Grantchester is cast in an unsettling light with the arrival of new vicar Alphy Kotteram

But while the formulaic nature of the ITV period drama ensured that the character eventually found his feet, his arrival was far from harmonious because of one particular reason: his ethnicity.

Unlike Sidney and Will – and anyone else currently on the show, for that matter – Alphy isn't white, but of South Asian Indian descent, which was greeted with a mixture of shock and hostility by his new parishioners.

As soon as Mrs C spotted a "swarthy" gentleman entering the vicarage, her unconscious bias kicked in as she ran to Geordie with reports of a break-in.

Not once did it cross her mind that he could be Will's replacement, even with his red sports car parked outside, or the fact that his 'burglar's attire' was a suede jacket and shoes. Mrs C didn't once consider toddling over and introducing herself to get a better gauge on who said gentleman was.

Instead, the colour of his skin was an instantaneous marker of wrongdoing and her fight-or-flight response kicked in, leaving Alphy with a box of broken crockery and yet another cruel reminder that, unlike his white counterparts, he is being held to a different standard.

Alphy's debut on Grantchester cleverly shows how certain environments can mean different things to different people.

To white viewers, the idyllic Cambridgeshire village looks like a lovely place to lay down roots (let's not dwell on the murders, folks). But by walking into that space as someone who is visibly different, the picture takes on a threatening quality, as evidenced when he enters the local pub for the first time.

As the regulars look up from their pints, a hush falls over the room, like the characters have suddenly been transported to a Wild West saloon where a shootout is imminent.

The men don't speak, but they don't have to. Their distrust and disdain is palpable.

Even if they had all rushed to shake his hand and take up his offer of a drink, being the lone person of colour in a sea of white faces would have felt exposing enough. But that will have increased tenfold following their hostile greeting, or lack thereof.

Alphy would have anticipated all of this, of course, but it won't have made it any less painful or exhausting. However much you've prepared yourself, having a room full of people actively ignore you or preaching to an empty church because everyone is "busy" cannot be easy.

But while he's adept at hiding his emotions, there are moments when Alphy's mask of affability slips and we see the toll that microaggressions, which are often compared to death by a thousand cuts, take on him.

Read more:

• Will and Geordie's Grantchester goodbye is a love letter to male friendship
• Grantchester star on Alphy's arrival: 'It would be silly to pretend everyone just takes him in'

There's one particular scene when Mrs C makes a comment about him being from the "empire" and he can't help but sigh, a response to both that remark and the many other slights he will be forced to ensure during his tenure as vicar, and a small yet visible reminder of the weight he carries at all times.

Now, it would be naive to expect a uniformly positive reception to Alphy's arrival from the Grantchester fandom.

Like the village bigots, there will likely be some who bemoan Nair's casting altogether, but there will also be those who, while having no issues with the role being played by a person of colour, have zero interest in watching a racism storyline play out across multiple episodes as opposed to an episode here and there.

But as Nair noted ahead of season 9's arrival, it would have been remiss to ignore the subject.

"I think we would have really missed a trick and not played the truth of society if I just came into 1962 Grantchester and everyone's just absolutely lovely to me and no one bats an eyelid, because that's not what would have happened," he said.

"Grantchester now is a very white town, so in 1962 you can imagine someone like Alphy walking into that village, it would have been difficult."

By the end of episode 3, a certain degree of settling in has taken place, which could be criticised for being too swift or romanticised.

But for the writing to truly succeed this season, it'll take more than that for him to shake off his "outsider" status. In the eyes of some, Alphy never will, such is the deep-rooted, insidious effect of racism.

Alphy will have to work twice as hard to be welcomed into the fold. And even if he does succeed, in his case it is seen as a privilege rather than a right, which could be revoked in an instant.

Unlike the Grantchester vicars of old, Alphy's acceptance must be earned, not given.

Grantchester airs on Wednesdays on ITV1 and ITVX.

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