Change the actors, change the directors, change the dialogue, change the plots, indeed change the screenwriters, liven up the action, and do some proper research on the period, and this programme may just work. As it is, it doesn't, at least not for me. I just can't ignore the fact that this is not how things were in the 1950s, which they weren't.
The 1950s decade was in reality quite an exciting one. The war was over, although there were still wars about (but then there always are) and the UK was slowly getting back on its feet. Not everything was perfect, but neither is everything perfect today, far from it. The young were having their say in no uncertain terms and it was the era of the Teddy Boys and that of cool jazz and the birth of rock'n'roll.
Very little of this is evident in Grantchester, which appears to be just another dreary soap with a murder thrown in to keep it in the mystery genre. Even a whisky-drinking priest on a roundabout of almost-but-not quite love affairs can't liven it up. Nor can a timid gay curate, nor even the priest's dog. Furthermore a grumpy house-keeper utterly destroys any sort of liveliness there may have been. As for the murder plots, well they're an insult to any self-respecting whodunit buff. They're mediocre at best.
I suppose Grantchester with its hunky good-looking vicar will gather fans, but I'm not one of them. I like to be entertained, not put to sleep.
The 1950s decade was in reality quite an exciting one. The war was over, although there were still wars about (but then there always are) and the UK was slowly getting back on its feet. Not everything was perfect, but neither is everything perfect today, far from it. The young were having their say in no uncertain terms and it was the era of the Teddy Boys and that of cool jazz and the birth of rock'n'roll.
Very little of this is evident in Grantchester, which appears to be just another dreary soap with a murder thrown in to keep it in the mystery genre. Even a whisky-drinking priest on a roundabout of almost-but-not quite love affairs can't liven it up. Nor can a timid gay curate, nor even the priest's dog. Furthermore a grumpy house-keeper utterly destroys any sort of liveliness there may have been. As for the murder plots, well they're an insult to any self-respecting whodunit buff. They're mediocre at best.
I suppose Grantchester with its hunky good-looking vicar will gather fans, but I'm not one of them. I like to be entertained, not put to sleep.
