HOLY orders

MARK WILLIAMS shares clues about the curious cases awaiting his amateur sleuth

- STEVEN PERKINS

FATHER BROWN NEW FRI, 2PM, BBC1 DRAMA (BOX SET, BBC IPLAYER)

There is not a dull moment in the fictional Cotswold village of Kembleford when BBC1's beloved period whodunnit Father Brown returns for a 13th outing this week.

In the opening case of the 10-part run, the titular crime-fighting cleric (played by Mark Williams) is surprised to bump into his former parish secretary Mrs Bridgette McCarthy (returning star Sorcha Cusack, last seen in Series 9), whose great-niece Máire Fitzpatrick (The Vanishings actor Grace Daly) has run away from a refuge for unmarried mothers.

When strict nurse Dorothy Hyde (The Last Kingdom's Debbie Chazen), who was arranging for Máire's children to be adopted against her wishes, is murdered, Máire is the prime suspect, but Father Brown vows to prove her innocence.