Britain certainly has no shortage of dark and gritty crime dramas but sometimes what’s needed is crime which is silly and irreverent. Bright and bubbly. Death by cheese, perhaps. Here are a handful of shows which keep things on the lighter side without sacrificing (too much) in the substance department. ~Midsomer Murders There is a running joke about the body count in Midsomer Murders. At 2-3 bodies per episode over 20 years of broadcasting, the fictional county of Midsomer is clearly the most dangerous place to live in England. It is, however, quintessentially British, with gorgeous gardens, quaint village pubs,…
~River There is something about this show that just immediately pulls you in and wont let go. Stellan Skarsgard, who plays River, is so raw and mesmerizing. Never before has anyone managed to convey such a wide array of emotions in such a short amount of time without uttering a single word. A momentary flash of happiness will collapse into grief while scorn twists itself into anger and then guilt. And it is all excruciatingly painful to watch. But in a good way. Sort of. River is a brilliant detective with a secret: he sees dead people. There’s a girl from a cold…
~Happy Valley If it’s grit you’re after, it’s grit you’ll get with this show. This series plumbs the depths of human nature with its heartbreak, despair and just sheer stupidity. More than that, it takes a look at the many times a few words or an action can set people off in directions they really had no intention of going. The ripple effects from these decisions leave you squirming in your seat, because…well…you can just see the disaster that’s looming on the horizon. Catherine, played by the incredible Sarah Lancashire, is a cut-through-the-bullshit, hard-as-nails cop. Her teenage daughter committed suicide after…
~Killers Of The Flower Moon David Gann A true crime story that makes your blood boil and stuns you into stony silence at the potential for human depravity. In the 1800’s the Osage Indians were run off their reservations several times by the US government, in the end being forced to hand over nearly a hundred million acres of their ancestral land. In the 1870’s they found land in Kansas that was so hilly and rocky they deemed it of no interest to the white man and decided to purchase it. Then, in an amazing twist of fate, it turned out that…
Should you ever be struck with a sudden inexplicable urge to stand on the northern-most point of the UK you would have to travel to the remote Scottish archipelago, the Shetlands, and it’s tiny rock-island of Muckle Flugga. It features a lighthouse and, well, that’s about it, but its stunning views of rolling Shetland hills and the Atlantic compensate. As far as the most northerly inhabited island, that would be Unst. Unst is a community of about 600 people, lots of cute shetland ponies, a brewery and a distillery. I’m sure the last two are highly vital to remote island…
Martin Clunes is an endearing teddy bear of a man with a warm voice and a gentle soul. At least that is how I imagine he would be. His first television appearance was a Dr. Who episode back in 1983 and he’s been going strong ever since. He’s been in a variety of shows over the years with the most well known being Men Behaving Badly (which I’ve never seen) and the one below which shows a very different side of Martin than everything else he has done. Watch a few…you won’t be disappointed. ~Doc Martin Portwenn is the charming…
~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…
While not a particularly familiar face on this side of the Atlantic, Robson Green has starred in many a fabulous TV show in England, and I must confess to having something of a secret crush on him. I don’t know if it’s his boyish, cheeky charm or his Geordie accent but I would probably watch him in just about anything. On second thought, I take that back. He has several shows about fishing…not seen any of them. There are three in particular, however, that are well worth the watch, although two of them are a bit gruesome. Touching Evil After…
