Jonathan Creek Complete Series 1 - 4 & The Christmas Specials Box Set [DVD]

Four very good series plus two Christmas specials. This for me was the best period of Jonathan Creek 1997-2003 as well as one of the best original British TV Shows ever. The stories often involve the locked room mystery, a person is murdered in a room with no way out and locked from the inside. Not all crimes have to involve s murder though, in one a painting vanishes and that's it, others just have someone witness something simply impossible like a dead person alive again or a vanishing alien.Creek is an excellent character calm, logical, shy, reclusive, an expert on magic and illusions.The characters he's surrounded by also work very well off him. Adam is everything he is not, loud, crass, narcissistic, showman like, a womaniser and egotistical.Every season has some strong episodes. There's a nice blend of mystery, gothic horror, the surreal and comedy. He's also a little irritable and cranky too which works. I loved this show when I was growing up in the late 90s.Not every episode is a 5 star one unfortunately. There's one that just makes no sense where the killer plans to murder a woman by getting her to wear a contraption which will kill her but leave not trace. He proceeds to lock her in a room though so the killer could not possibly have fled from without being caught, so why lock the door? It simply proves that she was alone when she died. Another one is Ghosts Forge which just leads to endless problems. Wasn't the crime scene full of Robin's finger prints, weren't there photos in the house of him? How did he get a driving licence/ bank account etc with a made-up name and identity? The final series S4 pokes fun at TV itself with reality TV and crime enactment shows in it’s sights. Series 4 was also a darker one with corrupt police, pimps and serial killers making up some of the enemies Jonathan encounters.The early seasons largely created crimes that took place in the real word, especially season 1, one crime takes place it seems in side Maddy’s flat for instance. It was only the later specials where every single story seemed to have to take place in some big scary country mansion with some kind of silly legend to it. Generally I would say that the best episodes tend to have a solution which seems so clear and explanatory when it’s presented. The very worst episodes just have a solution which just has endless problems or one where there’s no way that Jonathan could ever have successfully made such a deduction from the clues presented to the audience.The character of Jonathan Creek is an interesting one. His approach to solving the crime is often done from the perspective of his work in the magic business. He approaches each crime, especially one where the killer seemingly disappears as if in a puff of smoke. Jonathan is naturally already brilliant at making people believe they've seen something they hadn't quite seen. He’s the hero, without needing to do things which are traditionally heroic like getting into car chases and gun fights. I don’t think he can even drive actually.Some of my favourite episodes include the Problem at Gallows Gate- how did a man who killed himself weeks ago show up to strangle a woman in her cottage? There’s a nice gothic look to this one too. It also contains a killer you never saw coming. Danse Macabre is another classic, a great one to watch on Halloween, with a vanishing killer, Peter Davidson, lots of organ music and a really spooky feel to it. Black Canary was another strong one too with higher production values.You do have some questions though about Jonathan. While he’s on these cases, he’s not at work. So is he doing all this on the weekend, does he take annual leave to do this work? Does he just work part time? If so how does he make ends meet? With Maddy it makes a little more sense as she makes her living as an investigative journalist. There is a great appeal though to Jonathan Creek using his mind rather than brawn to get the better of various criminals. Racing around big country mansions in the moonlight. There’s also quite a few celebrity special guests in the series, such as Jack Dee and Peter Davison . Season 4 kept the formula of a hostile awkward relationship for Jonathan, even after the character of Maddy vanished. Jonathan often doesn’t want to be involved in the investigation, Adam is also at this funniest too. This series is no Twilight Zone – nothing is left unexplained.

Not having watched these when there were on TV I was looking for something to follow in the wake of Poirot, Miss Marple, and (of all things) Jeeves & Wooster and Goodnight Sweetheart. With the bargain price when I bought the set I had been enjoying QI and was intrigued to see how Alan Davies played this part (especially as he has been mentioned as a potential Doctor Who in the past).I was totally absorbed from the moment the eerie "Danse Macabre" music began for the titles. The frisson between Alan and Caroline in their relationship was just perfect and for three whole seasons and one Christmas special they investigated mystery after mystery and I always wanted more each time an episode ended. The mysteries themselves were not (perhaps) as convoluted as a Christie one but they were none the less intriguing for it. The whole series seemed to be based on an easy style which really did make you feel that you were in the world of Jonathan Creek. For me Danse Macabre and Black Canary really stood out but only just as the productions were all of such high standards.In the second Special and for the fourth series Caroline Quentin left and was replaced by Julia Sawalha. As I slotted Satan's Chimney into the player I was nervous as I realised that after only one series with Julia the show stopped production, was the show going to be ruined by the changing lead dynamic? I needn't have worried. Okay Caroline Quentin was a hard act to follow and had left a big pair of shoes to fill but Julia Sawalha rapidly impressed me (not least as I had only seen her really as Saffy in Ab Fab and hadn't been aware of how gorgeous and voluptuous she really was). The fourth series was of the same high standard as the previous three and I came to really like Julia's character (that might have had something to do with the lovely cleavage she showed each episode with one episode being almost dominated by her thrusting bosom!) and the comic coupling with Adrian Edmondson as her producer husband. As the final credits rolled I felt so sad and yet all was not lost as there had been a special made with Sheridan Smith as Alan's co-investigator and I was eager for that.If you enjoy a good mystery drama and some great acting and strong comedy then I cannot recommend this enough.