Character profile: Tom Pemberton
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- 2 days ago
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Dr Tom Pemberton, the male lead character of A Gala Ball at Tillingford Hall, is a popular TV historian in his mid-forties who has been awarded a BAFTA for his latest TV documentary series – Oxbridge Treasure Houses. With his famous school-boy smile, and Cambridge PhD brains, tall, dark-haired Tom Pemberton is "every thinking woman’s crumpet of choice".
Tom and his late wife, opera singer Vittoria Schneider-Pemberton, used to live below Sahara Seaton-Smyth in Chelsea when she was about twenty and they were in their early thirties. Despite the age gap, and Sahara’s mad party lifestyle, they all became close friends.
When Tom and Vittoria had their first child, Xanthe, they moved to Putney. Despite Sahara being so young, they asked her to be godmother to Xanthe. Vittoria saw something in Sahara that she thought might blossom by the time Xanthe grew older. Vittoria could never have predicted her own demise from ovarian cancer in her early forties, which left Tom a widower in sole charge of Xanthe, now a talented violinist, and her football-mad little brother Cory.
Although Tom is devoted to his children who attend the Harutyunyan School of Music, he doesn’t share eleven year-old Cory’s love of football and sometimes struggles to find common ground with him. Xanthe's needs and wants as a fifteen year-old girl sometimes baffle him. He’s also very protective, maybe even overprotective, of her and is concerned by her growing closeness to Ejike, a boy in her year she's been friends with since year seven.
When Tom is invited to present a documentary about the restoration of Tillingford Hall he jumps at the chance. Not only does he want to get his career back on track after his wife’s death (and needs money to see his children through their expensive schooling) but he also loves the idea of the programme. Tillingford Hall hasn’t been open to the public since the 1920s and there’s so much to showcase and so much that needs doing to the place. He’s also excited that they will be filming the gala opening ball as he thinks it will make fabulous TV.
When his original co-presenter is unexpectedly unable to take part in the filming and Guy Tillingford suggests Sahara Seaton-Smyth as an alternative, Tom is keen to work with her. Although as a former model she has no experience of presenting, Tom believes that with her natural charisma and poise he can help her to learn the craft. Patiently teaching her how it’s done, they make a great piece of television together.
Tom has seen Sahara in some of her most vulnerable times and now she is supporting him while he struggles to juggle single parenthood with his career.
A Gala Ball at Tillingford Hall is publishing on Amazon and Audible on 15 October 2026.
