'Flesh and Blood' Episode 1 Preview: Beachside mishap kicks off mystery with major characters introduced
In the premiere episode of PBS's murder mystery drama, we can expect to get a low down on all the characters on the show so that we can start playing the guessing game of 'whodunit' and who is the victim. The episode opens with emergency vehicles on the scene of a life-threatening mishap. There is a body on a beach -- but the identity of the victim and the culprit is unclear. The official synopsis of the episode says: "When Vivien (Francesca Annis) introduces her new boyfriend Mark (Stephen Rea) to her three grown children, not long after the death of their father, they are suspicious. Meanwhile, their own lives are a mess."
D.I. Doug Lineham (David Bamber) elicits the details in flashbacks by interviewing everyone connected to the incident. As he starts piecing together events, he learns that it all started innocently enough when glamorous former salon owner Vivien, widowed a year and a half earlier, invites her three children to their seaside childhood home for an important announcement. She introduces them to the new man in her life, Mark (Rea), a widowed retired surgeon.
Wrapped up in their own complicated lives, the children have mixed reactions. Career woman Helen (Claudie Blakley) is the eldest, and she is slightly wary of Mark, perhaps because she sees romance as entirely transactional, which is how she treats her stay-at-home husband, handyman, cook, and occasional sex partner, George (Keir Charles). Naturally, she is curious about what Mark wants from her mother.
Jake (Russell Tovey) is downright hostile to Mark, possibly out of guilt over the breakup of his marriage to Leila (Lara Rossi). He is also worried about his inheritance, which may be his only hope for financial security. Aside from his income as a personal trainer, Jake earns some extra cash as the kept man for one of his clients, Stella (Sharon Small). Only Natalie (Leonard), the youngest, is genuinely excited for her mom, in part because she is chasing her own 'happily ever after'. In the fifth year of an aimless affair with her boss, Tony (Vincent Regan), she is waiting for him to divorce his wife, Carla (Stephanie Langton), so he can marry her. But he has yet to deliver.
Mary (Imelda Staunton), who is Vivien's next-door neighbor, has some opinions too when she is interviewed about what has transpired. Having no close family of her own, she has been a second mother to Helen, Jake, and Natalie. A born sleuth, she conveys her serious doubts about Mark in the most elliptical way imaginable. As for Mark himself? It is obvious that he dotes on Vivien, treats her to awkward and expensive surprises, and he really wants to marry her. But the question on everyone’s mind is -- what if he is hiding something? According to the PBS website, "Lust, greed, wrath, envy, and pride are just some of the deadly sins that plague the seemingly happy family" in this mystery-thriller.
Episode 1 will dive into the lives of these complicated characters and provide us with the first clues to solve the mystery, even as we soak in the lovely locales of the stunning West Sussex coast in England. 'Flesh and Blood' premieres Sunday, October 4 at 9/8c on PBS.