Coronation Street star Dame Maureen Lipman has been seen in a different role for a rival channel having taken a break from the long-running show.
The actress is much-loved for playing Evelyn Plummer in the ITV soap, but the fan-favourite character has recently been absent from the action in Weatherfield while Maureen took a break to take on other endeavours.
And a first look at what she has been up to has now been revealed. She can be seen guest-starring in Father Brown in a number of preview images for the upcoming 13th series.
Filming has wrapped on the upcoming series of the BBC drama, which follows a Roman Catholic priest – played by Harry Potter star Mark Williams – as he fights crime in the fictional village of Kembleford, located in Gloucestershire.
The next series will see the return of cast members including Tom Chambers as Inspector Sullivan, Claudie Blakley as the new Mrs Isabel Sullivan, Ruby-May Martinwood as Brenda and John Burton as Sergeant Goodfellow.
Series 13 will also see the new Mr and Mrs Sullivan settle into married life after the wedding celebrations at the end of series 12. Elsewhere, Father Brown is tasked by Flambeau to visit excommunicated priest Father Lazarus in prison and Canon Fox plans to enact revenge upon Father Brown.
Photos from the set show Dame Maureen, 79, with coiffed hair wearing a patterned dress and red cardigan standing alongside Williams and Sawalha, who wears a French maid’s costume, as well as The Inbetweeners star Alex Macqueen – who is in a tailcoat and bow tie.
Mark, 65, said of the show: “My Dad was a surveyor and taught me how to look at buildings, not just their architecture but how they were used, and why they were where they are. So one of the constant pleasures of filming Father Brown for me is the places we film in, and I always have the relevant Pevsner’s Buildings Of England book to hand.
“This year, our 13th, has been a great year for interesting locations. We have filmed in The Chateau Impney – a French fantasy in Droitwich, the little theatre in Chipping Norton (an ex-Salvation Army citadel), the wonderful 18th century octagonal Crown Courts in Warwick and an atmospheric ex-nunnery in Great Malvern with a glorious chapel by Ninian Comper.
“Also, The Fleece Inn in Bretforton which is a English pub time capsule, the spectacular Baroque church at Great Witley, and to top it off a selection of lovely stone Cotswold houses and churches. What a fabulous itinerary. And we filmed an episode at the seaside. Lucky lad, as my Dad would have said.”
It’s also been confirmed that Irish TV actress Sorcha Cusack will also be making a special return as Mrs McCarthy for the first episode.
Based on the short stories by English author GK Chesterton, the crime series is set in a quiet village in the Cotswolds and first aired on BBC daytime in 2013.
