ITV heads back to Grantchester

Grantchester debuted in 2014 starring Robson Green and James Norton

UK broadcaster ITV has greenlit a fifth season of period detective drama series Grantchester.

Grantchester first aired in 2014, starring Robson Green as a police inspector who calls on a vicar turned amateur detective, played by James Norton, for assistance.

The fourth season, which ran from January to February this year in the UK, will premiere in the US on Masterpiece PBS this weekend.

Norton has now left the series and S5 will feature actor Tom Brittney as another investigative clergyman, while Green will reprise his role. The new season is set in Cambridge in 1957, a year after S4.

Grantchester is a coproduction from Endemol Shine UK-owned Kudos and Masterpiece. It is distributed by Endemol Shine International and has been sold into 176 countries.

S5 will begin shooting this summer in Cambridgeshire and will be executive produced by Emma Kingsman-Lloyd and Daisy Coulam for Kudos and Rebecca Eaton for Masterpiece. Gordon Anderson will direct alongside Christiana Ebohon and Rob Evans.

Adapted from the Grantchester Mysteries novels by James Runcie, the series was developed for TV by Coulam, who shares writing duties with John Jackson, Carey Andrews, Jake Riddell and Joshua St Johnston.