Grantchester series 3 finale recap: Love's just not enough for Sidney Chambers

Our boy is so determined to make a go of things with Amanda (Morven Christie) in London that he tenders his resignation to Archdeacon Gabriel Atubo (Gary Beadle) within the first five minutes.

The all-powerful man of the church suggests Sidney should write his letter to the bishop and wait a little longer to make his final decision. It’d be a real shame to do anything too rash so long before that all-important third ad break after all.

Amanda’s shocked but utterly delighted at her beloved’s determination to say so long to his God-given duties. Leonard (Al Weaver) proves mostly supportive, though he’s worried about a less tolerant vicar turfing him out, and Mrs Maguire (Tessa Peake-Jones) is unsurprisingly gutted.

She’s convinced Sidney’s abandoning his flock, though we can’t help but wonder if she’s more concerned about the fact that he’s abandoning her too.

“People need you, Sidney,” she shrills. But what about the vicar? What about his needs?

Geordie (Robson Green) definitely thinks Sidney’s desires should take precedence, urging the vicar out the door to play house with Amanda. He may not be the best person to take advice from, though. He’s sleeping in his office and downing bottles of whiskey after Kathy chucked him out.

And when local lad Jacob Reilly mysteriously disappears, Geordie’s drinking leads him down a very dark path indeed. Sidney must step in and put things right, comforting the family and solving the crime at the same time.

They eventually coax a confession out of the boy’s teacher Mark Davies (Sam Hoare), who’d taken him away in the belief that he was keeping him safe from his negligent parents (Perdita Weeks and Neil Jackson). But that’s not before Geordie beats the suspect to a pulp.

The whole fiasco gives Sidney some serious food for thought. He’s kept so busy that he misses the all-important deadline to pay the deposit on his new flat and when Amanda finds his letter of resignation still lying around the house it’s Grantchester GAME OVER for the ill-fated duo.

Failure was arguably written in the stars long before the series even aired – in author James Runcie’s original books, Sidney actually ends up marrying Hildegard Staunton, played by Pheline Roggan way back in series one.

Speaking of weddings, Mrs Maguire finally tied the knot with Jack Chapman (Nick Brimble), in a ceremony presided over by the lovely Leonard – who rather delightfully needed a swig of something much stronger than the blood of Christ before he could join the pair in Holy Matrimony.

Geordie and Kathy found some common ground as the band began to play after the wedding breakfast, coming together for a dance and a chance at reconciliation. We’d highly recommend he buy her an iron to apologise – and give her ample weaponry to wield should he have an affair again.

Leonard got his own happily ever after too, finally confessing his true feelings for Daniel Marlowe (Oliver Dimsdale) while Sidney sobbed in the tent.

Love wasn’t enough to convince him to part with his sermons, but will our love for Norton and co convince ITV – and the main man himself - to allow the Cambridgeshire vicar to ride again in a fourth series?