User Reviews

The first episode of Father Brown introduces this disarming local Catholic village priest who cannot help himself when a murder crosses his path.

At a church celebration hosted by the Anglican Reverend Wilfred Bohum, his caddish, womanising brother Norman gatecrashes the party and gets into a fight with the village blacksmith, Simeon Barnes who thinks he is having a dalliance with his wife, Elizabeth.

He is also in an entanglement with Polish Susie Jacinsky the housemaid in Father Brown's household.

When Norman is found dead with his head smashed, Inspector Valentine is on the verge of arresting Simeon Barnes but it's his wife who confesses to the crime.

Father Brown does not think that she killed Norman and thinks the killer is still at large and wants them to save Elizabeth and their own soul.

The impish Father Brown admits he is happy to play the fool as long it leads to the truth as his adversaries misjudge his tenacity.

This is a bright introductory episode to the series, a hissable murder victim, an intriguing mystery and also a rather risqué gay subplot.

A interesting start to this series, I've never seen an episode before so this I felt was a good introduction, usually detective stories work because of the Detectives pure genius which is at times a tad wee bit unrealistic, this however works in a different way, while intelligent, Father Brown is not some academic genius rather a Catholic Priest this means he is told people's secrets in confidence, and he acts accordingly, but using this information to solve the crime without breaking his Catholic laws.

All together it was very enjoyable, definitely recommend.

This is the first episode of Father Brown. It all seems nice but as a first episode I did not like the plot. A man is killed that has a lot of enemies. It is later found out he is a homosexual.

This man has a brother that is a Catholic priest. The priest is rude and accuses someone of killing his brother.

Father Brown takes confessions from a couple of people one confesses and tells why he murdered the man. He blames God for doing the killing. So typical. What I did not like is that Father Brown said he would not tell anyone but he wanted the person to confess so a person in jail that confessed would not die. I never heard that a Catholic priest could not tell the police about someone who confessed to murder but I am not sure. What I did like is Father Brown did not blame God for instigating the killing or causing it. Brown made it clear to the confessor it was the their choice to do this action.

The priest lessened the sin the victim was in. It did not justify murder but it should have been said that homosexuality is a sin and as a Catholic they must preach that it is.

I also like the fact there is some humor with a lady like Miss Marple named Mrs McCarthy. There are no swearing, sexual scenes or revealing clothing.

Yet another excellent offering from the BBC's Father Brown. This Episode in particular had a special meaning for me and I unexpectedly broke down at the disclosure one of the main suspects hidden homosexuality. I know this series, as I see it is 'high camp' and it's main aim is to bring pleasure to the audience which it does with each episode. However, every now and again there is a subject matter that is touching and serious An example of this was an episode in the last series that showed us the pilfering of art by the Nazi's. Then there was this episode whose message related to the persecution of men because of their sexuality which often resulted in blackmail, this was a serious matter for gay men during these decades with many men going to prison for up to 7 yrs. It was suspected that some poilce would often take information from a blackmailer if a victim wouldn't pay up. The outcome would result in gay men going to prison for long periods of time and the blackmailer would never be found or even looked for.

As I've come to expect from the team responsible for my favorite tv detective series all involved handled the the subject of being homosexual in such a 'matter of fact way' and came through for the victim of blackmail in the end so that they where able to keep their private life, private which is something that actually did actually happen in both Hollywood and Britain for actors.

My only criticism of Father Brown is that modern values are display with the main characters, and I say to that, SO WHAT! As always the locations, costumes and stunning beauty of the Costwolds makes Father Brown an almost perfect TV series. Mark Williams,Nancy Carrol and Sorcha Cussack plays their parts to perfection. Sometimes I think it would be so nice for the BBC to elevate this show with an increase in the budget and a bump up the schedules, but then again I think, maybe it's just perfect where it is.

I'm starting to catch up on Father Brown episodes, so here it is, I'm watching the first one, The Hammer of God, the first episode ever. I'm surprised the writers tackled a sensitive LGBTI issue that is never expressly stated in the episode, but in some ways the writers were ahead of their time culturally with the sensitive issue. I wonder if this episode somehow inspired the creators of Transparent (starring Jeffrey Tambor) to make Transparent.

We learn more about Father Brown, his motivations, his ability to do the job that the police can't be bothered doing. Father Brown also doesn't suffer any PTSD at all with the bodies piling up over the run of the series.