Father Brown 

Series inspired by the stories of GK Chesterton; a Catholic priest has a knack for solving mysteries in his English village.

Creators:

Rachel Flowerday, Tahsin Guner

Stars:

Mark Williams, Sorcha Cusack, John Burton

1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Mark Williams	...	Father Brown 80 episodes, 2013-2019
Sorcha Cusack	...	Mrs McCarthy / ... 80 episodes, 2013-2019
John Burton	...	Sergeant Goodfellow 62 episodes, 2014-2019
Nancy Carroll	...	Lady Felicia 47 episodes, 2013-2019
Alex Price	...	Sid Carter 45 episodes, 2013-2018
Jack Deam	...	Inspector Mallory 45 episodes, 2016-2019
Emer Kenny	...	Bunty 34 episodes, 2017-2019

Storyline

Series inspired by the stories of GK Chesterton; a Catholic priest has a knack for solving mysteries in his English village.

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Plot Keywords:

1950s | police inspector | catholic priest | english village | parish priest | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 January 2013 (UK)

Also Known As:

Father Brown

Filming Locations:

Sudeley Castle, Sudeley, Gloucestershire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Productions, BBC Drama Productions, BBC Worldwide

Technical Specs

Runtime:

52 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mark Williams declined to return for the 20th anniversary special of "The Fast Show" due to commitments to this series.

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Goofs

In one of the episodes a revolver is shown with one empty chamber to demonstrate that one shot was fired. However the casing should still have been there since revolvers do not eject them.

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Connections

Referenced in I Be Geniusen Stuff: Father Brown S1-6 (2018)

User Reviews

21st century issues and opinions inserted in a 1950's series

This series is rather like the recent Marple remakes: Nice attention to period details as far as clothes and cars. Yet, as with the Agatha Christie novels made within the last few years which have been moved into the same period, the episodes are not very much like the books. (At least it does say in the opening credit that they are based "on characters by G.K. Chesterton";certainly not on Chesterton's--or Father Brown's--theology and period background, and only very loosely on the plots.)

Similarly to the Marple remakes starring Geraldine McEwan, the story lines and character details have been made "politically correct" by inserting issues and implications with which Chesterton, as a devout Catholic, would almost certainly have disagreed; and as a result, the characters do not tend to be convincing--they are 21st century people in 1950's clothing, but that is all. They really don't act or think as English people of the period did--which is a shame, since so much has been put into getting the period correct visibly.

Whilst the earlier Father Brown series did remain closer to both plot and period representation in character thought and deportment, like many BBC programmes of the 1970's, it seems to have been produced on a very limited budget and has the feel more of a stage play than a television series. So an update in production quality was needed, but not a complete rearranging of the characters' background and behaviors, simply so they would "connect" more with viewers of 2013. If you're going to produce a period piece (which this is), you need to stay true to that period, or move the plots into your own.