The New Order -
father brown

Lord Arthur Hawthorne and his wife return to Kembleford when he retires from editorship of his newspaper and holds a garden party to announce his son Gabe would takeover as editor. Hawthorne had expected Father Brown to give him his personal attention and when he refuses finds himself accused of breaking the seal of the confessional and is suspended from his parish; his place taken by Father Featherstone, Hawthorne's London priest. At the garden party Hawthorne is threatened by Stanley Buchanan, a homosexual exposed in Hawthorne's newspaper. When a rifle shot wounds Hawthorne, Inspector Mallory arrests Buchanan, although Hawthorne suspects his wife or son. A second attempt on Hawthorne's life leads to Buchanan's release. Father Brown investigation with Mrs McCarthy's help uncovers Hawthorne's philandering, his wife's unhappiness, his son's unwillingness to take over editorship, and Father Featherstone's thwarted ambitions.

Episode Duration: 44 minutes and 39 seconds

Episode Number: 196

About Father Brown:

Based on the short stories by G K Chesterton, Father Brown follows the kindly cleric as he solves crimes in his community.

It is a quintessentially English world: drawing rooms in large country houses, miles of countryside, village halls and secret gardens, as well as country fairs, railway stations and rural parish churches.

Each episode sees the enigmatic priest investigate a crime in his own particular way, using intuition and psychology.

Father Brown discovers the truth of a crime by looking into the truth of the soul - the passions, dark secrets, hidden desires.

Many years spent hearing his parishioners' confessions have given him an uncanny insight into the origins of evil and the workings of the criminal mind.

But the stories are not concerned with judgement - Father Brown is more interested in saving souls than in bringing the guilty to justice.

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