The detective in Grantchester, Geordie Keating, played by Robson Green, was almost killed off in the show's final series, but the writers decided it would be 'too big'.
The ITV crime drama is concluding after its 11th series. Viewers in the UK will see the ending next year, but as the series is already airing in the US, it is known that Geordie gets shot in one episode. He is expected to survive, but screenwriter Daisy Coulam told the Mirror that things could have been very different.
Writers considered killing Geordie multiple times
Coulam said: "I mean the amount of times we tried to be like, ‘He should die. He should definitely die.' I mean he died probably about four times in the story meeting and we just couldn't do it. It would just be too big."
The show follows the detective as he solves crimes in the Cambridgeshire village of Grantchester during the 1950s and 1960s. It launched in 2014 and has been a hit over the 10 series released so far.
Series history and final season confirmation
Robson Green has starred as DI Keating from the start, with different vicars joining the sleuthing. James Norton was the first as Sidney Chambers, followed by Tom Brittney as William Davenport, and Rishi Nair has played the Reverend Alpheus "Alphy" Kotteram since series nine.
It was confirmed last year that the show would end after its 11th season. Polly Hill, ITV's director of drama, and Callum Dziedzic, drama commissioner at ITV, said at the time: "This final series marks the end of a golden chapter for ITV drama, and we know audiences will treasure this last summer in Grantchester as much as we will."
Robson recently wrote an emotional message on Instagram, calling it "the beginning of the end" as the final run started airing in the US. He wrote: "Grantchester... A quiet, idyllic, peaceful and quintessentially English village that has a meadow and a beautiful river. Perfect for picnics and murder! It's the Final Season and it's the best one yet!"
Grantchester airs on ITV.
