A year after the events of Series 1, Simon and Zoe are living together in Cambridge, intending to marry. Zoe is now working for a "red top" tabloid newspaper. Simon is initially out of work, but is soon awarded a Fellowship in "Forensic Science and Criminology" by Gilbert, now the Master of the college. Ian Butterworth, a brilliant (if pedantic and intolerably smug) English student, apparently commits suicide by hanging himself after accusing another student of plagiarism. Both students were supervised by Dr. Roisin McDade, the Fellow in English. Simon is not convinced. Meanwhile Bernard, the Bursar is trying to reorganise the college to be more financially viable and relevant to the modern world. The Dean tries to engineer a revolution and abolish the post of Master, but is masterfully "shafted" as Gilbert, the Master, puts it.