Well it has been three years since Stephen Poliakoff's last drama series, Close to the Enemy and six years since Dancing on the Edge.
In Summer of Rockets Poliakoff goes further into the 20th century to 1958 and in the era of Cold War paranoia.
There is a hint of the series being semi autobiographical. Poliakoff's father was Russian Jewish inventor and hearing aid designer who was married to an aristocrat. Stephen did go to a boarding school that he hated.
The series begins to show that these people were outsiders. Samuel Petrukhin (Toby Stephens), a Russian-Jewish emigre and his family along with his black colleague Courtney (Gary Beadle) having problems getting into the Royal Box at the races.
As his son Sasha becomes ill, only Kathleen (Keeley Hawes) the wife of a war hero turned politician Richard Shaw MP (Linus Roache) show concern.
Later Samuel makes a new smaller hearing aid for her aunt. He also invents a pager system.
Yet suddenly Samuel and Courtney notice they are being followed by some strange men in a car. They think they are from a rival firm.
The first episode had a languid pace, some stilted delivery of lines and not much of a plot. Richard Shaw suffered from post traumatic stress and may have hidden secrets.