A Dark Secret

Henrietta’s opium addiction spells danger – but will the truth be exposed this week?

- Caren Clark, Victoria Wilson

Lesley Nicol was always calm under pressure in her role as Downton Abbey’s cook Mrs. Patmore, but her latest character – Beecham House’s formidable Henrietta Beecham – is struggling to cope both with her life in Delhi and her secret addiction to opium.

This week, as Henrietta runs out of her ‘elixir’, she begs her young companion Violet (Bessie Carter) to buy her some more. Violet agrees – but on the condition that Henrietta encourages her son John (Tom Bateman) to fall in love with her.