With Series 14 becoming ever-more-distant a memory and with a major infrastructure project accomplished which will keep the Tour viable for years to come, it’s time to get back to business working some of the old fields which tickle the collective conscience of the Tour Brain Trust. On of those is in seeing Doctor Who actors in decidedly non-Doctor Who contexts, which we call ‘Who Not Who!”
One of the nicer aspects of ‘current’ British television these days are what the Tour calls the ‘old perennials’ (which Doctor Who could rightly be characterized as), series which churn out a set of number of dependable quality episodes year in and year out. ‘Father Brown’ is one of these, beginning in 2013 and now 11 seasons in, but it is not the current series which caught the eye of the Tour this time around, rather it is the ATV series from 1974, a one-and-done run of 13 which is our focus this time.
The Tour had an odd reaction to this series which starred Kenneth More. It should have been tailor-made to the predilections of Tour Honchos in terms of the period set for the series and in seeing, once again, all of those great soldiers in the army of British character actors which the Tour loves, but we found the overall tone rather odd and off-putting (whilst-we hasten to add–we find the new series quite winning).
Still it is that peculiar serendipity which is worth remarking on, and there in episode 1 of that series titled ‘The Hammer God’, we get William Russell (and, just to avoid potential confusion, the 2013 also started off its run with this same story–just so you know). Russell plays Reverend Wilfred Bohun, who ultimately turns out to be the killer (rather sympathetically). With Russell passing during the run of Series 14, this felt like the approproiate moment to get back into the habit.