The 'Sister Boniface Mysteries' 2024 Christmas Special Will Go To The Birds

If it's Christmas, it's time to check in with the Christians, and there's no Christian more entertaining or crime-solving than Sister Boniface (Lorna Watson), the titular detective of Father Brown spinoff Sister Boniface Mysteries. The good Vespa-riding nun who stole everyone's heart in a single episode of Season 1 of Father Brown that a decade later, they gave her a whole show, Sister Boniface landed her first "Festive Special" (as the British papers term it in politically correct fashion) in 2023, and now follows up with a second for 2024.

The first Christmas special was a variation on one of the most popular mysteries ever, Murder on the Orient Express. Titled "The Star of the Orient," it casts Sister Boniface as Hercule Poirot, trying to work out that both everyone and no one can be guilty at the same time. This year's holiday edition will reach back a little further (ok, a LOT further) with a take on Cinderella, which also happens to be this year's Great Slaughter panto. Unfortunately, the title is the (rather unwieldy) Sister Boniface Mysteries Christmas Special 2024: Once Upon a Time, which is utterly terrible for search purposes but at least does get the point across.

There's no embeddable trailer either, which is a shame, but the Radio Times did get an exclusive clip, in which the nuns debate the food of the season: Turkeys.*

(*Listen, as long as nobody says, "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly," we'll be ok.)

Here's the synopsis for the 2024 special:

Great Slaughter’s pantomime rehearsals get a shocking twist when a cast member dies mysteriously. Can Sister Boniface unravel the plot before death strikes again? The local constabulary is enlisted to swell the cast for the town’s pantomime production – Cinderella! But when Tibbles the cat presents the production with a grisly gift – a human eyeball – the crime-solving Catholic nun is on the case. Events take a sinister turn when an actor is found dead – stabbed in the back. With a murderer and an eyeball to contend with, matters get more complicated when another cast member is dispatched. Can Sister Boniface unmask the culprit before they kill again? And most importantly, can the Great Slaughter Amateur Dramatics Society give the public the joyous Christmas pantomime they deserve?

The Festive Special will feature the returning cast of Watson plus Max Brown (The Tudors) as DI Sam Gillespie, Jerry Iwu (Sex Education) as DS Felix Livingstone, Ami Metcalf (Silent Witness) as WPC Peggy Button, and Carolyn Pickles (Broadchurch) as Rev Mother Adrian. The Season 4 guest cast includes Les Dennis (The Madame Blanc Mysteries), Katherine Kingsley (The Larkins), Martyn Ellis (Renegade Nell), Mina Anwar (Happy Valley), Ed Birch (The Witcher) and Daniel Laurie (Call the Midwife).

Sister Boniface Mysteries Christmas Special 2024: Once Upon a Time debuts on BritBox on Tuesday, December 17, 2024.