planktonrules

"Grantchester" is one of several TV shows which feature a clergyman solving crimes. And, like "Father Brown", this series has been going for over a decade. This review is for the first episode.

The story begins with Reverend Chambers officiating a funeral for a man who is assumed to have killed himself. Later, the dead man's lover comes to him to say that she thinks the man was actually murdered...but since she's the mistress and the man was married she doesn't want to go to the police. Chambers instead goes and the case sure looks as if it was a suicide...but he is persistent and the story eventually leads to an attempted murder! What is going on here?

This is a very good mystery and it is odd to see that Chambers is a bit of catnip for women....making him VERY different from Father Brown, that's for sure! Well worth seeing and I hope further episodes are as good.

"The Big Confession" has a really weird case. There have been an armed robbery and a suspect very quickly admits to doing the crimes and wants to be sent away for this! However, when they take him back to the store that was robbed, the victim identifies him but all the details he told the cops are wrong. Why? Considering he said he DID do it...why the wrong details?!

This is a fascinating episode about a very disturbed young man. Well worth seeing and most unusual.

By the way, Francis Bavier ('Aunt Bee' from "The Andy Griffith Show") appears in the show.

"The Big Bed" is an incredibly shocking episode of "Dragnet". This is because most viewers who watched "Dragnet" watched the new version from the late 1960s...and it was a heavily sanitized show compared to the 1950s version. And this one, for the 50s version, is shocking. Why? Because Friday and Smith are looking for a missing man...and they find him shoved into a bed that folds into the wall. The shocking part is that he's very bloody (surprising so for TV) and he was apparently bludgeoned with a hammer...and they show his corpse! And, it turns out the dead man's TV and car are missing...and his 'friend' and neighbor is assumed to be the culprit.

This episode gives you a great insight into the screwed up thinking and rationalizations of a sociopath...which is more than enough reason to watch this one. Overall, a very gritty episode...one more reminiscent of the "Dragnet" movie than the 'nicer' TV versions.