'Grantchester' Debuts Season 10 with the New Normal

It's been a decade since Grantchester first debuted on PBS, initially launching in January 2015 on this side of the pond, directly following episodes of Downton Abbey Season 5. The show has come a long way from the direct adaptation of James Runchie's six short stories from Sidney Chambers & the Shadow of Death, which was repackaged wth successive volumes as The Grantchester Mysteries, giving the show its name. After using Downton Abbey to successfully launch the new offering, PBS moved it wholesale to summer, pairing it with Endeavour through the early 2020s, as the show found itself cycling through vicars, just as Death in Paradise does with London-based detectives. 

Much like the now-long-running Death in Paradise (and Doctor Who before them), Grantchester's non-specific name has allowed it to hire new leads every three to four seasons, and has allowed it to become the first series of Masterpiece's modern era to reach double-digit seasons. (Before Grantchester, the only shows that managed such a feat were from the Mystery! era.) But if Grantchester is super big on making this landmark season special, it certainly isn't acting like it, with a premiere that is as business as usual as it gets.

It's Easter 1962 when the show picks up for its first full season, with Vicar Alphy Kotteram (Rishi Nair, who began his new vicarship partway through Season 9). For the first time in years, the show isn't quite so focused on the when of it all; the setting things in a specific time and place via music and current events started fading away as soon as Rev. William Davenport (Tom Brittany) left, partly because the era and age difference between our regularly scheduled DCI Geordie Keating (Robson Green) and his religious sidekick is no longer a plot point. 

No, the focus is on Alphy's love life, which is standard issue for Grantchester since Rev Sidney Chambers (James Norton) swooned over Amanda (Morvin Christie). Alphy, it turns out, is a bit of a player, dating single ladies, finding his way into their beds and then wandering off when he gets bored. And who can blame him? Relationships suck, according to everyone. From Mrs. C (Tess Peake-Jones), complaining about how bored she is, to Cathy (Kacey Ainsworth) explaining that she can't talk to Geordie about job stress, plus drama currently brewing with Leonard (Al Weaver) and Daniel (Oliver Dimsdale), Alphy's too busy with everyone else's problems to worry about a relationship.

Leonard and Daniel's fight is probably the most sympathetic of the group. However, it gets somewhat short shrift, used as comic relief as Leonard follows Alphy around trying to get him to intercede in their disagreement. Leonard's issue is that Daniel wants to go home to visit his father and mother, both of whom are not long for this world, the same people who disowned him decades ago. Leonard is against it (especially in light of his relationship with his father), but Daniel (quite rightly) says that's not Leonard's call to make.

Thankfully, all these Airing of Grievances is interrupted by a gunshot, which takes the life of one Reg Wait (Neal Barry), a WWII veteran who suffers from PTSD. His girlfriend, Mavis Andrews (Maggie O'Neill), an older spinster who the townsfolk regard as a floozy, is devastated. However, there are a few issues with a suicide scenario, starting with the fact that there were two gunshots. Also, Reg was wearing a bunny mask. At one point, Mavis is seen arguing with what appears to be him. However, upon closer inspection, it is a stouter gentleman wearing the same Army-issued suit, notably the same suit worn by the guy Geordie and Alphy find Mavis having a drink and a smooch with at the bar the next day.

However, Mavis was standing next to Geordie and Alphy when the shot rang out, so it couldn't be her. Reg does have a sister, Eliza (Gemma Page), who seems quite anxious to bury the body after identifying it, and fake cries when Geordie says she can't have it until they are done. She also mentions her brother was a war hero, receiving one of the U.K.'s highest military honors, for actions that don't seem like the kind undertaken by the Reg they all know, and which is suspiciously nowhere to be seen in his very fancy estate, and leaving Geordie questioning if she's telling them the truth, or if she even liked her brother very much.

Speaking of having family one does not get along with, Leonard and Daniel's fight is interrupted by the news that the elder Mr. Finch has passed away. Heartbreakingly, there is no funeral for Leonard to attend; the family ensured he was not told until after. All he has left of a man he will never see again is a small box of personal effects sent to him through the mail, including a half-full flask of whiskey. Leonard drinks to his father before heading home to tell Daniel he's been an idiot and to try to make peace with his parents before it's too late.

With Larry (Bradley Hall) and Miss Scott (Melissa Johns) now going on dates, Alphy winds up being the one sent to do the legwork to find out the truth about Reg's World War II record, whereupon he meets the first woman who is not here for his Rev LoveEm&LeaveEm act, senior librarian Margaret Grey (Christie Russell-Brown), who also seems highly doubtful he is a man who reads or has any business going through the librarian's collection of newspapers, let alone the hope of finding anything. Alphy gamely tries to ask for her number, only to be tartly informed that's not happening, because she doesn't wait by the phone for men to call.

Margaret's assumptions of incompetence are misplaced; Alphy turns up the article about Reg Wait and his decorated service, which features the picture of someone who is not the current body in the morgue. In fact, (surprise, surprise) it's the other man Mavis was readying to jump into bed with. He's the real Reg Wait (Neil Stuke), the son of super-abusive upper-class parents. Reg escaped by switching identities with fellow soldier Silas Jennings (Barry); his sister misidentified the body because the family fortune would finally come to her if Reg were dead, and since she was left behind to be a caretaker, she was ready to take what she'd earned.

Poor Mavis was initially dating the real Reg, who convinced her to kill off his fake self so he could inherit the family fortune that had come the other man's way. Unfortunately, she fell in love with Silas, and when it was time to kill him, she tried to kill the real Reg instead... and due to the same suits and masks, shot the wrong one. Luckily, she'll testify against Reg as the mastermind, so hopefully she won't do nearly as much jail time as he will.

Meanwhile, it turns out Geordie's assumptions about Alphy are also misplaced; his little love-em-and-leave-em act is more fear than callousness, and it's clear as Jack's home video footage catches him standing alone with Dickens the dog that he wants the same joy he sees they all have, despite the complaints. But Alphy has also wised up a little and shown he's serious by giving Margaret his number and a promise to wait by the phone, only to realize after sitting at home that she isn't going to ring.

Of course not. However, she will come by and see him at work instead? Maybe this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Grantchester Season 10 continues with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on most PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece channel, and will air and stream weekly through the end of July. All eight episodes are available to binge on PBS Passport starting on premiere day. As always, check your local streaming service/listings. Seasons 1 through 9 are also available to stream on PBS Passport.