Thriller & Mystery > Mystery Thriller & Mystery

Advantages: Excellent detective yarns. Beautiful scenery.
Disadvantages: Suffers from mis-casting

...his brilliant collection of Inspector Rebus novels about the paranoid, screwed up, hard drinking Scottish police inspector. ~ ~ Rankin is one of the UK’s top crime writers. Originally from Fife in Scotland, he is now based in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, where his fictional detective, John Rebus, has his beat. He has won a number of “Golden Dagger” awards for his Rebus novels, and when a new book is published, it invariably shoots to the top ...
...before someone decided to transfer Rebus to the silver screen. Or in this case the TV screen, as Scottish Television originally released the three novels featured on this DVD as a series of stand-alone episodes in conjunction with a production company called Clerkenwell Productions. Quite how I managed to miss the original screening of Rebus on TV is a bit of a mystery, but at least I was able to get my hands on this DVD after reading about its ... Read review

Advantages: Fabulous and gripping programme, BBC at its best
Disadvantages: not enough episodes

I love this programme and have seen it over and over on either the BBC or UK gold TV. I never thought I would buy box sets of this nature as once you have seen them, you tend to remember the story lines easily, so I always thought I would never watch them again. But I have surprised myself and after Series One was bought for me as a Christmas present, I felt I had to complete the collection and order the rest. Series 2 is a continuation of the fabulous ...
...drawn in to the story lines and they are gripping to watch as each case unravels itself. The programme is about a cold case team of detectives solving closed cases, with Trevor Eve as the DI and Sue Johnston as a forensic profiler. The series goes into as much detail as I feel it could, and the only downside I can honestly pick from a fantastic series is that when attending what is classed as a crime scene, the team never have their hair covered, ... Read review

Advantages: Has the best portrail of Miss Marple ever
Disadvantages: No special features

...Joan Hickson will always be the best 'Miss Marple'. Possibly as she was the first one I saw playing the part. I'm surprised that it took the BBC so long to releace them on DVD From the acting to the setting to the pacing... everything seems just right. Every part of Joan Hicksons performance (which earned her two BAFTA nominations) was perfect. She plays Miss Marple as the 'rather nosey busy body' who the criminal always seems to dismiss as past ...
...brain she can always solve the crimes faster than the inspector. Marple lives in her small village and knows everything that goes on there. Through this she knows the world. She is always saying 's/he reminded me of...' Unlike Poirot who always had a good relatioship with the Inspector, the relationship between Marple and the inspector in these storys is a little more strained. He thinks she's an interfering old busy body, which she is, but she always ... Read review

Advantages: Entertaining
Disadvantages: Too many red herrings

Introduction Midsomer Murders is another show that I missed while I lived abroad - luckily there's been any number of repeats, so I've managed to catch up with most of them. I've never seen the first episode though, which was the highest rated drama episode of 1997, so when it was available for just ₤2.99 as part of a fortnightly collection of the TV series, I couldn't resist. I enjoyed it, but I won't be buying any more - particularly once ...
...also worked on scripts for Midsomer Murders and Crossroads. Anthony Horowitz is one of the screenwriters brought in to write the scripts for Midsomer Murders, including The Killings at Badger's Drift. More recently, he has contributed to Foyle's War. The characters/actors John Nettles plays Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby. This was a return role to the field of crime fiction for John Nettles, who was previously most famous for his lead role ... Read review

Advantages: Great episodes
Disadvantages: There were not more

...Morse weekends on ITV3. Inspector Morse (played by John Thaw) is a Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley police. He loves opera, real ale, art, literature and doing the Times crossword. He is also irrascible, bad tempered, stubborn and very unlucky in love (he tends to fall for ladies who are either the culprit or who played a supporting role). He is helped by the loveable Sergeant Lewis (Kevin Whately) who supports Morse through thick and thin ...
...the nicest things about the series is watching these main characters develop and their relationship grow, first to respect, then to friendship. The third key character is Oxford, both town and gown. There are some beautiful shots of the countryside and most episodes are set in various colleges. Although mainly a "whodunnit", there is good characterisation and empahsis on why crimes were commited. The viewer is led to feel sympathy for many of the ... Read review