Heads up, Father Brown, there’s a new sheriff in town and her name is Sister Boniface
Photo: BBC Studios
Popular Father Brown character Sister Boniface will be getting her own spin-off series following the announcement that BritBox North America has commissioned a drama based on the character who first appeared in episode 6 of series 1 of Father Brown, “The Bride of Christ”.
The initial 10-part series has been created and written by Jude Tindall (Father Brown, Shakespeare & Hathaway) and will be executive produced by Will Trotter. Set in 1960s England (rural Warwickshire, to be exact), The Sister Boniface Mysteries finds itself deep in a world where DNA has yet to be discovered, blood testing could take days, the notion of trace evidence is still in its infancy and the preservation of crime scenes is not commonplace.
Thankfully, there’s a secret weapon living in St. Vincent’s Convent, which houses a small community of wine-making nuns, by the name of Sister Boniface. Sporting an IQ of 156, a PhD in forensic science and a fully-equipped crime laboratory at her fingertips, Sister Boniface is an invaluable asset to the Great Slaughter Police Department.
Sister Boniface in her lab. Photo: BBC Studios
Lorna Watson will reprise her role from the popular BBC1 daytime series, which will focus on light-hearted “cozy” mysteries in a similar vein to Father Brown which stars Mark Williams as the crime-solving Roman Catholic priest.
According to the recent BBC press release, Sister Boniface will not be ‘meddling’ but will ‘officially’ be the Police Scientific Advisor and will work alongside DI Sam Gillespie and DS Felix Livingstone. Livingstone was supposed to be on his way to the Metropolitan Police but an administrative error landed him in Great Slaughter. Just the thought of the boss’s reliance on a nun leaves him reeling. Even with DI Gillespie pointing out that having a nun on the payroll ensures “…they have the highest clean-up rate in the county” isn’t that re-assuring to the junior officer.
Speaking about the new show, Watson said, “I can’t wait to get back in the habit and fight crime in The Sister Boniface Mysteries! She is such a fun character to play. Quirky, funny, endearing and a total brain when it comes to forensics. In many ways she’s ahead of her time and I love her for that. It’s not every day you get to play a crime solving, Vespa driving nun.”
Filming for The Sister Boniface Mysteries will begin in Summer 2020 and, fingers crossed, should be ready to transmit in early 2021.
In: Mystery
