The Vicar and the Cop Are Back! Grantchester, Season 2

Sundays, March 27 - May 1, 2016 at 9pm ET on PBS

James Norton (War and Peace) dons his priestly collar and Robson Green (Reckless) his rumpled raincoat for a new season as the improbable crime-fighting team, Reverend Sidney Chambers and Inspector Geordie Keating, bringing justice and spiritual nourishment to early 1950s England. Grantchester, Season 2 airs in six exciting episodes on MASTERPIECE Mystery!, Sundays, March 27 - May 1, 2016 at 9pm ET on PBS.

Based on the popular Grantchester Mysteries by James Runcie, Grantchester was praised by critics far and wide during its premiere season. The Wall Street Journal judged it “glorious”; The Orlando Sentinel, “compelling”; USA Today, “charming”; The Los Angeles Times, “guilelessly entertaining”; and The New York Daily News, “visually engaging… romantic”— not to mention the kudos from the British press.

Returning cast members include Morven Christie (Case Histories) as Amanda Hopkins, Sidney’s true love, who tired of waiting for his proposal and opted for glacial aristocrat Guy Hopkins, played by Tom Austen (Poirot). Tessa Peake-Jones (Doctor Who) returns as Sidney’s censorious, Bible-quoting housekeeper, Mrs. Maguire. Kacey Ainsworth (EastEnders) is back as Geordie’s long-suffering wife, Cathy, a harried mother of four young children. And Al Weaver (Marie Antoinette) reprises his role as novice priest Leonard Finch, who stoically faces the anti-gay hostility of the day.

Last season saw Sidney and Geordie cement a fast friendship over backgammon, ale, their war service, women problems, and obsession with solving the baffling homicides that crop up in and around Cambridge—including nearby Grantchester, where Sidney is the village vicar. They make the perfect team: Geordie is a working-class police inspector who understands the criminal mind, while Sidney studied for the ministry at Cambridge University and uses his fellow feeling for humanity to get perpetrators to own up to their misdeeds.

Still unresolved from last season is Sidney’s love life. Handsome, worldly-wise, and virtuous, he should be an ideal catch. And at least one very promising female companion turns up in the new series. But will Sidney scare her away with his unconventional taste for jazz, blood-spattered crime scenes, and a married woman?

The new season’s cases include a shocking charge of sexual assault that turns into a homicide investigation implicating a pillar of the community; an apparent suicide from the college spire that takes on Cold War overtones; a confession to murder in which the alleged victim is still very much alive; a haunted stable with links to the Holocaust; and more.

The burning issues of post–World War II Britain provide the backdrop to the action: class conflict, the death penalty, homosexuality, the looming sexual revolution, the communist threat, rationing, and the persistent effects of combat on war veterans such as Sidney and Geordie, who are just trying to get on with their lives and make society safe, secure, and a bit fun.

-more- Grantchester, Season 2 Press Release Page 2

Grantchester is a Co-Production of Kudos and MASTERPIECE for ITV. The Executive Producer for Kudos is Diederick Santer. The Executive Producer for MASTERPIECE is Rebecca Eaton at WGBH Boston. The Producer is Emma Kingsman-Lloyd. The Directors are Tim Fywell, David O’Neill and Edward Bennett. Adapted from Grantchester Mysteries novels by James Runcie, the series was developed for television by Daisy Coulam, and written by Daisy Coulam, John Jackson and Joshua St Johnstone.

About MASTERPIECE The top-rated primetime show on PBS, MASTERPIECE is celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2016. MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. Rebecca Eaton is Executive Producer. Funding for the series is provided by Viking River Cruises and Audible with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust. MASTERPIECE is known for presenting iconic shows such as Upstairs Downstairs, Prime Suspect, The Forsyte Saga, Poldark, Sherlock and Downton Abbey.

About PBS PBS, with 350 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches more than 103 million people through television and over 33 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’ broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS’ premier children’s TV programming and its website, pbskids.org, are parents’ and teachers’ most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the Internet, or by following PBS on Twitter, Facebook or through our apps for mobile devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at pbs.org/pressroom or by following PBS Pressroom on Twitter.

About Kudos Kudos is one of the UK’s most successful and original producers of popular and award–winning scripted television. Recent work includes River (BBC One/Netflix), Capital (BBC One), Humans (Channel 4/AMC), Grantchester (ITV, MASTERPIECE), Broadchurch II (ITV) and The Smoke (Sky One HD). Forthcoming titles include Flowers (C4/NBC Seeso) with Apple Tree Yard (BBC One) currently in production and the third series of Broadchurch and a second series of Humans due to start filming later in 2016. Also announced is Troy: Fall of A City (BBC One). Kudos is part of Endemol Shine Group.

About WGBH WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content for TV and the Web, including Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Curious George and more than a dozen other prime-time, lifestyle, and children’s series. WGBH also is a major supplier of programming for public radio, and oversees Public Radio International (PRI). As a leader in educational multimedia for the classroom, WGBH supplies content to PBS LearningMedia, a national broadband service for teachers and students. WGBH also is a pioneer in technologies and services that make media accessible to those with hearing or visual impairments. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors. More info at www.wgbh.org. pbs.org/masterpiece

MASTERPIECE Press Contacts Ellen Dockser, [email protected], 617-300-5338 Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349 Heidi Schaeffer, [email protected], 310-854-4800

February 2016

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