matthew’s body. She believes Father John rang the bell, but she doesn’t know where the candlestick was at the time. John was asking, “What have we done?” over and over. Then, John tells Dalgliesh that he came in and Matthew was lying there. The door was closed and the light was off. Dalgliesh asks about the investigation into his conduct with one of the pupils who took his own life. John denies having anything to do with the murder and doesn’t seem to remember saying anything. Moments later, Raphael approaches Dalgliesh and Daniel outside to say John isn’t strong enough to be questioned yet. Sebastian stops Raphael and urges him to let him deal with this. Once Raphael leaves, Sebastian tells Dalgliesh and Daniel that John and Agatha are his guardians. Dalgliesh asks if Raphael is related to the founder. Sebastian confirms he is. He also tells Dalgliesh about the others who were there last night.
Dalgliesh confronts Agatha who says her brother would never hurt anyone. He says they want to send John’s clothes for forensic examination. Once she finds him something to change into, she can see him. Back at the church, Mark Ayling (Benjamin Cawley) suggests the victim has been dead for 9 to 12 hours. Matthew suffered two hard blows to the skull. The candlestick was most likely the murder weapon. Mark believes the murderer was facing Matthew. The murderer would likely have blood spatter on them. Sebastian speaks to everyone about Matthew’s death. Dalgliesh wants witness statements and fingerprints from everyone. Moments later, he checks Matthew Crampton’s room. He speaks to Father Sebastian and Father Peregrine about Matthew’s proposed changes. Father Sebastian says they were just relieved he wasn’t going to try to shut them down. Peregrine reveals Matthew asked to see plans for the grounds and he wanted to see the groundsman, Eric Surtees.
Eric tells Dalgliesh that Matthew wanted to tell him about the different grounds and what they were used for. Matthew explained he was planning to sell some of the land including the land where Eric’s house is. Matthew told him he would lose his job unless he wanted to stay as a live-in caretaker. Eric says they’ve been there for about eight years. Karen complains that the church is all about money. Eric didn’t see Matthew again. He claims he only goes to church on Christmas Eve because he likes the carols. Karen never set foot in the church and hasn’t even been christened. Eric and Karen suggest there was a robbery. Press had gotten in previously when the scandal occurred. Dalgliesh approaches Emma who says yesterday was the first time she’d seen the doom. She shows him the panels and says there have always been rumors they were there.
Emma says it’s rare to find something that makes your heart race. Dalgliesh asks if she believes it is Van Leeuwen’s work. Emma believes so although she’d want to do further analysis. Louisa Arbuthnot was a merchant and collector. Emma admits a museum will want the panels. She has Louisa’s will because she has to prove the college actually owns the panels. Dalgliesh speaks to Raphael about being a direct descendant of Louisa Arbuthnot. Raphael says he won’t get anything if Saint Anselm’s closes because he’s not a legitimate heir. He doesn’t know his mother. She was only the woman who gave birth to him and left him in a box outside the gates. His father is also unknown. Raphael also explains he’s training for the priesthood. Next, Dalgliesh tells Daniel that George Gregory was the last person to see the Archdeacon. In the middle of the night, Matthew got up and went to the church. They theorize why he did that.
Daniel learns that the prints on the candlestick match Agatha Betterton and Father Sebastian. Karen’s prints were found on the front door even though she said she didn’t visit the church. Karen is brought to the church for questioning. She tells Dalgliesh she was showing off and exaggerating. She’s been in the church a few times. Karen claims she had a vodka and confronted the archdeacon at the church to ask him to reconsider about the cottage. Karen says Matthew was in there with the warden so she lost her nerve and left. Dalgliesh asks about her address being in London. Karen says she likes hours place and she works as a waitress. She didn’t say anything because she knew it wouldn’t look good. Karen claims she came back to the cottage around a quarter to ten. She’s confident her brother will corroborate that. Peregrine wonders why they were talking to Karen.
Dalgliesh asks John what he did after compline. Agatha says they came back together. They didn’t leave the flat until John went to the church this morning. Agatha continues answering the questions. Agatha argues that John never touched that poor boy. She claims there was no criminal prosecution because there was no evidence. Agatha says it was a witch hunt by the archdeacon. Dalgliesh notices a bottle of alcohol hidden nearby. Agatha says she wanted to leave then, but they didn’t because of Raphael. She insists they were good parents and they used to be happy. Agatha confirms she cleans the church. Sebastian shows Dalgliesh and Daniel where they can work. Sebastian says he did not leave the church immediately after compline last night. He spoke to Matthew a little more about his plans before they left. As they leave, Dalgliesh mentions to Daniel that Agatha’s name keeps coming up. He tells Emma they’ll hopefully be able to release her tomorrow.
She’s assured there will be officers by the gate. In private, Dalgliesh tells Dnaiel to include Emma in the checks. However, he can’t see any reason she’d be involved. Agatha finds a piece of paper in a plant that has been knocked over. It’s the note asking Matthew to come to the church. Raphael finds her pouring a drink and asks if she needs help. While they eat, George and Raphael talk about playing church later. They invite Emma to join them. Raphael tries to stop Agatha from drinking so much. Agatha thinks they should have a little dance since the witch is dead. Sebastian insists none of them wished Matthew harm. Agatha doesn’t believe that. She gets into an argument with Raphael. Agatha says she knows it’s one of them because she has proof. She continues arguing with them until Sebastian hits the table and says enough. Peregrine asks her to get out or they’ll all leave. Agatha calls them hypocrites before she leaves.
Later, Eric tells Karen that they shouldn’t have lied. Karen insists he’ll be alright. John finishes praying and hears something. Agatha looks around and tells someone that they said midnight. She begins walking down into the basement before she’s knocked down the stairs.
Dalgliesh Review
The opening episode of Dalgliesh’s third season was okay although nothing to write home about. Adam Dalgliesh is to the point of becoming a parody of himself with the permanent scowl stamped on his face. It’s hard to find any character here that has enough personality to carry the series.
Dalgliesh doesn’t because the character is all work and little else. In fact, it’s becoming easier to dislike the character. The cases are definitely too long. They could be summed up in 45 minutes without needing to stretch them to fit an hour and a half.
The stories are pretty formulaic. They start with some controversy before someone is found dead. Dalgliesh and a sidekick speak to someone before speaking to someone else. Then, they speak to someone else and this repeats until the end of the episode when someone else is killed. In the second episode, this is repeated until someone is arrested at the end.
There is very little originality in these British crime dramas and Dalgliesh is easily one of the dullest of the bunch. Since the series is on Channel 5 and Acorn, the standards are low and viewership doesn’t seem to matter so much. The series is pretty much skippable until someone finds a way to breathe some personality into DCI Dalgliesh.
The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Dalgliesh can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion here.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
