ITV plans 'glorious' series based on Archbishop of Canterbury's son's novel

ITV is to make a new six-part drama about a vicar-turned-detective based on a novel by the son of a former archbishop of Canterbury.

Grantchester is based on the book Sidney Chambers And The Shadow Of Death by James Runcie, whose late father Robert (pictured) was archbishop in the 1980s.

James, who is head of literature at London's Southbank Centre, has written a string of novels and made arts documentaries for the BBC.

Filming on the show, about clergyman Sidney Chambers who investigates the suspicious death of one of his parishioners in 1950s Cambridgeshire, starts next year with a script by former EastEnders writer Daisy Coulam.

Executive producer Diederick Santer said: "Sidney is a charming, but complex character, a man of faith burdened by his past despite a distinguished wartime record. He's funny, dashing and inquisitive.

"He loves being a parish priest in the exquisite village of Grantchester, but somehow it's not enough and he still finds time to fall in and out of love and solve crimes.

"James Runcie has created this brilliant character and this glorious world, which Daisy Coulam is now bringing to the screen in her wonderful and lavish scripts, and I can't wait for ITV's audience to get to know him too."

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.