CHRISTMAS came early to the Cotswolds on Friday, where, despite temperatures reaching 22°C a BBC film crew arrived to film a festive episode of a popular murder mystery TV show.

Father Brown – the day-time drama about a Catholic priest-come-detective in the fictional Cotswold village of Kempsford, is largely filmed in Blockley near Moreton-in-Marsh, and is broadcast in 92 countries and 160 territories.

The Christmas episode, which kicks off series five of the 1950s-set show – prime time viewing in Australia, Canada and the US – meant turning the grounds of St Peter and St Paul Church into a winter wonderland, complete with a heavy smattering of snow.

“We haven’t done a Christmas episode before because the cost and logistics of all this in the summer, which is when we always shoot, was too difficult,” said screenwriter Jude Tindall, who wrote the special episode, to be broadcast in December.

“This year, luckily we had enough money to get snow and animals and children – all the things you’re not supposed to work with. So we could really push the boat out to make something special. It’s been a long time coming.

“There was some talk about how we could go to Poland and shoot it or in Rome, but we decided in the end Father Brown is Blockley – no one wants to see him in Poland. This is his stomping ground.”

Dozens of crew, as well as 40 extras, including 12 children, were on set in full winter costume, soldiering on in the heat to film the episode’s three outdoor snow scenes – with catering vans serving Christmas dinner for those on break at the nearby sports club’s car park.

One extra was the church’s actual reverend Dana Delap, who had been dressed-up in full period costume. “I’m absolutely sweltering,” she said. “There’s been a donkey and a sheep and an ox – it’s hilarious. You spend most of the time just standing round doing nothing – I had no idea being an actor was so boring.”

She said her new look had meant her becoming anonymous for the day. “No-one recognises me, they all kind of just look through me,” she said. “I’m used to being ‘the vicar’. Now, I’m just another extra.”

Actor Mark Williams, who plays the title role, was very impressed with the artificial snow, which reportedly cost a large four-figure fee, and took 18 hours to lay down. He said: “I’ve worked with the company [who provided the snow] before, twenty years ago on 101 Dalmatians. They used foam back then, the technology has really moved on. It really is like winter.”

Asked how he coped filming a Christmas episode in this sort of heat, the 56-year-old The Fast Show and Harry Potter actor, said: “I get tired [as an actor], but I never get bored.”   

Jude, who has written for Father Brown since it began, as well as Doctors and Casualty, revealed what viewers can expect.

“Nothing sinister happens in the snow,” she said. “It’s all just to get a lovely atmospheric feel – but there’s something very exciting going on in the church, in the plot. We don’t have a murder because we thought with the Christmas episode it would be a bit bleak – it’s quite hard to get an upbeat ending at Christmas if you’ve got a dead body.

“Unlike our normal episodes this one the crime is not a murder, it’s a baby kidnap.”

The Christmas episode will be shot over eight days, with the remaining seven consisting of interior shoots.