The show’s main star, Robson Green, was asked by some tourists to say one of his iconic lines when they bumped into him on set.
If you have been living in Cambridge over the last decade, you might have stumbled across the cast and crew of the ITV detective drama Grantchester. Even though the stars have been filming in the city for so long, they say it is still “an absolute joy” to be in the area.
Emma Kingsman-Lloyd, executive producer of the show, said: “Filming in Grantchester and Cambridge is an absolute joy. Right from series one, they opened their arms and their hearts to us.
“Every year, we turn up again and say ‘is it alright if we come back?’ and they say ‘yes, please do’. We have a lovely time. We film outside the vicarage and we film inside the church, all round the village and in Cambridge itself.”
Emma said everyone from the village of Grantchester is “really welcoming” with many people from the area becoming extras in the series. She went on to say how the residents are now “very much part of the family”.
When filming in Cambridge, Emma described the struggle of dealing with a classic Cambridge sight. She said: “Shooting in the middle of Cambridge itself is still interesting. They are very kind to us and let us shut off streets and we still get the odd stray cyclist, who whizzes past and nearly takes your nose off.
“But it’s great and it’s really lovely. The sun always shines when we’re there, which is extraordinary.”
The show’s main star, Robson Green, who plays Geordie Keating, talked about an encounter with some big fans of Grantchester while filming the series. He said: “There was this incident when we were filming outside the church and all of the cast was there and super fans from America turned up on buses.
“Didn’t they Rishi? And all they were expecting was the church. They were all going to stand beside it and have their photograph taken because they were on a Masterpiece tour. They were going to go to Call The Midwife, Midsomer Murders type thing, all the sets of their favourite shows.
“They turn up, three bus-loads of Americans from be it Alaska, Ohio, Mississippi, Florida, and California, and we’re filming. They thought all their birthdays had come at once. You’ve got nearly 100 people with their phones out going ‘oh my god, Geordie, Geordie, Alfie, Cathy, Cathy’. You had all of that while you were trying to do a scene.”
Robson commented on how lovely the fans were and that they knew more about the show than the cast and crew did. One fan in particular was excited to get Robson to say his popular catchphrase “Christ on a bike” with everyone cheering after he obliged.
He added: “The conversations were elevated because they knew the storylines and they’d invested so much of their lives into our lives. I think that’s a really positive thing, not only do they love of the characters and because we’re people off the TV, but they cared about the writing and they cared about the profound affect that some storylines can have on people.”
Robson ended the story by saying it “was a sight to behold”. Series 10 of Grantchester will air on ITV in 2026.
