Television
Old stories about a priest with a sideline in catching killers spawned an unlikely worldwide hit.
In the UK, Father Brown (UKTV, Sky 007, Tuesday, 9.30pm) is cosy daytime viewing. Mark Williams doesn’t know why.
“Yeah, we still don’t understand why it’s not shown on Sunday, for example, but unfortunately BBC politics are very strange.”
Never mind. The actor, whose long career includes playing Ron Weasley’s dad, Arthur, in the Harry Potter films, is thoroughly enjoying playing the priest with a sideline in crime-solving.
He’s been wearing the cassock since 2013, and Father Brown has become, as the Express put it, an “unlikely worldwide hit”. It screens in more than 230 countries – not bad for a show based on a series of short stories written between 1910 and 1936.
GK Chesterton was working against the whodunnit genre with his character, says Williams. The Blue Cross, the first of his Father Brown stories, “has got one of the best introductions of a leading character, because you don’t think it’s going to be Father Brown; you think it’s going to be Valentine the detective.”
Father Brown’s style is distinctly low-key and observational, says Williams. “He never judges, and he’s always looking at the things that other people don’t think are important. All the things he comes up with are really sort of obvious.”
The Father is like an antiSherlock Holmes. “The thing about Holmes is that it’s always an intellectual conundrum that he rises above. He’s not committed to it emotionally, whereas Father Brown is all the time, because there’s so much more at stake for him, the question of their mortal soul. It’s not just a crossword puzzle.”
For ease of production, Father Brown has been shifted from the 1930s to the 1950s (“We’re like The Simpsons; it’s always 1953!”). Season six begins with a Christmas discovery of a skeleton in the woods. Clearly, we love a good murder, or at least the depiction of one.
“It’s storytelling,” says Williams. “It’s also about insight into character: there’s an element of gossip there. The other thing is that people like to watch actors and they are very good at seeing who’s good and who’s not.”
The lovely Gloucestershire village of Blockley doubles for Kembleford and the 1950s cars are gorgeous. Williams has to make do with Father Brown’s classic heavy bicycle and has learnt how to keep his cassock out of the chain.
“Well, you see, that’s all technique. Once you’ve worn a cloak, a cassock’s no problem.