Robson Green as Geordie Keating and James Norton as Sidney Chambers (Photo: (C) Des Willie/Kudos & ITV for MASTERPIECE)
Grantchester
Based on a series of novels by James Runcie, Grantchester follows the story of a rural 1950s clergyman who turns accidental crime fighter. When one of his parishioners turns up dead, he joins forces with an overworked police inspector and the pair form an unlikely friendship. This series has one of those weird concepts where you may wonder if someone isn’t just picking show ideas out of a bag. Sure, put a priest and a cop together and let them solve crimes! Riiiight.
But, as murder mysteries go, Grantchester is pretty good. It’s surprisingly charming and often upbeat, despite some occasional dark story twists. It regularly deals with social issues, and Sidney stresses tolerance and humility to his parishoners. And each episode usually ends with a life lesson for everyone. (Usually in the form of a sermon of some type.)
The dreamy James Norton stars as the vicar, Sidney Chambers. He likes jazz, drinks too much, has nightmares and romantically pines over his upper crust childhood friend Amanda. He also has one of the absolute cutest dogs on television, named Dickens. Robson Green plays Geordie Keating, a veteran cop who follows the rules. Of course they become real friends, odd-couple style. The relationship between Sidney and Geordie is not quite at Sherlock Holmes and John Watson-level bromance, but it’s getting there.
Number of Seasons: 2
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime (Only Season 1 is available on Prime at the moment, though.)