Grantchester (TV Series) Episode #1.1 (2014) User Reviews

What the Dickens.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 20 September 2019]

I'm looking back at this series, having been a big fan for years. This first episode is a very good start, it has a feel of Father Brown for grown ups about it. The interfering religious centre piece, the clueless detective and fifties setting.

It's a very decent mystery, and you are kept on your toes as to who the real guilty party is.

What always strikes me about this series, is just how good Tessa Peake Jones is, so lovable as Raquel, so pious here. She's formidable. Morven Christie is captivating, she and Norton made this first series. 8/10

In the beginning...

[safenoe · 10/10 · 9 December 2016]

The first Grantchester episode I watched was not this one, but the ones towards the end of season 2. So know I'm watching the beginning for the first time and I'm not disappointed.

This episode portrayed the anti-German feel (it was soon after World War 2), with Geordie commenting, "The Germans don't have decorum" or something like that. We see in this episode how Sidney Chambers and Geordie teamed up, with Geordie skeptical at first, how they bonded over backgammon. James Norton and Robson Green were born for these lead roles.

The opening scene was a sign of an overarching theme in Grantchester, the friendship/romance between Sidney and Amanda (played by the beautiful Morven Christie). Seeing her pained expression in the final scene of this episode was something to behold portends what is to come.

We are also introduced to Mrs Maguire, but not Leonard, as he appears for the first time in episode 2. We also see in this episode Dickens, the loyal dog that Amanda got for Sidney.

The design and costumes were spot on, and all credit to the production crew for their portrayal of 1950s Cambridge and Cambridgeshire.

Series 1: Episode 1

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 25 March 2017]

Father Brown maybe a tad too BBC daytime and low budget yet it manages to fit in some humour, mystery and fun at a dazzling pace.

The first episode of the 1950s set Grantchester looked to be a little too smug and also slow to get going. Being a prime time drama, it had more gorgeous scenery and a more handsome star in James Norton who we initially see by the river with a beautiful woman but it turns out that Norton is the clergyman Sidney Chambers, also haunted his experience as a soldier in the war and is asked to investigate an apparent suicide of an adulterous solicitor.

Chambers has to convince hard nosed but sceptical detective Geordie (Robson Green) to investigate that a crime may have been committed. Luckily Geordie strikes an easy going friendship with the Reverend.