‘Grantchester’ producer says: ‘I promise that you’ll love new vicar’

The executive producers of Grantchester have offered some words of reassurance to fans anxious about the departure of star James Norton.

It was revealed earlier this month that 27-year-old actor Tom Brittney (Outlander, Call the Midwife) will be replacing Norton’s vicar Sidney Chambers when the show returns for a fourth season, playing Reverend Will Davenport.

Executive producer Diederick Santer commented: “I’m delighted that Tom is joining the cast. He’s a hugely likeable and talented actor, and will make both a fine vicar of Grantchester and a great crime-solving partner for Geordie Keating.”

Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton added: “A message to Masterpiece fans, as much as I know you’ll miss James Norton, I promise that you’ll love Tom Brittney.

“Just watch him go toe-to-toe with Robson Green’s character, the very skeptical Geordie … and watch him win him over.”

Based on James Runcie’s novels, the period drama series is set in the 1950s in the Cambridgeshire village of Grantchester and was first broadcast in 2014.

Season 3 is available now to buy on DVD.

The fourth season of Grantchester is expected to air in the UK on ITV in early 2019 and on Masterpiece on PBS in the US at a later date.