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The Worst Episodes of Father Brown

Every episode of Father Brown ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Father Brown!

Worst episode
S1E12 The Arrow of Heaven
6.783 votes
Best episode
S1E3 The Curse of the Golden Cross
7.6124 votes
Top season
Season 1
7.3avg
Binge time
11h 8m
13 episodes
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Father Brown Season 1 Episode 12 - The Arrow of Heaven
    6.7/10(83 votes)

    S1:E12

    A paranoid millionaire becomes obsessed with a priceless early Christian chalice and wins it at auction. He lives with it in an impervious citadel, but is killed by an arrow in the neck. The irrepressible Father Brown must sift through a plethora of red herrings to find the killer and the motive.

    Director:Robert Tronson
    Writer:John Portman

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  2. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 6 - The Mirror of the Magistrate
    7.0/10(102 votes)

    S1:E6

    Brilliant but controversial conservative jurist Sir Arthur Travers is found murdered by gunshot in his estate garden. As he was murdered outdoors, the police are unable to explain how an indoor mirror in his house came to be shattered. Osric Orm, a Fabian Socialist known for his radical views, is charged, but Father Brown instinctively believes him innocent and sets out to find the real killer.

    Director:Peter Jefferies
    Writer:Michael Voysey

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  3. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 1 - The Hammer of God
    7.2/10(187 votes)

    S1:E1

    Lord of the manor Colonel James Bohun, a sadistic bully and chauvinistic womaniser, is widely loathed in his small English village. Despite being married, he openly flaunts his conquests and shows only disdain for the beliefs of his brother Wilfred, the local Anglican vicar. When James is found in the churchyard with his skull smashed by a single blow from a blacksmith's hammer, Father Brown, a guest of the vicar's, brings his sleuthing skills to the case.

    Director:Robert Tronson
    Writer:Hugh Leonard

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  4. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 10 - The Man with Two Beards
    7.3/10(85 votes)

    S1:E10

    Father Brown is staying with an old friend, a former jewel thief who retired to beekeeping in the country. Someone has been using his m.o. to commit a rash of local robberies, and when he is found shot, the local police inspector assumes he had returned to his former profession. Brown sets about clearing his name.

    Director:Peter Jefferies
    Writer:Michael Voysey

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  5. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 9 - The Quick One
    7.3/10(91 votes)

    S1:E9

    While staying at a country hotel, Father Brown becomes involved in the murder of an unpopular local man found stabbed in the hotel bar. As suspicion falls on several of the guests, Father Brown and Flambeau investigate the circumstances surrounding his mysterious death.

    Director:Ian Fordyce
    Writer:Hugh Leonard

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  6. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 8 - The Actor and the Alibi
    7.3/10(96 votes)

    S1:E8

    Mundon Mandeville, who runs a reviled repertoire theatre troupe, is murdered inside a windowless room. Everyone has an alibi. Father Brown is there as a favour to Flambeau to consult a 17-year-old into returning home to her worried parents who don't realise she has lied about her age in order to follow her dreams as an aspiring actress.

    Director:Robert Tronson
    Writer:Hugh Leonard

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  7. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 5 - The Three Tools of Death
    7.3/10(102 votes)

    S1:E5

    Scottish noble Sir Aaron Armstrong is a reformed alcoholic who advocates temperance and hires dipsomaniac Patrick Royce as his secretary on condition he give up the sauce. When Armstrong learns that his daughter Alice plans to marry Royce, he ignores Royce's fifteen months of sobriety and discharges him. Not long after, Armstrong is found with a broken neck outside a high window on his estate, the apparent victim of foul play. Father Brown assists Inspector Gilder in investigation.

    Director:Robert Tronson
    Writer:Hugh Leonard

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  8. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 13 - The Secret Garden
    7.4/10(82 votes)

    S1:E13

    Father Brown is staying at a beautiful French mansion with an assortment of red herrings when a decapitated body is discovered in its enclosed, inaccessible garden. Brown sorts through a variety of puzzling clues, only for the verdict to be simple but incredible.

    Director:Peter Jefferies
    Writer:Hugh Leonard

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  9. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 11 - The Head of Caesar
    7.4/10(85 votes)

    S1:E11

    Christabel Carstairs has inherited the estate of her late, well-to-do father with the exception of his celebrated collection of Ancient Roman coins, which go to her elder brother. As an art student, she becomes infatuated with a male model and impulsively steals a coin from the collection as she believes its likeness of Augustus Caesar Augustus resembles the young man in question. When a blackmailer tries to coerce money from her to keep the theft secret, she tuns to Father Brown and Flambeau for help.

    Director:Robert Tronson
    Writer:Peter Wildeblood

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  10. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 7 - The Dagger with Wings
    7.4/10(97 votes)

    S1:E7

    Wealthy Essex landowner Augustus Aylmer confesses to Father Brown that fear of his impending death has caused him to dabble in the occult, enabled by John Strake, his adopted son. Aylmer had made Strake his heir because he feels his natural sons aren't needy, but ultimately realises his error and disinherits the necromancer. When two of his sons die under unusual circumstances, Brown suspects foul play.

    Director:Peter Jefferies
    Writer:Peter Wildeblood

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  11. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 4 - The Eye of Apollo
    7.4/10(120 votes)

    S1:E4

    Aging, blind dowager Miss Dorothy Ammersly, an advocate of equality for women in the workplace, has consigned her fortune to her niece, successful businesswoman Pauline Stacey. Unfortunately, Pauline is not as astute on judging character and has fallen under the spell of ex-convict Kalon, who has reinvented himself as the high priest to Apollo, the sun god. Pauline makes out her will, ignoring her sister and naming him as her sole heir, before falling to her death. Having been in close proximity, Kalon becomes a suspect, but he has an impeccable alibi provided by one Father Brown.

    Director:Peter Jefferies
    Writer:Hugh Leonard

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  12. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 2 - The Oracle of the Dog
    7.5/10(142 votes)

    S1:E2

    Colonel Arthur Druce is unhappy with his son Harry for his frivolous behaviour and his daughter Janet for her choice of a French doctor as fiancé. He summons his lawyer and changes his will, only to be stabbed to death shortly thereafter in the estate's summer house. Houseguest Father Brown assists in tracking down his late host's killer.

    Director:Peter Jefferies
    Writer:Peter Wildeblood

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  13. Father Brown Season 1 Episode 3 - The Curse of the Golden Cross
    7.6/10(124 votes)

    S1:E3

    When American archaeologist Gerald Smaill uncovers a golden Byzantine cross in cave in Asia Minor, a disembodied voice threatens death. En route back to England via cruise, he receives further threats and confides in fellow traveller Father Brown. A secret crypt beneath a Dover church has been recently uncovered containing the body of a 13th-century bishop mummified in Egyptian fashion, along with a similar golden cross. Smaill, Brown, and several passengers investigate the find and risk the curse that accompanies it.

    Director:Robert Tronson
    Writer:Hugh Leonard

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Worst Episodes Summary

"The Arrow of Heaven" is the worst rated episode of Father Brown. It scored 6.7/10 from 83 votes. Directed by Robert Tronson and written by John Portman, it aired on December 12, 1974. This episode scored 0.3 points lower than the second lowest rated, "The Mirror of the Magistrate".

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