Stream On: First there was Father Brown. Now say hello to Sister Boniface
“We took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They never said anything about sobriety.” A fun ‘Father Brown’ spin-off
Father Brown executive producer Will Trotter anticipated developing a spin-off as soon as Father Brown had ended—it hasn’t, as of this writing. He eventually pitched the concept to the streaming service Britbox, and lo and behold, Sister Boniface Mysteries is, hence, a Britbox original. The two “cozy” period mystery-detective comedy/drama series share several writers and directors, such as John Maidens, Paul Gibson, Kit Lambert, Tahsin Guner and Ian Barber.
/Streaming /Amazon /★7.1/10 /Trailer /2022 /TVPG
Britbox, founded by BBC Studios and ITV, has turned out to be one of my favorite streaming services. Still modestly priced, it also is still ad-free (unlike practically every other streaming service, including those subscription services that touted themselves as not carrying ads but now do, while also raising subscription fees relentlessly. I’m beginning to collect DVDs again). And with a slate of original programs (or “programmes”), Britbox seems to be succeeding where Netflix has failed.
“We took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They never said anything about sobriety.” (Sister Gregory, in Father Brown, “The Bride of Christ”)
Sister Boniface was first a character in “The Bride of Christ,” a 2013 episode of Father Brown. Nine years after that, her own spin-off series aired. Taking place in the mid-1960s (Father Brown was set in the mid-1950s), the Sister Boniface Mysteries can thus take advantage of such cultural touchstones as the James Bond movies and the Doctor Who series, which were respectively parodied in two episodes.
While the mysteries are solid (and alas! better than in some of Father Brown’s later seasons), comedy, irony and self-awareness inform Sister Boniface, and I can report that, since the first episodes they are getting better and better. Several if not most are variations on the locked-room mystery, and G.K. Chesterton would have approved, even if there were no comparable characters in his original Father Brown stories.
There is, sometimes, along with the mystery and comedy, some good drama; an episode that takes place in a doll factory especially stands out as quite moving.
Lorna Watson plays Sister Boniface; she acts very well with only her face visible in her wimple. Her bespectacled eyes are happy and evocative. She is employed as a scientific advisor by the police of the fictional village of Great Slaughter, where the action is, gaining insight into each crime through comic visions, which are also occasioned by an astonishing imagination.
Max Brown (The Tudors, Foyle’s War) plays Sam Gillespie, a handsome (it’s often relevant) Detective Inspector, and Jerry Iwu is Felix Livingstone, a Detective Sergeant on secondment from Bermuda.
Robert Daws (Jeeves and Wooster) plays Chief Constable Hector Lowsley, also a leading light in the GSADS (Great Slaughter Amateur Dramatics Society) and the director of the struggling local theatre company. Ami Metcalf plays Peggy Button, a young uniformed Woman Police Constable (remember, this takes place in the ’sixties), who is susceptible to rock music and pop culture.
Miranda Raison is Ruth Penny, a newspaper reporter, Jack Gouldbourne plays Norman Walley, junior reporter and classmate of Peggy Button, on whom he has a huge crush.
David Sterne plays Tom Thomas, who speaks in gibberish (but the locals—only the locals—understand him). He leads the dozen quirky townsfolk who provide a delightful background for each episode.
Three seasons (“series” in Britain) are online, with a fourth being teased. I’m almost through the first three, and happily awaiting the fourth. It’s delightful, smart fun.
Sources include Wikipedia (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License); and Radio Times
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