The Scars of War

There's loads packed in to this edition and a multifaceted season conclusion, including an excellent and fun Father Brown / Sullivan dialogue. I do enjoy the zany relationship of Edgar and Mrs Divine, and I'm fine with it feeling quite a different show to the earlier cast because there are already so many fabulous episodes with them, and several pop back anyway. The series in general has a good balance of remembering the war whilst getting on with life, and this episode definitely does that. I'm really looking forward to seeing what is in store in 2025 - another Father Brown / Sister Boniface crossover would be fun.

Hard to know where to start on this episode. One has to appreciate a suspension of disbelief is often required in shows such as this but with this episode they absolutely destroyed any credibility. A program that lists an historical advisor on the credits chose to do a story revolving around an incident with Kembleford's wartime Home Guard. Clearly no one had looked into the set up of the Home Guard or its role. The opening scene set in 1941 shows Mrs Devine's late husband kitted out in regular army uniform and equipment with post war insignia and a bomb disposal sleeve badge. There were Home Guard bomb disposal units but these were independent units made up from staff at large factories on war work munitions aircraft production that sort of thing. They were also affiliated to the Royal Engineers. The next scene we have a reunion parade of Home Guards. While the Home guard were allowed to keep most of their uniform when the force was stood down in 1944 it seems Kembleford's platoon was allowed to keep their rifles and ammunition. In fact enough ammo to let the public have a go firing them! The officer was sporting a a fusilier cap badge again post war insignia and bomb disposal badge. The Home Guard were awarded the defence medal only and yet we see them all sporting 39-45 star and war medal as well most were in the wrong order. The idea that a soldier could be denied the defence medal by his CO was weird and Mrs Devine's son sporting is fathers's medals is not allowed when he himself was in uniform. As for the butterfly bomb there is no way they would have a live one sitting in their collection. All in all very poorly put together episode.

This series is set in the Fifties and this particular episode features The Home Guard , The HG were officially disbanded in December 1944 !! The problem with this series is that the writers do not seem to have done their homework in lots of episodes ! There are too many unbelievable characters popping up in a very small village . Sergeant Goodfellow passed his Inspectors exam with flying colours yet is still in uniform and no mention of this has been made except for the second to last episode but then quickly back in uniform! Lady Felicia and Sid just disappeared without any explanation and in every episode The Inspector arrests the wrong person !

I L. O. V. E. Father Brown.

For 9 seasons, his crime-solving capers combined with a loveable cast has made for terrific viewing. Plus it's all set in the beautiful Cotswolds.

So what on earth have the writers, producers and casting done to Season's 10 and 11? The departures of Mrs McCarthy and Bunty, as well as Inspector Mallory, was a real shame. But replacing these well crafted and lovable characters with the beyond terrible characters of Mrs Devine and Brenda is an insult to Father Brown's loyal viewers. Neither of these characters are endearing in any way-it's almost as though they've been created just to fill the screen. Mrs Devine is 'floppy' and uninteresting. She wouldn't be missed if she was cut from the scenes she's in. Brenda's character is overly exaggerated - whether it's the strange faces she pulls throughout the scenes or the accent-we get that she's supposed to be from Yorkshire. No need to bash us over the head.

As for bringing back Chief Inspector Sullivan-he has supposedly worked for Scotland Yard and his character (previously) was a fairly 'able' detective. The writers have turned him into an imbecile who doesn't seem to know anything about policing. He's now no more competent than the beloved Inspector Mallory who at least was a great character to watch. The romance between Sullivan and Mrs Devine is cringeworthy and unnecessary. No one cares-take it out of the story.

I am a strong supporter of diversity in the characters-and over the years, that has been something in which Father Brown has excelled. But of all the characters that could have returned, Brenda (originally from S9. E8 'The Wayward Girls'), was not and is not the one. The very strange and clumsy Mrs Devine has no part to play in the Father Brown universe.

Being on set must be incredibly hard for our beloved Mark Williams and even John Burton. Mark Williams looks wearied in his scenes, yet stands out and comes alive in any scene where Mrs Devine and/or Brenda aren't there. I'm sorry to say, John Burton just does not get enough screen time.

If the writers are looking to kill off Father Brown as a programme, then this is exactly the way to go about it. If however you want to save the sleuthing cleric (and return joy to his devoted fans), the writers should acknowledge that they tried with Mrs Devine and Brenda but admit that their characters just didn't work. Draw a line under them both and start the casting/character creation again. You can do much better. We've seen it in the previous 9 seasons!

This was really the best episode of the season. I've been disappointed with this season for the most part, so it was really nice to end with such a well-written and well-crafted episode.

The writers have always done well with the war-related episodes over the years. Even years after the actual events it's clear that emotions are still raw and many of the characters have never really recovered from the horrors of the war that they experienced. This episode was no exception. Things are not always black and white, people are not always all good or all bad. There's a lot of nuance in this episode, something that was really lacking in most of the other episodes this season.

Loved the last scene (although I guessed it was coming).