Alphy's Backstory Is Revealed at the Midpoint of 'Grantchester' Season 10

Every vicar in Grantchester comes with their own set of problems. The series' original Hot Priest, Sidney Chambers (James Norton), came with issues straight out of James Runcie's novels: a working-class WWII vet whose ascent to the priesthood elevated him out of his original class status, yet did not make him an appropriate match for his upper-class childhood sweetheart. Will Davenport (Tom Brittney) was upper-class, born and raised the heir to a title and estate that were no longer worth having, while those around him were cruel and abusive.

Since his introduction, Alphy Kotteram (Rishi Nair) has been a cipher, which was one of Lacy's major complaints when he arrived in Season 9. (One of the many reasons we flipped back to me recapping the series this season.) He was such an interesting idea, but the show didn't seem to want to capitalize; Alphy just seemed a nice bloke, born and raised in the U.K., who chose God as his calling, and easygoing enough that he didn't bother to argue when the entire town told him he was now partners with the local detective.

However, the moment this week's episode took him to the Bithah Foundling Home, where the head, Stuart Potts (Downton Abbey's Paul Copley), called him Alpheus and acted like he was the prodigal son returning from war, it was merely a matter of when Alphy would reveal himself as having been raised there, not if.

The reason Potts called Alphy back to the school for the next couple of weeks (leaving a drunken Leonard to dog-sit Dickens) is that the local estate council has announced the Foundling Home is to be closed. This is historically accurate; for the record, orphanages and "foundling homes" were viewed post-World War II as old-fashioned institutions from before scientific research became the guiding principle in raising children. By the 1960s, foster homes were becoming the mainstream norm, and those remaining housed in government and church-funded asylums like this one were eventually forced into the system.

The children have been raised steeped in the church and Jesus, with all education received through that lens. With the school closing and the kids being split up, the eldest child, Rita (Grace Doherty), has started acting out the way religious children sometimes do, turning to Ouija boards and voodoo as a form of rebellion. At first, it's just creepy dolls stuck to chalkboards and midnight chanting to freak out the adults. But then one of the kids, Joshua, falls down the stairs and dies. The local constable couldn't care less — what's one dead orphan? Alphy, horrified at the callous attitude, calls Geordie to investigate.

It doesn't take Geordie long to uncover Alphy's secret. One suggestion that Potts is the one behind Joshua's death, and Alphy is up in arms and ready to admit that this is the man who raised him, and the one attempt at a foster home (the "mum and dad" he mentioned in Season 9) didn't last. He also remembers Pott's assistant, Nurse Gwen Butcher (Mariah Gale), another alumnus of the Foundling home, just one who never left it. 

Despite Geordie's suspicions that Potts might be taking the lives of the children who won't survive outside the asylum as a twisted sort of kindness, it seems unlikely either of them is behind this, especially when one of the kids, Oz (Ben Bird), who already had a firm adoption in place before the Joshua incident made them hesitate, stumbles down the stairs showing signs of having been poisoned. 

With Potts and Gwen both innocent, the next obvious candidate is Rita, who was loudly pointing the finger at them for "not caring about the children." Much like her rebellion against the church is entirely based on the belief system it teaches, so is her reasoning behind poisoning all of her schoolmates with wolfbane in their toothpaste. If they can't be together in this world, they'll just reassemble in the next one. It's a bit heartbreaking as she's taken away and asks Geordie if the place they'll take her will be like the children's asylum. Geordie shrugs; as well, actually... yeah, kind of.

Before leaving, Geordie and Alphy call in the couple who are interested in adopting Oz to reassure them that the deaths in the asylum were terrible accidents and that Oz is a kid any parent would love. (Geordie is utterly smitten, all the while feeling guilty because David is nothing like this kid.) Gwen gets hired at a London hospital and promises to visit Grantchester (and Grantchester) again soon. As for Potts, he gives Alphy a letter from his mother that he's kept all this time. The vicar might claim he's fine and that he does not want sympathy or pity, but when it comes time to say goodbye, he stalks off, unable to speak, and once home, tosses the letter in a drawer, unopened.

Lucky for Alphy, Leonard has already cleared out when he returns, so he doesn't have to deal with drunken lashing out like Mrs. C had to. As for Geordie, we'll have to wait until next week's episode to find out how he feels about Cathy quitting Swinnerton's over her boss refusing to listen to her as a buyer and going into business for herself, funded by the Chapman fortune. Hey, if they can buy Leonard a halfway house, they can fund Cathy's clothing startup.

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.