Mary Norton Until the middle of last season, I would have voted a solid 10. However, the more recent episodes have had uneven scripts and acting. Feel they are reaching and not quite making it.(SPOILER ALERT! With the character changes this season, I see it going downhill already. Very sad.)

jonfrum2000 I've been listening to the BBC radio adaptations of the Father Brown stories with Andrew Sachs in the lead role. I have to say I much prefer Sachs' version of Father Brown, but this series is perfectly good with Kenneth More in the role. Considering when the series was made, the production is reasonably good, and the acting, while occasionally stiff, is fine overall. Some changes are made from the stories, which I have no problem with. Of the episodes I've seen so far, none have been damaged by the changes. It is important that Father Brown is a Catholic priest, and not just another amateur detective, and in this sense some of the religious reference seem to have been taken out of the stories. This subtracts from the distinctive flavor of the stories, but it plays fine on television.You won't get the production values or the acting found in the later Christie series, but these are well worth trying if you favor British detective/mystery series. I'm certainly happy I found them, and I'll be watching them one per night until I've through the lot.

pensman Kenneth More makes for a rather interesting Father Brown. His Brown while a Jesuit is more of a 21st Century humanist rather than a 20th Century priest. He is not so much a deductive reasoner as an inductive one. And he does share a quality with the master of deductive reasoning, Sherlock Holmes, in that he like Holmes does not necessary object that the criminal set his own end rather than wait to be brought to justice. Not quite an appropriate Catholic conviction. While Chesterton wrote 52 stories, this series ended with a mere 13 stories; far too few. And not all of the dramatizations are equally good but More is interesting to watch as a very erudite but self-effacing priest whose interest in puzzles makes him a rather capable detective. Nonetheless, this short but basically well executed series is worth a look. If nothing else it might bring the viewer to become a reader of Chesterton's stories.

boomcoach If, like my wife and myself, you have run through the BBC's various Christie series, these are a good find. They are a bit dated, but I prefer a good story to a click production. More is an excellent Father Brown, soft-spoken, witty, but sharp and persistent.These stories are from a bit earlier in the mystery genre than most adaptations, and this dates the series as much as the productions. Chesterfield's stories tend to be more "howdunit" than "whodunit", with the focus less on the characters than on the murder itself. This can be a problem, at times, but it can be very good, especially when combined with good characters.