Every season, GBH Drama prepares to bring you coverage of the latest and greatest in British dramas. This month, we're headed to Grantchester for the eight season of the show of the same name. With hot priests, mysterious murders, and a village full of capital C Characters, this show is sure to entertain. GBH Drama contributor Amanda-Rae Prescott is here to recap the magic as it happens.
This week on Grantchester, a famous Italian nude painting is the center of controversy at the college. Three women protest the patriarchal society, someone steals the artwork and a porter is found dead. Meanwhile, Will is still withdrawn from his friends and family after the motorcycle accident and Leonard is struggling to accept professional help for the halfway house. Let’s discuss what happened.
Grantchester’s own Al Weaver directed this episode which means there are fewer Leonard scenes than usual. Once again fans get to see an actor’s touch on the way scenes are directed!
Snobs And Pearl Clutchers
The episode begins with Will cleaning up the pews. A ray of light shines on his head symbolizing his enduring faith in God. Cathy tells Will to hurry up because they’re meeting Geordie to attend a painting unveiling at the college.
At the college, one of Amedeo Modigliani’s most famous paintings, “Reclining Nude”, is on display and only 6 people can view the portrait at a time. Professor Abbott says he’s been studying the artist for years and finishing a paper on his research next year. He mentions that the police in Italy shut down a display of the painting because it was seen as indecent. As our friends are viewing the nude, Geordie jokes that the cops did the public a favor because he believes this is just like the nudes in “dirty magazines”. Cathy notes that the model didn’t have any reservations about posing nude because she didn’t have 4 kids. Will notes that he likes it as well. Geordie is alone in his lack of appreciation of controversial fine art.
After the viewing, there is a cocktail reception. Geordie of course looks underdressed in the same cheap brown suit he always wears. Various members of the college and the elite art patrons of Cambridge are in attendance. Professor Abbott makes a speech about the exhibition which is suddenly interrupted by three women shouting. The women are protesting the patriarchy and how artistic nudity is respected by society but men still dictate how women dress in the world. The women begin to strip in unison which of course horrifies the attendees. Some even begin to throw stuff at them. Cathy agrees with them but Abbott begs for the porters and security to chase them out. He’s outraged that these women dare to challenge his misogynistic crap. Geordie arrests one of the protesters since public nudity is still illegal.
White Collar
While the protest was happening, someone managed to steal the Modigliani! Professor Abbott is even more angry and immediately blames the feminist protesters. He wants Geordie to throw them into jail but Geordie insists on carrying out a full investigation.
Back at the police station, Geordie and Will question the arrested protester. She’s still nude in the questioning room. She refuses to give her name and address, and answers questions with attacks on male society. Of course, she throws some extra shade at Will because of religion’s role in oppressing women. The one piece of information she reveals is that the plans for the protest were kept a secret from everyone. The protester insists they were not responsible for the theft. If the three feminists weren’t involved, then who stole the painting?
A Sudden Discovery
Larry calls Geordie from the college to say that there’s more trouble. One of the porters was found dead the hour before. The deceased is identified as Peter Delaney. As Will was observing the body he had a brief moment of dissociation as he was remembering his accident. Delaney was hit in the back of the head with a heavy object.
Professor Abbott is the first person questioned about Delaney’s death and he claims he only knew Delaney on the job. Abbott is clearly a Nigel, only concerned with people he considers equals. Will is angered by his uncaring attitude towards Delaney’s life. Geordie and Will search Delaney’s room for clues about his family. Another staff member said that Delaney started the job only a few months ago. Only single men can be porters, but Geordie found a love letter from a woman named Sheila. In the letter, she said that a baby is on the way.
Geordie visits Sheila’s apartment. Sheila, a biracial woman, tells Geordie she’s been Mrs. Delaney for two years. They’re originally from Sheffield in Yorkshire and Delaney lied about being single in order to get a job that paid well. Sheila says she doesn’t know why anyone would want to hurt her husband.
Help (Not So) Wanted
Will is wrapped up with solving the murder so he ends up missing his Tuesday appointment at the halfway house. Leonard meanwhile is faced with a massive pile of dishes and laundry on top of running the house. Daniel believes they should hire a housekeeper so that Leonard can focus on helping the residents. Leonard has bad memories of Mrs. C bossing him around, on top of scrubbing pans, and he doesn’t want another housekeeper.
Daniel believes Leonard is taking on too much work and goes behind his back to put up a help-wanted ad for a housekeeper. Martha, one of the candidates, visits while Leonard is peeling potatoes. She says she’s worked for over a decade for hotels and believes that the halfway house residents are equally entitled to professional care. Leonard says he's sorry but there’s no position available, while Daniel is talking as if he’s conducting the interview. Martha senses that the men can’t agree so she leaves her resume anyway.
Later on, Daniel tells Leonard that he wants to hire help because he wants to give Leonard the opportunity to help more people in need. Leonard says that Jesus was willing to do menial tasks during his ministry and Daniel counters that he can’t realistically care for everything. Leonard finally agrees that Martha will be hired as the housekeeper. Daniel then apologizes for going behind Leonard’s back to place the help wanted ad.
Support Or Snooping?
While Geordie is tracking down Sheila, Cathy told Will at the vicarage that she and Mrs. C. have a surprise for Will. Bonnie’s back!!! Will is incredibly happy to see her and won’t let her go. They even sneak off for a bit of alone time. Bonnie then tells Will that she was worried that he would blame himself too much for the accident. She also notes that Cathy noticed he was withdrawn. Will says his faith has helped him through this tough time but Bonnie wants him to open up and talk more.
Will takes Dickens for a walk and then comes back to the vicarage to overhear Bonnie talking to Leonard and Mrs C. about Will’s mood. Will believes they’re conspiring behind his back and making things worse. He’s not seeing their actions as supportive, but as interfering. Bonnie says all she wants Will to feel better. Will does admit he is happy that Bonnie and God are on his side.
Tightlipped
At the police station, Mrs. Scott brings the arrested protester tea. She tells her that they need to rule out the feminists as suspects and that her job is important to redress the gender disparity in policing. This makes the protester open up a bit, and she tells Miss Scott her name is Marianne Robertson. She’s a math student at Newman College. Marianne insists she and the other feminists know nothing about Delaney’s death or the missing painting. She doesn’t want to reveal the names of the others because they are scared about being arrested.
Geordie then questions Marianne and asks if the protest was worth it. She says yes because fighting for women’s rights is a just cause. Geordie shows that the local paper covered the protest. He lets Marianne go without any charge but doesn't let her keep the newspaper as a trophy. Larry is of course annoyed by Geordie’s actions.
Back at the college, Abbott tells Geordie that the Modigliani is too famous to sell openly. The painting could be sold for a nice price on the black market but the news of the theft would make it difficult. Geordie then accuses Abbott of stealing it as a setup. Abbott counters that he’ll talk to DCI Wallace but Geordie says he already spoke to the chancellor. Abbott's friends in high places will not save him from Geordie’s investigation.
Bloody Men
Geordie returns to the station after questionining Abbott. Cathy drops off lunch. She tells him she’s nervous because Mr. Draper has asked for a meeting. Cathy’s scared that she’ll get the pink slip which, combined with Geordie’s retirement, would be really financially difficult. He wishes her good luck.
Cathy then visits Bonnie at the vicarage. Bonnie’s trying to knit something for the baby but it’s a mess. Cathy tells Bonnie that Mr. Draper offered her a promotion! Unfortunately, the pay is not equal to the men in the same position. Cathy is concerned that Geordie’s male ego will be bruised. Bonnie is of course dealing with Will’s mood. They both agree that men are bloody annoying.
From Treasure To Trash
Geordie goes back to Sheila’s house. Sheila tells Geordie that Delaney was an ordinary man. The fact he lied about his marital status is a problem. Sheila says that the last time she saw her husband was the afternoon of his death. Her friend Josephine said that day was a good chance to try to talk to Delaney since the party would distract everyone. Sheila said that she went to the college to confront her husband about not sending her money or visiting at all. They discussed the situation but Delaney sent her away. She swears that he was still alive after she left.
Josephine is then questioned. Josephine works at the college as a cleaner. She says Sheila’s marriage was pretty much over. Sheila, that afternoon, was sobbing about her husband being so uncaring. After this questioning, Geordie believes now that Sheila had a motive for murder. Will believes Sheila still genuinely loved Delaney. Miss Scott later opines that there’s a difference between a ruined single mother and a widow, because of her husband dying tragically. She could have stolen the painting and killed her husband to make a new start.
Geordie and Will then go to Sheila’s room to conduct a search for the missing painting. Geordie finds a lot of nice fabrics and Sheila says she’s a seamstress. Will then looks out of the window and sees trash bins. The Modigliani is found rolled up in the garbage. Josephine is then brought to the station for questioning. Josephine says she wanted to do anything to help a friend in need. Will tells Josephine about his own situation, about his friends going to the limit to help. He asks if Josephine killed Delaney to avenge Sheila. Josephine says that Peter ignored his wife, because he wanted to assimilate into college life. There’s then a flashback to Josephine confronting Peter after Sheila left. He insults her and then she grabs the weapon. Will says Josephine had the keys to Abbott’s office. Geordie says Josephine stole the Modigliani to make it look like an art theft. Josephine admits she’s tired of the women cleaners being ignored at the college and she wanted to sell the painting so Sheila would have baby supplies. She threw the painting in the bins to hide it from Will and Geordie. Josephine is charged with murdering Delaney.
After the arrest, Geordie visits Abbott again. He of course isn’t concerned about Delaney or Josephine as they’re beneath his notice. The return of the painting is the only thing on his mind, which is wild because a family is broken because of the classist and sexist attitudes of the college.
Another Journey
Bonnie decides to go back to her mother’s to provide additional care. She’s still recovering from a stroke. This time around, she’s bringing Ernie to see his grandma. Will doesn’t mind because he wants some quiet before the baby arrives. Will tells Ernie to write him twice a day and gives Bonnie a kiss before they get in the car.
Can Will return to his old self? How will Geordie react to Cathy’s promotion? How will Martha fare as a housekeeper? We’ll find out next week on Grantchester!
