In The Presence Of The Enemy

 

Cast
Nathaniel Parker .... Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley
Sharon Small .... Detective Sgt. Barbara Havers
James Hazeldine .... Dennis Luxford
Ken Bones .... Rodney Aronson
Sophie Okonedo .... Eve Bowen
Simon Chandler .... Alistair Harvie
Bennet Thorpe .... Personal Secretary
Natalie Freegard .... Charlotte Bowen
Lesley Vickerage .... Helen Clyde
Simone Bendix .... Fiona Luxford
Joseph Friend .... Leo Luxford
Anjalee Patel .... Hadiyyah
Clint Dyer .... Alex Stone
Jayne McKenna .... Newsreader (as Jane McKenna)
Stuart Bunce .... Damien Chambers
Robert Whitelock .... Robin Payne
Kika Markham .... Corrine Payne
Gerard Monaco .... Officer
Simon Pearsall .... DS Stanley
Lynne Verrall .... Pathologist
Ken Anderson .... Howard Short
Marcia Warren .... Miss Portly
Caroline Martin .... Celia Matheson
Oliver Chopping .... Local Officer

Directed by Brian Stirner
Written by Francesca Brill, based on a novel by Elizabeth George
First Broadcast on BBC One March 17, 2003

Plot

Shortly after little Charlotte Bowen is kidnapped her body is found in a river, she has been drugged and then drowned. Charlotte was the product of a brief fling between the unlikely pairing of Eve Bowen - a radical left-wing cabinet minister, and Dennis Luxford a right-wing newspaper editor.

Lynley is taken onto the case, but unbeknownst to him Helen has been unofficially involved too. It is only when Helen reacts badly to the discovery of Charlotte's body that her involvement is revealed. This prompts an argument between Lynley and Helen, which is especially significant as they are now a couple. Although Lynley is initially angry with Helen, it is she who ends up pushing him away (!).

Havers is sent to Buckinghamshire (where Charlotte's body was found) to conduct the investigation. Here she teams up with the friendly and helpful police constable Robin Paine. It becomes clear that the Buckinghamshire link is not just co-incidental, as it has a significant connexion with Luxford's past.

When Luxford's young son Leo is also kidnapped he readily meets the kidnappers demands by revealing the name of his first born (Charlotte) on the front page. However when Leo is not released this prompts Lynley to rightly assume that Charlotte was not Luxford's first born at all!

Lynley and Helen eventually make up from their argument in quite a passionate scene, however Helen still walks around as if she had lost a fiver and found a penny! The episode concludes with Lynley actually proposing to Helen, claiming (inexplicably) that he is happier that he has ever been! She accepts, and the episode closes with the two of them kissing in the street like teenagers and ignoring the ever stoical Havers in the process.