Thou shalt not admit adultery
How do you immortalise an archbishop? Not just any old archbishop, but Mr Big of the Anglican Church? Yes, the one who wears the robes, carries the staff, marries the royals and christens their children.
Author James Runcie had the answer. He turned his dad into a lowly cleric, made him sexy and asked him to solve crimes as well as deliver sermons. Dad, of course, was Robert Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury, but in Grantchester (UKTV, Wednesdays), he’s plain old Canon Sidney Chambers.
Sidney is back in a new series, trying not to break the seventh commandment by taking Amanda Hopkins to bed before her divorce comes through. He’s pilgrim’s progress, but not quick enough.
Fortunately, in Grantchester there’s enough people breaking the sixth commandment – thou shalt not kill – to make the series juicy. Dr Atwell is found dead in Sidney’s church. He’s been drowned in the baptismal font. Atwell helped out at a psychiatric home where Matron Ivy Franklin also died and a ‘‘crazy’’ is threatening Sidney with dead crows.
Now, Sidney is a sort of Morse with morals. Together with Inspector Geordie Keating, he discovers the guilty party is Harland, the caretaker whose daughter Bonnie died when she too was dunked in a basin. At the psychiatric home, a basin isn’t what you wash your hands and face in, but a weapon.
So Harland exacts his revenge. The doctor is killed, so is Ivy, and Sidney is next on his list. The only safe place is the toilet because the water disappears. However, flushed with pride, Sidney and Geordie catch Harland. There’s no 11th commandment offering latitude for revenge.
Grantchester isn’t just a whodunit in drag. In 1950s England it addresses issues such as the death penalty, homosexuality and living in sin, because you can’t remarry in the Anglican Church. The canon would be fired.
Grantchester is another level up from police procedurals. It poses dilemmas, ones that the Archbishop of Canterbury could never solve. Sidney could, but he has the raging hots for Amanda. Perhaps the seventh commandment should be: ‘‘Thou shalt not admit adultery’’.
I’ve always enjoyed novels and movies where the leading character is swept along by actual events. When Winston Churchill drops in for a nip of whisky or Marilyn Monroe sings Happy Birthday at a surprise birthday.
In Vanity Fair (TV One, Sundays), the rise and rise of Becky Sharp is punctuated by the real Battle of Waterloo. She’s left in palatial digs while hubby Rawdon Crawley goes off to fight for the Duke of Wellington.
But how do you stage the battle with limited TV resources? You show the start and then the end. Shaun Johnson kicks off the league international and you go directly to the aftermath. The series is more about Becky’s elevation in social status and Amelia Sedley’s struggle, as a Waterloo widow, to bring up her child. It’s engrossing.
The Looming Tower (Prime, Tuesdays) is chilling. It traces the ominous rise of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda in the 1990s. It was a time when the CIA and FBI wouldn’t talk to each other and share information. They handled the threat as tragically as National dealt with Jami-lee Ross and the Vatican ignored the behaviour of predator priests.
It’s a chance to connect the dots leading to 9/11 and there are plenty of them. The Looming Tower is important to understand what happened and also see the incredible talent of Jeff Daniels in action as security chief John O’neill. If the CIA was dumb, the FBI was dumber.
I have a new respect for cupcakes. In a stroke of genius The Great Kiwi Bake Off (TV2, Tuesdays) required 12 contestants to bake 24 cupcakes. If there ever was a case for 50-inch TV sets to develop smell and ‘‘tasteavision’’, this was it.
The ingredients were direct from a state banquet for Harry and Meghan. My favourite contestant was Joel Arnold. Joel was a landscaper who played lock for a Hamilton rugby team and baked cakes. I now know why his scrum collapsed far too often. They didn’t have time to finish his lemon and red velvet creations.
Fortunately, in Grantchester there’s enough people breaking the sixth commandment – thou shalt not kill – to make the series juicy.