Grantchester

James Norton as Sidney Chambers

 If you're part of the demographic of the population that streams series, perhaps you've seen Grantchester. For lovers of Broadchurch, The Bridge and the miraculous Prime Suspect, here is a series with truly great writing, shall we say writing of a trans or inter medial quality. Take a recent episode. The Romeo and Juliet of this story are the Anglican Vicar, Sidney Chambers (James Norton) who is the lead character, and his great love Amanda Hopkins (Morven Christie). They are childhood sweethearts. Then there was a traumatic (for him) stint on the battlefield and her then choice of money over love, a choice she will always regret. Finally, 9 months pregnant, she leaves her boorish and sadistic husband, giving birth in the parish. That's just for starters, in one episode. The priest one should mention collaborates with the local constable Geordie Keating (Robson Green) as a detective team. The series is based on a collection of short stories, The Grantchester Mysteries by James Runcie. Spoiler Alert: in this selfsame episode they ferret out a stripper who's a con artist. This particular character brings to mind Madeleine/Judy (Kim Novak) in Vertigo, in the wily transformation of her physiognomy and entire being. Amidst all of this the pastor has a second in command a gay student priest Leonard Finch (Al Weaver) who gets in trouble for treating the Christmas pageant as a Brechtian epic. Weaver's performance is noteworthy and even profound in several places, as he struggles with his identity, and love itself. One of the most hilarious bits is his attempt to teach Verfremdungeffekt to a group of children. But that isn't all, amidst all this,  the self-same character manages to confront the local prelate, their superior, whose corruption lies in protecting a serial child molester. This is powerful stuff by any standards, with great writing and acting both.