The Jackdaw's Revenge

Father Brown struggles to protect those closest to him when an old foe (Katherine Corven) is unexpectedly released from prison. And soon Corven puts Brown in such a position that could ruin his name. In this very good episode she has him over a barrel. It's suspenseful, Father Brown looks suitably strained with worry, and it all ends with a satisfying ending.

My wife and I watch Father Brown for its light-hearted, funny, sunny, quirky and intelligent writing, stories and acting.

This episode is badly written - dark, implausible and nearly stopped us from watching more episodes. It's as if there was a new writer or a sloppy writer who ran out of fresh ideas, and threw a miserable, horrid character back into the mix, just to fill airtime.

It starts by leaving a bad taste in your mouth, and as it progresses, showing more and more evil, stupidity and pigheadedness, it devolves into bitter awfulness. This isn't the kind of light-watching Father Brown episode that we've known to love.

As a big fan of the show I've really enjoyed some of the characters over the years, none more so then Katherine Corven, who previously appeared in episode The Eagle and The Daw. The problem with murder mysteries is that you don't often get recurring characters, they're either murderers or murdered. I think the producers were fully aware that they'd hit on something with Corven, who's manipulative and vengeful, one of the only characters that truly got under Father Brown's skin.

The Jackdaw's Revenge is very much one of the more serious episodes, darker in tone, lacking the jokes and humour, pushing more serious topic, like sexual misconduct. At times you truly felt that Father Brown was under the cosh, making the episode very suspenseful and particularly entertaining.

Kate O'Flynn impresses as Corven once again. Who doesn't love a femme fatale, she did a great job bringing the character to life, and giving Father Brown a truly rough ride.

Loved it. 9/10

Katherine Corven is about to meet her maker courtesy of the hangman. However she is suddenly released when another woman suddenly confesses to the crime.

Corven goes to join a convent and she forgives Father Brown who helped put her behind bars.

Father Brown knows she wants revenge and has crafted a complex plan. New local crime reporter Eddie Hamsley is keen to discredit Father Brown. There is a death of the former prison warden that Katherine detested. There are threats made against Mrs McCarthy and Bunty. Worse Father Brown's reputation lies in tatters. Even Inspector Mallory is suspicious about the padre.

This story was rather reminiscent of a previous televised Father Brown story and at times I felt it verged on silliness. Maybe not the best opening story of the series.