Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey has joined the cast of ITV drama Grantchester.

James Norton and Robson Green began filming six new episodes last month in London, Cambridge, and Grantchester.

Set in the Cambridgeshire hamlet of Grantchester in the early 1950s, Grantchester launched last October on ITV, averaging a consolidated audience of 6.6 million viewers.

> Buy Season 1 on DVD on Amazon.

Season 2 sees Norton (Happy Valley) reprise his role as crime-fighting clergyman Sidney Chambers alongside Green (Wire In The Blood) as Police Inspector Geordie Keating.

Neil Morrissey (Line of Duty, Waterloo Road) will play Harding Redmond, a resident of Grantchester and grieving father whose teenage daughter Abigail (Grace Holley) is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Heartbroken and desperate to get to the bottom of what happened to Abigail, Harding accuses Sidney of having an inappropriate relationship with her. Sidney is determined to prove his innocence but will Harding’s accusations change the way the villagers feel about him?

Morrissey commented: “I’m really excited to be joining the cast of Grantchester. It’s great to work with James Norton, Robson Green and the rest of the cast, and I can’t wait to film in the actual village of Grantchester, which I know is beautiful. I’m also happy to be sporting a funky fifties moustache, my first foray into top lip decoration since I started acting.”

Also joining the cast for Season 2 are Claudie Blakley (The Driver), Nigel Planer (The Young Ones), Andrew Knott (The Driver), Nicky Henson (Vera Drake) and Oliver Dimsdale (Harley Street).

Tessa Peake-Jones (Only Fools and Horses) will return as Sidney’s housekeeper Mrs Maguire, with Morven Christie (Hunted), Kacey Ainsworth (EastEnders) and Al Weaver (Southcliffe) back as Sidney’s glamorous friend Amanda, Geordie’s wife Cathy and curate Leonard Finch respectively.

Season 2 will air on ITV in 2016.

Are you looking forward to the return of Grantchester? Let us know below…