Jonathan
Creek is the genius behind magician Adam Klaus's stage act.
He hides his brilliant mind behind a shaggy unassuming appearance.
Creek embarks on a series of criminal investigations, teaming
up with Maddy Magellan and Carla Borrego...
This
collection features all of the episodes (including Christmas
specials) from the first four series of Jonathan Creek. The
feature length opening episode, The Wrestler's Tomb
stars Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Adam
Klaus, the creepy magician who Jonathan Creek works for. Although
Head is replaced in later episodes, he pulls of a great performance.
Both
Alan Davies and Caroline Quentin are perfect in their respective
roles (in fact writer David Renwick originally wrote the part
of Maddy for Quentin) and
there isn't a bad episode in this collection. And out of the
lot I only worked out how the murderer vanished in Danse
Macabre, why the murder suspect was telling the
truth in No Trace of Tracy, and how in The Chequered
Box it appeared that the inspector was in the same
room as a dead woman. The rest of the episodes managed to
catch me off guard.
There
is only one two-part episode (The Problem at Gallows Gate)
which is a shame, because all too often the endings to the
episodes seem a little rushed. There is a good mixture of
dark episodes (Jack in the Box and The House of
Monkeys) and 'more bizarre
than grizzly' mysteries (Time Waits for Norman and
The Scented Room).
The
list of recognisable guest stars is another aspect that makes
this collection memorable - most playing against type. Colin
Baker (Doctor Who), Nigel Planer (The Young Ones),
Annette Crosbie (One Foot in the Grave), Simon Day
(The Fast Show), Peter Davison (Doctor Who),
Pippa Heywood (The Brittas Empire), Bob Monkhouse,
Brian Murphy (George and Mildred), Jack Dee, Maureen
Lipman, Rik Mayall, Griff Rhys Jones and Hannah Gordon all
make fantastic appearances. But of particular merit were the
late Bob Monkhouse, Brian Murphy, Rik Mayall and Jack Dee
- all proving that they are both accomplished actors who can
play straight roles.
I
also noticed that as the episodes progressed in series one
and two, there seemed to be a pattern as to who was the guilty
party. It seemed to be very common for Jonathan and Maddy
to confront a few people at the conclusion of each episode.
And you can almost bet your life that the guilty party is
the one who is in the room in the background - either because
it's their house or they are there to support the person that
we are meant to think is guilty.
The
third and fourth series of Jonathan Creek sees a dramatic
shift in the on screen dynamics due to the fact that Caroline
Quentin bows out as Maddy Magellan at the end of the third
series and is replaced by Julia Sawalha's Carla Borrego.
Having
not seen these episodes when they were originally screened,
I must admit to not looking forward to the switch. Quentin
and Alan Davies's characters relationship was what made this
series what it was. The two worked well together and had a
fantastic on-screen presense. However, I wasn't really prepared
for what a fantastic job David Renwick would do in introducing
Sawalha's character into the series, nor what a great job
she would do of filling a very large pair of shoes.
It
also helped that Adrian Edmonson was along, as Borrego's husband,
to up the comedy values. And, unlike anything he's done in
the past, Edmonson proves he can be a comic genius without
throwing himself all over the screen, or hitting people over
the head with frying pans.
The
episodes in season three and four represent a real mixed bag.
Some, like The Eyes of Tiresias, have extremely clever
and well thought out plots, while others, like Gorgon's
Wood, seem very poorly thought out and in fact the
mystery is nothing that special
Highlights
of season three include:
The
Black Canary, which is a double length Christmas
special which stars Hannah Gordon. Creek is called in when
it appears that Gordon's character has committed suicide.
The mystery? A witness to the death saw her arguing with a
strange man before she chased him off and then put the gun
to her head. However, the ground is covered in snow and only
one set of foot prints exist - that of the victim. So, who
was the mysterious stranger and why did they leave no evidence
behind that they had been there? This episode is one of the
best in this collection, not just because of the introduction
of Gordon, but also because of Rik Mayall's inspector - who
injects some welcome humour.
The Omega Man is a very well conceived story with a
sci-fi twist/ It's the old vanishing object from within a
chained box routine. This time, the vanishing object is the
body of an extra terrestrial. It doesn't matter, for once,
that the solution is obvious way before the credits role,
this is still a great episode.
In
Miracle in Crooked Lane, the actual mystery plays second
fiddle to the comedy elements. Here our duffle coat wearing
clue solver is caught in the middle of a convention of Jonathan
Creek fanatics. Not only do they all look like Jonathan, but
at least one of them thinks he has a mind that is equally
as analytical as the man himself, and insists on helping to
solve the crime of a badly burned woman who appears to have
made a miraculous recovery, appearing to a neighbour, before
dying in her hospital bed.
The
Three Gamblers is a spooky tale where a dead man appears
to have climbed a flight of stairs. Although this mystery
is not really one that should have been brought to Creek's
attention - the murderer is already known as he handed himself
in - the mystery of how a dead man climbed a flight of stairs
is baffling enough. This episode also star Hattie Hayridge
(Red Dwarf's Holly) as a slightly mad comic - which
is her act in real life.
Julia
Sawalha is introduced as Carla Borrego in the second Christmas
special, Satan's
Chimney. Apparently Sawalha's character was written
in at the eleventh hour when Quentin stated she didn't want
to do any more episodes. The switch is a lot smoother than
I thought it would be and Sawalha's moaning, fussy character
fits in extremely well. In Satan's Chimney, Creek examines
the medieval practice of killing witches (by chaining them
up in a special room in a strange castle). But, when a famous
escapologist attempts to escape from the room he mysteriously
vanishes.
The
Coonskin Cap gets season four off to a good start. This
sees a policewoman killed by an unknown assailant while locked
in a room with no exit. I have to say that this is one of
the most ingenious crimes, as well as one of the best episodes
of season four.
Angel
Hair stars Jack Dee as a record producer whose girlfriend,
a pop star, is kidnapped. Jack Dee's performance in this episode
was surprisingly good - he really should be doing a lot more
acting. Sadly though, this episode is a little silly and not
really up to the usual calibre.
Maureen
Lipman stars in The Tailor's Dummy. This episode sees
several people witness a man jump to his death in what appears
to be a straight forward suicide. That is until Creek starts
to investigate a little further. This is another well conceived
episode with a surprising conclusion.
Other
episodes in this season include: The
Seer of the Sands, a very questionable episode. While
it is extremely clever (you'll be confused as to how a dead
man appears to be able to answer five questions and leave
his message in a bottle under the sand in which the person
asking the questions is sitting) but there is a slight problem
with the solution to this. Without giving too much away, how
did the person who wrote the note know where this person would
sit? It's not as though she sat there every day; The
Chequered Box, which was enjoyable but it was also the
only episode that I managed to work out way before the end;
and Gorgon's Wood, another episode that seemed a little
pointless and poorly thought through.
The
extras for this collection include video profiles of David
Renwick, Alan Davies and Julia Sawalha; deleted scenes; the
Hot Stuff pop video; and a Long Hair and Duffel
Coat featurette.
A
fantastic collection that is well worth picking up.
Amber
Leigh
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