This article contains spoilers for Grantchester season 8 episode 1.
Granchester season 8 is back for more investigations! The series opens with Will Davenport organizing (and participating) in a charity bike race near town, one which lands him in a spot of bother when he crashes into a haybale. But showing himself up in front of his parishioners is the least of his worries!
Murder is never far away in Grantchester, and when one of Will's fellow racers is found dead in a field the morning after the race, he and Geordie Keating get right on the case. And as if that wasn't trouble enough, Bonnie wants him to get better at disciplining Ernie, and Will ends up getting into a spot of bother at Leonard's Halfway House. And that's before a second tragedy occurs right before the credits roll.
Here's our full recap of Grantchester season 8 episode 1.
Race day
Grantchester's eighth season opens with Will delivering his weekly sermon, though the presence of several motorbikes, and their riders, inside the church doesn't exactly sit well with some of the other residents (especially Mrs Chapman). Partway through, he encourages the parishioners to snap up the last few tickets for a charity bike race he's organized.
Whilst Bonnie meets the Bishop's wife for lunch (much to her chagrin), Will heads to the track. He's due to compete alongside some of the other riders from his sermon; Carl Taylor, a deaf rider who's also a gifted artist, and Jimmy Weller, the son of the race official and garage owner, Ron Weller. Before the race gets going, the young bikers have a run-in with a rival crew from Newmarket, but Ron breaks things up before they get too heated.
As the race is about to begin, a mysterious fourth rider dubbed "Lightning", for the lightning strike mark on their helmet, appears on the starting line. Will gets off to an impressive start but ends up crashing into a haybale partway through the race. Carl, however, puts in an impressive performance; despite stalling at the starting line, he manages to make it all the way up through the ranks to second place.
That evening, Bonnie sees to Will's injuries and tells Will that Ernie was terrified by the crash. The next morning, Will is summoned back to the track; before he can leave, Ernie has a tantrum after Bonnie discovers he'd stolen Will's bike keys to prevent him from hitting the road, before storming out of the room. Before he can leave, Bonnie tells Will she wants him to start getting better at disciplining their son.
Will arrives at the track to find DI Keating standing over Carl Taylor's body. He's been found dead in the field near the track surrounded by beer bottles and with his sketchbook by his side. It looks like the racetrack was the last thing he drew, and police seem to think he was beaten to death.
Lightning unmasked
Will and Geordie head over to Ron's garage to discuss the events after the race. They'd had a party that evening before they left. Ron was quick to blame Carl's death on the rival bikers, the Devils of Newmarket. In turn, Geordie decides to bring Tommy Wilson, their leader, down the station, and Will joins him for questioning.
Tommy denies killing Carl, but his bravado makes him less cooperative than either Will or Geordie would like. Once they threaten him with a murder charge, though, Tommy claim he has an alibi: he was having a night playing board games with his landlady!
While in the station, Will checks Carl's bike and finds evidence of sabotage, which would explain why Carl was so slow off the starting line on race day. And whilst they figure Carl would've known he'd been sabotaged, their next suspect is the mystery "Lightning" rider.
After committing to help put the good word out about Leonard's Halfway House, Will finds a leaderboard and photo that reveals the make and model of the bike Lightning was riding. Geordie and Will find that two people own one nearby, and head over to one of the addresses. Just as they're about to leave, a rider shows up... but both Geordie and Will are stunned when the rider turns out to be Stephanie Kidman (the other member of Carl's crew).
The bike is registered in her father's name, but he doesn't know Stephanie is a racer. She denies killing Carl; when questioned, it's revealed she had a thing for him. However, Ron and Carl didn't think women should be allowed to compete, but she still wanted to get the attention of the race promoters and Carl was planning to tell Ron she'd taken part... regardless of her racing prowess, it's clear she didn't kill Carl.
Carl's killer, revealed
Will is summoned back down the Halfway House, as one of the residents, an alcoholic, has resumed drinking and is causing a disturbance in the street. Will manages to de-escalate the situation and takes him inside. But when the man turns aggressive, Will is forced to punch him before things get worse.
Will returns to the vicarage, and Ernie spots signs of him being in a scrap. During the night, Will discovers Ernie attempting to get rid of his leather jacket. Ernie admits he's been acting out because he doesn't want Will to die like Carl. This prompts Will to say he'll give the bike a 'long holiday', but also bans Ernie from comic books for a month earning Bonnie's admiration for stepping up the discipline a little.
At the station the next day, Geordie Keating reveals to Will that the drawing in Carl's sketchbook was done with a different pencil to the one Carl normally uses, so he assumes someone else drew the picture after they'd moved his body, to throw the police off their scent. Will counters with another thought; Ron had to check all the bikes before the race... Ron would supposedly have done anything for his son to win that race; could he have killed Carl?
They question Ron, who says it's ridiculous to accuse him of sabotage, but he admits that Carl is hands down a better rider than Jimmy. He's also furious that Jimmy had been petitioning for Stephanie to be considered as a professional rider, too. They finally crack the case after paying a visit to the garage to speak to Jimmy.
Watching his father dote on Carl was wearing him down; despite winning, Carl got all the glory for second place. When everyone else left the party, Carl confronted Jimmy about the sabotaged spark plug from his bike. In that moment, Jimmy snapped and beat him with a crowbar, before dumping the body elsewhere and drawing the sketch. So, Keating arrests him for Carl's murder
Around their questioning, DCI Wallace had been dropping hints to Geordie about early retirement. When his superior drops by to congratulate him on cracking the case, Geordie tells him he won't be taking it after they crack the case... but Wallace reveals that the "offer" wasn't a choice at all.
Meanwhile, Bonnie is packing off to stay with her parents for a week as her mother has had a stroke. Will is reluctant to let her leave; he'd been worrying that his mistakes might affect Ernie or their unborn baby, but she tells him to stop worrying. Once she's left, Will decides to take his bike out for another spin (despite telling Ernie he'd retired his leathers for now).
Out on the open road, disaster strikes. Will clips a man who steps out into the road right in front of him. Will can't stop in time and clips him as he swerves, being thrown from the bike in the process. Once he's up, he scrambles over to the man... but gets no response from him. What's going to happen next?!
Grantchester season 8 airs Thursday nights at 9 pm on ITV1 and ITVX. The series is already available to stream with PBS Passport.
