Looking for a gripping mystery without the relentless darkness of a hard-edged crime thriller? James Norton’s early role in Grantchester might be exactly what your next night in needs.
Norton is best known to many viewers for playing Tommy Lee Royce, the violent and deeply unsettling ex-con in Happy Valley. But in the same year he took on that notorious role, he also stepped into a remarkably different character: Reverend Sidney Chambers, a jazz-loving vicar with an unexpected talent for solving murders.
Set in 1953, Grantchester is based on James Runcie’s The Grantchester Mysteries. The series follows Sidney, an Anglican vicar and former Second World War soldier whose peaceful life in the Cambridgeshire countryside takes an unexpected turn after a local solicitor’s funeral.
A mourner approaches him with suspicions that the solicitor’s apparent suicide was actually murder. Unable to ignore her concerns, Sidney turns to DI Geordie Keating, played by Robson Green. The weary detective is initially unimpressed by the vicar’s involvement in his investigations, but the unlikely pair soon find themselves working together.
The Unlikely Partnership That Makes the Series
The relationship between Sidney and Geordie quickly becomes one of Grantchester’s biggest strengths.
The Guardian once described them as “holy sleuths”, praising the bromance and charm at the heart of their partnership. Their contrasting personalities bring an easy warmth to the series, providing a welcome counterbalance to its murders and darker village secrets.
The first series establishes the show’s distinctive cosy-crime atmosphere: picturesque country lanes, jazz drifting through the vicarage and a new mystery waiting to be solved. But there is more to Sidney than his investigative instincts. His romantic complications and lingering memories of wartime experiences give the character a personal story that runs alongside the weekly cases.
James Norton’s Time on the Show
Audiences clearly took to the pairing. ITV reported that the second series averaged 6.4 million viewers, with one episode attracting as many as 7.1 million.
Norton remained at the centre of Grantchester for its first three series and into the fourth, before eventually departing. The drama continued with a new vicar taking over as its leading character, allowing the story to develop beyond Sidney Chambers.
Since its debut, Grantchester has grown to ten series, with an eleventh and final instalment commissioned.
Where to Watch Grantchester
All ten existing series are currently available to stream on ITVX, including Norton’s early appearances as Sidney.
For anyone after a murder mystery with a gentler pace, an idyllic English village setting and an entertaining detective partnership, Grantchester makes an appealing choice. And seeing James Norton trade the menace of Tommy Lee Royce for the charm of a crime-solving clergyman is reason enough to give it a watch.