Sat, May 4, 2002
Many years have passed since Irene (Gina McKee) left him and Soames (Damian Lewis) has now decided that he wants a divorce. He's met an attractive young woman, Annette Lamotte (Beatriz Batarde), who with her mother (Kika Markham) runs a restaurant in Soho. He calls on Young Jolyon Rupert Graves), who is trustee of the legacy his father (Corin Redgrave) left her, to ask if she could provide him with grounds for divorce. She assures Jolyon that there has been no one in her life, a message he relays to Soames, who refuses to believe it. He even visits Irene, but unable to find grounds for divorce, he decides that he wants her back. All he manages to do is frighten her into fleeing to Paris. Val Dartie (Julian Overden) is disgusted by his drunken father, Montague Dartie (Ben Miles), who he sees cavorting with courtesans in a casino. Montague decides to abandon his family and leave for Buenos Aires. Soames insists that his sister, Winnifred (Amanda Root), institute divorce proceedings. Val and Jolyon's daughter, Holly (Amanda Ryan), strike up a close friendship. When they agree to marry, Holly's brother, Jolly (Christian Coulson), intervenes by challenging him to join the army and go to South Africa.
Sat, Jun 14, 2003
Annette goes to France and whilst Soames persuades her to return they will lead separate lives. Fleur prevails upon Soames to get Irene to look favourably upon her union with Jon but Jon himself is now having second thoughts in view of the revelations he has been told. An angry Fleur accuses Irene of keeping Jon to herself when "he is mine" and Jon begins to see that, like her father, Fleur is keen to see a spouse as a possession. On the rebound Fleur gets engaged to Michael and resists Jon's efforts to dissuade her. On the wedding day she is reconciled with Soames and comes to appreciate his pain at his inability to put right the things that drove Irene from him. Whilst Fleur is on honeymoon Soames goes to Irene's house - the one that he should have lived in with her - to find it is 'To Let.' He has a painting bought at Michael's charity auction of a girl who looks like Fleur which he intends for Jon but Jon is now living in New York. At least Soames and Irene are able to be civil to one another and they shake hands when he leaves. When the butler asks Irene what Soames wanted she replies "He didn't want anything."
Sat, May 31, 2003
Fleur's and Jon's relationship continues to worry their parents so Irene takes Jon to Paris whilst Soames throws a party for his daughter, encouraging Michael Mont to pursue her, which she resents. At the party Fleur sees Annette kissing Profond but keeps it to herself. Dartie is killed in a road accident, having hinted to Soames about his wife's infidelity. At the funeral Fleur accuses Profond, who tells her that secrets run in the family and that Irene and Soames were once unhappily married, a fact she never knew. She tells Jon and they realise this is why their parents want to keep them apart. Irene asks her to tea but she had already been to see Jolyon out of curiosity without saying who she was and he is hostile to her, causing Jon to leave home. Fleur assures Soames that he is not with her but Soames is preoccupied with an anonymous letter,divulging his wife's affair with Profond.
Sat, Jun 7, 2003
Fleur and Jon meet secretly and agree they will elope to Scotland where they can marry without parental permission. Jolyon comes to see Fleur, telling her of his weak heart and asking her to renounce Jon, whom he needs to be with him. Despite assurances to Jolyon, she does not tell Jon. Having received a letter exposing Annette's affair with Profond, Soames is pleased when Profond says he intends to leave England but at a cricket match between Eton and Harrow schools, Soames notes that his wife is in Profond's arms again. Michael Mont is at the match, having had Soames' permission to court Fleur but Fleur is still infatuated with Jon. After the match Jolyon and Irene tell Jon the history of their marriages and the reason they want to keep him apart from Fleur. Jolyon then dies of a heart attack and Jon does not turn up to elope with Fleur because he is at his father's funeral. Fleur eventually catches up with him and they are caught making love by a very angry June.