Series 1, episode 5
Helen Oyenusi’s brother, Daniel Martin, arrives from Trinidad to support his sister as she waits for the coroner to release Vernon’s body for burial. But Daniel immediately ruffles feathers when he gets into an argument with Helen’s neighbour, Carl, whose overt campness offends Daniel’s religious sensibilities. When the confrontation turns violent, Father Michael attempts to mediate but, as a witness to Daniel’s assault on Carl, he also has to consider whether or not to lie to the police about what happened.
For his part, Carl cannot understand why Father Michael would even consider supporting such an intolerant man as Daniel Martin. Having recently lost his mother, Brenda, who was very close to Helen, Carl feels betrayed on all sides – by his mother for dying, by God for rejecting him and by Father Michael for what Carl perceives as the priest’s tolerance of bigotry.
Eager to avoid any more pain landing at Helen’s door, Father Michael tries to make the two men see reason, but neither are for turning. Daniel thinks homosexuality is a sin and cannot bear to have himself or his children anywhere near Carl, but Carl maintains that God should love all men. Eventually, however, it is left up to Helen to end the fighting with some home truths and tough love, as she receives the news that Vernon is finally coming home.
At the funeral of Roz Demichelis, Father Michael tries to console her daughter, Chloe, but she doesn’t want sympathy, she wants answers, blaming Father Michael for not doing more to save her mother. Roz’s boss, Jamie, also carries his own guilt, convinced that his intention to have her arrested was the tipping point for her fatal decision.