Summer's Lease

Summer's Lease

A family's holiday in Tuscany leads in intrigue and mystery in this BBC classic

Limited Series 1989 · 4 eps · ★ 7.2 · Mystery, Drama

Ended

Fortysomething wife and mother Molly Pargeter leads a stable but dull life in 1980s West London. She feels overweight and there is no passion in her relationship with her husband Hugh, who is secretly seeing another woman. For most of her life, Molly has found escape in detective novels and art books, especially on 15th-century Italian fresco painter Piero Della Francesca. Suddenly, in the small ads, she spots the details of a Tuscany villa to let, and after a viewing, she takes it for holiday.

Created by John Mortimer

Networks: PBS, BBC Two

Your Rating

Cast

Susan Fleetwood Molly Pargeter
John Gielgud Haverford Downs
Michael Pennington Hugh Pargeter
Rosemary Leach Nancy Leadbetter
Caroline Waldron Henry Pargeter
Veronica Lazăr Baronessa Dulcibene
Suzanne Hay Sam Pargeter
Samantha Glenn Jack Pargeter
Siria Betti Giovanna
Gabrielle Anwar Chrissie Kettering
Denis Lill Ken Corduroy
Massimo Sarchielli Don Marco

More from John MortimerSee all →

Der Mann aus dem Bootshaus

Der Mann aus dem Bootshaus · 1967

Der Mann aus dem Bootshaus

Attractive Julia Swinton is a middle-aged woman. Her life went normally and without big occurrences. But through the unexplained death of a familiar young lady in a houseboat and the sudden appearance of a strange stranger, unrest and threat now break into the seemingly so peaceful everyday life of the Swinton family. As it soon turns out, Mr. Swinton has a secret relationship with the lady on the boathouse...

Will Shakespeare

Will Shakespeare · 1978

Will Shakespeare

A dramatisation of the life of famed playwright William Shakespeare from 1590 to 1607.

Maschenka

Maschenka · 1987

MovieDramaRomance

Film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's debut novel, 'Mary'.

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Hallmark Hall of Fame · 1951

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

Shades of Greene

Shades of Greene · 1975

Shades of Greene

Shades of Greene is a British television series based on short stories written by the author Graham Greene. The series began in 1975, with each hour-long episode featuring a dramatisation of one of Greene's stories, many of which dealt with issues such as guilt and the Catholic faith, as well as looking at life in general. Actors to have appeared in the series include John Gielgud, Leo McKern, Virginia McKenna, Paul Scofield, and Roy Kinnear. The series began on 9 September 1975 and ran for two seasons.

Rumpole of the Bailey

Rumpole of the Bailey · 1975

Rumpole of the Bailey

MovieMysteryCrime

An irreverent barrister chooses to defend a young Jamaican boy accused of stabbing on the same day his only son leaves for college in America.

Edwin

MovieDramaTV Movie

Touching comedy about a high court judge, now retired to his English countryside home, who resolves to end years of suspicion about his wife's fidelity and the true paternity of their son.

Back to Back

Back to Back · 1959

These dueling one-act comedies highlight the work of playwright John Mortimer. In "The Dock Brief," an ill-prepared attorney is put to the test when his client confesses to killing his wife. In "What Shall We Tell Caroline?" a father with good intentions tries to protect his wife and daughter from the bad things in life.

Titmuss Regained

Titmuss Regained · 1991

Titmuss Regained

Leslie Titmuss returns to Rapstone village and will do whatever it takes to fit in with the highest levels of society. Married to his second wife, Jenny, he seeks to buy his first wife's country house. These plans are hampered by a real estate development that Leslie, due to his free market politics, can hardly oppose publicly.

Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited · 1981

Brideshead Revisited

Agnostic Charles Ryder is seduced by the allure of the Flytes, a wealthy aristocratic family. Although he finds himself at odds with their strong Catholicism, his ties to the family deepen for the decades between the two world wars.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Alfred Hitchcock Presents · 1955

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

SeriesMysteryDrama

A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.

The Innocents

The Innocents · 1961

MovieHorrorMystery

In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.

A Voyage Round My Father

A Voyage Round My Father · 1984

A Voyage Round My Father

A successful lawyer struck with blindness in middle age continues his battles in the courtroom with the assistance of his family. As his son deals with bitter memories of their relationship, he also seeks his father's respect and love and in the process learns to love in return.

Bunny Lake Is Missing

Bunny Lake Is Missing · 1965

Bunny Lake Is Missing

MovieMysteryThriller

A woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed.

Rumpole of the Bailey

Rumpole of the Bailey · 1975

Rumpole of the Bailey

SeriesDramaComedy

Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It stars Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients, and has been spun off into a series of short stories, novels, and radio programmes.

ITV Playhouse

ITV Playhouse · 1967

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.

More Like This

Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar · 2025

Apple Cider Vinegar

SeriesDramaCrime

Two young women advocate for wellness remedies to cure deadly illnesses, unraveling their lives as they unknowingly — and knowingly — mislead the world.

The Signal

The Signal · 2024

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyDrama

A missing astronaut sets her family on a frantic hunt for answers. But the more they uncover, the greater the threat becomes to them — and the world.

Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist

Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist · 2024

Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist

SeriesDramaCrime

The story of how on the night of Ali’s defeat of Jerry Quarry, which came after he was banned from boxing for refusing to enter the military draft, hundreds of guests at an after-party were robbed at gunpoint, becoming one of the largest armed robberies the country has ever seen.

Murder in a Small Town

Murder in a Small Town · 2024

Murder in a Small Town

SeriesDramaCrime

Karl Alberg moves to a quiet coastal town to soothe a psyche that has been battered by big-city police work but finds himself needing to call upon all his skills to solve the murders that continue to wash up on his shore.

Murderbot

Murderbot · 2025

SeriesComedyDrama

In a high-tech future, a rogue security robot secretly gains free will. To stay hidden, it reluctantly joins a new mission protecting scientists on a dangerous planet... even though it just wants to binge soap operas.

Barkskins

Barkskins · 2020

A disparate group of outcasts and dreamers battle to escape their pasts while navigating the brutal frontier hardships, competing interests, and tangled loyalties at the crossroads of civilization: the New World. Based on the novel by Pulitzer-winner Annie Proulx.

Foundation

Foundation · 2021

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyDrama

Follow a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire.

56 Days

56 Days · 2026

SeriesDramaCrime

When an unidentified body is found in a luxury apartment linked to Oliver Kennedy and his girlfriend Ciara Wyse, Detectives Lee Reardon and Karl Connolly reconstruct the couple's deadly romance across the past 56 days.

Monsieur Spade

Monsieur Spade · 2024

SeriesDramaMystery

Detective Sam Spade is pulled out of his tranquil retirement in France to investigate a series of brutal murders.

M*A*S*H

M*A*S*H · 1972

SeriesWar & PoliticsDrama

The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is stuck in the middle of the Korean war. With little help from the circumstances they find themselves in, they are forced to make their own fun. Fond of practical jokes and revenge, the doctors, nurses, administrators, and soldiers often find ways of making wartime life bearable.

The Lost World

The Lost World · 1999

SeriesAction & AdventureDrama

Early 20th-century adventurers find themselves fighting for survival after their hot-air balloon crashes into a remote part of the Amazon, stranding them on a prehistoric plateau.

How is it so far?

Your ratings make Midnight smarter