Agatha Raisin – TV show and Book

Funny. Dumb. 😀

This 90min pilot went on to 4 seasons through 2022.

Agatha Raisin is a British comedy-drama television program, based on M. C. Beaton’s book series of the same name about a former PR agent who solves crime mysteries in the Cotswolds village of Carsely.

… broadcast as a pilot titled Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death 2014 …

… soon finds herself a suspect in a murder case when she enters the village’s annual quiche-making competition in an attempt to ingratiate herself with the community. She sets out to clear her name and solve the mystery of the quiche of death.

This is a case where the TV show is better than the source book – Quiche of Death (1992).

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Mystery Road – season 3

Mystery Road seasons 1 & 2 were excellent.

Mystery Road: Origin is season 3.  A prequel. Good — but not as good as the first two.

The backstory of Mark Coles Smith as Jay Swan, a young detective in the Aussie outback 1999.

Later, in the other two seasons, Aaron Pedersen plays Jay Swan.

My favourite character, by far, is Grace Chow as Cindy Cheung, a young, enthusiastic, and positive police officer. She was truly the only one I could cheer for consistently.

The acting is very strong. Brave. 

But the story line simply too hard to follow, for me. At the end of the series I had to search out explainers.

I probably won’t watch season 4.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Jack Irish – season 1

Entertaining and funny. Black humour.

Jack Irish  an Australian television drama series (2012) …

Guy Pearce as Jack Irish, a criminal defense lawyer turned debt collector and troubleshooter.  …

Very popular. Skillfully done.

Jack is hopeless as any kind of action hero.

Still, not having seen any of the Jack Irish films, I was confused by most of season 1.

Former girlfriend Linda takes a job in Manila. Get’s involved with a dangerous, mysterious gang. Rescues a child.

Jack has something of a new girlfriend, Sarah, and tries to find out who killed her sister.  A charismatic mega-church pastor seems to be responsible.

I have to admit, the last episode did finally wrap up where they were going with this. An interesting plot. 

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

My Life Is Murder – season 2

I didn’t have much motivation to continue with this otherwise entertaining show as it’s quite formulaic. Few surprises.

The star is some weird kind of police consultant who is asked in on murder cases that have gone cold. Or might get cold.

Does she get paid? … It doesn’t seem so.

My main incentive to continue with season 2 was that Lucy Lawless moved the show from Melbourne to Auckland. 

Detective Harry Henare replaces DI Kieran Hussey. Exactly,.

George Stathopoulos replaces Reuben Wulf as the owner of the small restaurant where Lucy sells homemade bread. Exactly.

Formula.

Ebony Vagulans as Madison Feliciano, Alexa’s assistant, is just as sassy. BUT moves in with her boss in Auckland. 

They made more of an effort to show off the local scenery. Auckland is gorgeous.

William Shatner asks Alexa out in episode 4. 😀 It’s as much a comedy as a drama.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Happy Valley – season 1

I finally got round to watching the 2015 BAFTA for Best Drama Series. 

Happy Valley is fantastic TV — but very hard to watch. It’s simply too intense. 

Devastating.

Catherine Cawood is a divorced police sergeant with two children.

She is still trying to recover from the suicide of her daughter, which happened eight years ago.

Catherine is raising her grandson, Ryan, who was born due to her daughter being raped by Tommy Lee Royce.

Just when it seems like Catherine is gaining control over her life, she discovers that Tommy, whom she holds responsible for her daughter’s suicide, has been released from prison after serving time for other offences.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Artful Dodger (2023)

The Artful Dodger (2023) is an Australian / New Zealand television series …

… sequel that includes characters from the classic Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist (1838). 

It features Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Sam in Love Actually) as the eponymous Artful Dodger and David Thewlis as Fagin. …

Maia Mitchell as Lady Belle Fox, the governor’s daughter, self-educated in the field of medicine …

The two do have chemistry.

What I like about this show is the fast, YouTube-like editing. Modern music. Funny dialogue.

A fresh take on Oliver Twist.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Murder at the End of the World

7 episode mini-series. VERY good TV.

Weird and unique.

89% Rotten Tomatoes. That’s about right. I’d change a few things, if I could.

Intense. But skillfully done.

Unlike typical Agatha Christie, the dialogue is believable.

Emma Corrin is excellent as Darby Hart, a 24-year-old “Gen Z Sherlock Holmes” hacker who has written a true-crime book about her past as an amateur sleuth.

She’s Rami Malek‘s paramour right now IRL.

Harris Dickinson as Bill Farrah is quite good, as well. They make a charmingly socially awkward duo.

Darby and eight other guests are invited by a reclusive billionaire to participate in a retreat at a remote and dazzling location. When one of the other guests is found dead, Darby must use all of her skills to prove it was murder against a tide of competing interests and before the killer takes another life. …

Wikipedia

I did enjoy the technology.

The show is set in a billionaire prepper’s escape hatch, the Fljot Valley Hotel in Iceland.

Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly building a compound in Hawaii with an underground bunker.

OpenAI’s ousted-and-reinstated CEO Sam Altman has a stash of things like guns, gold, antibiotics, and gas masks.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman bought motorcycles, guns, and ammo to be prepared to “hole up in my house for some amount of time” if necessary and even got laser eye surgery because he thinks it’d help his odds of survival in a disaster.

LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman once told the New Yorker he estimates more than half of Silicon Valley billionaires have invested in some type of “apocalypse insurance,” like an underground bunker.

Business Insider

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I did predict the killer. 

My Life is Murder – season 1

I tried this show because … Lucy Lawless.

Xena: Warrior Princess and her as D’Anna Biers on Battlestar Galactica.

I’m a fan of the Kiwi badass. And she’s FUNNY. 😀

Snarky.

Namaste.

  … Ya, you have a nice day too. 😀

My Life Is Murder (2019) is an Australian and New Zealand murder mysterycrime comedy-drama television series …

… follows the adventures of fearless private investigator Alexa Crowe, who solves the most baffling crimes as well as coping with the frustrations of everyday life.

Lucy Lawless as PI Alexa Crowe, former detective of the Victoria Police Crinimal Investigation Branch (CIB) . As a side hustle, she bakes bread in her kitchen for Baristas Café. …

Not bad.  Standard police procedural.

But what makes it worth watching for me is the humour. And the Melbourne scenery.

There are some personal mysteries you ponder. 

WHY is Alexa working cold cases for the police? She doesn’t seem to get paid. 

WHY does Madison — who actually does work for the police — drop everything instantly anytime Alexa needs a hacker / analyst?

I’d best continue on to season 2. For one thing, the show moves to New Zealand, my former homeland.

Doc Martin ends – seasons 8-10

Over the years, I’ve finally watched all 79 episodes 2004 and 2022. A joy.

Sitcoms are pretty much the same formula for each and every episode. But for me seasons 1 and 9 were best.

I MIGHT have to start over again with episode 1.

I finally learned that — in real life — Martin Clunes is exactly opposite the character he plays in this comedy.

For one thing, he LOVES dogs! 😀

And he’s a charming people person, unlike the ramrod stiff and unpardonable Doc Martin.

Sigourney Weaver appeared in season 9 as a stubborn American tourist because she’s a good friend of Selina Cadell, who plays Mrs Tishell, the pharmacist.

International adaptations were made in Czech Republic and Slovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, and Spain.

Click PLAY or watch a wrap-up interview with Martin on YouTube.