~Blue Murder In the opening episode pregnant Janine Lewis becomes a newly minted DCI and so takes home a bottle of champagne to celebrate with her husband — whom she discovers in bed with another woman. Ouch. But Janine doesn’t have time to cry over spilled milk —or champagne, which she immediately pours down the sink — and so the next scene shows her taking care of morning madness while getting kids out the door and herself to work. And that is, really, what sets this show apart from others of its ilk. Janine’s home life is messily entangled with her professional one. Janine might be tracking down killers at work but at home she could be dealing with head lice. Or a drinking teenager. Or an ex who doesn’t show up on time to take the kids. And while her two worlds frequently collide, there’s no attempt to turn her into a superwoman. She messes up, gets depressed and second guesses her decisions, which makes the series feel very real. It’s set in Manchester, rife with grisly, gory murders, where Janine leads a close knit group of detectives who have a great deal of respect for her. The banter and dialogue is entertaining in an earthy way, not overly clever or stylised, and while the storylines can be heavy, there is a lightness that is achieved by being grounded in the realness of the detectives’ lives.
~Murder In Suburbia “You know what I like about suburbia?” Ash asks her partner. “The effortless way it all works—deceit, murder, wife-swapping. And still the hedges get trimmed.” And there you have Murder in Suburbia in a nutshell. No brutal or violent gore. Nothing deep or heavy. Things are much cleaner, with plot lines leaning towards parents vying to get their kids into good schools (someone’s always going to die!) and teachers killed in hit and run accidents. All unpleasantness is hidden nicely behind white picket fences and stored in well organized pantries to be rooted out by our lead detectives. Caroline Catz and Lisa Faulkner star as Kate “Ash” Ashurst and Emma “Scribbs” Scribbins. The former comes from a posh, private school background and is a little uptight. The latter is street smart and carefree with plenty of sass. Both are single, but with two different approaches to the dating scene so there is lots of talk about men and their gorgeous boss whom they both have a bit of a crush on. But what really makes this show shine is the never ending, sparkly banter between the two lead characters who have fabulous chemistry. The wit and sarcasm is rapid fire and non stop and is just delightfully entertaining. Who cares if the mystery to be solved is a little thin — quite frankly the real crime here is that only two series were made.
~Scott and Bailey If you watched Dr. Foster you will recognise Suranne Jones here, playing the (Rachel) Bailey half of Scott and Bailey. Joining her is Lesley Sharp as Janet Scott and Amelia Bullmore as their intrepid Chief Inspector, Gill Murray. It’s women all the way on this show with the male detectives playing backup. It’s set in Manchester, again — such a lot of crime in Manchester! Bailey is a 30-something unmarried woman with a binge drinking habit, terrible choices in men and something of a reckless nature. Scott, on the other hand, is more level headed and even keeled, but as a 40-something mother maybe she has to be: fighting crime has nothing on raising kids! While the two come from different life stages with differing temperaments they have a deep respect and understanding for each other which exists, for the most part, in a judgement free zone. It’s perhaps as well because they both have rather messy personal lives and regular hangovers and there are frequent trips to the loo to hash out problems. It might sound a little cliche but performances are solid and meaty and let’s face it, it doesn’t count as good British drama if you don’t have deeply flawed cops. It definitely is heavier and grittier than the two shows above, but it is no less funny. It has a very honest feel to it — humour is blunt and unpretentious and the relationship between the two female detectives is relaxed and natural despite the tension that can occur.
