Finding the Will to love

APOWER of observation plus a knack for sensing when something doesn’t seem quite right are enabling GRANTCHESTER’s Rev Will Davenport to solve at least one murder per week, albeit with a little assistance from the actual police.

So you’d think the dog-collared sleuth would have spotted that there’s something odd about his own would-be girlfriend, glamorous local reporter Ellie Harding (Lauren Carse).

Specifically, the fact that, although the year is 1955, Ellie looks about as 1950s-like as the iPhone 11. Her hair, her make-up, her clothes, they seem to belong to a woman from far into the future.

But then maybe that’s precisely it. Maybe that’s where this current series is heading.

Maybe episode six will see Ellie unmasked as an intergalactic, shape-shifting time-traveller, forcing Will to choose between his leafy if lethal parish and a new life with his alien beloved on the ninth moon of Neptune. I do hope so.

For now, though, he seems entirely oblivious to any incongruity on her part.

Which may not seem a big deal, except she’s fast becoming the object of more than just his affection, as you’ll see very clearly tonight (ITV, 9pm).V ery clearly indeed, in fact.

I guess he gets distracted by the constant killing. He can’t even take Ellie on an off-duty date without yet another murder taking place, in tonight’s case pretty much under their noses.

They’re enjoying an evening at the local cinema (they’ve gone to see Alec Guinness in 1955’s new black comedy The Ladykillers, although no doubt Ellie is quietly thinking she prefers him in Star Wars) when a piercing scream is heard from the projection room.

Turns out it’s the projectionist. The bloke who’s been dealt a fatal blow to the head, I mean, not the person doing the screaming.

And the murder weapon? An ashtray.

“Ooh, golly, it’s just like Steve Owen bumping off bunny boiler Saskia in EastEnders in 1999,” time-traveller Ellie looks poised to say, before realising this would blow her cover wide open.

Elsewhere tonight, those featured in episode two of STEWART COPELAND’S ADVENTURES IN MUSIC include Matthew Herbert, a chap from Kent who likes to build electronic compositions from everyday sounds.

One of Matthew’s most notable works saw him record the entire life cycle of a pig, so Stewart is keen to see how he went about this.

It ends with Matthew recording the sound of frying bacon, while Stewart drums out a rhythm on the side of the pan.

Oh, come on, it’s got to be better than The X Factor.