Today brings some very interesting news from Cambridge - mainly, the fact that James Norton (Grantchester, Happy Valley) has been spotted on the set where they're filming the final season of Grantchester, which will air next year.

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Could it be that we'll see him putting in an appearance in the final season? According to Radio Times, there's nothing in the works and it was just a friendly visit...but you never really know until the new season actually airs. It would certainly be nice to know what Sidney Chambers has been up to since his departure.

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The UK's Daily Star posted a number of photos, if you're curious.

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Also in British TV news - Acorn TV has given official confirmation on what we spotted in a casting database a few months back. The Chelsea Detective will definitely be back for season 4, and it just started filming this month.

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Adrian Scarborough (Killing Eve, Mirand) and Vanessa Emme (Dublin Murders) are back as DI Max Arnold and DS Layla Walsh - and the new season will have 4 feature-length episodes. We can expect to see the new season sometime in 2026 (too soon for an exact date).

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What we're...

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• Watching: The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire - I spotted this 2002 film on Amazon, and it stars Matt Frewer and Kenneth Walsh as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in a case where an apparent vampire is terrifying Londoners.
• Reading: The Missing Nurse by Roger Silverwood - I received an email from Joffe Books saying this series had been relaunched on Kindle with ebooks in the series offered for 99 cents/each (no idea how long the price lasts), so I had to check it out. It's a crime series set in Yorkshire, and the middle-aged DI Michael Angel is a reasonably well-adjusted married man (great if you've grown weary of maladjusted alcoholics and womanizer-type detectives). So far, it's fun and not too heavy and great to read while awaiting new books from Richard Osman, JK Rowling, and MW Craven over the next several weeks.

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This Week in British TV...

• On BritBox, August 8th brought season 3 of the Emilia Fox docu-series In the Footsteps of Killers. On the 15th, they'll be adding a new season of Escape to the Country - but this time, it's a celebrity edition. On the 19th, Sister Boniface Mysteries returns for season 4. Sorry - they still haven't offered dates for new seasons of Beyond Paradise or Silent Witness.
  • ​BritBox August 2025 schedule & descriptions​
• On Acorn TV, August 11th brings the premiere of Irish Blood, a crime series starring Alicia Silverstone as an LA lawyer who gets a message that sends her to Ireland to learn about her estranged father. The 11th also brings the finale of season 4 of Madame Blanc Mysteries and two more episodes of Summertide. If you missed it, the 4th brought Britain's Most Scenic Counties: Kent and the film Summerland.
  • ​Acorn TV August 2025 schedule & descriptions​
• On Netflix, My Oxford Year premiered on August 1st, based on the Julia Whelan novel of the same name. On the 8th, they added Stolen: Heist of the Century, a documentary about the world's greatest diamond heist. On the 13th, look for the reality show Love is Blind: UK: Series 2.
• On Starz, August 8th brought the premiere of Outlander: Blood of My Blood.
• On HBO Max, a recent partnership with BritBox means a number of BritBox shows are now available to preview on HBO Max between August 1 and September 29th - including Silent Witness, Blue Lights, Sherwood, Father Brown, and Sister Boniface Mysteries. If you've never tried BritBox but you DO have HBO Max, this is a great chance to see what BritBox is like (though it's just a tiny sliver of their total programming).

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"You're never happy unless you're making my life complicated, are ya?"

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DCI Gene Hunt, Life on Mars​

Stream it (US): BritBox

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