ITV‘s buzzworthy new Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) drama Beecham House began tonight.
If you want to avoid spoilers for Beecham House, stop reading this article now.
Viewers were introduced to the handsome and mysterious John Beecham (Tom Bateman), a man who bought a huge house in Delhi three years after saving the life of a family who were almost hijacked. Arriving with a baby that no one knew existed, Beecham acquainted himself with his household staff and his neighbours.
Keen to get a free trade licence from Emperor Shah Alam (Roshan Seth), Beecham came up against resistance from General Castillon (Grégory Fitoussi) who looks like he’s going to be the villain of the series. The Emperor had little trust in Beecham due to his past association with the East India Company, believing that he was still working for them despite Beecham’s insistence to the contrary.
Beecham met Margaret Osborne (Dakota Blue Richards), the teacher of his neighbour Murad’s (Adil Ray) daughter, and entered into an as yet unstated battle for her affections with Castillon.
A curveball was thrown when Beecham’s mother Henrietta (Lesley Nicol) arrived bringing with her Violet Woodhouse (Bessie Carter), one of Beecham’s childhood friends, and his former colleague Samuel Parker (Marc Warren). Henrietta was dismayed to find that her son had a secret child of mixed heritage and that he was growing close to Margaret, as she’d hoped to pair him with Violet.
At the episode’s end, Henrietta asked Beecham and Samuel to find her missing son Daniel (Leo Suter), who viewers saw was enjoying himself in a brothel.
Read our full Beecham House episode 1 recap.
The synopsis for episode 2 is:
With the arrival of his mother from London and the discovery of his brother Daniel in a camp close by, John has finally fulfilled his dream of having his family reunited. But, the arrival of the mysterious Chandrika throws the household into chaos.
Beecham House continues tomorrow night at 9pm on ITV. Preview the episode with our gallery below:
