‘Grantchester’ Star Tom Brittney Explains Will’s Season 9 Exit: ‘He Needed Some Peace’

Real life converged with screen life during Tom Brittney’s final episodes of Grantchester. Both the actor and his character, crime-solving vicar Will Davenport, make a big decision: to leave a place that’s been home for six years and take on new challenges.

“I’ve loved it, but I needed to stretch my legs as an actor,” Brittney says. “Also, I think Will’s journey needed to come to an end. He’s been through so many ups and downs that I felt like he needed some peace.”

So get ready for another changing of the vicar as the Masterpiece series enters the 1961-set Season 9, premiering June 16 on PBS. In Episode 3, Rishi Nair becomes the drama’s third handsome young clergyman, Alphy Kottaram, following Brittney and original star James Norton. (Is being photogenic a prerequisite for the job?)

Alphy drives a red Triumph convertible, has his share of flirtatious females to contend with and, as the son of Indian parents, faces challenges in the largely white village. He’s mistaken for a burglar before he even unpacks. “It was important to me that was acknowledged,” Nair says. “It wouldn’t be easy for Alphy. People would stop and stare. But we don’t want to make the whole season about that.”

Related

Is Charlotte Ritchie Leaving 'Grantchester'?

It wouldn’t leave much time for Alphy to aid Geordie Keating (Robson Green), the police detective who counts on vicars to help him close cases in the homicide-heavy Grantchester and surrounding Cambridge. After a bumpy beginning (and a resulting punch to the face), the pair find common ground.

“Alphy’s not a great believer in the police,” Nair notes. “But as time goes on, he realizes [he and Geordie] are more similar than he thinks. They both want to help people in their respective jobs.” Alphy, though, isn’t the boat rocker his predecessor was. “He’s someone that keeps his cards close to his chest, which maybe I’m a bit like as well,” says Nair.

The supporting cast also returns for these eight episodes: Geordie’s colleagues, detective Larry Peters (Bradley Hall) and civilian employee Miss Scott (Melissa Johns), see action separately and together; Esme (Skye Lucia Degruttola), Geordie’s eldest daughter, shows a rebellious side; and Leonard (Al Weaver) welcomes a street preacher to his halfway house. Cases revolve around a circus troupe, a group of archaeologists and — in a mystery shot at Camfield Place, onetime home of the late romance novelist Barbara Cartland — the residents of a manor house. 

Although Nair and Brittney don’t share any scenes, they did get acquainted on set. “You want to see who the next guy’s going to be, and Rishi’s just the loveliest guy,” says Brittney. (Nair thanks him for his tips on how to endure summer shoots in a vicar’s collar!) Onscreen and off, the farewell is an emotional one. After Brittney shot his final scene on location in Grantchester, “I went into the church and sort of said thank you to it for letting me do this,” he recalls. “It will always have a special place in my heart.”

Grantchester, Season 9 Premiere, Sunday, June 16, 9/8c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)