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3 Episodes 1998 - 1998
Episode 1
108 mins
After shooting a child killer who was deemed untouchable, Scotland Yard's Albert Tyburn (Trevor Eve) is sent to 1930s Kenya to head a new criminal division of the small police force in Nairobi. He investigates the death of Lady Daphne Ellesmere (Kate McKenzie) as a murder, although his boss Commissioner Burkitt (Michael Byrne) and the coroner insist her death by lion attack was an accident. Helping him is Daphne's sister Emma Fitzgerald (Susannah Harker), an attractive and independent woman who has become a bush pilot and refuses to play the social games common in the British expatriate set.
Episode 2
113 mins
Ty Tyburn (Trevor Eve) and his new assistant, Valentine (Julian Rhind-Tutt), investigate the murder of a native woman and a reported Native attack on a local Christian mission with Reverend Herbert (Hugh Bonneville). Meanwhile, Burkitt (Michael Byrne) orders Tyburn to arrest all the native prostitutes, to get them off the street before the expected visit by Edward, the Prince of Wales; Tyburn struggles to house them all. At first, since the jail is too small to house them all, he charges them with vagrancy which is dismissed. Tyburn then warns them to refrain from further work until after the Prince's visit. However, Burkitt insists they be arrested again. This time, Burkitt insists they be charged with a five-schilling fine each. Valentine houses them in police barracks temporarily. John McAllister (Ewan Stewart) blackmails the Reverend, knowing him be a deserter. McAllister is found impaled by a native spear, murdered. Later, when it's discovered the man was murdered by a gunshot, the Reverend confesses and is arrested. Tyburn discovers he was not ordained, but his fingerprints don't match the murderer's on the shotgun. Just as the coffee farmer's sister goes to confess her brother's involvement in female slave-trading with Mr. Drennan (Peter Sullivan) to the police, who used coffee buying only as a front, he shoots and kills her. The coffee farm owner, Theodore Watcham (Richard McCabe) is suspected of physically and sexually abusing young native girls. When one dies after being rescued by the mission, he is suspected. Ultimately, they catch McCabe transporting them for Drennan by boat to destination for sale, and stop him, resulting in his accidental death. As he is identified by a native girl victim and arrested, he is shot and killed by his sister, Mathilda. Tyburn decides not to charge the Reverend for desertion. For all the fuss and bother, a family illness causes the Prince to cancel his visit.
Episode 3
113 mins
After defeating a charge of murder by beating to death a young African man who worked for him and losing an important horse race, wealthy and powerful Max Van der Vuurst (Joss Ackland) is seen to be making sexually inappropriate comments insulting a young woman sitting near him at a cricket match. A man's body is found at the river, found to have been killed elsewhere. He is identified by his bereft father. Max is seen, burning his walking stick. His race competitor, Rafe Goodwin (Geoffrey Bayldon) alleges Max, in his publication, disputed his racehorse breeding. His estate manager then reports to Tyburn (Trevor Eve) that Max murdered the boy. Max is charged at the courthouse. As witnesses, Max and his daughter allege first the boy sexually assaulted her and was then beaten. Max is found not guilty. Outside the courthouse, the boy's father tries to shoot Max but is apprehended. Nairobi Race Week then begins. During the race, Max's jockey falls and dies of a broken neck, leaving Rafe's horse to win. At the after-race dance, Max collapses drunk and is put to bed by his children. McCourt comes to collect his belongings, having been fired for his testimony. A man is seen setting fire to his bed, killing Max. At first, it is assumed to be an accidental fire. Tyburn and Burkitt reach an impasse over who is guilty. Tyburn secretly continues investigating racetrack bets and a hit-and-run fatality of a pickpocket. Rafe then commits suicide by gunshot over a bankruptcy. Max seems to have drugged his own jockey, causing his fall and death. Tyburn has to work with colonial troops to rescue a town besieged by raiders in order to collar their prime suspect, McCourt. When they reach the telegraph station, it is still burning after an attack. Pilot Emma Fitzgerald (Susannah Harker) flies in the doctor to treat an injured man. The next morning, a station attack by raiders is repelled. Emma escapes in her plane for help, leaving them almost out of ammunition. Just as they are doomed, Captain Keaton (Jonathan Firth) arrives with his troops, saving them. Tyburn and Jan Van der Vuurst (Theo Landey) ride out to an abandoned mine to search for McCourt. Jan walks into a shack, rigged with explosives and is killed. Max turns up, having faked his own death, holding a gun on Tyburn. His daughter shows up also holding a gun. She shoots him and he falls down a cliff, killing him. As Tyburn is hanging onto the side of the cliff, Emma pulls him up. They are shown dancing, dressed to the nines on the nearby prairie.