The Dead of Night

Bernard Ross (Nicholas Woodeson) is having a crisis of faith and a belief in the existence of vampires after the death of his daughter, Louisa.

She had a strange, unexplained ailment and her grave appears to be disturbed.

Bernard's friend Gilbert Gallamore has brought in fearless vampire hunter Silas O'Hagen. Louisa's aunt thinks this is all poppycock. A sentiment shared by Father Brown.

There is also the curious case of Inspector Sullivan who has fallen ill. Suddenly Mrs Devine discovers he is averse to daylight, dislikes garlic and she cannot see his reflection.

When Gilbert is found dead. Father Brown teams up with Sergeant Goodfellow to investigate.

I did think the presence of the Silas O'Hagen character destabilised the story too much. If he was a con merchant in the locality, it would had been well known to Sullivan, Goodfellow and Father Brown.

Father Brown tries to being comfort to a member of his flock, Bernard Ross, who believes his deceased daughter Louise, has fallen foul of a vampire, and even called in some 'specialist' help.

I chuckled to myself as I wondered what GK Chesterton would have made of this one.

Erm...... I thought it was absolutely ridiculous, to the point that it makes the time machine episode seem almost feasible, that said I did rather enjoy it.

I'm struggling a little to believe that small community of seemingly devour Catholics would believe in such things.

I shudder to think what Mrs Devine put in that cake.

Silas O'Hagen.....no issue at all with Ray Fearon, I've been a fan of his for the last twenty years or so, but his Van Helsing style character was just laughable.

Nicholas Woodeson and Josie Lawrence were both pretty good, not sure either were particularly well served by the script.

This one left me somewhat speechless.

6/10.

I'm not a fan of the weirder Father Brown episodes, so wasn't going to bother with this one, but actually it is much more comical than expected. There's some silly yet deeply touching scenes with Mrs Divine and Sullivan, which hints at what they will be like in the following season. I used to really enjoy that the show was pretty much couple-free as it contrasted with Midsomer Murders / Hallmark Mysteries, but having this romantic arc does add a lot of uplifting comedy / cute moments. Death in Paradise did the same thing, meaning episodes aren't so self-contained and you need to watch them in order, so it does change the way I rewatch these seasons.

Can it be mere coincidence that the one time there isn't an immediate arrest of an obviously innocent person based on the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence ("You were seen giving the victim a funny look two weeks ago. You're nicked!") is the time that Sullivan is off sick and Goodfellow is leading the investigation? Yet Sullivan still gives Goodfellow a hard time, insinuating he's not doing a good enough job!

I'm sure I'm correct in remembering that, during his first stint, Sullivan wasn't the incompetent buffoon he has been since his return. The writers must have thought the utter idiocy and lack of self-awareness of his replacement, Inspector Mallory, were so entertaining that they decided to pass those traits on to Sullivan when he came back.

Speaking of Goodfellow, the guy's had one hell of a career trajectory recently. With one exam, he went from uniformed sergeant to detective inspector and head of the police station, replacing the departing Sullivan. Then, when Sullivan decided to stay after all, because of the beautiful and glamorous - according to the writers, at least - Mrs Devine, he got busted right back down to sergeant. What a roller coaster!

This episode isn't too bad. In fact, I find it to be one of the better ones of these last two seasons, although that's not saying much. The story is something a bit different and it's always good to see actors like Woodeson, Fearon and Lawrence. Brenda and her weird facial movements are kept to a minimum, and the irritating Mrs Devine is mostly confined to the bedroom with Sullivan (it's not what it sounds like, thank God!)

But we once again run into the usual problem which comes with having such a small guest cast. There are only ever two real suspects, and eliminating the overly obvious one leaves you knowing who the killer is well before the actual reveal. And while the plot is interesting, I can't say it's exactly gripping.

So, all in all, an okay but unexceptional outing for Father Brown. The series just seems to be missing the spark it once had, both in terms of storylines and characters.