In the first series, Peter’s search becomes more personal as each practical clue points to a different relationship Simon left unsettled. The unexpected telephone call leads Peter towards Christopher Waller and the regular payments Waller’s parents received. In Cambridge, Peter learns that Simon had also asked his former tutor for money shortly before disappearing. These details do not give Peter one complete account of Simon’s movements; they show that his brother’s absence is connected to several people and obligations. When another person has already tried to settle Simon’s debts, Peter has to face the possibility that his own effort will not close the matter. Honor’s arrival in the finale gives this uncertainty a lasting family consequence: Simon may be missing, but a child is on the way.
Simon’s return changes the question Peter has been asking. In the year since the first series, Peter has built a home with Honor and baby Daniel, while Beatrice is expecting a child of her own. Simon is not simply back in the town; he returns to a household that has formed around the consequences of his absence. His choice to hide a large amount of cash in the practice office takes the danger into Peter’s professional life. Once police discover that Simon is alive, the family can no longer keep his return private. Lyle’s later use of the money to secure Simon’s bail shows that Peter is not the only person willing to take a risk for him, although the decision also places the practice in a difficult position.
The Cambridge research case gives the brothers a short period of shared professional work. Peter and Simon travel together to recover research that a professor says is missing, but the professor is concealing part of the story. Their ability to work on the same task does not restore the trust Simon’s return has unsettled. It does, however, show how easily Peter can slip back into treating Simon as a colleague when a case needs attention. The difference between their working partnership and Simon’s private choices becomes sharper when the cricket sponsorship story brings his affair into the practice’s local relationships.
The final episodes show Simon’s charm alongside choices that hurt the people drawn into his orbit. His affair with the cricket captain’s wife complicates a case already centred on sponsorship and reputation. In the storm finale, he tells Peter that the cash belonged to their father and prepares to flee from the criminals pursuing him. Simon’s death on the beach prevents Peter from asking the follow-up questions that might have turned this revelation into a fuller family history. His story therefore closes one mystery—the fact of his return—while leaving Peter to interpret the meaning of their father’s money and the loyalties that shaped Simon’s decisions.
Reveal full character arc — spoilers
Across the Series
Simon is first an absence, then a dangerous presence. His debts, hidden money, relationship with Honor and contested account of the Kingdom family turn the first two series into a continuing mystery.
Relationship lens
Simon shapes Peter both while absent and present. The brothers’ bond mixes protection, resentment and a persistent hope that explanation might restore trust.