#publisher Daily Express TV & Radio RSS Feed Daily Express Search Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. sunday_express_logo ____________________ (BUTTON) * Find us on Facebook * Follow us on Twitter * Check us on Google+ * Subscribe to our rss feed Daily Horoscope Our Apps Top 10 Our Paper Paper Archive Weather 4° London * HOME * News * Showbiz & TV * Sport * Comment * Finance * Travel * Entertainment * Life & Style * TV & Radio * Celebrity News * TV Listings * Home * Showbiz & TV * TV & Radio * Television round-up: Grantchester Downton Abbey, The Drive and The Kitchen Television round-up: Grantchester Downton Abbey, The Drive and The Kitchen HAPPY Valley hunk James Norton dons a dog collar to play hunky vicar Sidney Chambers in Grantchester and Downton's back and Lady Mary is already facing a scandal... By David Stephenson PUBLISHED: 00:01, Sun, Oct 12, 2014 Grantchester, Downton Abbey, The Driver, The Kitchen, television, review, David Stephenson James Norton plays the 1950s vicar in Grantchester, with Robson Green as his sidekick[ITV] Here is a new TV series which is ripe for Harry Hill’s much-missed “Fight!” sequence from TV Burp. It’s Grantchester (ITV, Monday) meets Father Brown (BBC). There is a clergyman: tick! There is a period setting: tick! There is a quaint, bucolic setting: tick! There is even a trusty old bicycle: tick! You will not be surprised to learn that channels are very much like children: “Anything you can do, we can do better.” You might have Downton, but we have the new Upstairs, Downstairs. Or did. You have Mr Selfridge, we have The Paradise. Or did. This time, it is ITV which is doing the borrowing. Does she know what he knows, and does Carson know anything, and if not, why not? Also, what are we having for tea? Another nice Victoria sandwich? So it is with Grantchester, which is so close to GK Chesterton’s superior Father Brown, that copyright lawyers must be rubbing their hands. Does it matter? No of course, not. This is television; not life, unless you are the type that bites your toenails while watching Gogglebox. If you like your clergy investigating criminals rather than being them, you will soon be able to watch them doing so, afternoon and night. Based on recent evidence, vicars and priests might do better at policing than the lot we currently have. Grantchester’s lead is James Norton, television’s go-to “housewives’ choice”. He is blond, well-spoken (posh, to you and me) and cuts a dashing figure on a bicycle set against the background of a pretty Cambridge college. Up until now, the most famous sons of Grantchester were Rupert Brooke and Jeffrey Archer; now it is James Norton. Can he act? Well, he played a low-life in Happy Valley (BBC), so yes. Unfortunately, he looks as much like your local vicar as Wayne Rooney. To blur fact and fiction, Norton studied theology, just like TV detectives Morse and Hathaway. So what can be said in the vicar’s favour? Much. He smokes, he drinks, he likes jazz and his congregation, not surprisingly, is mostly women. Called Sidney Chambers, which makes him sound like a Fifties’ country solicitor, also seems to have a divine power when it comes to solving crimes. In the first episode, about the apparent suicide of a parishioner, he had two light-bulb moments. He certainly doesn’t have time to do any actual detection. The drama only lasts an hour. It also helps that his policeman sidekick, Robson Green, is incredibly indiscreet about confidential information: “Here, read this case file, vicar, and tell me what you think. In fact, why not look through all the unsolved ones, too?” Grantchester, Downton Abbey, The Driver, The Kitchen, television, review, David Stephenson DOWNTON: Dowager’s butler Spratt spied Lady Mary and Lord Gillingham leaving the hotel [ITV] Congratulations to the person who adapted this cosy caper. The novel, by James Runcie (son of the archbishop), was told in 52 minutes plus ads. The series should actually be called The Reduced Runcies. There were developments in Downton Abbey (ITV, Sunday). It might even be plot. Lady Mary did wake up in a hotel bed with Lord Gillingham. even an ITV audience will have known what has transpired. They got hammered in the hotel restaurant, before topping up from the bar fridge, and falling down drunk on the bed. Honour was preserved. However, the hero of the hour was our favourite character, Spratt, the Dowager’s wonderfully snobby butler. Finding himself in Liverpool on the same day as Lady Mary, he spied them both leaving the hotel. You’ve got to give credit to writer Julian Fellowes: a sprat to catch an eloper. He passed this key information to Violet, who deftly side-stepped the Spratt’s inference, and instead suggested the couple had actually been gazing longingly at the hotel’s splendid Victorian architecture. Then followed a wonderful scene between the Dowager and Lady Mary, one of the best in the series so far. Meanwhile, the dormant Bates/Green plot has reared its head. Since we are slightly out of the loop, we are now faced with questions such as: “Does she know what he knows, and does Carson know anything, and if not, why not? Also, what are we having for tea? Another nice Victoria sandwich?” Warning: this storyline has the potential to get rather wearisome. Related articles * Autumn's best dramas: Downton Abbey, Doctor Who and Dallas are back on telly * Grantchester's Robson Green: 'The show can be quite dark and brooding' * Television round-up: Peaky Blinders is back, and no one’s feelings are being spared * Grantchester has one smoking reverend The final episode of The Driver (BBC1, Tuesday) kept us guessing and was undoubtedly one of the better thrillers of the year. David Morrissey led a fine cast, with excellent performances, too, from Claudia Blakeney and Colm Meaney. The three-part drama was actually about a mid-life crisis, lived through a nasty Manchester gang. Let’s hope people do not get ideas. Vince told his wife, with whom he was having difficulties: “It made me feel good.” Before she uttered the line of the piece: “I wish you had had an affair.” Now you say. Enjoy satire? Can’t find one to save your life? Try The Revolution Will Be Televised (BBC3, Tuesday) before this channel is left to wither online. You will either love it or hate it. Indeed, some may find it too rude. The two cast, Jolyon Rubinstein and Hayden Prowse, train their fire on pleasing targets. Last week they invaded the offices of the men’s magazine GQ, which is generally very pleased with itself. However, it had a sparkling PR disaster recently when it named Tony Blair as the Philanthropist of the Year. I am told the people of Iraq gave a resounding cheer when they heard the news. So Rubinstein and Prowse presented them with huge placards, including one which announced the “Man of the Year” should be Adolf Hitler. Don’t give them ideas. They also attended a book launch by Gordon Brown and showed him a new cover of his book, which read, “I ****ed The economy”. Oddly enough, the former prime minister was not greatly surprised. STEPHENSON'S ROCKET I Blame Gogglebox (C4). The series, which shows us ordinary people picking their feet with aplomb, has now spawned the risible The Kitchen (BBC2). The highlight was watching one family cook up the cordon bleu, West Country delight, known locally as “pasty and chips”. How did I miss that dish? Apparently, it is extraordinarily tasty, and so quick. Just pop it in the microwave, and a treat awaits. Food programme of the year Emmerdale spoiler alert Aaron Chas Gordon storyline ITV characters Emmerdale spoiler alert Aaron Chas Gordon storyline ITV characters SPOILER ALERT: Emmerdale's Aaron is livid when he discovers Chas is dating Gordon Coronation Street spoiler alert Mary Taylor slap Brendan wife ITV Coronation Street spoiler alert Mary Taylor slap Brendan wife ITV SPOILER ALERT: Coronation Street's Mary gets a slap from Brendan's furious wife EastEnders spoiler Kush Kazemi Martin Fowler truth baby Arthur Shabnam EastEnders spoiler Kush Kazemi Martin Fowler truth baby Arthur Shabnam EastEnders spoiler: Is Kush about to spill the truth to Martin over baby Arthur? 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