Don’t Try This At Home – As the episode opens, TV show editor, Dinah Morgan (Abigail Thaw) orders the crew to start broadcasting as soon as possible. She scolds Fliss Forsyth (Rhiannon Clements) for giving the boys permission to cook. Fliss assures her the children love it. Dinah says the children’s letters should have been edited to ensure a decent set for the Summer Roadshow. (Children send in letters requesting an episode be filmed in their town). The winner, 7-year-old Trevor, is from Great Slaughter.
The Summer Roadshow is being filmed at St. Vincent’s convent. Sister Boniface (Lorna Watson) explains the nun’s wine recipe. Sister Peter (Tina Chiang) displays one of their recent creations. Sister Reginald “Reg” (Virginia Fiol) tells the price before Forsyth says, “Cut!” In the next scene, Sister Boniface describes their wine distribution – 90% is sold at retail and 10% is utilized to pay for services to avoid taxes. Dinah orders the crew to attend a meeting at the studio. Forsyth asks about the Controller meeting. Dinah blames her for the declining viewership before suggesting she consider a radio job.
When Forsyth announces that Dinah is abnormally late, Poopdeck Pete (Britten), “Dead women tell no tales.” She orders the bird removed. The show is being filmed in Great Slaughter, featuring Danny Lemon (Mikey Collins), Jono Hardy (Alan Emrys), and Sandy Shanks (Alice Marshall). Danny starts to pick up a popsicle pipe rack from the workbench to see Dinah’s lifeless body lying on the floor. As the hosts try to act normal, Forsyth orders the film crew to run telecine.
Removing a button from between Dinah’s teeth, Sister Boniface suggests asphyxia is the cause of death. She accuses Uncle Tom Cobley and the crew of contaminating the crime scene. Felix Livingstone (Jerry Iwu) says her body was discovered by one of the three presenters during filming. Sandy, Danny, Jono, and Fliss are the last to see Dinah alive. Detective Sam Gillespie (Max Brown) why she called last night’s meeting. In a flashback, Dinah tells Danny and Jono a daring stunt at Broadway Tower in Cotswolds will replace Sandy’s dollhouse segment. When Sandy volunteers, Dinah suggests it would set a bad example for girls. Jono assures Danny it will be easy. Danny reminds her that Jono served in the Marines.
Back to the present, Gillespie says Dinah’s production changes would have made them expendable. Danny warns the police are pointing the finger at one of them. Gillespie asks what happened after the meeting. Forsyth claims after they made a new schedule, Dinah departed the production studio for her London home at 9:30pm. She questions if Dinah encountered an intruder when she went back for her handbag. Sister Boniface says the timing fits the rigor mortis. Jono says they returned to their dressing rooms to study the script until 10pm when Forsyth called taxies to take them to the hotel. Poopdeck Pete says, “Cowardly custard, dead women tell, cowardly custard.” Frustrated, Danny asks if someone could take him out.
Peggy Button (Ami Metcalf) and Livingstone discover empty whiskey in Jono’s dressing room. Gillespie confronts Jono with the evidence. He denies being intoxicated while performing for young children. They briefly discuss his serving in the Marines. Holding up a pair of gloves, Gillespie points out a missing button. Jono assures him she would have called him out if she had known.
During a briefing, Gillespie goes over the evidence. The security guard denies seeing an intruder(s) on the night Dinah was killed. Sister Boniface says forensics didn’t find a match between the button utilized to suffocate Dinah and the button on Jono’s glove. Sister Reg claims Dinah terminated Forsyth’s employment before she was killed. When Gillespie confronts Forsyth, she assures him Dinah didn’t mean it. She claims to have stepped in for Dinah while she served on the jury. She says Dinah disapproved of the changes she made in her absence. Studio Director Neil Gaskill alerts of Poopdeck Pete’s disappearance. Sister Boniface detects a mixture of acetic acid and sodium hydrochloride (bleach and vinegar) on his loose feathers. She suggests he mimicked the moments before Dinah was killed.
Sister Boniface inspects the button under a microscope.
Broadway Tower – Danny and Jono prepare for their stunt when Sister Boniface and Gillespie arrive to inspect Danny’s puppet, Barnacle Bill. Pushing back the eye patch, she reveals a missing eye button that matches the button found in Dinah’s mouth. After identifying Danny as Liam Quinn, Gillespie says his father and uncle’s life of crime finally caught up with them. Dinah set on the jury that gave them a 20-year prison sentence. Danny claims to have been 16 when his family laughed when he told them of his plan to go into comedy. He tells them he would shake Dinah’s hand for putting his psycho family away. When Sister Boniface arrests Barnacle Billy, he says, “Good riddance.”
Danny and Jono’s stunt goes wrong. Jono scolds Forsyth for not having the equipment properly inspected. Sister Boniface and Button discover the cable has been tampered with. Iron samples from the carabiner and Dinah’s shoes match. She suggests Dinah was killed when she caught the suspect sabotaging the Broadway Tower stunt.
The crew film Dottie mimicking the green-winged macaw to entice Poopdeck Pete to come down from a tree. Livingstone announces the parrot is seized as evidence. With a bit of prompting, Pete mimics minutes before Dinah is killed.
Forsyth tells Danny and Jono the stunt needs to go forward. She claims the safety advisor has thoroughly inspected the equipment. Jono vomits while climbing to the roof of the Broadway Tower. Sister Boniface tells Gillespie a strand of hair wrapped around Pete’s claw belongs to the killer. Searching Jono’s pocket, Livingstone finds a bottle of Ipepac. He is arrested on suspicion of murder.
Gillespie tells Jono that iron shavings on Dinah’s shoes were also detected on his carabiner. He says she possibly caught him sabotaging the stunt. Sister Boniface accuses him of ingesting Ipepac to fake an illness to avoid doing the stunt. She says forensics detected Grecian 2000, his hair dye, on a strand of hair taken from Pete’s claw. Jono explains how his men died during a mission due to an equipment shortage. Livingstone reminds him of his nervous breakdown. Fear of height prohibited him from continuing his career in the Marines. Jono claims to have tried to explain his situation to Dinah but she refused to listen.
In a flashback, Dinah walks in as Jono sabotages the stunt equipment. He says one of them will die if the stunt moves forward. She warns he will become known as a “cowardly custard” if he refuses to perform the stunt. Her laughing and Pete’s rambling contributes to his meltdown. He physically attacks her. Back to the present, he admits to murdering Dinah. Gillespie promises to order a psychiatric evaluation for him.
When Danny freezes, Sandy scales down the Broadway Tower with the camera rolling. Sister Boniface and Sister Peter’s stink bomb demonstration goes wrong as the episode comes to an end.
Sister Boniface Mysteries Synopsis
Dinah Morgan, a children’s TV editor, is too eager to take a different approach to children’s entertainment to combat falling viewership. Fliss Forsyth, the TV producer who stepped in while Dinah served as a juror for three months, gets the brunt of Dinah’s wrath. The Dollhouse segment, hosted by Sandy, is scrapped for a stunt at the Broadway Tower in Cotswolds. Danny immediately begins to panic while Jono, a marine vet, brushes it off. Sandy volunteers herself but Dinah refutes the idea.
The show is running a program allowing young viewers to submit their towns in a drawing. Trevor’s town, Great Slaughter, is chosen to host the Summer Roadshow.
The St. Vincent nuns demonstrate how to make homemade wine. Dinah is none too thrilled with the convent’s illegal distribution. After terminating Forsyth’s position, Dinah ends up murdered. Sister Boniface joins the investigation led by Detective Gillespie. Dinah’s body is discovered by Danny during the filming. Sister Boniface rules the cause of death suffocation after removing a button lodged between her teeth. Poopdeck Pete, a green-winged macaw, becomes the only witness in Dinah’s death. After temporarily going missing, Pete is put into police custody for protection.
Dinah was a juror in a case that led to a 20-year prison sentence for Danny’s father and uncle. Danny is an alias for the real Liam Quinn. The Quinn family has an extensive criminal record. Danny is removed as a suspect after Gillespie is satisfied he had nothing to do with Dinah’s death.
Danny and Jono climb the stairs of the Broadway Tower when Jono is ill. Suspicious of his sudden illness, Gillespie digs into his military background. He survived a mission that claimed the lives of his three friends. He spent several months in an institution after suffering a mental breakdown. He couldn’t return to active duty due to a fear of height. Dinah was aware of his past but insisted the show must go on. He killed her after she caught him sabotaging the stunt equipment.
Sandy takes over the stunt when Danny can’t go through with it.
Sister Boniface Mysteries Review
The mystery is captivatingly unique. The actors did great in bringing their characters to life. The editing and cinematography are above-par. The modest coverage of the murder corresponds with the 60s.
Unlike Father Brown, Sister Boniface is a supporting character that doesn’t inject herself into the investigation. Gillespie is a competent detective and with her forensics talent, the murder is solved.
The episode deserves a 6.8. Get more Sister Boniface Mysteries recaps here. Support Reel Mockery by clicking the link. Our onsite advertising effectively builds online brand awareness.
Sister Boniface Mysteries Series 2 Cast
- Sister Boniface (Lorna Watson)
- Sam Gillespie (Max Brown)
- Sister Reginald “Reg” (Virginia Fiol)
- Felix Livingston (Jerry Iwu)
- Sister Peter (Tina Chiang)
Where Was Sister Boniface Mysteries Series 2 Mysteries Filmed
The filming location is The Theatre Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, England.
Where To Watch Sister Boniface Mysteries Series 2
The second series of Sister Boniface Mysteries premiered on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, on BritBox.
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.
