“A man of God–such a shame”
by chuckofish
Are you watching Grantchester on PBS?
Now that Wolf Hall is finished, I am watching Grantchester, a miniseries based on James Runcie’s novel Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death, about a young vicar and WWII veteran who teams up with a local detective to solve murders. The author based “Sidney after his late father, Lord Runcie, who was Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1980s. Like Sidney, the elder Runcie was a war hero before he entered the ministry, and he was a compassionate and amiable parish priest. Unfortunately, he never took up crime-solving. Grantchester corrects that oversight.” (PBS.com)
Sounds perfect to me.
Robson Green (Geordie Keating, the detective) and James Norton (Sidney Chambers, the vicar) are quite engaging and say things like:
“Do you think we have a problem with alcohol?”
“Absolutely. We don’t have any.”
I have set my DVR.
Side note: I met Lord Runcie when he was the Holy Week preacher at the Episcopal church I attended in the 1990s. He was a tank commander in WWII and, if I recall correctly, the only one to capture a submarine! It goes without saying (but I will) that they don’t make archbishops like him anymore.


I just told you about Grantchester! I didn’t know it was showing now. I’m glad you’re watching. We really liked it a lot. How cool that you got to meet Lord Runcie…
I sort of stumbled on it Sunday night. Lord Runcie was very nice. His wife was a bit of a pill/snob. I sat next to her at lunch and I got the feeling she couldn’t believe she was actually in–of all flyover places– Missouri.
Now, that’s a real alcohol problem! A great line. Couldn’t find anything about the submarine capture but Lord Runcie had exemplary military service, winning the Military Cross for acts of bravery.
http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/31187-account-3rd-tank-bn-scots-guards-jul-1944-may-1945/page-4
Scroll down to the 5th entry–it tells about the submarine capture.
Just saw this…thanks. Funny the bio information doesn’t mention this.