Oliver's Travels

Five episode British miniseries. Oliver, a professor of comparative religion, is fired from his job and decides to take a road trip to the home of his favorite crossword compiler who uses the pseudonym Aristotle. When he finds the house abandoned, he alerts the police and eventually secures the assistance of a police investigator, Diane Priest. She discovers that Aristotle is now living in the Orkneys, as well as suggestions of high level corruption.

Oliver proposes marriage to Priest because when she is telling him how to address her, she says, "Diane, not Priest" which is an anagram for "predestination." She refuses, but they travel together to the Orkneys, he investigating the disappearance of Aristotle, and she investigating the coverup she begins to reveal. Gradually, connections appear linking the two incidents into one vast conspiracy, and things begin to get out of hand.


 * Chekhov's Gun: Oliver finds a  which at the end, allows.
 * Crossword Puzzle
 * Black Helicopter
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive and Aristocrats Are Evil
 * The Everyman: Diane's nice but ordinary son.
 * Daddy's Girl: Diane's father calls her every day, no matter where she is.
 * Faceless Goons: A man in a balaclava who turns out.
 * Playful Hacker
 * Public Secret Message: Aristotle's crosswords are still appearing in the newspaper, and at one point Oliver realises that the one he's just done contains a hidden message indicating who's behind the coverup.
 * Running Gag: Oliver's habit of telling everyone he meets that he knows a strange and amusing fact about sex, in the hope that someday somebody will ask him what it is. (Diane eventually does.)