James Herriot is visiting Grantchester this summer. Actor Nicholas Ralph, who plays the veterinarian on All Creatures Great and Small, makes an appearance on the Sunday, July 12 episode of another popular Masterpiece series on PBS, Grantchester.
He’ll play a fellow man of the cloth that Alphy (Rishi Nair) encounters during a visit to Bishop Grey’s (Stuart Bowman) palatial home, where a smattering of vicars are gathering for a weekend retreat. (Oops! Alphy’s invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.) Ralph’s character, John Planer, recently returned to England from a mission in Africa.
Courtesy of Kudos, ITV, and MASTERPIECE
“He was a great actor to work with, and I got on very well with him,” says Nair. “It was just nice filming with a whole load of vicars. I didn’t feel so alone. On the set, I think we had about 30 vicars, with all the supporting artists and the main cast.”
As the vicars try to curry favor with the bishop, they become suspects in the death of a man whose body was found nearby. He was clutching a Bible, so police detectives Geordie Keating (Robson Green) and Larry Peters (Bradley Hall) bring their resident crime-solving clergyman along. Alphy’s realization that some of his colleagues are a bunch of liars doesn’t help him as he struggles with his faith.
Perhaps his faith in love will be restored. Bishop Grey, of course, is the father of Meg (Christie Russell-Brown), Alphy’s love interest from last season, who is also on the premises.
Grantchester showrunner Daisy Coulam explains that the episode was inspired by a recent Oscar-nominated film. “Basically, we wanted to do Conclave: get loads of religious men together and see what happens,” she says. “Obviously, it’s much funnier than Conclave.”
Grantchester, Season 11 Premiere, Sunday, June 14, 9/8c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)