The Strawberry Tree: Part Two

Petra Summers has found a kind of peace. She is a wealthy widow now, and Will Harvey's constant attention is a comfort, though it never quite compensates for the loss of her brother Piers. The ache persists underneath the settled surface of her life. Then one afternoon, out of the blue, two visitors arrive: a man claiming to be Piers, and a woman claiming to be his wife Rosario.

The reappearance after so many years forces Petra to confront everything she has politely set aside. The central question of the episode is a sharp one: are these two people who they claim to be, or is there a more sinister reason for their return after all this time? The cast list gives the game away to the observant: Tamara Hinchco is credited as the woman impersonating Rosario, and Phillip Manikum as the man impersonating Piers. The arrivals are imposters, and the episode's pleasure is watching Petra, and the viewer, work out what they actually want.

Ruth Rendell wrote it, and Herbert Wise directed. It is a change from part one, which was written by George Baker, and like that episode this is a standalone tale, with no Wexford and no Kingsmarkham to anchor it. The hour went out on 28 April 1995, a week after the opening chapter, and the atmosphere is properly unsettling. Lisa Harrow's Petra is torn between hope and suspicion, Simon Ward's Will Harvey hovers protectively, and the supporting cast, David Collings' Michael Sunderton, Eleanor Bron's Rosario, Tom Chadbon's Piers, Philip Stone's Roger Summers, Ruth Posner's Edwina Blanche and Mark Chapman's head waiter, keeps the world firmly grounded.

The episode is a confrontation between the comfort of the present and the weight of history. Two familiar faces, or two convincing copies of them, are enough to unseat everything Petra has built, and the past that refused to stay buried finally catches up with her. The strawberry tree has produced its fruit, and it is not what anyone expected.