(Tom Brittney,
Robson Green & James Norton)
The popular detective series Grantchester returns to ITV Choice this
month for a fourth series and its final with James Norton at the helm.
The drama follows charismatic, jazz-loving
clergyman and former Scots Guards officer Sidney Chambers (Norton) and Detective
Inspector Geordie Keating (Robson Green) who form a strange alliance in solving
crimes. Viewers will be introduced to new cast member Tom Brittney who plays
new vicar, Will Davenport.
In the first episode, which airs on ITV
Choice (DStv 123) on Wednesday, March 13, at 20h00, Chambers attends a talk by
the Reverend Nathaniel Todd, a key part of the Civil Rights movement in
America. During the event, protestors disrupt Todd's speech and release
fireworks, causing the audience to panic, leading to a crush as dozens of
people try to escape through a locked door. In the chaos, a man is stabbed and
killed by an unseen assailant. The murder sees racial tensions spike and
Keating is called in.
Says Grantchester
writer Daisy Coulam: “We’re always looking to push the boundaries - to explore
new themes and untold stories - to open up the world beyond the bucolic
chocolate-box setting. To be challenging. In that respect, we’ve taken our lead
from James Runcie and his Grantchester
Mystery novels. He wanted to do more than write straightforward whodunnits.
He had a bigger ambition - to tell the story of post-war Britain; a study of
morality through crime - to show how we changed fundamentally in those years.
“Series 4 finds us in 1956. Britain is no
longer under the shadow of war - there’s no more rationing, no more austerity.
It’s the year of Elvis and his pelvis. Teddy boys. Teenagers. Optimism. The
world is changing and fast. In each series we look for a theme - the scars of
the past, punishment and restitution, love versus duty. This series, change
itself was our theme: the evolution of our country and, with it, our
characters.
“This series was always going to be about
change - in part, because we had to say a sad good-bye to James Norton. Change
can be challenging but with it comes new possibilities. A chance to shake
things up. And that’s exactly what Will Davenport, played so beautifully by Tom
Brittney, does. He’s young, optimistic, he lived through the war but not the
horrors of being a soldier. He embraces the possibilities and the hope that
1956 seems to herald. And along the way he makes a very good friend in
Inspector Geordie Keating.”
Norton explains that it was emotional
filming his last scene as Sidney: “The final scene I did with Robson was really
very sad. It’s no secret that Robson and I are very good friends. I have so
much love and respect for that man. The relationship Sidney and Geordie had was
largely informed by that. And so when you have two very good friends having a
version of a goodbye, both Robson and James and Geordie and Sidney were all in
this big emotional self-indulgent mess. It was very sad, but very easy to act
because it felt very true to the reality of the situation.”
Says Brittney: “Joining the cast was one of
the most terrifying things I have ever done in my life. Not just because of the
size of the role but because I was stepping into an already well-established,
well-loved and critically acclaimed show. I was a big fan of James Norton and
although I’m not taking the same role, it’s a completely different character. I
knew what Sidney Chambers meant to people. So there was that pressure in hoping
they like Will as much as they loved Sidney.”
Grantchester returns to ITV Choice (DStv 123) on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, at
20h00.
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