A Dorothy L. Sayers Mystery (TV Series)

Strong Poison: Episode One (1987)

Edward Petherbridge: Lord Peter Wimsey

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Thinking about Harriet Vane] 

  Lord Peter Wimsey : She has a sense of humor... and brains... life wouldn't be dull. One would wake up, and there would be a whole day full of jolly things to do. And then we would come home and go to bed... and that would be jolly too.

• Lord Peter Wimsey : I-I-I'm not, um, trying to blackmail you into matrimony. I mean, I would investigate this case for the fun of the thing.

  Harriet Vane : That's very good of you.

  Lord Peter Wimsey : No, no, no, not at all, it's my hobby. I mean investigating things, not proposing to people.

• Harriet Vane : Have I got this right? You are proposing marriage to me?

  Lord Peter Wimsey : I don't positively repel you or anything like that, do I?

• [Peter is visiting Harriet in prison, meeting her for the first time] 

  Lord Peter Wimsey : But, um, you're not opposed to matrimony on principle? I mean if offered on terms not already compromised, and by the right person, naturally.

  Harriet Vane : Oh, no.

  Lord Peter Wimsey : Oh, that's good.

  Harriet Vane : Might I ask why?

  Lord Peter Wimsey : Makes it easier for me, you see.

  Harriet Vane : [after a pause]  Have I got this right? You are proposing marriage to me?

  Lord Peter Wimsey : Absolutely right.

  Harriet Vane : [laughing]  Do you do this all the time, Lord Peter?

  Lord Peter Wimsey : Only when I'm serious.

  Harriet Vane : And you're serious now?

  Lord Peter Wimsey : Oh, I know I've got a silly face, but I can't help that. And I am. Serious, I mean.

• Harriet Vane : Being a writer of detective fiction, I have naturally studied your career with interest.

  Lord Peter Wimsey : Well, that's good, because then you'll understand that I'm not such an ass as I'm appearing at present.

• Chief Inspector Charles Parker : [about Harriet]  I don't give much for her chances.

  Lord Peter Wimsey : Where there's life, there's hope!

• Lord Peter Wimsey : [to Freddy about Harriet's trial]  She's innocent, my pessimistic chum, and prove it I'm going to.

• Lord Peter Wimsey : [Referring to the Vane Murder Trial]  What did you think of the verdict?

  Pond : Ooo, very surprised... surprised indeed! Seemed a clear enough case, but then juries are so unreliable - especially nowadays, my lord with women on them.

  Lord Peter Wimsey : [Seemingly agreeing or understanding]  Mmm.

  Pond : We see a good deal of the fair sex in the profession, and very few of them are remarkable for possessing the... uh... legal mind.

  Lord Peter Wimsey : However true that is, still without them, there'd be much less litigation, so it's all good for business.

  Pond : [Chuckles]  Very good, my lord. Very good. I am an old-fashioned man. The ladies - when they adorned and inspired - did not take any active part in affairs.

• Chief Inspector Charles Parker : [writing a note]  "Boyes - query arsenic." Anything else?

  Lord Peter Wimsey : Yes. Find out if Boyes visited any pub in the neighbourhood of Doughty Street between 9:50 and 10:10 on the night of January 20th, if he met anybody, and what he took to drink.

  Chief Inspector Charles Parker : [keeps writing]  "Boyes - query pub."

  Lord Peter Wimsey : And thirdly, find out if any bottle or paper that might have contained arsenic was picked up in that district.

  Chief Inspector Charles Parker : Oh, is that all? Well, perhaps you'd also like me to trace the bus ticket dropped by Mrs. Brown outside Selfridge's in the last Christmas rush?

• Lord Peter Wimsey : Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see a man about a dog - or I should say, a parson about his son.