FATHER DOWLING MYSTERIES: THE ROYAL MYSTERY {THIRD SEASON PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
One in this mystery series about a Chicago-based Catholic priest and nun who solve murders and mysteries together. Lady Cara Winston, a young royal woman and cousin to the Prince of Wales, is in Chicago with a British trade delegation. Secretly a hitman named Stuart is hired to assassinate her. Marie reads about Lady Cara's visit in the newspaper and notes that Stephanie looks almost exactly like her. The news article states that Lady Cara may be engaged to a Manchester punk rocker named Sean McAllister, despite the royal family's disapproval. Meanwhile, Lady Cara confides in her lifelong friend Gloria that she wants to get away from her scheduled activities, since she promised to meet Sean in the city. She gets Sir Robert, her uncle and legal guardian, to allow her free time to head into the city under the pretense of going clothes shopping. He assigns a bodyguard to protect her: Stuart, who he says is working under the employ of Louis Vale, one of his business associates in the United States. Lady Cara heads into a clothing store to try on clothes, and at the same time Stephanie arrives at that store to collect old coats for the church's clothing drive. She encounters Lady Cara in the back and they both realize that they look exactly alike. Lady Cara explains her situation with Sean and laments that Sir Robert will never allow the two of them to be together. She has the idea to use her and Stephanie's similar appearances to switch clothes and pose as each other long enough for her to meet with Sean. Stephanie does not approve of this plan but agrees to participate when she sees Lady Cara's desperation. Stephanie, now posing as Lady Cara, emerges from the dressing-room and attempts to act like her. She is unexpectedly called back to the British consulate for a television interview, but returns to find that it has been cancelled. She excuses herself to use a phone to call Father Dowling, but when she picks up she overhears Stuart talking with his employer about their plan to apparently kidnap Lady Cara at a consulate reception that night. Stephanie arranges a meeting with Father Dowling and Sgt. Clancy, revealing her true identity to them. She explains the situation to them and says she plans to continue posing as Lady Cara in order to protect her from the kidnapping attempt, and to give Sgt. Clancy enough time to call in reinforcements. Father Dowling and Sgt. Clancy harbor reservations about Stephanie's plan, but she convinces them to go along with it. Stephanie and Father Dowling see a truck driver enter the consulate with a case of mineral water; Stephanie recognizes him as Willie "The Whisper" Lupinzki, a small-time criminal. They spy on Willie as he exchanges the case with an identical case in a storage closet. Father Dowling decides to go after Willie, and Stephanie gives him the name of a pool hall he frequents before he leaves. Unbeknownst to either of them, Gloria has been watching them the entire time. First, Father Dowling looks for Lady Cara at the restaurant where she was to meet back with Stephanie. He finds her making out with Sean, still wearing Stephanie's nun vestments, and interrupts them to try to get her out of there. Sean tells him to mind his own business and tells Lady Cara that he's tired of Sir Robert keeping them apart. He asks her to come away with him to New York, but she doesn't answer and he walks off, leaving Lady Cara heartbroken. Father Dowling informs her of the upcoming kidnapping attempt and she tags along with him when he visits the pool hall looking for information about Willie. Taking a cue from Father Dowling's description of Stephanie's investigative techniques, Lady Cara challenges one of the patrons to a game of pool. Her ineptitude with a pool cue destroys a light fixture and nearly harms some of the patrons, but this intimidates them into telling them that Willie was asked to meet with his employers at a bottling plant near Union Station later that day. Meanwhile, Stephanie picks the lock to the storeroom where the case was exchanged and finds that it has a false bottom concealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. She manages to sneak around and avoid Stuart, but she encounters Gloria, who tells her she realizes that Stephanie is not who she is pretending to be. When Stuart comes upon them, however, Gloria decides to keep up the charade. She explains that the identity-switching scheme is characteristic of Lady Cara's ideas. Stephanie shows Gloria where the money was hidden but finds that it is now gone, possibly taken by whoever hired Stuart. Stephanie is called upon for "Lady Cara's" press conference, leaving her nervous and uncomfortable. Father Dowling and Lady Cara go to the church to lay low for a while. Father Prestwick and Marie both speak with Lady Cara, not realizing her true identity. Stephanie holds the press conference and struggles to maintain her composure as the reporters ask her about Lady Cara's fashion preferences. Finally she makes a plea about the plight of the homeless who can't afford clothing, and this is met with applause from the assembled reporters. Meanwhile, Marie soon realizes that Lady Cara is posing as Stephanie, but Father Dowling takes her away to track down Willie. Sir Robert calls Sean to invite him over to the reception to allow him to speak about his relationship with Lady Cara. However, it turns out that Sir Robert is the one who hired Stuart in the first place, and has more sinister intentions for Sean. At the bottling plant, Father Dowling and Lady Cara sneak into the manager's office. Lady Cara recognizes the picture of the manager as one of Louis Vale. They find a number of pieces of evidence before they are forced to hide when Vale returns to the office. He disassembles one of the mineral water cases, taking a bag of diamonds from within it and placing it in his safe. Stuart comes in and reports on the progress with Sir Robert. Vale hands him a gun with no serial number. Once they leave, Father Dowling and Lady Cara emerge; Father Dowling realizes that Stuart was hired to kill Lady Cara, and that Sir Robert used his diplomatic immunity to smuggle diamonds into the country for Vale. He also deduces that Sir Robert has been embezzling money from Lady Cara's estate, which she will not officially inherit until her twenty-fifth birthday next month. He then reasons that he means to kill her before she can find out. In order to escape the locked office, Father Dowling intentionally triggers the fire alarm system, allowing the fire department to break open the door. The reception begins and Stuart waits in hiding with his gun. Stephanie prepares herself and Sgt. Clancy reports that her men are on guard throughout the consulate. Father Dowling and Lady Cara sneak in the back entrance, encountering Sean along the way. Father Dowling reasons that Sir Robert invited Sean to the reception so that he could pin the blame for Lady Cara's murder on him. Stephanie comes down the stairs to the reception as Father Dowling, Sean, and Lady Cara enter. Lady Cara reveals herself on the stairwell, causing Stuart to hesitate out of confusion. This gives Sean the opportunity to tackle him from behind and incapacitate him. Father Dowling tells Sgt. Clancy that Sir Robert was behind the whole thing, and she arrests him. Eventually Stephanie and Lady Cara assume their regular attire and Lady Cara thanks her for her assistance. Stephanie drives off with Father Dowling, happy to return to her usual life. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: September 20, 1990 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:10
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:19345
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1987-1989; ABC - 1990-1991
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV – Commercials – AT&T phone service
- TV – Commercials – Black Angus restaurants
- TV – Commercials – Domino's pizza
- TV – Commercials – Extra chewing gum
- TV – Commercials – J. C. Penney jewelry
- TV – Commercials – Kit Kat candy bars
- TV – Commercials – Listerine mouthwash
- TV – Commercials – Little Caesar's pizza
- TV – Commercials – Polident denture cleanser
- TV – Commercials – Sony tape players
- TV – Commercials – Subaru automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Total breakfast cereal
- TV – Commercials – Ultra Slim Fast weight loss shakes
- TV – Promos – "ABC Nightline"
- TV – Promos – "ABC Sports College Football"
- TV – Promos – "Beverly Hills Cop"
- TV – Promos – "Family Matters"
- TV – Promos – "Full House"
- TV – Promos – "Gabriel's Fire"
- TV – Promos – "Going Places"
- TV – Promos – "Good Morning America"
- TV – Promos – "Instant Recall"
- TV – Promos – "MacGyver"
- TV – Promos – "NFL Monday Night Football"
- TV – Promos – "The Running Man"
- TV – Promos – "The Young Riders"
CREDITS
- Fred Silverman … Executive Producer
- Dean Hargrove … Executive Producer, Developed by
- Robert Schlitt … Supervising Producer
- Joyce Burditt … Producer
- Barry Steinberg … Producer
- Victoria la Fortune … Co-Producer
- Christopher Hibler … Director
- Joel Steiger … Developed by
- Gerry Conway … Writer
- Ralph McInerny … Based on characters from The Father Dowling Mystery Books by
- Dick de Benedictis … Music by
- Tom Bosley … Cast, Father Frank Dowling
- Tracy Nelson … Cast, Sister Stephanie "Steve" Oskowski, Lady Cara Winston
- James Stephens … Cast, Father Philip Prestwick
- Mary Wickes … Cast, Marie Murkin
- David McCallum … Cast, Sir Robert
- Sarah Douglas … Cast, Mrs. Gibbons
- Mike Genovese … Cast, Louis Vale
- Regina Krueger … Cast, Sgt. Clancy
- Francesca Buller … Cast, Gloria
- Thomas Calabro … Cast, Sean McAllister
- Barry Sattels … Cast, Stuart
- Katie Mitchell … Cast, Sales Manager
- Brian Brophy … Cast, Fashion Designer
- Anthony Giola … Cast, Willie "The Whisper" Lupinzki
- Tom Allard … Cast, Biggest Hustler
- William Raulerson … Cast, Battalion Chief
- Lew Saunders … Cast, Cop
- Sheila Scott Wilkinson … Cast, Saleswoman