This script has been lightly edited for clarity.

Jace Lacob: I’m Jace Lacob, and you’re listening to MASTERPIECE Studio.

It’s 1961 and now more than ever, the world of Grantchester sits firmly in the liminal space between the tried and true, and the shiny new frontier of the modern era. This clash of old and new, routine and revolution, forces a reexamination of some of society’s touchstones: religion, entertainment, domestic life, and the workplace. But with new opportunities arise some not-so-new obstacles. 

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Mae: The modern woman finds herself at the dawn of a new era. She can now enter the world of work. But how does she know she is ready to put herself to good use? She would do well to ask herself these questions: Do you greet the men you work for with a winning yet chaste smile? Do you put the needs of others before your own? Do you complete tasks without expectation of praise?

Episode Five focuses on the female characters of Grantchester moving through this male-dominated world. Often invisible, working away quietly behind the scenes, keeping everything going with little recognition, these women are society’s silent heroes. And this episode, which brilliantly focuses on the inner worlds of Esme, Cathy, Sylvia, and Miss Scott, began with a script that Cathy Keating herself, Kacey Ainsworth, presented to lead writer and executive producer Daisy Coulam. Here’s Coulam describing how it came about.

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Daisy Coulam: She kind of came to us and went, so I’ve written a script. Like, just completely out of the blue. And I think her and Tessa, who plays Mrs. C, Tessa had been quite instrumental in bolstering her and going, come on, let’s do this. Her script sort of started with Will leaving town on his bike and then it was a full female episode and we were like, this is awesome, we’ve got to do this. So we kind of wrote together on this script. We wanted to do that examination of the politics at the time through the women. And that was all Kacey’s idea.

As the script for this episode developed, some elements changed out of necessity — such as Will leaving town on his bike, as Tom Brittney had left the show at this point — but the heart of Kacey’s original female-centric pitch remained. However, Kacey is not the only Grantchester cast member whose influence is felt behind the camera, as Al Weaver, who plays Leonard Finch, directed this episode and infused it with a horror-tinged eye.

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Daisy Coulam: He’s brilliant with the actors, but he also has a real filmic sense. When he was talking about this episode, he was saying, I’m thinking of horror movies and stuff. We were like, what? What are you talking about? But you do get that sort of creeping sense of this space where somebody’s been murdered, and that office building where it does feel really oppressive. And you’re like, God, he really thinks about things like that. So he was the perfect one for this, I think, the perfect director for it.

Today, we’re joined by Grantchester actor, director, and overall multi-hyphenate Al Weaver to discuss the choices he made in directing this spellbinding episode of Grantchester. 

Jace Lacob: This week we are joined by Grantchester star and director Al Weaver. Welcome.

Al Weaver: Hello. Thank you.

Jace Lacob: I want to turn back to Series 8 and specifically Episode 3, which you masterfully directed in your first directing gig. How did that opportunity come about?

Al Weaver: I had wanted to do it for ages, but I suffered with mega low confidence and anxiety, so it took me a while to prep for it. But once COVID happened, I had a bit of time to reflect and go, what do I really want to be doing going forward as well as acting? And this was it. And then me and Tom were both going to do it, but I bottled it, and Tom went and directed one in Season 7. And then I just thought I can’t do this again. I’ve got to put my foot forward and do this, otherwise I’ll regret it.

And so, I asked Emma and the producers and they agreed. I’ve been on the show, I know the show, and you’ve got a great support team who were there. And one thing that Grantchester has always done is that it’s always given opportunity to people, whether that’s hiring up from inside, whether that’s someone who’s making tea and then getting a chance in production or whatever. We’re always priding ourselves on promoting from within if we can and taking chances on people from the outside as well. So, it’s no different really. And yeah, they gave me an episode and I came in on time and in budget and it was all right.

Jace Lacob: You mentioned Tom, you are following in the footsteps of other ITV Drama actor directors like Tom Brittney and Endeavour’s Shaun Evans. What sort of advice or encouragement did Tom offer you at the time, having done that first episode in Series 7 when you “bottled it”, you said.

Al Weaver: The actors were great. Although I would constantly deny Tom, every time he would give me a note, I would just say denied. And he was like, ughhh! But yeah, they were all really good. And on my first day, my first shot, it was the first day of the whole shoot, the day before, the Sunday before, I had such a panic attack about the Monday. I was like, oh my God, it’s actually happening. I can’t believe this. I was so exhausted by Monday morning because I’d wired myself into a stay, that I was so chilled, because I think I got it all out.

And then I remember we were shooting with Tom and Robson, and they had to find the dead body, the janitor’s body, and I just said, guys, so what I’d like is…would you mind if you… and Tom just went, Al, stop trying to act. Just direct us. Just tell us where you want us to stand. I was like, okay, cool, great, okay, I’d like you here. I was just trying to follow them around and be like, if you don’t mind, I mean, as long as it comes from a real place and they were just like, you don’t need to do that with us. Just tell us where to stand. We’ve been here a while. So that was good.

And Rob Evans was massively helpful for me. I would call him and be like, is this a normal thing in the edit? Or things like that. Anything I wanted, you couldn’t ask for a better mentor, he was incredible. So, big, big thanks to him.

Jace Lacob: I believe that every television program has a hidden language. So as an actor on Grantchester, you’re fluent in that language, which is as much about style and mood and tone as it is about the visual look of the show. Did your experience with Grantchester, your fluency in that hidden language, did that inherently prep you to direct it? Or was it still a leap of faith?

Al Weaver: It was a leap of faith. I know the show, I know the tone, I know where we can take it comedic-wise, serious-wise, emotional-wise. In terms of the look, the cameras are set, and the lenses are set, but within that sort of sandbox, I take each episode as a, see if I can swing it into a certain genre type. Like, there was more of a horror one in Season 9, or like just playing into tropes of different genres and seeing if this episode can be more like this one.

I mean, never going against what’s written, but in terms of Season 8, it was all to do with the art piece. And so, I just wanted these big, lovely wide shots that we could play around with that kind of look like a landscape or a portrait or something quite arty within that world. So, that kind of led to the way that was shot really.

This is like a film school for me, which is so nice. But a lot of the work behind the scenes, whether that’s watching every single series of Grantchester again to go, okay, which, what do I like from different episodes? What really works? Or, what kind of visual style do I like? So, all that goes into it, but ultimately you’ve got to hit the beats. You’ve got to hit the emotional moments. You’ve got to hit the lighter moments. You’ve got to hit the tense moments when it comes to the interview scenes and find the tension and the drama in that.

So, that’s what’s so nice about Grantchester. And directing, for my first thing is that you’re playing on many levels of emotion. You’ve really got to lean into those levity moments and brevity moments. And then from there, you’ve got to link it all together and make a piece out of it. And so it’s really good fun and it’s a really huge learning curve.

Jace Lacob: I love levity and brevity. That’s great. Being on both sides of the camera gives you often an insight into what the actors are experiencing and feeling in a way that directors who don’t have that background aren’t always fully aware of. As a director, which do you find more compelling, is it shot composition or is it directing the actor’s performance? Which gives you the greater pleasure, the greater joy?

Al Weaver: I think when they both work together, that’s the dream. I knew I had for free 20 years of experience of being an actor working with actors. A lot of directors will plan a scene because they want a shot to work, and that’s the biggest mistake you can make because if you are composing a shot and forcing the actors to do something that doesn’t suit their intentions or their aim in the scene, you’re going to get pushback. And I’ve been there, and I’ve seen it, and it’s happened on Grantchester as well at certain times and we’re all experienced enough to go, it doesn’t make sense. If you really want me to get there, I’ll get there, but this makes no sense.

When I go through a script, I can go through every character’s intentions and go, it makes sense if Geordie comes in this way, and he’s looking for this thing, so he would go over there and then Tom would stop him. Maybe he would stay around here because he’s taking in this kind of evidence or whatever. So when I can pitch that, that I’m coming from an actor’s point of view, that saves a lot of time on set. So I think, to answer your question, I think they both work greatly together. If you can marry the two, then I think you’re off to a winner.

Jace Lacob: So, you directed this beautiful episode in Series 8. What sorts of discussions did you have with Daisy and Emma about directing a block of episodes for Series 9? Because to me, this is such an ambitious approach to direct two back to back episodes of television while also acting in them, having just directed your first episode of television a year prior.

Al Weaver: They said, would you want to direct again? I went, I one hundred percent want to direct again, and I’d like to do two eps if that’s possible. Because the first one is like a charity gig. Do you know what I mean? In the industry, it’s not really taken seriously. It’s like, Oh, he directed an episode. Like, every actor who’s [been in a show for years] wants to direct an episode if they have an ego on them or whatever it is.

To start off, they write Leonard less. So in the episodes I direct, I’m in it less. Although I said to them, I’m fine with being in it as much as possible, it’s not going to affect things, but it is a lot easier if I’m not in it. And then most of my stuff is kind of the vicarage or at the halfway house. So those locations, like one at the beginning of the shoot and then for three days at the end. So then in the middle of it, I can just kind of focus on directing, which is helpful.

So they’re really helpful with the schedule, and really helpful with my needs or whatever. But yeah, I think for them to give me a block was a real thumbs up for what they thought of my Act 3 in Season 8. It’s not lost on me, how privileged I am but yeah, sort of 10 years in the making really. I’m really grateful for the opportunity and I’m kind of grasping at it with both hands and running with it.

Jace Lacob: Despite having just hung up his dog collar, Tom came back as second unit director. What is Tom like as a collaborator, not just on the acting side, but as a director? How did he help to support you, or if not, how did he help to maybe undercut you?

Al Weaver: No, Tom would never undercut me, he’s just such a big teddy bear, do you know what I mean? He’s so lovely. He came back and we were all there to support him, and I think it was kind of strange because he’d left and then came back. I think it was more strange for him than everyone else because we’re in the midst of the show and the chaos of trying to get this show made and done and then he’s coming in.

And it’s hard as a second unit. I did a lot in the one that’s just gone out, Season 9. I did a lot for Rob and a lot for Katie, just because of time. Because the schedule is so tight, you can’t do everything. So you’ve got to go, okay, I’m happy to give that away, or I need to fight for that. I need to be there to direct that. So you’re directing off schematics or ideas from another director. So that’s hard enough because you’re always second guessing yourself because they’re not there so you don’t know whether they’re going to like it or not. And within that, you’ve kind of got to use your own intuition and your own abilities to go, actually, what they’ve done is not working. I’m going to have to go off piste. I’m going to have to try this out. And that happened a few times as well in my case and Tom’s case.

And we’re all there. Robson has got such an eye for the camera anyway, so we’ll all jump on and I’ll go, what if you tried this? Or if Robson was there, what if we tried this? And so we all kind of jump in and everyone’s there to help each other, which is really, really nice. And it’s not often the case. I’ve never experienced it before anyway.

Jace Lacob: You mentioned experimentation. You also mentioned not coming in with locked ideas about what shots are going to be going into a scene specifically, but did you storyboard any shots ahead of time or how do you like to organize your shot list?

Al Weaver: It’s a push to call them a storyboard. They’re very weird diagrams that I do in my little book just going through the scripts and then I draw my little boxes and then do stick men and weird faces. It actually got better last year, actually. There’s definite improvement from the first year in terms of the drawing ability.

So yeah, I do like to do storyboards and you go, well, I need five shots, what are my five shots? And then, can I get an extra shot or do I need this shot? And then at least you’re coming in with something if something happens, God forbid, you’ve got a plan and it’s good for the DOP. So, Mark Waters was the DOP on Season 9 and I’d known him for years, so that was nice, but he likes getting on set at half seven and walking through for half an hour before we start.

So that was always nice. We’d meet up and I’d say, this is my plan for the day. And he’d be like, oh God, what is it this time? We’re doing some weird thing? Because I’m like, okay, Zemeckis would do this. This is my Spielberg shot. Or they find a body in the stairwell down in the Marwoods, and I’m like, this is my Fincher shot. It’s all with a right smile, but at the same time, it’s not because I’m like, God, this is like a Fincher shot!

I quite enjoy the process of doing it, just because you’re kind of embedding the scene in your head. I’m going through the dialogue and texting the producer saying this doesn’t quite work. Is there any way we can do this? Or, can we cut this part of the scene? I don’t think we need it. I think I probably overstepped my boundaries a bit too much, to be honest, but they indulged me.

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Jace Lacob: So, the opening shot of Episode 4 is of the empty vicarage hallway. And it’s this gorgeous shot that then is echoed later in the episode with the empty hallway at the Keating’s when Geordie comes home. The first is about calm and stillness and the latter about isolation. Did you intend to bookend this shot in a way to echo it, these two empty corridors?

Al Weaver: Yes, in truth the answer is yes. With that episode, I wanted to lean into the horror aspect of it. So it was all kind of, okay, well, how can we make this just a little bit eerie and scary? And in terms of the bookend, they always say with every episode, the opening shot should be the opposite of the end shot of the piece, so that we see the arc complete, or we see the opposite of what was at the start.

With television, you try to do that with an opening image and an end image. Sometimes it’s not always possible, but it is definitely in the back of your mind to sort of beat those kind of things and kind of echo images, which you think might be a throwback or something that you go, Oh, they started that there and then kind of went along with it and then they finished it there. So yeah, it was on purpose and I love the way it looks. There are some lovely little low angle shots and things, which I really like, which are really hard to get actually, because the slider only goes down certain amounts.

Mark, the DOP, I would come in, I’d be like, what about this? He’s like, where are you getting all this stuff from? I’m like, YouTube. The biggest thing that I felt insecure about, the technical terminologies and things like that, I wasn’t articulate with, it wasn’t my language and I wanted to be really well versed that when I come in and say I want more [bulker] in this shot, I know what it means and it doesn’t seem stupid to my mouth and like I’m a fraud even though you are kind of faking it till you make it in a way.

But to be able to come in and go Mark, what if we put the camera on a pillow and then we slide it off? I saw this video and he’s like you and your bloody YouTube. And I was like, come on it’s going to be great! And so we did it! And you go cool, we got the shot. But in terms of those images, yeah, the isolation and his isolation and his fear all sort of bleed into those two episodes and his journey to the end of this season, which I can’t give spoilers about.

Jace Lacob: No, no spoilers. But I have to say, I love what you’re saying because you do take a lot of chances with your shot compositions in these two episodes. I love how you place the camera on the Keating household dining room table, and it allows us as a viewer to see through both doorways at once as Cath and Geordie enter to deal with Esme. You shoot from the top of the stairs looking down at one point. You frame Cara Horgan’s Leah in the mirror. Or you shoot Cath and Jordi from outside the kitchen window when Esme’s going.

A lot of times it feels like we are intruders here, witnessing these domestic scenes. And it’s really quite invigorating to have that vantage point. How did you come up with those shot compositions? And are you looking to play specifically with space or unexpected vantage points?

Al Weaver: I love that you said that. Yeah. I’m so proud of those three. The mirror shot is always hard. Every scene we do, I’m like, Mark, I want this mirror, we never have time for it. And he was like, I’m going to get your mirror shot. We’re doing it first. Everyone set up for the mirror shot. We’re doing it first and getting Al his mirror shot. And this is like three weeks in. So I’m really glad we got that.

And outside the window, yeah, you’re kind of looking in, you’re on the outside and it’s kind of the feeling that Cathy feels, that she’s alone. But I love that sort of voyeuristic kind of feeling that you can have with TV sometimes when you feel like you’re part of it on the outside and you’re just watching something happen and they’re really not aware that the camera’s there.

And again, with the kitchen scene, I love that shot. I just, I don’t know. At the start, you’ve got the argument and then you’re playing with depth of field and you’re playing with the front door, and the front room, and the kitchen, and then we’ve got three close ups, and then you’ve got a close up, and then a two shot, and I just thought it was really good. And Mark was well up for it, and I was really proud of that.

And it all hinged on performance. If Skye and Kacey and Robson hadn’t delivered, and hadn’t been up for it, it would have fallen flat on its face, but luckily they kept the ball up and it was like ping, ping, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, beep, and then da, da, da, and she left and then we can cut to the front door, her walking away and Robson’s, you know, we can play a bit of comedy.

So yeah, I’m really glad that you pointed those out because I was really proud and had to, I didn’t fight for them, but I really had to think about why I wanted to do the shots. Because I’m very new, I’ve got to double down on my reasons for everything, because even though the crew are 100 percent supportive, it just helps if I can have a good explanation for why I want to do it. Because otherwise it would just be a composition without any purpose. And that would be just irrelevant and you kind of go, Oh, it’s got no soul. But this way, I thought it had a feeling to it about this chaotic family and what was happening.

Jace Lacob: You handled the domestic so well, but you also really deftly capture the opulence of the Marwoods. There’s that shot of the dinner party from outside the dining room doors. It’s almost sort of tableau-like with the viewer outside looking in. And so many of your shots managed to feel like paintings while not being static. There’s the one of Lady Marwood smoking a cigarette at the window, for example.

Episode 5 similarly captures a visual flair though it trades the opulence of the Marwoods for an almost spooky horror-like tone in an episode that focuses largely on Grantchester‘s female cast, which also has a “Story by” credit for Kacey Ainsworth. Daisy said that you were the, “…perfect director for this episode.” She said, “He’s brilliant with the actors, but he also has a real filmic sense.” How does episode five mesh with your own sensibilities or inspirations as a director?

Al Weaver: Well, after I did Episode 3 in Season 8, which was a feminist, kind of women empowered episode. And then they gave me this one as well and I was like, am I your go-to feminist director? Okay, I’ll wear that mantle. Okay, I’m happy to. Let’s do it. And it was such a beautiful episode in terms of the way it’s written. It’s got so much in it.

I always knew that the storeroom, I was like, okay, here’s a chance to really play with tone in here so that every time we’re in there, the door is creaky and slow. Or we can do these slow sort of zoom shots or tracking shots in towards the door and play with that. And that was a lot in the edit, but when we got in that room, it wasn’t designed the way I wanted it. So I moved the bookshelves. I was like, if we can be looking through bookshelves, then again, we get this kind of voyeuristic world where the characters feel like they’re more enclosed in there, more in secret and they’re more endangered. And so all that was kind of leaning into that.

It just felt natural for what it was really. But ultimately it’s the script that kind of tells you what it wants to be, I think. And then within that you go, well for this bit of the thing, I’m going to lean into more of a horror vibe or whatever. And Mark, the DOP, was completely on board with it. He loves it.

There’s a montage sequence in there, where Miss Scott is going through like all the clues. She’s trying to figure out all the clues. And I was like, God, I don’t know, how do you do a montage? I’ve never done a montage. And then I would just talk to her. I was like, I just want to slow pull in and then I want quick cuts of her face. We see her mouth and then we see bits of this. And then I would just speak to her and say, okay, look at that. This is a sad face. Ooh, that’s upsetting. I was like, this is the only way I know how to shoot this. And she was like, good, whatever. I was like, okay, cool. So we just shot and I would go, okay, this is “curious face”, ooh, what’s that?

And so we did that for about two minutes and then filmed bits of that thing. And then I gave it to James, my editor, and I had a piece of music that I really liked for that bit. Then he just did all this kind of vignette on it and this weird kind of 60s sort of fading in and having two shots on the screen at the same time, and that was all him. I didn’t touch it. He sent that back and I was like, James, that is incredible. So I had shot something not knowing really how I was going to put it together. And I think that sometimes you know you’ve got the footage you can, but then someone like James can come in and do that, and I go, that’s perfect. I’ve never seen that in Grantchester, and it fits with her so well.

Jace Lacob: This is an episode that’s overflowing with incredible scenes. I love Esme switching off the lights in the storeroom, the scene of Esme and Miss Scott at the pub together. But my favorite scene, I think, is the one between Cath and Mrs. C.

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Mrs. C: You’re not mad, Cathy Keating, you’re a woman trying to get by in a world that isn’t made for us, that’s cold and brutal.

Jace Lacob: What does it mean to you that you get to direct Kacey and Tessa in a scene like this? Was there an additional layer, or added responsibility here, a weightiness to it?

Al Weaver: It’s such a good question. And I think the truth is that Kacey wrote that scene. I’m sure she and Daisy worked on it, but in the original episode that Kacey sent with this idea in mind, this was one of the scenes. This is her talking about her own children. And so, I just had to put the camera on and let them act. I didn’t want to be fussy about it. I didn’t want to overshoot it. I just thought the performances were so gorgeous. And it was just about then finding little nuances within that and maybe a little less here and a little more on that so that tonally we could get it right in the edit and it didn’t go too much or it wasn’t too much under.

You always feel a responsibility because you don’t want to let the writing down and you don’t want to let the actors down. I think that was my first day of shooting and the episode, I think, that was the first scene. We did all the Keating stuff first. We did all the Esme leaving home stuff. We did that stuff in the kitchen. We did all that in two days at the Keating house. So it was quite intense. And Kacey, I mean, she was just there because she’d written it. And so it was just letting her express this thing that came straight from her heart and straight from her own experiences. So yeah, the responsibility is just making sure you’ve got the camera there and that you can let the actors be what they want to be in that space, I guess.

Jace Lacob: We get Cathy taking a pill as the camera pulls along the table depicting this sort of desperate, quiet resignation as she gives herself over to the medication. And that is contrasted quite elegantly with Jennifer Scott and Esme outside the pub with their toast.

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Miss Scott: To men! I’m kidding, to us.

Esme: To us.

Jace Lacob: Is this the more optimistic ending, focusing on the future for these two professional women, rather than on Cathy’s anguish?

Al Weaver: Yeah, again, it’s a tricky balance. There was a quote from a director I heard, which is really nice, “You’ve got to love it enough that you do the best you can do. But then you can’t love it too much because ultimately it’s not like an indie movie that’s yours. You’ve got to let things go.” And so certain decisions we make as a massive collective, and the end of that was such a tricky thing because if you end on Cathy then the episode’s a real downer but it’s so hard hitting, which you can fight for. And I was torn and so Emma and Daisy were brilliant and they just came in and we all watched it various ways.

So you’re just kind of swapping them around and seeing which one works the best. And I think ending on the hopeful is quite nice. Because you’ve underpinned it with that scene before. And then it’s about the future for a different generation. So it’s kind of talking about two generations. So it’s just kind of balancing.

It’s a lot of balancing. I mean, that’s what I’ve noticed more than anything in terms of the edit and things is what is this episode? What are the themes? What is it? What’s the heartbeat of it? And what is the audience going to take away? And how does that bleed into the next episode? When can we have an audience feel like they’ve watched an episode of Grantchester and they feel bereft and like they’ve had their heart pulled out? And when do you want them to go, well, you’ve had a bit of your heart pulled out and a bit worried, but on this one, we wanted to end with the hope that actually the world is becoming a different place for a certain generation, I guess.

Jace Lacob: So your motto as a director, always on time, always on budget, and always cinematic. I would add, Al Weaver, always brilliant. Thank you so very much.

Al Weaver: Thank you.

Next time, a string of crimes leads to a flurry of suspicions and an unexpected showdown. 

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Geordie: I want everything we’ve got on him; every parking ticket, every dodgy tax return.

Miss Scott: No stone unturned.

In three weeks, Rishi and Daisy are back to wrap up this season of Grantchester and take a sneak peek at what might be in store for the next.