Cases, characters and callbacks
Episode scene index
A compact route into every episode’s principal case, continuing story, themes and location clues.
S01E01 · 22 April 2007
The Prodigal Returns
Case: Probate and inheritance: Peter mediates between two brothers after their mother’s death while Sidney challenges a proposed road.
Continuity: Establishes Simon’s disappearance, Beatrice’s return from rehabilitation and the telephone call that proves the mystery is not settled.
Open episode guide →S01E02 · 29 April 2007Debts
Case: Family and employment questions collide when an Estonian woman asks Peter to recover the baby she says her former employer took.
Continuity: The trace on Simon’s telephone introduces Christopher Waller and turns a private disappearance into a larger investigation.
Open episode guide →S01E03 · 6 May 2007Home to Roost
Case: Peter and Lyle challenge an insurer after a fishing boat explodes, complicated by the owner’s previous fraud conviction.
Continuity: Peter follows Simon’s financial trail to Christopher Waller’s parents and the payments they received.
Open episode guide →S01E04 · 13 May 2007Cambridge or Nowhere
Case: A family considers action against Cambridge University after their daughter is refused a place.
Continuity: Peter learns that Simon approached his former Cambridge tutor for money shortly before disappearing.
Open episode guide →S01E05 · 20 May 2007Sartorial Discord
Case: Peter advises a married couple after the wife discovers her husband wears women’s clothes; Lyle becomes uneasy about the side he represents in a dispute involving travellers.
Continuity: Peter pays Simon’s gambling debts but discovers that the threat surrounding the family may continue.
Open episode guide →S01E06 · 27 May 2007Out of the House and Home
Case: An elderly Holocaust survivor faces eviction, giving Lyle a case that changes how he sees his future in Market Shipborough.
Continuity: Honor arrives pregnant and identifies Simon as the father, changing the Kingdom family story at the close of the series.
Open episode guide →S02E01 · 13 January 2008Lighthouse and Lay-bys
Case: Peter’s cases connect an injured dog, a threatened lighthouse and rival burger vans as the new series re-establishes Market Shipborough.
Continuity: Honor and Daniel have become part of Peter’s household, Beatrice learns she is pregnant, and Simon’s return overturns the family’s fragile stability.
Open episode guide →S02E02 · 20 January 2008Seen and Unseen
Case: Peter advises on a disputed relationship between an older man and his younger nurse while questions of capacity, affection and family interest overlap.
Continuity: Simon conceals cash in the office, Beatrice leaves before giving birth, and the police discover that Simon is alive.
Open episode guide →S02E03 · 27 January 2008Dereliction of Duty
Case: Peter and Lyle investigate the identity of an American serviceman after a pregnant woman asks for help contacting him.
Continuity: Simon’s bail threatens the practice, Honor leaves and Lyle uses the hidden money to secure Simon’s release.
Open episode guide →S02E04 · 3 February 2008Brother's Keeper
Case: A cricket captain faces a sponsorship dispute while Lyle represents an outspoken local campaigner.
Continuity: Simon returns to the practice and begins an affair with the cricketer’s wife, deepening the damage caused by his return.
Open episode guide →S02E05 · 10 February 2008The Truth Will Set You Free
Case: A Cambridge professor asks Peter and Simon to recover missing scientific research; Lyle handles a father-and-son motor-business dispute.
Continuity: Working together exposes the brothers’ different instincts while Simon’s danger remains unresolved.
Open episode guide →S02E06 · 17 February 2008Tempest
Case: A storm frames Aunt Auriel’s retirement-home production of The Tempest while Simon prepares to escape the people pursuing him.
Continuity: Simon says the hidden money belonged to their father, drives into the storm and is later found dead on the beach.
Open episode guide →S03E01 · 7 June 2009Combat Wounds
Case: Peter seeks fairer compensation for a soldier injured in Iraq; Lyle challenges sex discrimination involving the Blues and Royals.
Continuity: The opening episode re-establishes the practice after Simon’s death and begins the final series’ concern with duty and identity.
Open episode guide →S03E02 · 14 June 2009Crop Circle Case
Case: A farmer asks Peter to investigate crop circles while Lyle opposes a compulsory purchase order threatening a family home.
Continuity: Lyle meets Emily, and professional rivalry begins to turn into personal interest.
Open episode guide →S03E03 · 21 June 2009A Worthy Cause
Case: Lyle helps Nigel Pearson defend a convent community facing eviction while Peter mediates between a medical researcher and her daughter.
Continuity: Beatrice’s attempt to fund Petra’s schooling brings Petra’s father back into the story.
Open episode guide →S03E04 · 28 June 2009Blackmailing the Bench
Case: A judge believes he is being blackmailed, while Lyle represents druids opposing a golf course they say disrupts ley lines.
Continuity: Beatrice becomes part of Peter’s investigation, and both cases test appearances against underlying motives.
Open episode guide →S03E05 · 5 July 2009Family Pressure
Case: Lyle returns to Stockport to oppose development on allotments; Peter handles a dispute involving a young cellist.
Continuity: Lyle’s family background moves to the foreground, while Peter’s worsening health ends in collapse.
Open episode guide →S03E06 · 12 July 2009Inheritance
Case: Peter helps an aristocrat worried about his brother’s drug use while Lyle investigates pollution in a river.
Continuity: Peter is diagnosed with diabetes and discovers that he and his younger siblings did not share the same father.
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