The Alchemist's Secret -
father brown

Professor Ambrose (James Laurenson) goes to see his old friend Father Brown (Mark Williams) to ask for help - he's been followed ever since he came into possession of the diary of the university's architect. It claims that the location of the alchemist's secret is hidden in a riddle - the key to the lock to the door. Mrs McCarthy (Sorcha Cusack) and Bunty (Emer Kenny) accompany them to Gloucester University where Principal Malcolm (Danny Webb) allows student Timothy (Richard Southgate) to borrow a ceremonial key. When the absent minded Professor goes missing, Father Brown sees if he's with Timothy. He's saddened to find Timothy's body in his bedroom, his head bashed in with a polo mallet. When the key that Timothy took turns up in the Professor's room, Inspector Mallory (Jack Deam) arrests him for murder, leaving Father Brown determined to prove his innocence.

Episode Duration: 45 minutes and 7 seconds

Episode Number: 155

About Father Brown:

Based on the short stories by G K Chesterton, Father Brown follows the kindly cleric as he solves crimes in his community.

It is a quintessentially English world: drawing rooms in large country houses, miles of countryside, village halls and secret gardens, as well as country fairs, railway stations and rural parish churches.

Each episode sees the enigmatic priest investigate a crime in his own particular way, using intuition and psychology.

Father Brown discovers the truth of a crime by looking into the truth of the soul - the passions, dark secrets, hidden desires.

Many years spent hearing his parishioners' confessions have given him an uncanny insight into the origins of evil and the workings of the criminal mind.

But the stories are not concerned with judgement - Father Brown is more interested in saving souls than in bringing the guilty to justice.

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