Grantchester Season 6 made the nightmares of fans come true. Everyone’s favorite curate Leonard Finch was arrested and then pleaded guilty to charges of deviancy. While his early release from prison in the season finale was a comfort to many, some fans questioned whether so many people in the village would have been supportive of Leonard. Many make the assumption is that everyone in the UK was as bigoted as Bryan the blackmailer. However, a closer look at the historical record reveals a different story.
Although the Criminal Law Amendment Act which penalized male homosexuality in the UK would not be overturned until 1967, attempts at legislating reforms were already underway long before 1967. Public opinion was already starting to turn towards overturning the law by 1958, when Season 6 takes place. Cathy Keating’s campaign at the courthouse wasn’t merely the invention of screenwriters taking creative license.
The Wolfenden Report, published in September 1957, was the result of a 3-year investigative committee set up by the UK government to explore reform or abolition of the Criminal Law Amendment Act. After Alan Turing and several other prominent people were prosecuted in the 1950’s, public and expert opinion started to turn. The report is named after Lord Wolfenden, who led the committee and participated in resulting parliamentary debates. Remember, this was one year before Season 6 is set. Government officials were concerned that the existing laws were ineffective and unjust. One of the key findings stated in broad terms that there should be a separation between private affairs and government law, and therefore consensual homosexual acts should no longer be considered illegal. The report was written in a way to avoid judgment or approval which was highly controversial at the time: one member even ended up writing a rebuttal to the report.
In the same year Season 6 takes place, the Homosexual Law Reform Society was founded to advocate for the Wolfenden Report to be fully accepted by the UK government. While the initial push failed, historians and LGBTQ+ advocates alike credit the report and the society as one of the key parts in the overturning of the law in 1967.
Although Grantchester’s characters are fictional, the history of the Wolfenden Report shaped this season’s plotline. Geordie follows the letter of the law, yet his resentment over how men like Leonard were treated versus murderers reflects how law enforcement officials felt about the law at the time. Arresting men for consensual homosexuality prevented police from effectively catching more violent offenders, especially those guilty of coercion related to prostitution, rape, and sexual assault. The recommendations from the Wolfenden Report resulted in the passing of the 1959 Street Offenses Act. Assuming everyone in law enforcement at the time was a diehard homophobe is wrong, especially as several members of Lord Wolfenden’s committee were judges.
What role did the Anglican Church and religious leaders play in the Wolfenden Report? The Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, Geoffrey Fisher, fully supported the report’s recommendation. He wrote: "There is a sacred realm of privacy... into which the law, generally speaking, must not intrude. This is a principle of the utmost importance for the preservation of human freedom, self-respect, and responsibility." Fans of the Grantchester book series know author James Runcie’s father was a former clergy member. Leonard was most likely inspired by men his father knew. Unfortunately, the Archbishop’s recommendation to overturn the law did not lead to doctrinal changes as Will’s rejected speech in Episode 8 shows.
In terms of the average village citizen, the 1950s was an era of social transition. Society was becoming more secular, which is already a recurring theme throughout the books and series. Will and the young college students who were protesting nuclear proliferation are way more open-minded than Geordie’s generation. There were also people, like Mrs. C, who would have been inclined to believe homosexuality was a sin but also cared deeply for the happiness of queer friends or family members. Politically active people like Cathy would have been part of the process of appealing to MP’s and others to advocate for overturning or reforming the law. Even in a village setting, people didn’t just think one way about civil rights issues. Episode 5’s parish council election plot clearly showed people were divided between progressive Labour and conservative Tory ideologies. Leonard’s case brings out that same division.
Grantchester’s unique position as a hybrid period drama and crime drama allows the series to address this aspect of social change in a flexible and creative way. The screenwriters throughout the series have used fictionalization to tell stories from archives and police blotters. Just because the Will Davenports of history are often shouted down by the bigots, it does not mean they didn’t exist: fans should rest assured there is real history supporting the Emmy-worthy work Al Weaver put into portraying Leonard in Season 6.
