Summer's Lease (1989)

Director:	Martyn Friend
Actors:	Susan Fleetwood, Rosemary Leach, Gabrielle Anwar, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., John Gielgud, Samantha Glenn, Michael Pennington, Suzanne Hay

This four-part mini-series is an elegant story of atmosphere, comedy and mystery written and adapted by the prolific author John Mortimer. It is full of brilliantly captured performances by a host of British character actors, including an Emmy award winning performance by John Gielgud. From the moment she set eyes on it, Molly Pargeter (Susan Fleetwood) knows that she has to take the villa La Felicita in Tuscany, Italy for her family's summer holiday. Since childhood she has cherished a passion for Italy and art, and this Tuscan escape offers the promise of viewing priceless art, and relaxed sunny days - far from her stable, dull life in west London. Undeterred by the bossy and patronising tone of her would-be landlord, Molly takes her unwilling family and all-too-willing father, aged columnist Haverford Downs (John Gielgud), to the hills of Italy. When the water supply mysteriously fails and a neighbour suddenly dies, she finds herself increasingly obsessed with unravelling the secrets of the villa's enigmatic landlord and becomes dangerously involved with the curious concerns of the local expatriate community.