“Grantchester” changes stars (again)

The Grantchester vicarage is changing yet again.
PBS’ “Masterpiece” announced today that next season will be Tom Brittney’s last as the star of “Grantchester.” He’ll be replaced a year later by Rishi Nair (shown here).
The series centers on a small-town Anglican vicar who keeps helping a local cop (played by Robson Green) solve crimes. James Norton starred for three seasons as Sidney Chambers … Brittney will have done six as Will Davenport … before Nair takes over as Alphy Kotteram.
The recent years have brought big changes for Will. At the end of last season (his fourth), he married Bonnie, who is a widowed mom and an atheist. This year’s season-opener, July 9, saw a troubled Will zoom down a country road on his motorcycle, when he struck and killed a pedestrian.
The second episode (9 p.m. July 16) has him facing charges, while friends scramble to figure out what happened. The remaining four episodes this season find him battling with guilt … adjusting to parenting … and still solving a crime each week. Then Brittney does one more season and departs.
Nair is a London native (with South Asian/Indian ethnicity) who is used to portraying small-town life. For four seasons, he was on “Hollyoaks,” an English soap opera set in a fictional village. He also had a supporting role in five episodes of “Count Abdulla,” a horror comedy about a doctor-turned-vampire.