Roush Review: ‘Grantchester’s Secret Weapon: The Detective Inspector Who Stays

Grantchester

Matt's Rating:

Vicars come and vicars go in the genteel murder capital of PBS‘s Grantchester. But as long as Detective Inspector Geordie Keating (veteran British TV star Robson Green) stays on duty, all will be right in this Cambridge village where we have faith that every crime will be solved through collaboration between the lawman who collars the perps and the man of God who wears the collar.

“I hear you have a thing for vicars,” says new clergyman Alphy Kottaram (the instantly appealing Rishi Nair), the third in nine seasons, who’s introduced in this year’s third episode, scheduled for June 30. Alphy’s joking with Geordie, sort of, but the fact is that one of the key aspects that makes this long-running Masterpiece mystery series so satisfying is the evolution of Geordie, a gruff change-resistant World War II veteran who has grown under the influence of these men: first Sidney Chambers (James Norton), then Will Davenport (Tom Brittney), whose bittersweet departure for new pastoral challenges occupies the first two episodes.

“He survived Burma. He’d get through us leaving,” Will’s wife Bonnie (Charlotte Ritchie) counsels her husband, who dreads breaking the news to his father-figure friend and confidant. And sure enough, when Will asks for Geordie’s blessing, it doesn’t come easily. Even the best of bromances back in 1961 were apparently prone to messy break-ups. But don’t be surprised if you shed a tear or two before Will and his young family ride away for good, the men having finally confessed how much they mean to each other.

Will Geordie have as deep and meaningful a relationship with Alphy? Remains to be seen. In Grantchester tradition, the new vicar enjoys a good ride, in this case a sporty red Triumph, and is easy on the eyes, going shirtless by a lake even before he’s finished unpacking. His arrival is met with more than the usual trepidation, though, because of his ethnicity. (He’s of Indian heritage, an anomaly in this lily-white burg.)

Related

As 'Grantchester' Prepares for Another Exit, Where Are the Former Stars Now?

“He is not from these climes,” huffs the devoutly judgmental housekeeper, Mrs. C (Tessa Peake-Jones). And yet Alphy soon fits right in, and by his second week he’s firmly in Jessica Fletcher territory, stumbling upon a dead body in the basement when he attends a fundraiser at a posh estate.

As intuitive as his predecessors when it comes to assessing the darker side of human nature, Alphy has an antipathy for the police—”morally bankrupt, power hungry, violent thugs,” he calls them—but Geordie is likely to make him a believer over time. “Now I have got empathy pouring out of me,” Geordie barks, reflecting on how much he’s changed since the series began. Green remains the endearing, eternal heart of this charming whodunit.

Grantchester, Season 9 Premiere, Sunday, June 16, 9/8c, PBS