Grantchester

Two extremely hot men (in my opinion), James Norton and Robson Green, star in "Grantchester," a series about a vicar (Norton) and the mysteries he solves with the help of a local police detective (Green).

Norton plays Sidney Chambers and Robson plays Geordie Keating. One of the better supporting roles belongs to Tessa Peake-Jones as Mrs. Maguire, Chambers' mouthy housekeeper.

Chambers is troubled by his war experiences and views his parishioners with great compassion and a sense of forgiveness. As he says, "I'm in a profession where people tell me everything," to which Keating replies, "That's funny, because I'm in a profession where people don't tell me anything." Chambers becomes somewhat of an amateur detective. After a rocky start, he and Keating become friends and bounce ideas off of one another. Keating likes that Chambers is more human than vicar-ish, not above a night on the town. Keating is married with a family; Chambers is pining for his love, Amanda Kendall (Morven Christie) who is marrying someone else.

The setting is a small British village, Grantchester, immediately post-war. It is beautifully photographed, has many light moments and many dramatic moments.

Norton does a great job as a contemplative man grappling with his own thoughts and feelings as he tries to help others. This for me is a different kind of role for Robson Green. There was a time, back in his Reckless days, when he was where Norton is now - young and hunky. Now he's older but just as sexy. In this series he gets to show his talent for humor as well as pathos, playing a tired, sometimes grouchy, jaded man balancing a family of a wife and small children and his caseload. Once he asked Chambers if someone was honest. "Well," Chambers says, "he wants to be an MP." Keating says, "I'll take that as a no." Really good series, entertaining with lots of eye candy. And I like Chambers' sermons.

I have been an avid watcher of this programme for a number of years. I thought James Norton made a fabulous hunky, tortured vicar in the first incarnation of the series, but I was less pleased with Tom Brittney. We now have a third vicar, Rishi Nair, whom I think will infuse the role, and the show, with a bit more spice. I'm certainly hopeful!

What I like about the show: -It is light entertainment that always circles back to good values, after casting a light on questionable ones.

-British series use actors that look like real people. I like seeing wrinkles and a bit of chunkiness, balding men, a career woman with one arm, and homely looking folks.

-The locations are gorgeous.

-The acting is good, especially Al Weaver as Leonard. And Robson Green is the perfect actor for his role. I can't imagine anyone else in it, and am relieved they don't cycle through detectives like they do vicars.

Watching the series, of course, requires a generous helping of suspension of disbelief, as do most series in this genre (how many murders, really, can happen in a place this small, week after week?) and I can overlook some aspects that aren't quite in line with the times the series is set in, except the language. Somehow, I guess because the show is accurate with props and costuming, I expect the same of dialogue. But in this 9th season, Geordie is described as having "a thing for vicars", and his daughter calls everything "a drag". I don't think either of these idioms were all that popular in the early 60s, when (I believe) this is taking place. The new vicar also speaks of receiving envelopes through his mail slot containing "quotes" from the Bible, which any self-respecting vicar would refer to as passages or verses of scripture, certainly not quotes. These are irksome oversights, and I hope they employ somebody to watch out for these mistakes.

All that aside, I look forward to finding out what Alphy and gang get up to this season!

Maybe Patzak1974 is unaware that this series is based on stories by James Runcie, son of a former Archbishop of Canterbury who had himself served as a tank commander in WW2 before being ordained. Though James wasn't born until 1959, I think we can assume that he based the character of Sidney on conversations he had had with his father about his wartime experiences and how they affected his faith.

Personally, I find the character much more believable than many portrayals of clergy I've seen in TV dramas. At least he is correctly addressed as "Mr Chambers", since the American habit of addressing priests as "Reverend" had not then reached these shores!

I very much enjoyed seasons 1 and 2 - another "cozy" mystery series, gorgeously filmed and well-acted. The mysteries themselves are self-contained from episode to episode, while character development story arcs take place in the background to tie things together. As other reviewers have noted, the writers have made hero Sidney Chambers remarkably liberal and modern in his views. Perhaps in 1953 there were small-town vicars with such attitudes, but after a while it feels unrealistic.

For whatever reason, season 3 fell flat for me, to the extent I thought they might have changed writers. Perhaps it's the peaking of a couple of those story arcs in season 2, but I found that I no longer cared very much about the characters, while the mysteries began to feel secondary to the characters' stories. I'm unlikely to come back for season 4.

Grantchester since the very first episode has been particularly good viewing, the concept of a clergyman helping the local detective solve all manner of village crimes initially seemed a wee bit far fetched,and better suited to the Father Brown afternoon slot,but it's totally engaging, intriguing, and sometimes contains a level of grit.

The combination of Robson Green and James Norton as Sidney and Geordie is a good one, they play of each other incredibly well, they frequently see all that is good and bad in one another. Tessa Peake Jones is particularly good as Mrs Maguire.

I can't recall seeing a bad episode, always consistent, some of the standout episodes include the finale of series one, and series three's Christmas special. I'm impressed how they manage to make each episode feel so unique, and the personal lives of the lead duo add to the story.

A perfect way to end the week, Sunday evening Grantchester. 8/10