'Sister Boniface' Experiences Free Love, Sisterhood & Murder in “The Happiest Family”

The penultimate episode of Sister Boniface Mysteries Season 4 opens with a quiet, cosy evening for the nuns: tea, cake, board games, knitting, and for Sister Boniface herself, a challenging jigsaw puzzle. The peace is interrupted by the convent’s French cook, Sister Laurence (Kate Robbins), who announces that no meat has been delivered for the weekend. There’s only (insert Gallic sneer) corned beef! But Reverend Mother Adrian breaks the news that she canceled the delivery, because, surprise! They’re all going away for the weekend.

A bus full of excited nuns makes its way through gorgeous autumnal scenery, eventually depositing them outside a vast country house. Sister Laurence raves about the beautiful kitchen gardens, and as they progress through the grounds, the Reverend Mother promises her charges a weekend of wholesome activities. That ambition is shot down as they arrive at the swimming pool where naked Dr. Saatvik Bose (Jazz Singh Deol) lounges, modesty protected only by a well-placed beach ball. 

Another couple, Miles Fletcher (Oliver Dench) and Vivien Ashbrook (Sophie Ablett), cavort in the pool together. Alcohol and cigarettes are in clear view. Everyone is equally horrified into silence until the fourth member of the party, Charity Gray (Genesis Lynea), recognizes an old friend from her past, now Sister Reginald (Virginia Fiol). Sister Reginald frequently lets drop hints that her pre-convent life was not exactly squeaky clean. She was a bookkeeper at the shady club where Charity worked, in (ahem) customer relations, but they drew apart when religion divided them.

The house has been double-booked, cramping the style of nuns and hedonists alike, and at first, attempts are made to find common ground. The nuns are invited to Charity’s rooftop birthday party, and Miles chats about the fake tan he’s invented. But Reverend Mother Adrian whisks her charges away for a game of football on the lawns, which takes place with much squealing and excitement. 

(So far in the season, we have avoided the favorite British comedy cliche of nuns doing unexpected things and being hilarious without much effort, which makes it all the more disappointing.)

There’s an awkward moment at dinner when prayers are interrupted by Charity coming into the room to invite the nuns to play Charades. They join in with great enthusiasm until the Reverend Mother decides it’s getting all too risqué and herds them out.

The next morning, Sister Peter (Tina Chiang) and Sister Boniface are startled to meet Miles in his undies carrying a tray upstairs, breakfast for Charity. But Charity is dead, and Peggy and Sam are soon on the scene. Sister Boniface points out a scratch on Denise’s forehead and takes away an unfinished drink that has the scent of horseradish. The Italian police are searching for Charity’s next of kin, her husband, Russell.

You may have wondered about the relationships between the four hedonists, and it’s all very fluid and adventurous. (It was the swinging sixties, after all.) So much so that Felix, who’s very innocent in some respects, is alarmed when Sister Boniface finds three different hairs in the bedclothes. As they breakfast at the pool, Vivien, Miles, and Saatvik attempt to explain, without the benefit of the word "throuple" having been invented yet. Vivien had initially invited Denise to join the group as a gift for her boyfriend, Miles. Saatvik explains that, as a busy doctor, he needs these weekends as a precious escape, far better than golf.

Sister Boniface cuts short the explanations of mid-1960s polycules when she asks to borrow Vivian’s ring, and Sam requests hair samples. However, it appears that Sister Reginald may have been involved in the case due to her former friendship with Charity. A vial, found in the wardrobe in Sister Reginald’s room, is taken away for analysis. She admits she cooked the books in Charity’s favor, realizing how young and vulnerable she was. But since then, Charity has become a canny businesswoman, and she, like Miles, has created her own suntan lotion. But Miles, when the Patent Office rejected his suntan formula, suspected Charity had stolen the formula and filed it herself.

Peggy, sent on an errand to Sister Boniface’s lab, returns with the news that Lord Matthew Sedgewick, the convent’s benefactor, was escorting a man with a tape measure. She wonders if they’re planning some redecoration. However, we got a hint of what was to come back in Episode 1, “Biff! Pow! Zap!,” and Sister Boniface is well aware of the threat to the convent.

Sister Boniface’s analysis of both Charity’s unfinished drink and the vial found in Sister Reginald’s room shows that the poison was aconite, also known as wolfsbane, which grows wild behind the swimming pool. Vivian’s ring held a few pieces of Charity’s hair. But despite the protests of everlasting love between the love parallelogram, rules had been broken, such as Miles seeing Charity outside the special weekends. Charity and Vivian had actually fought, resulting in Charity’s pulled hair and scratched cheek. But they reconciled, because the foursome’s love was so strong, etc., and she proceeds to proposition each of the three cops as a demonstration of her sexual power. 

“Oh fishbums!” Sister Boniface shatters the moment. She’s late for charcoal drawing class.

Nuns are in the grounds, reading, birdwatching, embroidering, and sketching. It’s a wonderful time for them, but why, Sister Boniface wonders, is the Reverend Mother being so kind? (It’s most uncharacteristic!) Meanwhile, poking around in the aconite patch, she finds some scraps of paper and reconstructs a flyer for a new male strip club, The Stallions. Only one piece is missing: the club's address. Over in the library, Sister Boniface finds a gardening guide with a chapter on poisonous plants. Unfortunately, Sister Reginald’s prints are the only ones to be found in it. 

As for Charity’s finances, she earned only £7.00 from her suntan lotion business; she was already a wealthy woman, having become an early investor in betting shops and made millions. Now she’s moved on to a male strip club as her next enterprise, and Sister Boniface finds the missing piece of the brochure, which reveals the club was to open right next door to Saatvik’s very exclusive podiatry practice. Saatvik’s patients included London’s aristocrats. He was upset about it, but assumed the government would shut down the club.

Meanwhile, Charity’s husband, Russell, has been found in Sardinia, the sole heir to his wife’s estate. As Sister Boniface ponders, Sister Reginald astutely comments that Vivien’s tan is real, suggesting she was very recently on the continent too.

Sister Boniface heads up to the roof, where Charity’s birthday party was to have been held, and where  Vivien, Saatvik, and Miles are talking. As she walks around, she discovers that a section of the stone parapet has been removed and replaced with a clumsy plastic guard. She nearly falls off and realizes this was the original plan for Charity’s death. The three look at Sister Boniface as she realizes they were all in on it. Caught out, they admit it's actually the three of them and Russell, with plans to share her money. 

But now Sister Boniface has discovered why Charity died, she’s in danger, trapped on the roof with the murderers. Just in time, the nuns come to rescue her, bearing various strange items as weapons. Russell is arrested off his plane, and the nuns cheer as Vivien, Saatvik, and Miles are detained at the house, still blaming each other for Charity’s death. Felix comments that it’s just like Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, and Sister Boniface agrees.

(A baguette? How did Sister Peter know they were gluten-intolerant?)

The nuns, wearing head-to-toe swimwear, can at last cavort in the pool. But Sister Boniface has more detective work to do. She approaches the Reverend Mother under the guise of discussing Christmas plans, and they meet in the house’s chapel. After a snarky comment on Sister Boniface’s erratic attendance at prayers, the Reverend Mother tells her that she’d planned a special murder mystery game for her. However, as usual, she found her own case. 

The reason for all this kindness? As Sister Boniface guessed, they are going to lose the convent, which will be developed into flats.

The nuns gather for a picnic at which the news is broken that St. Vincent’s must be sold and the order will be dispersed. This is their last weekend together. The series has one episode to go – and the future of the nuns is in jeopardy. It’s a sad ending, watching the nuns seated outside at a picnic in the magnificent grounds, holding hands, not knowing what will happen.

Sister Boniface Mysteries Season 4 continues with new episodes every week on Tuesdays on BritBox through the end of September. Seasons 1 through 3 are currently streaming on BritBox. Seasons 1 and 2 are also available on select PBS Passports for members to stream; check your local service.