In It For The Monet

Mr and Mrs Sheridan, parents of Isobel, a university student studying Art History, ask Ken to investigate why their daughter has changed and why she suddenly seems to be suspiciously wealthy. Ken talks to her former boyfriend, Geoff, and learns that she used to be very keen on rowing but then suddenly gave it up a year ago and now has a new set of friends.

Laura and Rocky go undercover, posing as students. They see Isobel and a friend, Dominique, all dolled-up and getting into a brand new flashy convertible. They follow her to a hotel. When Rocky sees the women leaving a hotel bedroom after a little while, and an Italian man gratefully handing over money, he jumps to the obvious conclusion – that they are on the game! Then, outside Isobel’s room, Laura finds syringes and a note referring to poppies – perhaps she is a drug dealer. What should Ken tell her parents?

Ken eventually discovers that Isobel is selling her essays to less able students – with the knowledge of her tutor, Dr Michael Harrison. However Ken is suspicious of Harrison’s involvement. On closer inspection he finds out that he has been selling the essays world-wide, without Isobel knowing or getting any money. Isobel has just won a doctorate to Florence University. At the end-of-term party, Ken tells her what Harrison has been doing. She is furious but can’t blow the whistle on him because he will reveal that she has been selling her essays to students. However in her acceptance speech she makes veiled hints about “other people being able to benefit from her work” and she asks Ken to keep all the evidence, in case Harrison tries the same trick again.

Ken and Harry become involved in a family feud. Two brothers, Andrew and Graham Barker, are squabbling over ownership of a classic car. Andrew approaches Ken and Harry, claiming that he had been left the car by their father and that Graham has stolen the body. He wants to sell the car and offers them a share in the selling price. But when they go to see Graham, he claims that the car was left to him and that Andrew has stolen the chassis and engine. Andrew and Graham’s mother says differently: the car was left to both of them to share, but “cutting it in half” isn’t playing fair by the terms of their father’s will, so the car reverts to her. She wants it back and offers Ken and Harry £500 for helping. They take the body from Graham’s workshop. Then, with Mrs Barker and her butler providing a diversion, they drive away in the chassis, with the brothers in hot pursuit. Harry starts to assemble the car and is considering buying it himself to use as a courtesy car for Woodcote Park, until Helen pours cold water on the idea. The brothers try to steal the car back but their mother tells them in no uncertain terms to stop squabbling. She arranges that they will all meet at a motorway junction where they will be “pleasantly surprised”. The surprise is that she and her butler, William, have just got married and are going on their honeymoon in the car. She never pays Ken and Harry the £500 that she promised.

Notes and episode list © Martin Underwood, 1997

Page last modified: 17 December 2008, 23:48