Man in an Orange Shirt

Part 1

In London today, a grandmother looks at an old photo of her deceased husband and remembers the beginning of their relationship in the turmoil of World War II. In the 1940s, young Flora Talbot is a London teacher whose fiancé, Michael Berryman, is captain in the British Army, stationed in Italy. During a mission, Michael is reunited with an old schoolmate, Captain Thomas March, who is badly wounded in the attack. Michael is close as Thomas convalesces, and before Thomas returns to England, the men share a kiss. Thomas makes Michael's promise to seek him out after the war in London. Immediately upon his return, Michael visits Thomas before he even tells Flora he is back. Michael and Thomas spend a perfect weekend away from the rest of the world in the old manor cottage once owned by Michael's deceased parents. When their brief time together comes to an end, Michael tells a very upset Thomas of his intent to marry Flora. Thomas eventually agrees to be Michael's best man, and presents the couple with a painting of the cottage as a wedding gift.

Shortly before the birth of their son, Robert James, Flora finds a box of old love letters from Thomas in her husband's desk drawer. In a mixture of anger and fear over sexual laws, she burns the letters and confronts Michael, who is devastated by the loss of the letters. Flora begins birth contractions, and the midwife sends Michael out of the house. He wanders through the city and is tempted to cruise for sex in a public toilet. Instead, he takes flight, buys flowers and returns to Flora. After the birth of their child, the Berrymans never speak a word about the events again. Meanwhile, Thomas is arrested for cottaging, is sentenced to a full year in prison for gross indecency. Michael visits Thomas in prison, but Thomas refuses any further visits. Michael visits Thomas' mother, who shows him a backroom of his many paintings. She notes an unfinished painting of a man in an orange shirt, but even with the face unpainted, she recognizes Michael as the subject. Knowing the men's connection, she suggests that Michael could move with Thomas to a family house in France. Michael writes a final letter to Thomas in which he reveals all his feelings, but decides not to mail it. Thomas is released from prison, but leaves with his friends, as Michael looks on. A few years later, Thomas meets briefly with Michael in the presence of Flora and young son Robert, but their mutual feelings remain unspoken.

Part 2

Sixty years later in 2017, widowed, elderly Flora's only grandchild, Adam, is a veterinarian. He is constantly looking for new male casual sex partners using mobile apps. After Flora bequeathes Adam his grandfather's old cottage, he hires architect Steve, who lives in an open relationship with the elder Caspar. Despite Adam's fear of intimacy, he embarks on a slow love affair with Steve, who eventually tells Caspar he is leaving him for Adam. As Flora learns about the relationship and thus Adam's sexual orientation, the fear and rage that she had silenced against her husband breaks out.

When Adam and Steve find the cottage painting by Thomas during the cleanup, Flora reacts with mock ignorance, though it is inscribed to her and Michael with a wish that it someday hang in their home. In the picture frame, however, art connoisseur Caspar discovers another, hidden painting of Michael standing in the door of the cottage. This painting is the eponymous "Man in an Orange Shirt", a finished version of the study Michael saw at Thomas' mother's house. At the sight of the hidden painting, Flora collapses, but finally tells Adam the whole story. She gives him a small box with some old photos and the never-sent letter from Michael to Thomas, which she had found only after Michael's death. After a fierce argument, Adam finally shows Steve the old lost letter which sought a long-term relationship, and the two reconcile.

Main

Supporting (part 1)

Supporting (part 2)