This P. D. James mystery feels somewhat different to the other two adaptations in that it doesn't focus around an institution. Whereas Death of an Expert Witness centred around a forensic laboratory and Shroud for a Nightingale a hospital, Cover Her Face is different as it is set in a village and centres around a country house lived in by the Maxie family. Not that it starts out that way. Straight from the off we follow Sally Jupp (Kim Thomson), a single mum with her baby son, get out of a taxi to go and visit her old work colleagues at the Book Club in the city. Outside she bumps into old friend Stavros Veludis, a Greek cypriot who greets her warmly enough but seems to be running away from someone. Later she goes down to change her baby and discovers the dead body of Stavros on the stairs and hears someone running away. Naturally she is a person of interest to Dalgliesh, both as a witness and a friend of Stavros, and it is soon revealed that he was chief suspect in a drug case Dalgliesh is working on. He also becomes convinced that Sally isn't telling him everything she knows, but when he goes to question her at St Mary's Refuge for Single Mothers the manageress Alice Liddell (Freda Dowie) informs him that she is no longer living there. In what seems an astonishing stroke of luck she meets Dr Stephen Maxie (Rupert Frazer) on a train, who hears what happened to her and hires her to work at his family's country home. Or is it?
Straight away the curiosity is aroused, but it is not the only suspicious activity going on in the village. Dalgliesh is surprised by Alice Liddell's nervous demeanour when he meets her, but why? Could the answer be something to do with the Refuge accounts? Sir Reynold Price (Bill Fraser), a rich financier on the committee seems to think so, but he himself is a little shady and both may have connections to the case Dalgliesh is investigating. The Maxie household at the country house seem ordinary enough however, with Eleanor Maxie (Phyllis Calvert) looking after her ailing husband upstairs, while children Stephen and Deborah (Mel Martin) argue over whether to sell the house or not. Both also have suitors mooning other them who later come over to stay as they prepare for the village fete - Catherine Bowers (Claire Higgins) and Felix Hurst (Julian Glover). But the arrival of Sally Jupp to help housekeeper Martha in the kitchen (a formiddable Jean Heywood) shakes up the whole place in ways they never imagined. Before they know it, she's made an enemy of Martha (not hard, I grant) and creates turmoil throughout the group when she announces her engagement to Stephen. Their reaction is such that it couldn't of been worse if she'd served them up roadkill for their evening meal!
Sally Jupp is at the heart of everything in this. She is evasive every time Dalgliesh questions her, and seems to be involved with everybody from Stavros Veludis to the Maxie family, St Mary's Refuge and even Sir Reynold Price. She is a mystery to everyone because she is such an outsider to them, and the fact she won't even reveal who the father of her baby is lead many to speculate just who could of impregnated her. And her actions are constantly shifty, including her secret meetings with village lad Derek Pullen (Robert Glenister), who gives her letters postmarked Venezuela. Her character is fascinating because she is so hard to pin down and Kim Thomson deserves huge credit for her performance. It's not that she's outstanding acting wise, but she is so compelling in the role with a mixture of cheerful disposition and calculating manipulation she portrays that can switch at a moment's notice. You know you can't really trust her and her character is not particularly nice, but with Thomson in the role you can't help liking her in some strange way. And that is partly because the Maxie household are not always easy to like. They all look down on her due to her background, and many are openly hostile to her. Even the seemingly reasonable Eleanor Maxie displays some prejudice towards her lowly status when she uses the phone in the hall, reminding her that staff use the kitchen phone and to note down the calls made. When Sally is brought in by Stephen during the fateful dinner, it is Eleanor who pointedly informs her that staff members' place are in the kitchen, in a hint to her that she is not part of THEIR circle. It's this, and the feeling throughout she is in grave danger, that keeps you on her side, despite her manipulative character.
Indeed, it has to be said that after Sally is indeed later found murdered that this mystery begins to lag somewhat. The first three episodes are compelling, featuring a suspicious death an episode with Stavros' murder, Miss Liddell's highly suspicious suicide (or is it?), complete with a strange phone call from the dead woman afterwards to someone, to the events that eventually lead up to Sally's murder. There are so many off shoots that are happening in the village or in Dalgliesh's drug racketeering investigations that these episodes are never dull. But Sally is such a dominating presence that when she is killed her absence is keenly felt and the intensity of the mystery drops because of this. It's a shame because by and large this is a well acted mystery with some notable performances. All of the main actresses handle the emotional challenges their characters go through with aplomb, such as Phyllis Calvert, Mel Martin, Claire Higgins and Freda Dowie. But best of them all is Jean Heywood as the formiddable housekeeper Martha. Hers is not a likeable character at all, cantenkerous and unforgiving at times. But despite this Heywood is able to portray her tender side and secret love towards the ailing Simon Maxie beautifully and her scene with him when he has died is outstanding. Bill Fraser proves he is not just a comedy actor in his role as Sir Reynolds Price, while Ronnie Stevens is superb as the shifty and nervy Victor Proctor. But my favourite has to be Julian Glover's beautifully judged performance as Felix Hurst, a thoroughly decent man in love with a woman who cannot love him back. Rupert Frazer's Stephen Maxie, however, is so objectionable that you can't help but hope that someone punches him on the nose before the end of the mystery.
It may slow down halfway through, but it uses it's country settings well and there are some beautifully shot scenes, including one on a bridge with Stephen and Sally during the village fete that is breathtaking. It's surprising therefore to see during the car sequences involving Dalgliesh and Massingham some stage backdrops used that are painfully obvious. It also features a couple of topless scenes involving Marsden and Frazer that was likely meant to add a bit of phwoar factor in but is more likely to see women (and men) running screaming from the room at the sight of such skinny pasty bodies. I know I did. There are also some wonderfully chucklesome moments, intentionally or otherwise in this. Nick Berry (pre-EastEnders) makes a delightful appearance as a delivery boy in episode 2 and is cheerfully amusing as the apprentice passing comment on the YTS Scheme. And there was a unintentionally funny moment when in one scene a drug addict teenager is caught raiding the Book Club by police, who when asked what his name is I thought he said "David Mellor" If only!
Overall this is a well acted mystery that starts well but the death of one of it's main characters impacts somewhat on the remainder of the episodes. Despite this it has enough though to keep you interested, it has some beautiful scenery and it remains an absorbing murder mystery.
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