'Professor T's Season 4 Premiere Jumps "Overboard" Into the Deep End

Sometimes, after a tragedy, people regress into old habits and comfortable personas. After years of a personality shaped by PTSD, Professor T’s Jasper Tempest (Ben Miller) reverts to the solace of his OCD routines in Season 4’s premiere, “Overboard,” following the death of the series' other main lead, DI Lisa Donckers (Emma Naomi) in the Season 3 finale. Contrasting with that somber end, this new season opens with a light and jaunty tone. Led by frolicking classical music, Jasper returns to his compulsive morning routine, his university, and his classroom. As the saying goes, “Life goes on.”

(We should note here that in the original Belgian version of Professor T, Annelies Donckers does exit the show after the first two seasons, and the series goes on without her. But she voluntarily leaves the force and goes off to live her life, so this is a significant shift into original territory, even if the series is still *very* loosely technically remaking the original.)

But grief will not be denied. Jasper is plagued by flashes of Donckers’ death while trying to teach the episode’s theme, faulty memory. In the end, he finds he can’t finish the lecture. In his subsequent session with Dr. Goldberg (Juliet Stevenson), he mentions his “intrusive thoughts” are usually only triggered by requests from Dan Winters (Barney White) – whom he’s been avoiding, along with abstaining from helping the police, for six months. Dr. Goldberg points out that his regressive behavior is an attempt to regain control after Donckers’ death, but he avoids this introspection.

J.C. (Angus Yellowlees), his girlfriend, Ophelia (Helena Barlow), and a couple of friends board a yacht to scatter his mother’s ashes at sea. Ophelia can be heard screeching at J.C. behind closed doors. Later, during a violent storm, she disappears, leaving behind vomit and an empty wine bottle in their cabin. Someone thinks they saw her go to the upper deck, but Ophelia is officially missing.

In the morning, a subdued Winters and DCI Goswami (Sunetra Sarker) interview the yacht passengers. J.C.’s friends Byram (CJ Beckford) and Vicky (Phoebe Sparrow), paint a picture of a strained relationship between J.C. and Ophelia, with her being jealous of his mother – who apparently had a stranglehold on him. They learn the last person to see Ophelia was the ship’s barman (James Hogan), who brought her the wine and told the police she was just out of the shower. The ship’s captain (Gareth Kennerley) believes Ophelia fell overboard from the upper deck.

New cast member alert! Freshly promoted DC Chloe Highsmith (Rhian Blundell) has joined the precinct, and she’s a bit messy and a lot green. Her instincts about the case are painfully biased, but she’s sure Ophelia was pushed into the water. Goswami wants Winters to mentor the newbie, and boy, does she need it. Highsmith jumps at the chance to deliver the bad news to Ophelia’s mother about her daughter’s disappearance, then epically fails. She follows the police instruction manual script, nearly literally, then leaves mid-sentence to answer her phone.

To Winters’ surprise, Highsmith was right to suspect foul play. Evidence from Ophelia’s phone uncovers that she was having an affair with Byram and chose to break the news to his wife that night. Vicky admits Ophelia confessed to the affair via text message, but that J.C. was unaware of their affair. The police seem to suspect Byram and implicate him to J.C.

Winters tries to get Jasper’s help on the case, bribing Ms. Snares (Sarah Woodward) (Hooray, she’s back!) with brownies to wait in Jasper’s office. Seeing Winters triggers Jasper, who refuses to assist. Meanwhile, Dr. Goldberg has a connection to the case – she’s friends with Ophelia’s mother and asks Jasper to get involved as a personal favor. Though he accuses it of being a therapeutic ruse, she gets through to him after scolding his staggering self-involvement.

Without even telling Winters he’s at the precinct, Jasper gets all the evidence from Goswami. As he’s thinking through the puzzle, he does something we haven’t seen before: drumming. It starts with an incessant finger tapping, then he grabs two pencils as drumsticks, and finally, he has a full-blown fantasy of playing a drum solo.

Jasper has a brain wave: Ophelia is not dead and was never on the boat at all; J.C. is holding her hostage somewhere. He brings his suspicions to Dr. Goldberg, insisting she chauffeur him so they can save Ophelia. The doctor is unconvinced, but Jasper presses that no one really saw Ophelia that night; they saw a woman they believed to be Ophelia. They saw what they expected to see.

(The plot relies on witnesses’ faulty memory and believing that Byram – who was having an affair with Ophelia, remember – wouldn’t realize that someone was impersonating her. That’s a bit of a stretch. But kudos on tying the episode’s theme together.)

Dr. Goldberg gently suggests Jasper might be having a “deflected rescue fantasy,” wanting to save Ophelia since he couldn’t save Donckers. But he insists: Passenger Ramona Stubbs (Mia Gill) checked in under her own name, but later reembarked pretending to be Ophelia. Though Dr. Goldberg eventually believes him, Jasper refuses to consult the police.

Instead, Jasper enlists Ms. Snares to tail J.C. to a fancy house in the country, then “sneaks” up to get a closer look. (His gait, coupled with the crisp 3-piece suit and rubber gloves, is anything but stealthy.) Without police backup, Jasper is just an everyday intruder with no authority. Does he think himself a vigilante?

The answer is yes. Jasper searches the basement room to room. Surprisingly, he finds a locked door and frees Ophelia from inside. J.C. notices them escaping and holds them both at gunpoint. Winters and Highsmith arrive, having been contacted by Dr. Goldberg. Winters – who isn’t doing so well with Donckers’ death either – takes a cavalier risk, stepping in front of the gun. As he tries to talk J.C. down, Highsmith stupidly tackles J.C. from behind and wrestles his gun away. She’s damn lucky no one gets hurt when the gun goes off, and that Winters can wrangle J.C.

Goswami reprimands Winters for his “blatant disregard for his own safety” and charges him with Highsmith’s well-being. Despite Highsmith’s substantial mistakes, Goswami lifts the rookie’s crushed spirit and convinces her not to quit after a single day.

Jasper installs an actual drum set in his home. With his hero fantasy completed, he resumes the memory lecture that began the episode, this time without the unsolicited memories.

• The implication that Jasper was correct in taking stupid risks is troubling, as the plot certainly rewards him with mental health gains.
• While missing the incomparable Frances de la Tour, the episode introduces Adelaide’s sister, Jasper’s Aunt Zelda (Zoë Wanamaker). Like her sister, Zelda’s an artist and an eccentric. Looking forward to seeing more of her!
• There’s some kind of history between Zelda and the Dean (Douglas Reith), and it appears to be of the sad and romantic variety.
• Shout out for a cat cameo: Home Secretary, “Homey,” makes an appearance as Dr. Goldberg’s familiar. Cats are always welcome.

Professor T Season 4 continues with new episodes on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on PBS, the PBS App, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. All six episodes are available for members to stream on PBS Passport, as are Seasons 1 through 3. Season 5 has already been greenlit. Check your local listings.