Father Brown is a British period detective television series loosely based on the Father Brown short stories by G. K. Chesterton, starring Mark Williams as the crime-solving Roman Catholic priest. Broadcast began on BBC One on 14 January 2013.
The series is set in England during the early 1950s. Father Brown is the priest at St Mary's Catholic Church in the fictional village of Kembleford, located in the Cotswolds. Britain is struggling with the aftermath of the Second World War, rationing is still in effect, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place, the death penalty has not yet been abolished, and homosexuality and abortion are still illegal. An empathetic man of keen intelligence, Father Brown solves murder cases when members of his parish are involved, when circumstances are strange enough to gain his interest, or when he is directly asked for help. During his investigations he occasionally neglects his more mundane parish duties.