English Without Tears

Top-hatted Fortune and Weedon carriage delivers a basket of quail to Beauclerk House. Lady Christabel mistakes the birds for a thrush and reacts with horror. She orders Tom Gilbey to accompany the party to Geneva where she will advocate sanctuaries for British birds. The moment foreshadows the social and imperial tensions that will thread through the tale.

Following the quail debacle, Lady Christabel commits to a Geneva mission and summons Tom Gilbey to accompany the party. The assignment expands from household affairs to international diplomacy as they travel to Geneva. Gilbey wrestles with duty, pride, and the expectations of three generations of servants.

Back home, Joan Heseltine discusses equality with Tom Gilbey and reveals a crush on him. The moment hints at a forbidden romance across class lines. The tension between affection and propriety will echo through their wartime separation.

In Geneva, Polish cartoonist Felix Dembowski and French novelist François de Freycinet join the delegation, while Norwegian interpreter Brigid Knudsen's translations set a witty tone. The sessions mingle political satire with personal standoffs as language barriers complicate diplomacy.

One delegate engages Knudsen to learn more about Gilbey by vamping her, revealing the undercurrents of rumor and suspicion within the sanctuary debates. The episode shows how appearances and loyalties are manipulated in a high-stakes social theater. Knudsen's position becomes a focal point for both charm and political games.

A romantic row on the lake ends with Gilbey arriving to rescue a soaked Brigid Knudsen. The moment heightens romantic tension and tests loyalties among the Geneva group. The scene blends light humor with the gravity of their diplomatic mission.

On 2 October 1939, Britain declares war and Gilbey leaves to join the Territorial Army. The home front and the Geneva assignment diverge as the family faces a world at war. Joan's feelings for him are left unresolved as the men head toward separate duties.

Misled by Bonnie, Joan declares her love in a nearby tea shop. Gilbey, citing youth and class distinctions, tells her it is hopeless. She refuses to give up, setting the stage for future wartime reunions and changes in their relationship.

May 1940: Knudsen serendipitously encounters De Freycinet at a train station. Beauclerk House is renamed The Sanctuary, housing European Allied officers. Gilbey returns as a second lieutenant in the RASC and discovers Lady Christabel occupying his old room. Joan becomes a confident English teacher to a large class of officers.

De Freycinet and Dembowski vie for Joan's affections by trying to be her top pupil, taking extra lessons from Knudsen. The competition tests loyalties and pride as the trio's dynamics strain friendships. Lady Christabel approves of De Freycinet's suit, adding to the mounting tension.

The trio's misunderstanding escalates; Joan storms out after overhearing the men arguing about her. In the Sanctuary's bar, the men drunkenly reconcile and swear off women, momentarily quashing the love triangle. The moment marks a temporary pause in romantic entanglements as war continues to loom.

On 18 September 1940, Joan Heseltine joins the Auxiliary Territorial Service, embracing a new call to service. Her decision signals a personal turning point away from aristocratic considerations toward wartime duty. The shift deepens the distance from Gilbey, even as their destinies remain intertwined.

In December 1942, Joan is assigned to a notorious RASC major who has run through six typists in a month. Gilbey is now brusque, rude, and demanding, insisting that a staff member who has just given birth return to work. In tears, Joan confides to a sympathetic corporal that he is 'wonderful' despite his roughness.

A top-hatted Fortune and Weedon man delivers a basket of canned spam to Beauclerk House for the New Year's Eve United Nations Dance. Tom and Joan kiss amid the crowd, and the montage cuts to the just-married couple running down the steps to cheers. Joan's new job is as Gilbey's driver, and she proclaims her vow to 'endeavor to give every satisfaction.'