They are cosy and irrelevant, but that’s the point of twee British murder mysteries

FATHER BROWN ★★★½

Father Brown is an empathic Roman Catholic priest solving murders in a fictional Midsomer-style 1950s Cotswold village called Kembleford. He and a collection of characters of differing age, background and pin-curl hairstyles live in a birdsong-soaked idyll awash with Victoria sponge, thatched cottages and knotty, gently dark murder plots.

Father Brown (Mark Williams) is once again accompanied by Sister Boniface (Lorna Watson).

Against all human nature, they care not for the fact their life of bicycles, knitted vests and cups of tea on the hour is accompanied by unnaturally regular local killings.

But that’s the beauty of British period crime mystery.

Hollyhocks sway, fetes sell iced lollies and churches run chorister competitions and every single time someone innocently sips a lemon barley water, or eats a strawberry in an embroidered napkin, and, seconds later, they’re foaming at the mouth and falling to the ground.

By-the-book Chief Inspector Sullivan (Tom Chambers) and his trusty sidekick Sergeant Goodfellow (John Burton) then rush forth with cross faces saying, “Everyone, get back”, as Father Brown (Mark Williams), his black cassock, broad-brimmed saturno hat and unassuming nature concealing a steel-trap mind, glides quietly into view to listen and ruminate.

Father Brown (Mark Williams), Sister Boniface (Lorna Watson) and Gaynor Garfield (Ingrid Oliver) are unbothered by another murder in the village.

Father Brown, which is loosely based on British author G.K. Chesterton’s series of books, returns for its 11th season with 130 episodes and 13 years of unflaggingly healthy ratings under its liturgical robe belt.

Plots in the new series swing from brooding chaps in tweed suits and conflicted women in cotton dresses hiding foul play, nefarious affairs, belief in vampires and the return of Father Brown’s former nemesis Hercule Flambeau.

Some disparage British murder mysteries such as Father Brown for being too cosy or irrelevant or repetitive old-fashioned teatime viewing that’s soft on reality. I say, true. That is the point. They’re chocolate box viewing with eccentric characters and zipped-up at the end storylines, but that’s no reason to avoid them.

Father Brown, a stoic master of observing a comical, unnerving or suspicious situation unfold before him, is rejoined this season by his friend Sister Boniface (Lorna Watson).

She now has a TV series (and red Piaggio Vespa with sidecar) but here she pops up on a bicycle with nun-made wine in her straw basket, before being suspected of killing a famous artist – who, and I cannot stress this enough, starts foaming at the mouth after sipping a drink.

After freeing her from police cells, Father Brown works with Sister Boniface, who uses her master’s degree in biochemistry, her laboratory and a brilliant way with keen, quick-speaking pontificating to solve the murder.

Other guest stars include Ingrid Oliver, Watson’s real-life comedy partner (and wife of crime author Richard Osman) and former Doctor Who Sylvester McCoy, a vision of rumpled grumpiness as a retired doctor.

I bemoan the loss of season regular Mrs McCarthy (Sorcha Cusack) and am still on the fence about widow Mrs Devine (Claudie Blakley), but this show is really about Father Brown’s intuitive brilliance.

In his words: “Humility is the mother of giants. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.”

Father Brown airs on the ABC at 6.10pm on Saturday, March 29, on the ABC.

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