Every season, GBH Drama prepares to bring you coverage of the latest and greatest in British dramas. This month, we're headed to Grantchester for the eight season of the show of the same name. With hot priests, mysterious murders, and a village full of capital C Characters, this show is sure to entertain. GBH Drama contributor Amanda-Rae Prescott is here to recap the magic as it happens.
This week’s Grantchester focuses solely on the fallout stemming from Will’s motorcycle accident. Elliot is ready to send Will to jail for decades, but Geordie is convinced that another unrelated incident is why Will accidentally hit the pedestrian. The episode follows Geordie and the others piecing together the events leading up to the accident.
The Accident
The episode begins with Will trying to find a telephone to ring for an ambulance for the pedestrian. Geordie gets the call about the accident at the station but it’s 10 mins before his shift ends. He’s reluctant to take the call, but he takes Larry with him. At the scene, they find a very worried and confused Will. Will says he had no time to brake or swerve before impact. He has scratches on his hand.
At the police station, the morgue calls to confirm the victim died. The victim was identified as John Mitchell. He was 30 years old, and there’s no word on next of kin yet. Will is inconsolable when he finds out the man died. Geordie tries to reassure Will that it’s a blind corner known to the police for previous accidents but this doesn’t help Will’s guilty feelings at all.
Will uses his one phone call to tell Mrs. C to watch Ernie for him. Mrs. C rants to him about how irresponsible he is for being at the pub. Ernie is asking Mrs. C questions about why Will isn’t there and he refuses to go to bed. She also slips in that Dickens got the female dog next door pregnant and the neighbor wants them to take all the puppies. Will tells her he hopes to be home soon and to tell Ernie that things will be OK. Mrs. C and Cathy debate whether they should tell Bonnie about the accident, but they come to the consensus that she’ll find out no matter what and that for now keeping Ernie from being too anxious is their priority.
Will’s Interrogation
Geordie looks at Will’s bike while he’s on his smoke break and sees that the speedometer is stuck at 78 MPH which will not help Will’s case at all. Will asks if the victim had kids and so far Geordie doesn’t know.
Will is formally interviewed about the accident and he swears he didn’t know the speedometer was that high. He says that the situation happened so quickly that he wasn’t able to stop or veer away. Elliot decides Will should be formally charged with death by reckless driving which could result in a DECADE of jail time. Geordie says this is way too harsh and Elliot accuses him of taking the case too personally since Will is his friend.
While the grilling is going on Ernie uses the typewriter to write a letter to Will. He says he wants to call Will his Dad because he cares so much. Who’s cutting onions around here??
Geordie then shows a woman into his office. This woman is in fact the victim’s wife Jackie Mitchell. She identifies the body as her husband’s. Jackie claims she last saw her husband at the local bar The Mirage. He got into a fight and she left because he was drunk. This information means Will may have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Revisiting The Bar Fight
Geordie and Larry revisit the scene of the crime. The goal is to establish where and what John Mitchell was running from. Larry suddenly finds the body of another man on the footpath. The second victim is identified as Milton Bedwin. Geordie theorizes Mitchell beat Bedwin to death, and that it is likely others may be involved in the incident. The cops start searching the area for more evidence while Geordie and Larry visit The Mirage to gather witness statements.
The Mirage’s name is really misleading, as it’s a local dive bar and not a posh club. The managers of the place are brothers Ray and Paulie Mansfield. The Mansfields are quick to blame the ex cons at the halfway house for starting fights at the bar and also claim Bedwin was drunk as well. Geordie and Larry’s next stop is Bedwin’s employer, a local laundry service. Dot, one of Bedwin’s coworkers, also said Milton loved to fight and that he indeed got into the fight before the accident. She also claims she last saw Milton get on the 8:30 bus after work.
Back at the police station, Jackie is questioned about the fight. She says she didn’t observe much but believed it was over the bar queue. When Geordie asks her about if John was violent before, she doesn’t answer.
Scapegoats
Larry takes the initiative and goes to the halfway house. He interrupts Leonard and Kevin’s gin rummy game to arrest everyone from the halfway house. At the police station, Leonard is angry that the police are harassing him and the others without clear cause or evidence. Larry calls Leonard a clearly homophobic slur and Leonard is struggling not to give him the satisfaction of a violent or emotional response. The other residents are also protesting their innocence as they were not at the club at the time. Miss Scott calls Geordie’s attention to the angry voices outside and he manages to convince Larry to chill out a bit. Unfortunately, Leonard is going to have to wait to prove his innocence because they’re all being held at the station. Larry of course also threatens Leonard with the fact that Geordie is leaving, and no one else will help him for bonus insult to injury. Leonard and the others from the halfway house are eventually free to leave without charge.
Even though Will is going through his own turmoil, Geordie says that Leonard needs Will’s help. He tries to reassure Will that John Mitchell was likely a wrong un’, but this doesn’t help. Will visits Leonard’s holding cell but ends up crying on his shoulder. This scene proves what Will said in Season 6: that they are brothers! Will then tells Leonard one of the possible names for the baby is John because that was the only Biblical name Bonnie would entertain. Will also says he hasn’t told Bonnie about the accident. Although Will frequently counsels parishioners, he’s now at a loss for consoling himself. Leonard tells him the same advice he would give someone else: that God still loves him.
The Math Isn’t Mathing
Miss Scott and Larry are also trying to figure out what happened. They’re a bit nervous to question Geordie’s judgment but at the same time the evidence is conflicting. Jackie is shown Milton’s body and she says he is NOT the man John fought at the bar. Miss Scott thinks Larry is being too aggressive. He says his mother recently passed away but then Larry shows Miss Scott a case file that may prove Geordie’s theory wrong. At this point either the Mansfield brothers are lying, or Jackie lied to make John look less guilty. Larry’s case file points out that Ray Mansfield has a long rap sheet so it’s very possible he’s guilty.
The Mansfields deny leaving The Mirage when re-questioned. They now claim the bar fight wasn’t about the queue but it was over the fact one of the men was coming on too strong to Dot. Paulie claimed Milton was defending Dot’s honor but doesn’t explain why. Unfortunately, John did not have any blood loss on his clothes proving that he killed Milton. It’s possible John was running away from Milton.
Miss Scott believes Dot is definitely not as innocent as she looks. In fact, she knows the last bus leaves an hour EARLIER than 8:30. Geordie realizes that Dot is covering for one or both of the Mansfields. Back at the laundry, Dot is questioned about why her alibi doesn’t match up. She claims she ran to Ray because John was being too aggressive. Geordie is now convinced Dot approached Ray because he has a history of violence.
A Prayer For The Dead
Will asks Miss Scott to be able to see John’s body in the morgue. He doesn’t believe it’s right that the body is sitting unaccompanied. Miss Scott is of course nervous she’ll get in trouble but is sure all Will is going to do is pray over the body. Once there’s a distraction she tells Will to go. He begins to pray for John’s soul to rest in peace and he’s joined by Jackie. Will and Jackie pray together. He asks if they had any children and she says they were never able to conceive but that John really wanted to be a father. Will then tells her he was the biker who hit John. Jackie slaps him hard. Any chance of forgiveness or sympathy is clearly lost now.
Dirty Laundry
Geordie returns to The Mirage to prove that Ray was the aggressor. He’s clearly been in too many fights and lied about leaving the bar. We then see a flashback to the events on the footpath. Ray pulled a knife, and Paulie and Dot were also there. Clearly something or someone stopped him. Geordie looks over behind the bar and sees a laundry bag. The Mirage is not the kind of place where tablecloths are necessary, so he opens it. Inside is a bloody shirt mixed in with other items. Ray is arrested for murdering Milton.
Elliot interviews Will again stressing how reckless and uncaring he is for others. He says Will’s earlier fling with his ex ruined his life. He wants Will to sign the confession, but is interrupted by Geordie. Geordie says Will’s speedometer was already broken before the accident based on the photo he had with Ernie “riding” Will’s motorcycle. A witness in the village also testified that Will was driving at a normal pace, around 40 MPH. John ran onto the road on a blind corner because Ray was threatening him with the knife. Will breathes a heavy sigh of relief because what happened was purely an accident.
Geordie then asks Ray why he didn’t put up a fight when he was arrested. He’s been arrested for fighting the police in the past. Ray doesn’t offer a real answer when shown the bloody shirt again which makes Geordie realize Ray’s lying to protect his brother. There’s another flashback to the fight where John was running away. Paulie sucker punched Milton for bullying but it was so hard that Milton coughed up blood. Dot assisted them at the laundry with swapping shirts to cover up the evidence. Paulie finally confesses to being responsible and apologizes. Will then tells Paulie the same thing Leonard told him: that God still loves him despite killing his friend.
Fatherhood
Will is finally released from the station with all charges dropped! The first thing he does is go back to the accident spot for one more moment of reflection and prayer. Then he returns to the vicarage. Will and Bonnie then have a chat on the phone. She tells him that things are OK but she wants to name the baby Sebastian instead. Will tells her he loves her and his tone indicates he’s on the verge of tears. Bonnie asks him why his tone is different than usual but the scene fades out.
We then see Will sitting by himself outside the vicarage. Ernie comes home from school and is excited to see that Will’s back. He gives Will the letter he wrote and asks him to read it. It’s riddled with typos but Ernie is serious about calling Will his father. Will reads the letter and he calls Ernie his son in response.
Did Will tell Bonnie about the accident? What will the baby’s name actually be? We’ll have to watch next week’s Grantchester to find out!
