SPOILERS ALERT!!!
Hello everyone. 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley.
I found the latest ‘Grantchester’ episode in Series 6 a tough one to sit through. The drama and the actors’ performances are very good, but concerning the sensitive topic about homosexuality being illegal in the 1950s and a character that I’ve grown to like over the years, it was tough to sit through.
The episode starts immediately with Al Weaver as Leonard being questioned at the police station about whether he’s a homosexual by Robson Green as Geordie and Bradley Hall as Larry. It was pretty intriguing to see how the case was handled and how various people were being questioned. 😐
Oliver Dimsdale as Daniel gets questioned and Tessa Peake-Jones as Mrs. C gets questioned. It’s interesting to point out that the man with Leonard in the photos by Bryan from the holiday camp in the first episode is concealed and Leonard doesn’t reveal to the police that he was with Daniel then.
It was also intriguing to see that when questioned, Mrs. C didn’t reveal to Geordie and Larry about whether she had seen Leonard with another man before, as she clearly did in Series 4, Episode 3. Mrs. C finds it tough protecting Leonard when being questioned and she even calls him a ‘stupid boy’.
Whilst this is all going on, Geordie and Tom Brittney as Will Davenport get drawn into the cut-and-thrust world of local politics as the widow of former councillor Derek McArthur prompts an election in Grantchester. The widow happens to be Rebecca Front as Reeny McArthur, who I’ve heard before.
Rebecca Front was in the ‘Doctor Who’ Big Finish audio ‘The Jupiter Conjunction’ with Peter Davison and I’ve seen her in ‘The Aeronauts’ film. She’s also been in ‘The Thick of It’ with Peter Capaldi. It’s interesting how Reeny gets involved with Will and Geordie investigating the death of her husband. 😐
The episode also features Jonathan Aris as Robert Waterhouse, a friend of Reeny’s. Reeny’s political opponent happens to be Will Hislop as Maurice St. Martin. Will clearly doesn’t like him and it was very tense and uncalled for when he spoke out about Leonard’s homosexuality in front of everyone.
I admire Will standing up for Leonard once he left a council election meeting, although I don’t think he needed to start a fist-fight. Will’s position is also in danger when Gary Beadle as the unlikeable Archdeacon tells him to speak the truth in front of the police about Leonard, which is pretty harsh. 😦
Mrs. C begs Will to lie to the police about Leonard when he gives his statement/alibi. In the end, Leonard makes his statement before Will gets there, telling the truth about his homosexuality and ending up in a prison cell. This is something I didn’t expect Leonard to do once the episode finished.
I’ve no idea what’s going to happen next and how this storyline with Leonard in Series 6 will continue. Mind you, I have looked ahead on the Masterpiece PBS website to see Al Weaver is in the rest of Series 6 and that he’ll be in Series 7 which is currently being filmed. So it can’t be bad, can it?
With hope, my review on Series 6, Episode 4 of ‘Grantchester’ will be up on my blog next week.
Thanks for reading.
Bye for now.
Tim. 🙂
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