'Sister Boniface' Experiences Free Love, Sisterhood & Murder in “The Happiest Family”

The penultimate episode of Sister Boniface Mysteries Season 4 opens with a quiet, cosy evening for the nuns: tea, cake, board games, knitting, and for Sister Boniface herself, a challenging jigsaw puzzle. The peace is interrupted by the convent’s French cook, Sister Laurence (Kate Robbins), who announces that no meat has been delivered for the weekend. There’s only (insert Gallic sneer) corned beef! But Reverend Mother Adrian breaks the news that she canceled the delivery, because, surprise! They’re all going away for the weekend.

A bus full of excited nuns makes its way through gorgeous autumnal scenery, eventually depositing them outside a vast country house. Sister Laurence raves about the beautiful kitchen gardens, and as they progress through the grounds, the Reverend Mother promises her charges a weekend of wholesome activities. That ambition is shot down as they arrive at the swimming pool where naked Dr. Saatvik Bose (Jazz Singh Deol) lounges, modesty protected only by a well-placed beach ball.

Another couple, Miles Fletcher (Oliver Dench) and Vivien Ashbrook (Sophie Ablett), cavort in the pool together. Alcohol and cigarettes are in clear view. Everyone is equally horrified into silence until the fourth member of the party, Charity Gray (Genesis Lynea), recognizes an old friend from her past, now Sister Reginald (Virginia Fiol). Sister Reginald frequently lets drop hints that her pre-convent life was not exactly squeaky clean. She was a bookkeeper at the shady club where Charity worked, in (ahem) customer relations, but they drew apart when religion divided them.