This week, Harriet gets personally involved with the case of a young English woman arrested for drugs smuggling, only to discover her son is mixed up in it as well. Walking a fine line between personal motivation and her ambassadorial duty, Harriet struggles to know what the truth is. And John gets himself mixed up in it along the way.
About
The third episode of series one of The Ambassador, ‘Nine Tenths of the Law’, aired on the 18th January 1998 on BBC One. It was filmed on location in Ireland, and was a production of Ecosse Films & Irish Screen. Written by Christopher Russell and directed by Ken Grieve, it stars Pauline Collins as ‘Harriet Smith’, Denis Lawson as ‘John Stone’, Owen Roe as ‘Kevin Flaherty’, William Chubb as ‘Stephen Tyler’ and Alison McKenna as ‘Jennifer’. Additional guest stars this episode include Dominic Mafham as ‘Julian Wadham’, Tim Matthews as ‘Nate Smith’, Martha Cope as ‘Emma’ and Pooky Quesnel as ‘Liz’.
Availability: Out on Region 2 DVD—currently in print from Simply Media as of 2016. Available digitally from Amazon in the United States—both series are included in Prime and are additionally available for purchase separately.
Nine Tenths of the Law
This episode kicks off with an Anglo-Irish anti-drugs initiative, the introduction to which is attended by the Embassy Staff, Flaherty, and other Irish representatives. The campaign is aimed at increasing cooperation between police and customs on both sides of the border. Fittingly, alongside these scenes, we see a young woman, on the ferry being stopped by customs, searched, and then arrested for smuggling drugs.
At the Embassy, John is perched on Jennifer’s desk waiting to greet her. Apparently, he tried to call her last night, but he couldn’t get hold of her. He enquires after her whereabouts—which, surely, even if he is in charge of Embassy security, he doesn’t need to know where Harriet’s assistant is in her off-hours? She refuses to answer, but does indulge in teasing him. He draws her in for a kiss (that’s smooch number two, blog readers), but, just as he has satisfaction: the alarms go off.
Everyone is hastily evacuated from the Embassy due to a bomb scare. (Protesters did burn down the British Embassy in Dublin in 1972, so it’s no wonder that threats are treated seriously.) The morning briefing is, instead, held at a local bar. The ever undiplomatic Julian is back. He’s been dealing with Emma, the girl who was arrested on the ferry. He, and the other men, are all for leaving her to rot, but Harriet insists proper assistance is rendered to her as due. Luckily, the scare at the Embassy is dealt with (turns out to be just a tinned meat pie) and everyone can return to work.
With the Embassy under threat, Harriet goes to see her son Nate, in another attempt to convince him to have protection officers assigned to him. When she reaches his dorm, a girl opens the door for him. Harriet is very chill in the wake of this potentially embarrassing scene: this entire sequence is very funny to watch. Nate is recalcitrant as always.
“You won’t have a love life if you get blown to bits.”
We also learn that, since Harriet stopped giving Nate money, he’s been working at a bar, Dolan’s, to bring in some cash. Coincidentally—or perhaps as a stroke of luck—it’s the same bar Emma is employed at. So Harriet’s next trip is to go see her. Emma isn’t impressed with the assistance rendered to her, particularly not with Julian, who she refers to as a prat. Harriet makes it clear what she’s facing as a consequence of her actions: a minimum sentence of five years for smuggling drugs.
Emma argues that the drugs must have been planted on her: she’d never be involved with anything like that. She’s only in Ireland to try to get justice for her sister, who died a year ago at Dolan’s after taking ecstasy. The kicker: she has a tape, where she’s being threatened by Liz, the girlfriend of the bar owner, to keep out of it. Harriet’s concern? Nate is also on the tape.
To discover just how involved Nate is, Harriet pays Emma’s bail (personally!). They retrieve the tape, and thankfully, it doesn’t implicate Nate in any of the dirty business—though it certainly doesn’t look good for Liz.
Stephen is horrified about what he considers improper use of Embassy resources. And when he finds out Nate is involved? He’s apoplectic. Harriet deals with him in her usual way, refusing to indulge his concerns. This is a very excellent scene from Stephen, and it’s made better by how John just lurks in the background, not commenting.
“Look, Stephen’s right. I can’t step outside the rules for the girl. But I will for you.”
John’s investigation leads him to Dolan’s. Liz is not happy he’s there, and she certainly doesn’t want to be answering questions. She does admit that she knew Emma was on the boat, and therefore is the likely candidate for framing Emma. Unfortunately, John’s detective work has been noticed, and the Garda aren’t keen on him muscling in on what is their investigation. Flaherty imparts this message to Harriet, who in turn imparts it to John.
“I can’t have you put your career on the line,” Harriet tells him. This doesn’t matter to John, who would do anything for Harriet. He thinks he’s onto something; a lawyer who is part of the Anglo-Irish anti-drugs initiative also has suspicious ties to Dolan’s. But Harriet won’t let him risk it; she’ll put her own career on the line to find out the truth.
She goes to speak to Liz. Liz isn’t happy about the British Ambassador getting involved in her life, but she is perfectly happy to screw over her boyfriend to save her own skin. She gives Harriet the information she needs, and this results in a Garda raid on Dolan’s. Mindful that Nate is working there, John takes it upon himself to visit and pull Nate out just before the Garda enter.
Unfortunately, this results in unforeseen circumstances: some of the goons who work at Dolan’s see Nate leaving, moments before the raid happens. As punishment, they beat Nate up severely enough that Nate is hospitalised. He’s unconscious when Harriet visits, but his girlfriend isn’t pleased with the circumstances. Harriet should have left it well enough alone. The episode ends with her leaving the hospital, John by her side.
Verdict
The central point of this episode seems to be to indicate that the British and Irish can, on occasion, agree on things. And that may well be; the drugs initiative certainly seems like a good idea. A shame that the reality doesn’t quite live up to the promise.
Things with Nate that have been brewing ever since the first episode of the series come to a bit of a head this episode. Harriet doesn’t know her son well enough to know he’s picked up this new job, or be truly certain that he isn’t involved with the drug business. Because he’s associated with the key players, Harriet’s judgement is called into question—can she be truly objective if her son is involved? Her interest in Emma’s case is certainly piqued when she learns Nate’s involved. But this episode also proves Nate is right: his mother, the British Ambassador, living in the same city as him? It’s screwing up his life.
This episode also capitalises on last episode’s tease: John and Jennifer are in a relationship. I’m gonna save the bulk of my thoughts for this for next week, in which it well, is a significant plot point. But look. This is not the first woman paired with Lawson who is twenty-some years his junior. (I have no idea how old Jennifer is supposed to be, or how old Alison McKenna, who plays Jennifer actually is, but I’d wager that’s what the age gap is.) She seems into it—she partakes in the teasing just as much as he does, and he’s the one waiting on her. And as much as Harriet likes John, and has that long standing friendship with her, if Jennifer accused him of impropriety? He’d be out on his ass.
There’s some prime John and Harriet stuff in this episode, too. As Harriet delves deeper into the case, stepping more outside Embassy guidelines, John is willing to go with her every step of the way. He demonstrates this episode just how willing he is to break the rules for her. His loyalty isn’t to the Embassy, to the Ambassador: it’s to Harriet, personally. He will do anything for her, and he means it. (I absolutely believe, in my heart of hearts, he would betray every other ideal he’s ever held dear if she told him too.)
The loyalty goes both ways; Harriet refuses to let him risk his career for her. She’ll risk hers instead. Even so, it’s John’s decision to try and rescue Nate—a decision that ultimately ends up causing Nate serious injury. You just have to look at the horror on John’s face when he arrives at the hospital to know that he’d never forgive himself if his actions had caused Nate to get hurt.
Next time
A grieving father takes Jennifer hostage, and the entire team is faced with working out just how much they can do to save her. Plus an old friend comes back into Harriet’s life at just the right—or wrong—time. All that and more in The Ambassador: Cluster of Betrayals.