Grantchester: detective drama takes a dark turn in second series

Grantchester returned last night and quickly took a bleak turn as Reverend Sidney Chambers was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault – but not before putting viewers in a flutter over his tight shorts.

Sofa dwellers "no doubt swooned" as Sidney, played by War and Peace star James Norton, stripped down to his vintage Speedos for a swim in the River Cam – "putting the 'chest' into Grantchester and the 'ooh' into sleuth", says Michael Hogan at the Daily Telegraph.

However, things became "incredibly dark as our hero was arrested for the assault of an underage girl".

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The Cambridgeshire clergyman was forced to prove his innocence, alongside his crime-solving partner, Inspector Geordie Keating, played by Robson Green.

The first episode of series two was approached far too hastily, adds Hogan, describing the twist conclusion as "rushed and unsatisfying", although the performances were "strong".

Gabriel Tate at The Times also thought it "rushed to a slightly unsatisfactory conclusion" and wondered whether the issues it raised were "too complex to be adequately addressed in an ITV hour". However, he concludes it was "well worth a try" and says the show "rapidly re-established its ability to cloak grim realities in cuddly, familiar trappings".

At The Independent, Sarah Hughes notes it took Norton less than two minutes to strip off and "pull what is commonly known as a Poldark". But there were "no easy answers" as the "dark tale" of jealousy, lies, abuse and unwanted teenage pregnancy unfurled and it was in the gaps between what's right and what's best that the show was at its strongest, she says.

Agreeing that proceedings took a "darker turn" in last night's Grantchester, Caroline Frost at the Huffington Post says Sidney's compassion "increasingly found him at odds with everyone on whom he had come to rely" - a sign of things to come, she adds.

"Don't be deceived by those bucolic sun-rays and picnics, Grantchester is going dark for series two and, suddenly, that joyful dip in the Cam seems a long, long time ago."

Grantchester is on Wednesdays at 9pm on ITV