'Grantchester' Heads Into Production For Season 8

As Grantchester Season 7 wraps up, fans have wondered if Season 8 is in the cards. When the show concluded Season 7 in the U.K. in April, there was no confirmation whether a new season was coming or not. However, actor Robson Green (who plays DI Geordie Keating) told the RadioTimes ITV "had the green light on negotiations" for a possible eighth season of the crime drama. He also confirmed the cast were all open to returning, but that wasn't confirmation either. Happily, ITV has been negotiating successfully; Masterpiece has now confirmed Season 8 is a go.

So far, the press release hints at new action, including an episode set in the world of racing, as Will and Geordie head to the Speedway. As the show rounds into the 1960s and the popularity of James Bond and Harry Palmer, there will also be an episode focused on the spy trade. The series will keep up its feminist leanings, with at least one mystery featuring the invisible women of society. Also, Leonard's new vocation and very leftist lifestyle may also find him in the law's crosshairs, much to Geordie's chagrin.

Masterpiece's confirmation of Grantchester Season 8 coming back to both ITV and PBS comes as the new season is getting production underway. Except for 2020, late summer is usually when the show goes on production to air in its usual late winter U.K. berth and summer PBS slot. (Season 7, for example, began rolling on principal photography on Aug. 5, 2021, despite Season 6 not even having aired in the U.S. yet.) And there's at least one new face that will be behind the director's chair this season., After Tom Brittany (who plays Rev. Will Davenport) got his turn first time directing in Season 7, Al Weaver (who plays Leonard Finch) will get his first time helming an episode for Season 8.