Inspector Lewis in The Quality of Mercy, Tomorrow Sunday, August 15th, on PBS

Tomorrow, Sunday August 15th, the second of three encore episodes from Series II of Inspector Lewis airs on PBS's Masterpiece Mystery! In two weeks, the premiere episode of seven new episodes of the third series airs.

In an episode titled "The Quality of Mercy" (check your local listings for times) a student production of The Merchant of Venice takes a real-life deadly turn when a cast member is killed using a prop knife. Apart from the jealous ensemble cast who can't even muster fake tears over the loss of their colleague, there is an audience of suspects to consider — a career con man, an egotistical television personality and a young man who just might have killed to get a part in the play. DI Lewis (Kevin Whately) and DS Hathaway (Laurence Fox) [of the Thames Valley Police] methodically try to make sense of the murderous plot, but before they do, another death occurs with a Shakespearean sensibility. As the final act is about to unfold, the case takes an intensely personal turn for Lewis, bringing back traumatic memories and invoking a lesson in mercy.

Inspector Lewis is a spin-off of the long-running Inspector Morse mysteries, based on characters created by crime novelist Colin Dexter.

Inspector Lewis: Series Two is also available on DVD from Telemystery.