British Network Television
‘Father Brown’: S01.E09. “The Mayor and the Magician”
At a fête to raise funds for a Polish school Mayor William Knight is electrocuted by a microphone.
It doesn’t take long for Mayor William Knight (Sam Crane), a misogynistic sexist pig, doesn’t taking long to reveal his true colours. There is nothing about this man which suggests he should be holding elected office anywhere.
Eleanor Knight (Louise Brealey), shortly after Kathleen Knight (Fern Deacon) discovers a necklace under her parent’s bed, questions her husband. Mrs Knight correctly suspects her husband of having an affair with housekeeper and driver Matilda Newell (Emma Hiddleston).
Trying to cover his tracks, explaining that the necklace was a going away gift, Mayor Knight lies about Miss Newell having turned in her notice. Not wanting to address questions put to him by his wife, quick to answer, Mayor Knight tosses his whisky glass against the wall. This is not the behaviour one would expect of a decent human being.
Before leaving their residence for the Kembleford fête, in a characteristically nasty manner, Mayor Knight hands the now boxed necklace to Miss Newell and then tells her she’s fired effective the next day.
Can we not have an episode where Mrs Bridgette McCarthy (Sorcha Cusack) doesn’t behave in an obnoxious manner? There is something about Mrs McCarthy, despite her insistence that she’s a good Catholic woman, that shows her behaviour not living up to her religious rhetoric.
Setting up the Kembleford fête requires all hands on deck to do their bit before the mayor arrives. Mrs McCarthy is busy berating everyone for not following her lead. Father Brown (Mark Williams), nearby, is counting humbugs into a jar.
Humbugs, for people unfamiliar with the candy, is a hard boiled sweet common to British Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Mrs McCarthy soon discovers a face from her past which see never thought she see again. It turns out that Mrs McCarthy’s husband, thought to have died during the war, survived. Lady Felicia Montague (Nancy Carroll) saw a photograph of Mrs McCarthy taken when she was Miss Maguire. It didn’t take much for Lady Felicia to connect the dots.
A magician at the Kembleford fête, one that delighted Father Brown with a hat trick, is revealed as Franc McCarthy (Frank Grimes). Mr McCarthy showing up when he does causes Mrs McCarthy significant heartache.
Whilst Mr McCarthy is obviously trying to get back with Mrs McCarthy, she is having none of it. She, remembering what he was like after he returned from the war, doesn’t want him back in her life.
Further demonstrating his misogynistic attitude, something that doesn’t seem to sit well with Father Brown, Mayor Knight’s not appreciating his daughter’s independent mind is readily apparent. According to the mayor, whilst it might be acceptable for a man, this is not a lady-like characteristic.
Edwin Bloom (John Lightbody), a former mayoral candidate, confronts Mayor Knight for making arrangements to sell off the ground from beneath the Polish resettlement camp. The confrontation causes the mayor to experience an unhinged meltdown. Mayor Knight behaves like a certain present day American politician.
The mayor is electrocuted during his speech when his hand comes into contact with his microphone stand. Mayor Knight apparently didn’t serve in the war because he had a heart condition. There is nothing about this man that suggests he would place the greater good above his own self interest. It is more likely he avoided serving in the war because he was too much of a coward.
Mayor Knight, an obvious womaniser, had impregnated Miss Newell during his extra-marital affair. When he had insisted Miss Newell get rid of their unborn child, having sent her to a back alley abortion clinic, it became evident to her that the mayor was never going to leave his wife. Self-interest governs everything the mayor did. Miss Newell is the person responsible for Mayor Knight’s death.
Miss Newell, in her anger towards Mayor Knight, probably thought he had it coming. She’s not wrong.
Lady Felicia reveals Susie and the other residents at the Polish resettlement camp need not worry about the government wanting to build a power station on the land. There is a strip of land between the resettlement camp the river which belongs to the Montague family. They have no intention of selling it to the government. Consequently, because of this, the resettlement camp is saved.
The episode closes with Father Brown delivering to Mrs McCarthy a goldfish. It was previously seen at the Kembleford fête.
