"Devices & Desires" Brings 'Dalgliesh' to a Dramatic Conclusion

The final mystery of Dalgliesh Season 3, “Devices and Desires,” takes us to a community dominated by a nuclear power facility where a serial murderer, known as “The Whistler,” is targeting female employees. The episode opens with a young woman, Vivienne Mitchell (Holly Demaine), leaving a party; she narrowly misses flagging down a taxi before hearing rustles in nearby bushes. Her assailant whistles a tune when she’s dead.

Scotland Yard takes over the case and immediately discovers Vivienne was murdered ten days after another victim, Denise Shepherd. Both were strangled, a letter L carved into their foreheads; both were administrative employees at the controversial Larkskill Nuclear Power Station in East Anglia. DC Norman Bracknell (Patrick FitzSymons) worries the victims are being targeted. It’s a delicate time for the power station; new PM Margaret Thatcher is pressing to expand nuclear power, and a strong anti-nuclear movement opposes her program. Another serial murderer, the Yorkshire Ripper, is still at large in the north of England, and the near-catastrophic Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the US is still fresh in the public’s mind.

Dalgliesh is pleased the case has been assigned to Acting DI Kate Miskin, who offers to co-manage it with him as they interview residents and Larkskill employees. Kate is newly engaged to an EMT, Damien, and secretly pregnant. She worries that if word about her pregnancy gets out, she’ll be put on desk duty. (She’s seen what happened to police after they failed to catch the Yorkshire Ripper.)