The setting is the staffroom of an English language college for foreign students somewhere in Cambridge. I think that Edward Fox was born to play the role of protagonist St. John Quartermaine. St. John (pronounced 'sinjun') is a kind and lonely language professor who is becoming increasingly absent-minded and forgetful, probably due to some form of creeping dementia. Having loyally served at the college since its founding, his life revolves around work as he appears to have no social life of his own. He is well liked by his colleagues, however they take advantage of his good nature and are always too preoccupied with their own concerns to really notice what we the viewers see- a man gradually and inexorably heading towards crisis, in desperate need of care and support.