The Trouble with Rory

Fire damages part of Lochdubh Primary School, and the damage turns out to be worse than the flames. Esme Murray discovers that the council has no intention of rebuilding, and that her own boyfriend Rory Campbell knew about the plan all along and went along with it. The school is the village's school, the one every family has passed through, and closing it feels like the council erasing the place one decision at a time. The betrayal sends Esme into a high-profile media protest, with Isobel back in the village as a TV reporter to give the campaign a proper audience.

But Hamish, meanwhile, has a bigger worry. The fire looks deliberate, which means there is an arsonist in the village, and he forms a surveillance unit to catch whoever is responsible before anything else burns. The surveillance unit is up and running, and the waiting is the worst part of any arson hunt. The fire itself is out, but the smoke keeps blowing through the village all week. Between Esme's crusade, Rory's secret, and the hunt for a fire-raiser, the village is busier than it has been in weeks.

Stuart Hepburn wrote the episode and also appears as Eric Clelland, with Mandie Fletcher directing; it aired in April 1997. Anne Lacey gives Esme a furious dignity that makes Rory's position look worse with every scene, and Brian Pettifer's Rory has the haunted air of a man who knows he deserves every word of it. Robert Carlyle's Hamish keeps the peace as best he can, Ralph Riach's TV John is on hand, and Duncan Duff, Stuart McGugan, Ronnie Letham, Eilidh MacLean and Kay McLean fill out the story.

The trouble with Rory turns out to be worth waiting for. It is a small episode about a big betrayal, and the school is only the start of it. It is an episode that understands how much a school means to a place, and how much damage a secret can do.