'Dalgliesh' Reimagines "Cover Her Face" as a Modern Revenge Tragedy

Dalgliesh’s second case of Season 3, “Cover Her Face,” opens on a thunderstorm; one has rained out a village fete, which set up shop at the Mehta family’s Essex estate. Krishna Mehta (Parth Thakerar), a surgical registrar at a London hospital destined for a prestigious career, is annoyed by the merrymaking as his father lies dying upstairs and resisting pressure from his widowed sister Devi (Ellora Torchia) and mother Anita (Soni Razdan), to get engaged to his girlfriend, photographer Lady Catherine (Allegra Marland), while his dad is still with them. 

"Cover her face. Mine eyes dazzle. She died young." -The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster

In his procrastination, he's been flirting with single mother Sally Jupp (Holly Cattle), the family maid, who he proposes to mid-party. She already has multiple suitors, including local lad Derek Pullen (Olliver Woolford), who dislikes her flirting with her boss, and Felix Hearne (Jack Myers), Devi’s current “friend with benefits.” The family’s surly housekeeper, Martha Tate (Josie Walker), disapproves of Sally, partly because she’s become the default babysitter. Devi also wants her gone, accusing Sally of stealing a pair of red shoes she’d put aside for the charity bag.

At breakfast the following day, Sally fails to turn up, and Felix offers to check on her with Krishna, only for the two to discover her strangled, a drugged mug of cocoa spilled on the floor and the window open. Dalgliesh arrives to take on what could be a sensitive case with the help of local officer DI Clive Roscoe (Sam Swainsbury). Felix apologizes for covering Sally’s face; somehow, it seemed like the right thing to do. 

Dalgliesh searches the room and finds an envelope addressed to “D” and a flyer for a concert with a phone number written on it before informing the family the police are treating this as a suspicious death. The family knows nothing about Sally’s background or her next of kin; Martha believes Sally was local but doesn’t know her baby's father. She’d locked up as usual the night before, as she has since last year's intruder, who disapproved of Mehta’s stance on an immigration bill, something that's been controversial in the South Asian community.

Devi insists the "D" on the envelope isn't her; Sally would not have addressed her that way. She believes Sally stole various small, valuable objects from the house, but Anita didn’t want to involve the police. As for Catherine, she explains she is “courting” Krishna, i.e., maintaining separate rooms. The Mehta family has a highly feudal attitude toward their servants; none of them, including Lady Catherine, seem concerned Krishna was probably sleeping with Sally. Meanwhile, Krishna is adamant Sally would never take anything that could impact her baby. 

The number on the flyer is for a woman’s shelter run by Paula Rice (Sara Powell), who says Sally, who she calls a “live wire,” arrived there already five months pregnant. She vaguely thought the father was threatening Sally, but the other women at the shelter would know more. Back home, Dalgliesh finds an invitation from Emma Lavenham, who he met on his last case, to a gallery opening.

Paula tracks down Sally’s family. Her Uncle Malcolm Proctor (Andrew Tiernan), a well-known National Front member, and Aunt Simone (Anne Bird) adopted Sally after her parents died in a car crash. Simone says she didn’t know she was pregnant, but Malcolm would have been livid; she only agrees to ID Sally when Dalgliesh says the other option is her husband. But when they arrive at the Mehtas, Dalgliesh discovers Derek attacking Krishna, accusing him of murder. Derek claims to have seen Krishna assault his friend, Tom Smart, several years before, and he gave her money to leave the Mehtas; it was his initial on the envelope. 

Catherine urges Krishna to tell the truth as he’s led away, but Krishna denies the accusations he forced Sally into a sexual relationship; what Derek saw was in retaliation for Tom, a violent racist, assaulting Devi, and the family paid Smart to drop the case. Krishna admits he loved Sally, and they’d seen each other for months in London. Catherine knew and didn’t take it well but regarded it as unserious; Sally was only a servant, after all.

That night, Devi screams and wakes the household, having been attacked by a male intruder. Unsurprisingly, the next day, Martha tells Devi she wants to quit, but Devi refuses to accept her resignation. 

Devi is interviewed; she claims Krishna proposed to Sally to annoy her. Anita denies Krishna was in love with Sally. Felix tells the detectives about chasing the intruder out of the house, states he is South Asian “because of his build,” and raises the possibility of a connection with the family business in India. He denies knowing Sally well or having any information about the night of her murder. Martha also shares her hiding place for the back door key with the detectives, which all the family knew about. Roscoe finds an empty packet of Demerol in the garden, which the nurses have been giving the dying patriarch. 

Dalgliesh and Roscoe agree that Devi’s intruder is imaginary; Dalgliesh suggests that Mr. Mehta be moved to a hospital, but the family refuses. With the entire household lying and no forensic evidence, police protocol is more important than ever. They then interview Catherine, who claims she was annoyed that Krishna proposed to a mere servant and was anxious to move forward with Krishna after years of procrastination. She took a photo of Krishna and Sally at the fete to prove to Krishna how foolish he was being, and Dalgliesh asked permission to develop all the photographs she had taken that day.

Roscoe focuses on Martha, the only one who knew about Sally’s bedtime cocoa habit and the Demerol in the house, but notes Catherine had more motive. But Dalgliesh is more interested in another photo: Malcolm Proctor was at the event. Malcolm claims he hasn’t seen his niece in over a year but admits he saw Sally at the fete when confronted with the evidence. Derek, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, tells them Sally went to the back of the house to talk to Krishna, although when pushed, admits it being Krishna was an assumption. He doesn’t recognize Proctor when they show him the photograph.

Roscoe jumps to Malcolm being so guilty that he probably fathered Sally’s baby. Dalgliesh says they need evidence and orders a warrant. Simone confirms Malcolm’s alibi and denies her husband would hurt Sally but hands over his clothes. The search turns up Proctor’s lockup, found to be full of National Front gear and stolen goods, including the Mehta family trinkets. Dalgliesh suggests Proctor bullied Sally into stealing for him and returned to the house to murder her. Outraged, Malcolm claims he’s not racist; he’s pro-British, and he has influential contacts who will protect him.’

Racked with guilt, Martha shows up and confesses she killed Sally. She drugged the cocoa, hoping Sally would be fired, especially after hearing Sally and Krishna argue that night, but the drug must’ve sunk to the bottom of the tin. Dalgliesh says not to worry; the drug didn’t kill Sally. As she leaves, they learn Mehta Sr. has died; Dalgliesh and Roscoe give the family privacy until the next day. (Meanwhile, Lady Catherine finally beds Krishna.) Dalgliesh turns up the next day ostensibly to confirm the family items are accounted for and then tells Devi they know she and Felix invented the second intruder to prove Krishna’s innocence. 

Krishna admits Sally quietly turned him down after his public proposal. Dalgliesh suggests he went to the pub after, got drunk, and killed her, and begins to arrest Krishna and Felix, forcing Anita to admit she did it. Her family protests, but she says Sally disgraced her family; Krishna proposing to a servant shamed them all further. She smothered Sally with her pillow, blaming her for dragging them down after they’d earned respect as immigrants. Dalgliesh makes one last trip to the Proctors’ house to give Simone the number of the women’s shelter where Sally took refuge and encourage her to seek help. 

Back in his car, Dalgliesh again reads the invitation from Emma Lavenham and places it in the glove compartment. 

Dalgliesh Season 3’s final episode, “Devices and Desires,” will stream on Acron TV on Monday, December 16, 2024.