User Reviews

Beattie May's cup runneth over, as she's done to death, leaving behind son Shambu.

The start was a little bit silly, very theatrical, but as it got going I thoroughly enjoyed it, good writing, a clever mystery, and some particularly bold characters.

Annabelle Apsion was pretty fabulous as Miss May, although I wonder if she'd been watching Absolutely Fabulous, if Edina Monsoon had lived in the 1960's this is how she would have been.

Bunty gets to wear some amazing costumes, she looks fabulous, she's so good in this.

All that glitters is not gold. A fine episode. 7/10

Father Brown investigates the mysterious death of a beekeeper, who happens to have a scathing tongue and is over controlling her 'son'. She also leaves a puzzle for her son to figure out. And it's not too hard to figure out who killer is as the number of suspects are meagre, but it's fun nevertheless, and quite interesting, especially in the second half.

Hilarious line. "I can retire to the islands," says inspector Mallory when looking at a diamond. Bunty replies, "yes but if you go who will solve all the murders here."

A more conventional second episode. Vindictive and eccentric Beattie May meets with an unexpected accident as she falls off a ladder.

Soon after recovering from the fall, Beattie is found dead.

Her adopted son Shambu is arrested as a suspect. However Shambu is the son of an Indian Maharaja and Beattie's will contains a puzzle that leads to a something valuable.

Father Brown strives to clear Shambu's name and realises that Beattie May carried more of a sting than the bees she kept.

The suspect does something more than just confess in this episode and attempts to make a run for it.

Nigel Planer guest stars as a dodgy solicitor with a thriving criminal practice. The writers obviously pay tribute to the radio show 'Round the Horne!'

Although not a regular viewer of this series I have enjoyed the episodes I have seen, but this was one of the weaker efforts. Attempts at comedy (a solicitor in a wardrobe) fell flat and a number of plot lines were either unexplained or overexplained. A coded message was solved in seconds despite a few false starts and with a breathtaking grasp of the cypher by all present. A swarm of bees was introduced at a funeral as if it were relevant but not followed up. Two characters were stung by bees for no reason, including one wearing a beekeeper's bee-proof suit, and the killer carried a bee-smoker and wore the bee-suit but was instantly recognised by the victim. Why would you wear a cumbersome disguise and carry a prop that would leave a smell on you if you intend to kill the only witness? I initially thought the smoker was to cover the smell of cigarettes - it possibly was - but if this was mentioned I missed it and there were cigarettes in the room anyway.

A shame because the show gives opportunities to actors on both trajectories and is pleasant, harmless fun. I hope this was a rare lapse rather than an indication that the writers have become stale.

This episode wasn't up to the standard of even the later seasons, which are far less good than the early ones. The murder victim isn't very credible in het own right, let alone the way she was portrayed and the way she was victimised. Her adopted son is rather boring as well. The girl next door is the only interesting character, really. Even Father Brown wasn't particularly good in this one. The guilty party was rather obvious from the start.