The Blue Cross
The clearest starting bridge: Brown, Valentin and Flambeau appear in the original story, although the television continuity develops them differently.
Books and adaptation
Read beyond Kembleford
The series is a free adaptation: it preserves Brown’s moral imagination while creating its own 1950s parish, ensemble and continuity.
The Hammer of God
A shared title and moral problem do not make the episode a transcript; compare the different supporting worlds.
The Flying Stars
Both versions use performance, class and theft, while the screen series adapts those ideas to its continuing parish.
The Wrong Shape
Useful for comparing Chesterton’s compact philosophical mystery with the programme’s character-led forty-five-minute form.
Title cross-reference
The first collection on screen
Matching titles indicate an adaptation connection, not an identical plot. Unmatched stories remain worth reading and may still echo elsewhere.
The Blue Cross
Screen title matchS1 E10 case file →The Secret Garden
Original story onlyRead the collection ↗The Queer Feet
Original story onlyRead the collection ↗The Flying Stars
Screen title matchS1 E2 case file →The Invisible Man
Screen title matchS3 E3 case file →The Honour of Israel Gow
Original story onlyRead the collection ↗The Wrong Shape
Screen title matchS1 E3 case file →The Sins of Prince Saradine
Original story onlyRead the collection ↗The Hammer of God
Screen title matchS1 E1 case file →The Eye of Apollo
Screen title matchS1 E5 case file →The Sign of the Broken Sword
Screen title matchS3 E4 case file →The Three Tools of Death
Screen title matchS2 E7 case file →Collection contents: Project Gutenberg bibliographic record ↗