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Grantchester

34 replies

Icimoi · 07/10/2014 08:18

Anyone watching? I must say they had high quality vicars back in the 50s, I'm not too sure how much attention the female congregation at least would have been paying to the Rev's sermons.

However, I am wondering a bit why a vicar would have made a hobby of sending people to the gallows.

OP posts:
itstheyearzero · 07/10/2014 08:46

I found it a bit dull. Shame because I was looking forward to it!

Grokette · 07/10/2014 09:04

I didn't mind it. Very twee, but harmless enough. However, that vicar is gorgeous! And I have a long standing thing for Robson Green (even in braces) so I'll keep watching I think.

Lilymaid · 07/10/2014 09:22

I had already read the stories - which are pleasant but rather weak. They have been tweaked for television. But the outdoor scenes in Cambridge are excellent. I understand that James Runcie based the stories on his father's experiences (Robert Runcie, who ended up as Archbishop of Canterbury), though I doubt whether his father would have solved too many murders!

KurriKurri · 07/10/2014 11:58

Nice shots of Cambridge, lots of frantic fifties smoking, and a crime solving vicar who looks like Prince Harry's other brother. All good.

Robson Green played the part of Robson Green very well, with the added acting challenge of braces to contend with. Is he married to Little Mo - or was she a lookylikey?

I had no idea what was going on though - who was the German woman in relation to everyone else and why did she have the diary? I didn't guess who done it (I thought it was that woman who wore a dead cat on her head for most of the episode)

I liked the dog - what was it - a cross between a labrador and a draught excluder?

I'll definitely be watching next week Grin

itstheyearzero · 07/10/2014 12:03

German woman was the dead guy's widow hence why she had all of his personal effects.

VestaCurry · 07/10/2014 12:11

I felt it was simultaneously vying with 'Lewis' and 'Endeavour' but it may grow on me.

Vintagejazz · 07/10/2014 12:11

I was looking forward to this, but it was a bit light; more suitable to early Sunday evening viewing really. It was very like the Father Brown mysteries, which were shown in the early afternoon on BBC1 earlier this year.

I really wish someone could get a good 1950s mystery series going. The Bletchley Circle had a great premise but really messy scripts, and Grantchester just lacks any real characterisation or depth.

Lilymaid · 07/10/2014 13:38

The German woman was the widow of the man who was shot. In the book the vicar is half in love with her (which accounts for why he was caressing the figurine she gave him). The dark haired woman was the mistress of the dead man and was married to his business partner. The blonde secretary was also in love with the dead man and killed him. In the book there was something about there being two diaries so that his amorous assignations were in another diary and the work diary looked normal.
And I have to admit (being awfully old) that I had to put the volume control right up to hear what was being said.

DonkeysDontRideBicycles · 07/10/2014 14:31

I didn't realise it was going to be wrapped up in one episode, doh! Anyway, thought it was entertaining, shame the girl he got on so well with is now engaged to someone else. And nice to see Tessa Peake-Jones again, here as the grumpy housekeeper, she is always good.

KoalaKoo · 07/10/2014 21:05

Well, whether the plot is weak or strong, I really can't pass it up with the lovely James Norton in lead role. What a change from Happy Valley, two very different but believable characters.

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Icimoi · 07/10/2014 22:10

I wondered a bit about the scene with the inspectors' kids in the bath in front of the fire. Surely even in the 50s they paid inspectors enough to enable them to afford a house with a bathroom?

OP posts:
Saltire · 08/10/2014 12:39

I have read the books - they are ok for not taxing the brain too much. Not sure about this, but will give it another go next week

Vintagejazz · 08/10/2014 13:23

icimoi I thought that too. It looked more like a labourer's cottage than the home of a police inspector.

rightsaidthread · 09/10/2014 21:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Rivercam · 10/10/2014 20:22

I thought it was the Cambridge version of Lewis. It was okay - nothing taxing but fairly entertaining.

MrsDavidBowie · 10/10/2014 20:24

Very dull. More like Sunday night tv.
I like a grittier drama

GypsyFloss · 13/10/2014 21:53

James Norton is just lovely to look at in this .

Gatekeeper · 14/10/2014 16:44

very, very, very dull. I had set BT Vision box thingy to tape whole series but cancelled it

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 14/10/2014 16:50

I, too was looking forward to it and had it on repeat record. But have been disappointed (hate Robson Green anyway, just because he used to live around here and is so unbelievably arrogant. It's hard to get it out of my head). The Tessa Peake-Jones character is a bit annoying (I don't think she's a very good actor).

Will watch a couple more episodes, to see if it grows on me . . .

aoife24 · 14/10/2014 19:28

It seems to me to belong to the same family as Crimes of Passion on BBC4 recently but with not so much frenzied smoking.

TurningThirty · 14/10/2014 20:01

I know James Norton in RL and he is lovely.

I am also married to a vicar so two reasons to tune in every Monday! Mainly to spot ecclesiastical errors (there aren't many, to be fair).

TimeForAnotherNameChange · 14/10/2014 20:23

It's alright. Kills an hour on catch up in the day when the kids are at school. Bland and inoffensive. Not much more to say really.

GypsyFloss · 14/10/2014 20:57

Wow TurningThirty that's a nice claim to fame!

SetPhasersTaeMalkie · 14/10/2014 21:01

I'm enjoying it but mainly for the scenery. I'm including the vicar in that. Goodness me, he is lovely.

I am very shallow.

GypsyFloss · 14/10/2014 22:00

Not at all, DD and I watch it for exactly the same reasons although we did prefer JN as a baddie in Happy Valley Smile