Peter Grimes

About the show

In a Suffolk coastal village around 1830, fisherman Peter Grimes is questioned after his apprentice dies at sea. The inquest rules the death accidental, but the townspeople remain suspicious. Grimes takes another apprentice, John, and hopes to marry schoolmistress Ellen Orford if he can gain the Borough’s respect. When Ellen finds a bruise on John, Grimes strikes her and takes the boy away. John dies after falling from a cliff as they hurry to their boat. The villagers later search for Grimes; Captain Balstrode tells him to sail out and sink his boat. The next morning, the town resumes its routine and dismisses a coastguard report of a sinking boat.