'Dalgliesh' Returns for Season 3 with a "Death in Holy Orders"

Season 3 of Dalgliesh opens with a two-part adaptation of the P.D. James novel Death in Holy Orders. The opening installments have everything we love about this series — a picturesque, remote setting inhabited by a cast of eccentrics at each others’ throats in a Gothic revival ecclesiastical building. St. Anselm’s Seminary, an Anglo-Catholic theological college, is in trouble, dealing with the fallout from an unresolved master/pupil scandal. The new Archdeacon Matthew Crampton (Andrew Havill) is on his way, as Fr. John Betterton (major guest star Anton Lesser) is fearful and depressed over his impending visit. 

His sister, Agatha (Phoebe Nicholls), tries to cheer him before resorting to gin. The Archdeacon is greeted by the Warden, Fr. Sebastian (Richard Linden), and Fr. Peregrine (Michael Jenn). The tiny congregation includes the Betterton siblings, John and his sister Agatha (openly drunk), and their ward, Raphael Arbuthnot (Charlie Cain), descended from the estate’s original owners, now an ordinant. The Archdeacon also brought Dr. Emma Lavenham (Claire Goose) from a London auction house to appraise the Seminary’s treasure, an altar triptych attributed to a Dutch Old Master, worth ~£2m. 

The trustees are gobsmacked as the Archdeacon reveals he plans to sell the land and modernize, using new-fangled ideas such as democratization. Fr. Peregrine blames the Seminary’s decline on John’s affair with a pupil, Ronald Treeves, who committed suicide. After services, the Archdeacon and Sebastian linger, putting to bed years of rivalry. Later that night, an anonymous note pushed under his bedroom door summons the Archdeacon to the church. The following day, Dr. Lavenham, woken by the sound of bells, finds John weeping over the Archdeacon, dead from a blow from a hefty silver candlestick.

At Dalgliesh’s surprisingly modern home in London, his sidekick, Alistair Brammer (Daniel Tarrant), arrives with a bottle of Scotch and some good news. He’s been accepted into a Senior Command Program and is interested in working with Dalgliesh. (Like us, he’s curious if Kate Miskin will return.) For now, he'll accompany Dalgliesh as the Archdeacon's murder is called in; the two are greeted by tenants Eric (Lloyd James) and his sister Karen Surtree (Phoebe Sparrow). Eric will lose his job and housing if the modernization occurs; unsurprisingly, Karen suggests the murder may have been an attempted robbery gone wrong. 

However, her fingerprints are on the door, though Karen claims she never went to church. She admits she came to see if the Archdeacon would change his mind. When she realized he wasn't alone, she left. Tarrant is suspicious; Dalgliesh suggests background checks. But John is in the clear, and Agatha claims her brother also never had an affair with a student; the Archdeacon made him the subject of a witch hunt. As for Dr. Lavenham, she's convinced the triptych is genuine, although she has yet to prove ownership; more research must be done. Despite his illustrious name, Raphael is illegitimate and cannot inherit.  

Agatha finds the anonymous note summoning the Archdeacon to the chapel in a plant pot and starts drinking at dinner, causing a fight when Raphael tries to cut her off. She attacks the Warden and claims she has proof of who the murderer is. You know what that means: She’s pushed down the cellar staircase at the end of the first episode.

The next morning (and episode) starts with Raphael finding the body. He tells Dalgliesh about Agatha’s claim that she had proof of the murderer and introduces them to his chess buddy (yet another father figure), lay teacher George Gregory (Lloyd Owen), who swears he never saw inappropriate behavior at the seminary. John, still fragile, shares some of his family’s history, including that Agatha once had a letter from Raphael’s birth mother, Clara Arbuthnot, trying to get in touch with her son and was convinced they would lose Raphael. But Clara never made further contact.

Dalgliesh is interrupted by Brennan, who reveals the background check says Karen is not Eric’s sister. However, that’s a red herring; as Eric explains, he would not have been allowed to live with a non-family member. She’s Karen Rundell, his girlfriend and an investigative journalist specializing in church corruption. Hoping for an interview with the Archdeacon, she overheard his conversation with Sebastian. The Warden admits he had an early rivalry with the Archdeacon when they were both at school, but on the night of his murder, the Archdeacon left first, and Sebastian swears on the Bible he was not the murderer.

Dalgliesh and Brammer agree Agatha was probably murdered, but like so much in this case, there’s no proof. After learning that Clara Arbuthnot died over a year ago in a local cottage hospital, Dalgliesh decides to go there and instructs Brammer to bring in SOCO to search Sebastian’s room. As he says, it’s a loose end but the only one they have. The nurse Dalgliesh speaks to tells him Clara married toward the end of her life, probably to safeguard her inheritance.

Dalgliesh runs into Dr. Emma Lavenham, who is heading to the church, and they discuss their spirituality. She’s a feminist agnostic; Dalgliesh has grown away from his faith: “I miss it, the certainty, the comfort. I do have faith that we’re more than we know we are, but as for some divine purpose, I can’t find that.” His job, he adds, “has room for infinite regret.” After he leaves, Dr. Lavenham finds John carrying more gin bottles out of the kitchen; his sister, he claims, would have done anything for him. 

Dalgliesh finds the church and proves Clara married before she passed, which makes Raphel legitimate, and gives him a claim to the estate as soon as they can prove who his father is, anyway. Dalgliesh returns to see George Gregory, mentioning the substantial scandalous story about continued wrongdoing and murder at the seminary that’s just hit the tabloids. (It’s not by Karen but a definite threat to the seminary’s survival.) He points out Gregory invited the Archdeacon to the church, and his fountain pen was used to write the anonymous note. 

Gregory claims he wanted to tell Raphael he was his father, about his marriage to Clara, and his inheritance. “It was never the right time,” he says. Dalgliesh knows better: Gregory planned to let the Archdeacon sell it and take the money. Brammer brings Raphael into the interview, upset and insulted by George's actions. The seminary his father is trying to destroy is his home. 

When Raphael runs out, George follows, continuing to lie that he’s on his son’s side. Dalgliesh and Brammer follow and watch as the two fight in a pond until Gregory is arrested. Raphael runs to embrace the man he’s always considered his father, John. Gregory emerges from the water in handcuffs, explaining how he had no choice but to kill Agatha.

Later, Raphael speaks at Agatha’s funeral, and Dr. Lavenham, possibly feeling she’s intruding, leaves the church. Dalgliesh follows her and apologizes for her involvement in the case. Since Gregory has admitted to both murders, chances are Dr. Lavenham won’t have to testify in court. She’d cope, she says, if Dalgliesh was there and hands him her business card, “In case you need me.” Looks like Dalgliesh might have a new partner in faith and crime.

Dalgliesh Season 3 continues on Acorn TV with two new episodes every Monday through December 16, 2024.