Fans were happy when Masterpiece on PBS confirmed in April 2018 that Grantchester, ITV’s popular mystery drama, would return in 2019 for season 4.
Grantchester is a mystery series based on James Runcie’s novel series, The Grantchester Mysteries. It follows Reverend Sidney Chambers (James Norton) who, despite being a clergyman, can’t help indulging in more worldly pursuits, such as teaming up with police detective Geordie Keating (Robson Green) to solve murder mysteries in the English village of Grantchester.
Although the confirmation that Grantchester was returning to Masterpiece on PBS was good news, fans were also saddened to learn that Grantchester season 4 would be James Norton’s final appearance as Reverend Sidney Chambers.
The showrunners confirmed in June 2018 that Reverend Sidney Chambers would be replaced by a new and younger priest, Reverend Will Davenport, played by Tom Brittney.
Grantchester gained popularity very quickly after it premiered on ITV in October 2014, and later in the U.S. on PBS’s Masterpiece and Amazon Prime. U.S. fans are looking forward to the return of the series to Masterpiece on PBS after the show aired on U.K.’s ITV in January 2019.
Ahead of the return of Grantchester to Masterpiece on PBS for season 4, here is everything you need to know, including release date, trailers, cast, and plot.
Grantchester season 4 on PBS’s Masterpiece: Release date
PBS has confirmed that Grantchester season 4 will premiere on Masterpiece on Sunday, July 14, 2019, at 9/8c.
Grantchester season 4 originally premiered in the U.K. on ITV in January 2019. However, in the U.S., the series airs on Masterpiece on PBS.
Grantchester seasons 1-4 are also available to stream on Amazon Prime.
How many episodes are there in Grantchester season 4?
Grantchester season 4 will feature six episodes. All previous seasons of the series featured the same number of episodes.
Grantchester season 4 on Masterpiece on PBS: Details
Grantchester is a mystery series based on James Jaces Runcie’s novel series, The Grantchester Mysteries.
Grantchester was adapted for TV by Daisy Coulam and is co-produced by Kudos, Lovely Day Productions, and Masterpiece for ITV.
The series is executive produced by Diederick Santer and Rebecca Eaton.
Grantchester season 4 is scheduled to premiere on Masterpiece on PBS on July 14, 2019 at 9/8c.
Production on the six-episode Grantchester season 4 began in June 2018. Filming took place in London, Cambridge, and in the real-life village of Grantchester, Cambridgeshire.
The series, which premiered on ITV in October 2014, is set in the 1950s, in the English hamlet of Grantchester, South Cambridgeshire. It follows the adventures of the “charismatic, romantic, jazz-loving and cigarette-smoking” Reverend Sidney Chambers (James Norton), whose desire for social justice leads him to team up with the law enforcement officer, Detective Geordie Keating (Robson Green), to solve a series of murders in the otherwise quiet English hamlet of Grantchester.
Grantchester season 4 is James Norton’s last season as Reverend Sidney Chambers. The show will be casting a new vicar, Reverend Will Davenport, played by Tom Brittney (UnREAL, Call the Midwife, Outlander, X Company, The Five). Brittney joins the cast of the series in season 4 and will feature alongside Chambers as Reverend Will Davenport. Davenport will replace Chambers in future seasons of the show.
According to ITV, the 28-year-old Davenport is a man of God with “the devil inside him.” He zealously pursues social justice with “boundless energy.”
Fans were saddened when PBS and ITV confirmed that James Norton will make his final appearance as the worldly, crime-fighting Reverend Chambers in Grantchester season 4.
Norton’s exit did not come entirely as a surprise to fans who had been following rumors and speculation about the actor’s future in the series. Grantchester showrunners had anticipated the challenge of keeping him in the show due to his rising profile after starring in Happy Valley (TV series 2014-), BBC’s War and Peace (TV Mini-series 2016), and McMafia (TV series 2018-).
Norton eventually confirmed he was leaving the show in June 2018.
Grantchester season 4 trailer
PBS released the trailer for Grantchester season 4 on January 30, 2019
Grantchester season 4 cast
James Norton stars in Grantchester season 4 as Sidney Chambers, while Tom Brittney portrays the young Reverend Will Davenport, the new crime-solving partner for Robson Green’s character Detective Geordie Keating. Keating, according to the official synopsis, “draws [Davenport] into righting the wrongs of criminal Cambridge.”
The returning cast for Grantchester season 4 includes Al Weaver as Leonard Finch, Kacey Ainsworth (EastEnders) as Cathy Keating, and Tessa Peake-Jones (Only Fools and Horses, Pride and Prejudice) as Mrs. Sylvia Chapman.
Others include Nick Brimble as Jack Chapman, Simona Brown (Man Up, The Night Manager) as Sidney Chamber’s new love interest Violet Todd, and Paterson Joseph as Violet’s father, Reverend Nathaniel Todd.
Grantchester season 4 plot and spoilers
Grantchester is adapted from James Runcie’s novel series, The Grantchester Mysteries, which includes six published books (2012-2017). However, the departure of James Norton’s Sidney Chambers from the series means that future seasons will deviate even more for Runcie’s books.
Grantchester creator Daisy Coulam commented in a recent PBS podcast that season 4 will bring major changes to the series.
Grantchester is set in 1956 after World War II. But according to Coulam, the world has changed radically since 1956 and Grantchester will also have to evolve. Thus, the new series will tackle contemporary issues such as homosexuality, gender equality and racism. But change could be difficult for some.
According to Coulam, the showrunners are hoping that the introduction of a younger vicar, Reverend Will Davenport, will help to infuse the series with “a new spirit of change.”
“He’s much younger than Sidney, which instantly gives him a new characteristic because our new guy didn’t go through the war…he’s the sort of face of modern Britain,” Coulam said.
But old-school Geordie is struggling to adapt to the changes. He is uncomfortable when his wife Cathy leaves home to get a job so as to become self-supporting. Geordie feels “stuck in a different time and wants things to go back to the way they were,” Green, who portrays the character, said.
Geordie’s difficulty adapting is understandable. Green had previously described Geordie as an old-fashioned policeman who, “blames Elvis Presley for broken Britain in the 1950s, corrupting the minds of everyone.”
In Grantchester season 4, Sidney Chambers meets Violet Todd, the daughter of Reverend Nathaniel Todd, a member of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.
A murder occurs at the venue of a talk by Reverend Todd.
Davenport and Geordie also investigate the murder of a “Teddy Boy.” The investigations link with Geordie’s daughter Esme (Skye Lucia Degruttola), who appears to be hiding something from her father.