Barclay Beg-Chetwynde is the neighbor of Alison and Mike who lives roughly a mile from Button House. He thinks he is a local history expert and he is portrayed by Geoffrey McGivern.
Biography[]
Upon his and his wife's return from Tuscany where they summer in Moonah Ston, Barclay decided to head over, along with his dogs, to Button House and introduce himself to his new neighbors. As he approached the house the dogs rush into Button House causing him to repeatedly shout 'bitches' only for the animals to ignore him, this confuses and startles the Coopers.
Barclay is quick to inform Alison and Mike about the rumors of the house being haunted completely unaware Alison can see them all. He tells them of Lady Button and promptly gets every piece of information about her incorrect while Fanny - who stands behind him - corrects his errors save for his belief that she is in her twenties and attractive. Barclay also excitedly tells them of a mysterious creature that roams the grounds that is half man and half ape. clearly he's referring to Robin. Although, Barclay ultimately believes it to all be 'tosh and piffle'. Beg-Chetwynde quickly moves on to his real topic for arriving at Button House and tells them of how they have to cross over a patch of his land to get into their own house, while he acts as though this is not overly important to him and could be dealt with at another date but phrases his words carefully to concern the Coopers. This works and Alison instantly suggests they have dinner some time, Barclay inserts himself further by telling them that he'd be there at eight with his wife, Bunny, and promises to bring a Pelaverga. Alison then spends the rest of the day panicking about what the Beg-Chetwyndes would think of them if they didn't look posh enough, Fanny tells them what to cook, the Captain helps them shoot the pheasant and then Mary aids them in cooking it.
Bunny and Barclay arrive early for dinner due to Bunny's drunken driving where she backs into the fountain though the couple bush over this quickly as Barclay mistakenly introduces Alison to his wife as Annabel. He enquires which designer made Mike's shirt though is confused when Mike replies 'it's me' since he hasn't understood the question, again this is something they brush over. He insists that Bunny had been looking forward to meeting the Coopers but as his wife says 'have I?' it suggests that she is actually aware of little of what is going on. Once inside he presents Alison and Mike with the Pelaverga he'd promised only for Alison to quickly drop it on the floor while thanking them having intended to hand it to Kitty before realizing she couldn't hold it. The broken wine bottle doesn't go over as easily as previous miscommunication though learning of Alison's recent head injury does help to aid the situation.
For the most part their dinner with the Coopers goes all right until the ghosts start to harass Alison and cause her to act very oddly towards Barclay and Bunny, they try to ignore this but Barclay clearly decides that Alison and Mike are very strange people. When Mike reveals their plans to turn Button House into a hotel Barclay perks up and calls it a 'nice little earner'. Alison's actions grow even more peculiar to him as the ghosts enter for Robin's Moonah Ston Ritual, her voice becomes very loud and she leans to see around Robin. When Robin causes the lights to flicker wildly Barclay finds himself being ushered down to the fusebox in the basement by Mike, this is where Barclay decides to strike about the access issue.
He ignores Mike's want to wait for Alison and gets straight to business, he explains that he had a 'gentleman's agreement' with the former owner - Heather Button - but insists that with the plans to turn the house into a hotel they should have something more concrete. He makes a display of thinking of a number to sell them the access rights though when he finally says twenty he does it quickly as if he'd wanted that much all along. As intended Mike mistakes this to mean twenty pounds and shakes Barclay's hand which is when he reveals just how much he actually wanted by saying he'd drop it to nineteen thousand five hundred now they are all friends; seconds later he takes off another thirty pounds due to his wife dropping a bottle of wine.
Back upstairs after Alison has dealt with the dead residents of Button House, he and Bunny are served a frozen lasagne since Alison and Mary have incinerated the pheasant. Knowing he can make even more money Barclay pulls out his deck of cards as soon as the meal is over and says 'port and poker', he's clearly gotten a good feel for Mike's personality and tells because he wins a hundred pounds from him just in the time it takes Alison to retrieve the port from the other room; he then smiles smugly. Alison then tries to make a deal with him over a hand of poker as she intends to use Mary to cheat, she promises him double what he wanted for the access rights if he wins and that he'd sign it over for free if she won, he believes she is trying to bluff him and warns her that nothing gets past him. Since Mary is illiterate and never gambled before Alison's plan fails very quickly and Barclay wins.
As they leave for the night Barclay is very pleased with himself, he suggests different ways Alison can pay him before having to return to the dining room for his drunk wife's shoes. When he returns he's happy to hear Alison saying she intended to do a bank transfer and claims it to be 'very modern', however, as he heads out the door Alison - having been told by Julian - asks if it will be for his current account or the Fiji account, this stops Barclay in his tracks and sparks panic in him, he quickly backpeddles from the entire situation, insists they forget about the whole thing and that he'd hand over access for free. Barclay makes a quick escape after that as the smile fades from his face and anger takes over.
Barclay reappears during Bump In The Night when he is awoken by his dogs barking, he quickly determines burglars to be the source of the noise and insists that Bunny stay in bed as he shoots up and grabs his shotgun. He marches out his back door and the mile to Button House in his robe and pyjamas where the burglars end up crashing after they spot him in their headlights, Barclay yanks open the passenger door and tells them not to move as he trains his shotgun on them. Seconds later Alison appears who he, once again, mistakes as Annabel. After the police arrive he gives them a statement where he does his best to puff up his importance by claiming himself to be 'a pivotal member of the local neighborhood watch' and insists he was keeping his 'usual vigil'. He also makes a show of humbly brushing off Alison's thanks by saying 'it was the least I could do' even though Alison was actually thanking Robin who had alerted Beg-Chetwynde's dogs.
He then turns up at the house during The Bone Plot under the excuse of returning a champagne bucket (Alison points out that they never owned a champagne bucket, to which he responds with 'well you do now'). He is there because of the film crew after Jan from the shop mentioned a documentary. He gets an interview on the documentary. But, after showing signs of a heart attack (actually just a label in his shirt that is too hot), they try to get him out of the house grounds so if/when he dies, he won't haunt Button house. He is also on a health kick, after taking up squash after 20 years, which doesn't help their suspicions. Julian then finds him rehearsing his lines and thinks he has died. Alison then tells him he isn't doing the interview and finds out there was no risk of a heart attack, it was just a new shirt. He ends up in the documentary as the 'Button House spokesperson'.
In Pineapple Day he and the Coopers try to come to an agreement on how to split money if they both sell some of their land to a golf course development. Originally he tries to get 80% of the money by claiming he uses the land for farming (and conveniently the land has been mallowing the entire time the Coopers have lived at Button House). However, after he and Mike get locked in the in-house safe, they have a heart-to-heart about parenting and after Mike gives him half of his Wagon Wheel, he changes his offer to 50/50.
In Carpe Diem he comes over and donates his granddaughters old toys and belongings to Alison and Mike.
Appearance[]
Barclay is an older man with balding grey hair and dark eyes. He is almost always seen in a suit and fedora with an overcoat on.
Personality[]
He's a fairly happy and outgoing person who is always quick with a smile, however, he's also secretive, calculating and slightly egocentric. As he owns the nearby village Barclay believes himself to be the pillar of the community and of a higher class; though this does not mean he looks down on Alison and Mike. He is a posh and eccentric man who likes to appear as smart as possible.
His hidden Fiji account - which even his wife doesn't know about - suggests he has some kind of illegal dealings whether this be with others or just his own fraud is unknown. His criminal activities may explain why he likes to con people out of easy money such as during a round of poker. Julian regards him as a man who loves the sound of his own voice. He is the typical small town, posh busy body.
Quotes[]
- They don't listen, women eh? (Moonah Ston)
- Thought I'd come over and say how do. (Moonah Ston)
- I'll bring a Pelaverga. (Moonah Ston)
- They'll rue the day. (Bump In The Night)
- Don't bally move. (Bump In The Night)
- Oh a film crew. How surprising. I'm surprised. (The Bone Plot)
- Her words, not mine. Well mine, but she nodded. (The Bone Plot)
- Hello there. May I just say what an honour it is to be joining you here in this wonderful house? I'm thrilled to fill in a tiny part of its rich and varied history. (The Bone Plot)
Trivia[]
- He has four dogs, who he calls the "bitches". One of which, the Golden Retriever, is called Tally.
- He uses Latin in his speech.
- He likes to play poker.
- Julian knew him while alive and now regards him as a 'berk' and 'rich as Croesus'.
- In Moonah Ston and The Bone Plot Barclay insists that Button House is haunted - which of course it is, though it is unlikely that Barclay actually knows this (Heather Button almost certainly didn't, and she actually lived there). He does specifically mention Lady Button, and it is possible that he has seen a previous photograph of "The Grey Lady", but given the grisly circumstances of Lady Button's death, she would be just the sort of person that ghost stories would spring up about, regardless of whether not they were true. His apparent, albeit vague, description of Robin is more mysterious and perhaps hints that Robin has been seen at some point, though how and by whom (probably not Barclay) remains unexplored.
- Henry Farnsby is his American counterpart.