A freezing winter gives way to a spring heatwave, and the dreaded bubonic plague claims its first victims. Sam sees three houses in the city barricaded shut, with their infected occupants inside, and a red cross painted on the door. Yet in many ways normal life continues. Sam advises Lady Sandwich about the marriage of her daughter, Jemima, and Elizabeth is pleased with her new purchase of paradise fish in a glass bowl. Adapted by Hattie Naylor.

Theme music: Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, words by Robert Herrick and music by William Lawes, sung by Bethany Hughes. Lute, baroque guitar and theorbo played by David Miller. Violin and viol by Annika Gray, and recorders by Alice Baxter. Historical consultant: Liza Picard
Sound by Nigel Lewis

A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Kate McAll. Show less