TV Crime Series on Alibi

Sometimes I miss a series the first time around or can’t keep up with it due to other commitments. If I’m feeling patient, I don’t rush out to buy the box set, but wait until it comes around again on Alibi. The variety of what’s on offer is truly remarkable. I’ve mentioned a few series on Crime Warp before, so will use this opportunity to highlight two more of my favourites.

Historical cosy crime doesn’t come any more stylish than Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, an Australian series. Phryne Fisher is the fashionable flapper and sleuth, aided by her friend / love interest DI Jack Robinson and enterprising maid Dot Williams. Each episode is a stand-alone mystery, so if you get a chance to watch an episode, even if out of sequence, go for it.

All you need to know is that the straight-laced DI isn’t romantically available when you’re wondering why he and Phryne haven’t made off into the sunset together as there is a lot of obvious chemistry going on between them. This period piece is hugely entertaining and the costumes are to die for. 

Going to Canada now - for the Murdoch Mysteries. With good writing, enthusiastic acting and likable characters, this crime series, set in Edwardian Toronto, has been going for a long time at a consistently high standard and is now well into its 10^th season.

Detective William Murdoch, a highly intelligent and inventive man, who can surely be placed somewhere on the Asperger’s spectrum, is at the forefront of forensic investigative techniques. He is aided by his love interest Dr Julia Ogden, the pathologist, and his constable, George Crabtree. I have enjoyed watching Murdoch’s superior, Inspector Thomas Brackenreid, played by the Yorkshire actor and erstwhile plumber Thomas Craig and hope they haven’t written him out of the series altogether as he’s recently been absent and Murdoch himself has become Acting Inspector.

Some discerning viewers might find the acting a bit theatrical, but I find the series very entertaining. It takes me back to my birth place and it’s amusing to see what it might have been like in Edwardian times. The historical references are hilarious and along the way we encounter a young Churchill, Nicolas Tesla, Arthur Conan Doyle and Marconi, among numerous other famous people who may have visited Ontario. Toronto’s nickname in those days was ‘Toronto the Good’, but there is plenty of dastardly murder and mayhem to keep Detective Murdoch and his team busy.

(Indiana Brown)