‘Summer of Rockets’ recap: What happened in Episode 2?

Summer of Rockets continued on BBC Two in the UK tonight.

Written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff (Dancing on the EdgeThe Lost Prince), the BBC’s new six-part mini-series stars Keeley Hawes (The Durrells) and Toby Stephens (Lost In Space)

Set in the UK during the tumultuous summer of 1958, Summer Of Rockets follows Samuel Petrukhin, a Russian-born Jewish inventor and businessman, who specialises in manufacturing hearing aids. Following the Soviet’s launch the first intercontinental ballistic missile, and the start of the Space Race, fear permeates the lives of all.

Here’s a plot recap for the second episode, which aired at 9pm on Wednesday 29th May 2019:

Hannah Petrukhin (Lily Sacofsky) arrives at Buckingham Palace, but devastatingly she is too late and misses out on being presented as a debutante to the Queen.

Samuel (Toby Stephens) finally meets the men who have been following him – Denning (Leo Starr) and Mr. Field (Mark Bonnar) – who claim to be from MI5 and say they are interested in his staff locater invention.

He later discovers that have been following him for years, photographing him wherever he went.

He was of interest to them because he is Russian, he was servicing Winston Churchill’s hearing aid, and his father had dealings with the Soviet Trade Delegation.

While attending a fête at the Shaw’s with his family, Samuel invites Kathleen (Keeley Hawes) to attend a demonstration of the staff locator at a military base, but doesn’t tell her it’s actually for the MI5.

Hannah’s former etiquette teacher Nicholas Halliday (Matthew James Thomas) persuades Hannah to take part in a Civil Defence exercise to prepare for nuclear attacks.