Father Brown (TV Series) The Hand of Lucia (2017) User Reviews

Words fail me.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 25 January 2018]

Lucia Morell is a writer of sexy novels, but now on hard times, her character Lulu is based on someone she knew incredibly well, Lady Ursula Lansford. Lucia was a monster, and unsurprisingly she's killed, and mutilated. Lady Ursula's gamekeeper, A friar is prime suspect, but Ursula and her son are suspected.

I would dearly love to know what GK Chesterton would make of this one, there have been some zany characters and plots, not least Brown in an aeroplane, but this takes the biscuit, it is absolutely bonkers, the story is hugely over the top, the characters, Lucia in particular are intensely over the top, they could have been Little Britain characters. It is hugely camp, but so bad that it indeed becomes entertaining, though I fear most would be laughing at it. There are a few laughs, but the producers should try not to send the show up, the previous episode was quality, this is certainly different.

So Awful it's Terrific

[Favog · 8/10 · 7 July 2017]

I like the Father Brown Mysteries TV series because I'm fond of the characters and the theme music and score are terrific and the cinematography is excellent, and it's a lot of fun. The plots, on the other hand, often leave a lot to be desired.

I'm working on Season 5 and I've just seen Episode #5, "The Hand of Lucia." And I have to say, if you are also a fan of the series, you really need to seek this one out. It is deliriously, awfully wonderful, more over-the-top than anything I've ever seen in a Father Brown episode, maybe even more crazy wacko wonderful than any TV mystery episode I've ever seen bar none, Hercule Poirot included. I laughed a lot.

In the series this year, Lady Felicia has departed to join her husband in Rhodesia, and Sid the chauffeur has basically gone AWOL. (I understand he's playing Lucius Malfoy in the West End Harry Potter play and he may even reappear with Father Brown briefly this season; I have my hopes up.) Meanwhile those two characters have been replaced by an attractive young woman, Lady Felicia's scandalous niece from London, and she's a perfectly fine addition to the cast. But she's no Lady Felicia. No Sid either, for that matter.

Season 5 is going along just fine; I'm enjoying it. But this episode I just watched -- The Hand of Lucia -- is, I think, an aberration, an episode so horribly, awfully funny it stands alone. It is like a parody of weekly British detective shows, Poirot/Morse/Lewis/Foyle lifted to a previously unexplored level of absurd TV mystery entertainment. It's a work of genius. You gotta see this one. It's so bad; it's so good.

The Hand of Lucia

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 11 August 2018]

This is a racy and campy edition of Father Brown. It has to be remembered that this is broadcast in the afternoon slot on the BBC.

Malicious and vindictive writer Lucia Morell is on her uppers. Her kind of smutty books are old hat, she does not have a publishing deal and reduced to live in a hovel on the edge of Kembleford. She drops in on her former lover philanthropist Lady Ursula Lansford demanding money or she will expose her shame.

Lady Lansford's house is used to reform ex convicts. Her son has taken a shine to one of the ladies staying in the house. Friar Novak is the gamekeeper who is the only one who's trying to understand her son.

Morell is found dead with her hand cut off. Soon another person is found dead. Inspector Mallory is amazed by the amount of suspects but Father Brown thinks that the clue to the murderer is found in Morell's lusty books.

This overripe episode is a hoot but not for all the right reasons.

Great original episode

[briantvslippy · 10/10 · 10 May 2019]

I don't like Father Brown much as I find them too twee, but saw this on Drama Channel and thought it was great. A refreshing change. It was funny and dark with a great pace. More like a film than a TV drama. Wish there was more stuff like this on TV.

Poorly written episode, poorly acted

[JerryCalgary · 1/10 · 4 May 2017]

Unlike the previous reviewer I did not find the plot offensive, in fact it had potential to be developed in an interesting fashion. But the entire episode was directed as if it was a spoof of the worst possible vintage melodrama, complete with black and white cardboard characters. All that was missing were hisses from the audience. Unfortunately the acting, even from the recurring characters, was also weak. I hope this episode is not a sign of things to come in the future.

A stain on the otherwise adorable Father Brown series

[pjnedmunds · 1/10 · 13 August 2017]

I have recently discovered the Father Brown series. I found the first four seasons lighthearted and endearing. The subject matter of homosexuality, tolerance, love, forgiveness, have been treated with great respect. However, I was shocked at having to forward through much of the Hand of Lucia. It was a sudden jolt to see the subject matter treated with such vileness and wickedness. I know this sort of thing exist in the world, I just don't expect to see it on Father Brown. I was horrified at the pure evil of the villain. It seems that now that Sid and Lady Felicia are no longer in the series, the writers have resorted to more shocking "plots", including witchcraft and voodoo..really? I know Father Brown is very liberal and understanding, but they seemed to be thrown in for more of a shock value. I can only hope the series finds it's way back to our lighthearted, tolerant and loving Father Brown.

This Episode is Just Not Up to Snuff

[pioneer64 · 3/10 · 8 December 2019]

I love this series very much. A 10/10 overall. But this episode is a mess. Not only are the non-regular characters all silly caricatures, but the timeline is so far off it almost gave me vertigo.

Spoiler: wild night

[priscillahodgkins-21456 · 2/10 · 26 April 2017]

Worst Father Brown episode. Main characters in murder: women who were once highly sexual lovers. Both are amoral, cold, self-involved and unsympathetic. It's hard to care who kills one of these wretched people. Plus, Everyone around them is a spineless, needy, failure.

This show isfar from quality of usual stories that have characters who elicit pity or for whom a viewer might care. It's also a bit rough for Father Brown fans, few of whom would like a story about hot, sadistic sex.

what a travesty

[Molongirl · 1/10 · 1 July 2017]

I fear any rumbling noises heard in the UK recently are not after shocks from Yellowstone but Chesterton turning in his grave at the travesty made of his Father Brown character. I just struggled through this episode and it was appalling, badly written, overacted (the detective was an outright melodrama villain) and on a topic absolutely from a 2017 politically correct UK. Come on writers, leave your baggage at the door when you sit down to write, re-read the original stories and give us some really good Father Brown crimes to puzzle over, if the series continues in this vein I will be turning it off and watching some old Poirot's instead.

What are they thinking? Terrible episode.

[Absalom1991 · 3/10 · 13 January 2018]

The show needs to stop. It has completely lost any connection to the Father Brown series of books, and has turned into a foul-minded, lurid, mean-spirited soap opera with bad direction, overstuffed sets, and characters devoid of human authenticity. This episode was about the worst. Grand guignol imagery and violence, a clot of murders beggaring sense, long talky scenes of low-end psychobabble, sound effects of vomiting - the production team seems to consist of misplaced cranks determined to savage their source.

If this "updating" is thought to be required, again, the question is why fo they bother? Cynicism? Sticking it to what they see as an outmoded religious source, represented by a daddy priest? Pressure from someone higher up?

It doesn't matter. The show, with enough budget and talent for a first-class effort, is now just another example of the usual trash.

The Hand of Lucia

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 17 April 2022]

When a local writer is murdered, Father Brown must delve into her infamous novel Lulu and Lucia for inspiration. This one's a bit darker than the other episodes with Lady Lucia -the writer - being a vile character. But it isn't a bad episode as it still got my attention, but it's not the best either. Can be a bit disturbing with how Lady Lucia treats an overweight boy, the son of her former friend, after trying to teach him, um, the ways of connecting to the opposite sex.

Carry on Lucia

[safenoe · 5/10 · 26 September 2023]

You can tell when there's a low-ranking Father Brown episode (thankfully to its credit there aren't many) when the number of imdb user reviews multiple big time, and this episode is no exception, with 12 reviews when normally there are three or four.

Perhaps the writers were starting to get fatigue considering this episode was one of 15 for the season, and really normally a Father Brown season has ten episodes.

Anyway, the Lucia plotline got a bit tawdry and tacky and really was like a Carry on movie init. Anyway, it's worthwhile watching the early seasons of Father Brown with Bunty as the sidekick.

Bunty Takes Over Father Brown

[Johnny_West · 5/10 · 15 February 2022]

Hulking Bunty, who is several inches taller than anyone else in the cast, shows her colors in this episode. Her sarcastic nasty remarks towards everything was a sign of things to come. Her lax morality considering that this is set in 1953 is a sign of the politically correct Dr. Who writing style arriving to the Father Brown TV series.

Unfortunately, over the next several seasons the effect of Bunty would overpower everyone else in this cast, so that it became The Bunty Show for many episodes where Bunty and her sarcastic attitude permeate the stories. Nobody like Bunty would exist in a small village in 1953, but that never stopped the PC crowd from revising history.