Episode #1.1

I'm looking back at this series, having been a big fan for years. This first episode is a very good start, it has a feel of Father Brown for grown ups about it. The interfering religious centre piece, the clueless detective and fifties setting.

It's a very decent mystery, and you are kept on your toes as to who the real guilty party is.

What always strikes me about this series, is just how good Tessa Peake Jones is, so lovable as Raquel, so pious here. She's formidable. Morven Christie is captivating, she and Norton made this first series. 8/10

The crime plot and the denouement both turned out quite straightforward - which, on balance, was a nice change from many other shows' fiendishly convoluted entanglements (where you "get it" for about two seconds and then it's a blur again).

I freely admit that Sidney, the central character, looks much too young and Ed Sheeran-y for my liking, his gal pal too old, and the nature of their relationship confusing, but no matter. Similarly, I wish they had put Geordie in shoes with a bit of a heel; in many scenes he looks tiny next to other guys.

What I mainly enjoyed was the pacing - calm, intelligent, almost harking back to the 20th century, before the millennial generation made all shows frantic and get-to-the-point. The interiors and the costumes were likewise believable without getting overdone and screaming, "This is the Fifties!" (as is almost always the case). But the best part was the acting. Rachel Shelley's timing, projection, and elocution in particular are almost devastatingly perfect, despite a couple slightly tacky situations the script had her navigate. The German actress also delivered a performance of great subtlety and emotional depth.

Overall, a very pleasantly moody overture that draws a viewer of any age in quite skilfully and effortlessly.

Father Brown maybe a tad too BBC daytime and low budget yet it manages to fit in some humour, mystery and fun at a dazzling pace.

The first episode of the 1950s set Grantchester looked to be a little too smug and also slow to get going. Being a prime time drama, it had more gorgeous scenery and a more handsome star in James Norton who we initially see by the river with a beautiful woman but it turns out that Norton is the clergyman Sidney Chambers, also haunted his experience as a soldier in the war and is asked to investigate an apparent suicide of an adulterous solicitor.

Chambers has to convince hard nosed but sceptical detective Geordie (Robson Green) to investigate that a crime may have been committed. Luckily Geordie strikes an easy going friendship with the Reverend.