WITH December now underway, the BBC has announced the air date for the Father Brown Christmas Special, shot in Blockley near Moreton-in-Marsh in May.

The festive episode of the popular series about a Catholic priest-come-detective is called ‘The Star of Jacob’ and will be broadcast on Friday, December 23.

The Standard was invited along by the Beeb in the summer for the shoot, with many of the show’s writers, producers and actors – including Father Brown himself Mark Williams – on hand, as temperatures soared to an uncomfortable 22°C.

“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.

“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 St Peter & St Paul 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.”

Mark Williams 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 was shot over eight days, with the remaining seven consisting of interior shoots.