The Ruth Rendell Mysteries - The Orchard Walls - 9:10 pm Saturday, July 4 on Great! TV

About this Broadcast

The Orchard Walls
Season 1, Episode 1

A 16-year-old evacuee is sent to live with relatives in the countryside at the height of the Blitz, and witnesses a clandestine liaison between her aunt and an injured pilot. Accidentally opening a can of worms, she sparks a chain of events which culminates in a gruesome discovery. Ruth Rendell mystery, starring Sylvia Syms, John McGlynn and Honeysuckle Weeks

Movie/Drama Mystery

Did You Know..

Sylvia Syms (Actor)

Born: January 06, 1934 in London

Best Known For: At Home with the Braithwaites and her 1950s movie roles.

Early-life: Sylvia Syms was born on January 6, 1934, in London. Not to be confused with the Broadway singer of the same name, this Sylvia Syms was an evacuee and was educated at various convent schools and a grammar school. She honed her acting craft at Rada where she received The Gerald Lawrence Scholarship and an HM Tenants Award.

Career: Syms' first film role came in 1953's It Happens Every Thursday. Three years later, her big break came in My Teenage Daughter. She was a highly popular star for the next 15 years thanks to such movies as Ice-Cold in Alex, Expresso Bongo, Victim, and The Quare Fellow, featuring arguably her best performance. She was also nominated for a Bafta for The Tamarind Seed in 1974. Since then, her most memorable work has largely been on TV, although she did have a small role in 1989's Shirley Valentine. She had a regular role in Peak Practice in the mid-1990s and became a familiar face again thanks to At Home with the Braithwaites.

Quote: 'I quite like my own company. I've never really been worried about getting older or being alone.'

John McGlynn (Actor)

Honeysuckle Weeks (Actor)

Marsha Fitzalan (Actor)

Fiona Dolman (Actor)

Born: January 01, 1970 in Findhorn, Moray

Best Known For: The Royal Today, Heartbeat and Midsomer Murders.

Early-life: Fiona Jane Dolman was born in Findhorn, Moray, on January 1, 1970 to Rosemary and Gordon. She is the youngest daughter of four children. Her father worked in the RAF and he moved his family to Gibraltar when Fiona was 15. In 1993, she made her TV acting debut in Crime Story.

Career: Roles followed for Dolman on the small screen in Strike Force, A Touch of Frost, The Knock and Ultraviolet. In 1998, she joined the cast of Heartbeat playing Jackie Lambert. She went on to have a recurring role in The Royal Today. In 2011, she began playing Sarah Barnaby alongside Neil Dudgeon in Midsomer Murders.

Quote: On working with the Barnaby's dog on Midsomer Murders: 'We have sausages strapped to bags and in pockets so the dog follows you around.'

Trivia: At the age of 16 and 17 years, Dolman won awards at the Gibraltar RAF ladies windsurfing championships.