Mr. Rose

Scotland Yard’s Chief Inspector Rose, portrayed by the alluring William Mervyn, was first seen in The Odd Man and It’s Dark Outside, Granada’s cult crime series of the early ’60s, and this sequel sees the severe detective coming out from a restless retirement to take on a further series of cases. Gillian Lewis plays Rose’s beautiful secretary, Drusilla, and Donald Webster his enigmatic manservant, John. Retirement has supplied Mr. Rose the time not only to grow a cottage garden on the south coast, but also to pen his memoirs. And it’s the approaching publication of those memoirs that brings a number of figures crawling out of the woodwork and back into his life: crooks and former colleagues alike, who know that his extensive personal collection of case files holds a wealth of incriminating detail. Time may have mellowed Rose, but he’s as sharp as ever as he commences a succession of new investigations with customary aplomb – and evident relish.