The Price (1985) (Episode 4)

Part 4 of 6 of the 1985 thriller. Geoffrey discovers who his friends really are when he struggles to raise the £3million he needs for the ransom. He finds a friend in Frances' sister Margaret, but as he gets closer to her he learns some disturbing and somewhat unpalatable truths about his wife and the events that led up to her first husband's death. Meanwhile, at the IRA hideout, as Frank risks discovery while picking up Clare's medication, Frances plots an escape plan, but when things go wrong events take a gruesome turn... Starring Peter Barkworth, Harriet Walter, Susanna Reid, Derek Thompson, Aingeal Grehan, Linda Spurrier, David Lyon, Adrian Dunbar, Nicholas Jones, Colm Hefferon, Ann Sinnott, Geoffrey Golden, Clive Geraghty and Aine Ni Mhuiri. Part 4 and there is a surprisingly graphic scene when kidnap victim Frances has to clean up after the slops bucket is spilled that leaves little to the imagination. And it's Frances who gives this thriller an unnerving feel to it. Harriet Walter is compelling - if not entirely likeable - as Frances, whose force of nature personality drives her urge to escape their captors. But there is a disturbing element to her character, which is revealed more when Geoffrey finds out some troubling and unpalatable truths when he shares a heart to heart with her sister Margaret. Oh, and be warned: this episode ends with a somewhat gruesome twist, the nature of which you won't find out until the next episode...