Detective and Mystery Shows

[Irlandesa]

I was so looking forward to Season 3 of Candice Renoir but it didn't appear today.  I found a site that said it was pulled from the schedule last week.  

I hope it appears sooner rather than later.

I just finished the latest season of The Paris Murders and I want my French cop series binge.

[TaraS1]

I just finished the Madame Blanc Mysteries on Acorn and enjoyed it.  Typically, light-hearted shows aren't my cup of tea but I find Sally Lindsay very watchable and I love her accent.  The guy who played Dom was good too.

I must admit that I didn't love the new season of Shetland quite as much as the previous ones.  Some of it was just too dark, even for me.  But the actors are fantastic and it's still better than most things out there.

[LisaM]

I just finished Season 6 of Shetland. I liked almost all of it - with the exception of the cliffhanger, which does not ring true for me. 

[dleighg]

10 hours ago, LisaM said:

the cliffhanger, which does not ring true for me

you mean the "with no evidence *whatsoever*" thing?

Edited January 2, 2022 by dleighg

[LisaM]

4 hours ago, dleighg said:

you mean the "with no evidence *whatsoever*" thing?

Exactly. 

Spoiler

I can understand arresting Duncan since he confessed but there was zero evidence -- other than an unsubstantiated claim by Donna - that Perez had anything to do with her death. The rush to arrest him made no sense. I could buy an investigation but to jump to an arrest? Nope.

I started watching The Chestnut Man on Netflix last evening. It is a Danish thriller written by the creator of the original The Killing. So far, gory but good. 

[mledawn]

I saw an advert on Acorn referring to a new season of Brokenwood Mysteries so I went hunting. As of December they were still filming season 8 due to the shutdown in NZ, so Acorn’s ad department gets a strongly worded email (in my head only, of course).

[Irlandesa]

This is the first I heard there's a Season 8 so it's all good news for me.

Maybe it's just an announcement of the new season?

Edited January 7, 2022 by Irlandesa

[LisaM]

Watched the first episode of Stay Close on Netflix. Did not love it although it is nice to see Cush Jumbo.

Edited to add: just watched Dark Woods on Topic. German murder mystery based on a real life event - - police head's search for his missing sister. Quite good. 

Watched the first two episodes of Season 2 of Queens of Mystery which just dropped on Acorn. Light-hearted and fun. They replaced the lead actress but the replacement looks so much like the prior actress that it did not matter to me. 

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by LisaM

[nx74defiant]

My PBS station is now showing season 2 of Mallorca Files.

Watched the Maestro - such beautiful architecture and views.

[Irlandesa]

9 hours ago, nx74defiant said:

My PBS station is now showing season 2 of Mallorca Files.

Watched the Maestro - such beautiful architecture and views.

I watched it on Britbox a few weeks ago. I liked Season 2 more than Season 1.  But it may not be renewed?

[LisaM]

I watched a fun cop show on Amazon Prime called Cuffs. Set in Brighton. Quite good. A shame they only made 8 episodes. 

[krankydoodle]

On 1/7/2022 at 7:41 PM, LisaM said:

Watched the first two episodes of Season 2 of Queens of Mystery which just dropped on Acorn. Light-hearted and fun. They replaced the lead actress but the replacement looks so much like the prior actress that it did not matter to me. 

I'm annoyed with how they're dragging out the will they-won't they with Dr. Lynch by having him get engaged to his insufferable girlfriend after Matilda didn't show up to their blind date which she still doesn't know about 🙄. I also don't like how they made PC Foster kind of incompetent (or at least more than I remember him being in the first season). I noticed they seem to have dropped his crush on Matilda. Anyway, despite my griping, I'm still enjoying the show and am happy for the new episodes.

I was really looking forward to Stay Close, but sadly didn't make it past the first episode. I'm halfway through Archive 81 on Netflix and am loving it so far, but that's more mystery-horror.

[Enigma X]

On 1/7/2022 at 7:41 PM, LisaM said:

Watched the first two episodes of Season 2 of Queens of Mystery which just dropped on Acorn. Light-hearted and fun. They replaced the lead actress but the replacement looks so much like the prior actress that it did not matter to me. 

 

I am embarrassed to admit I did not notice the actresses were different. I just looked the former actress in the role up and they look nothing alike. 

As someone else stated, the will they/won't they between Matilda and the doctor is annoying. And I also hate that they are dragging out the mystery of what happened to Matilda's mother without dropping any real clues for the fans. I do like the show but I really think they have no clue what the endgame is for the mother story line at the moment.

[LisaM]

4 hours ago, krankydoodle said:

I was really looking forward to Stay Close, but sadly didn't make it past the first episode. 

Nor did I. 

[dleighg]

On 1/17/2022 at 7:20 PM, LisaM said:

I watched a fun cop show on Amazon Prime called Cuffs. Set in Brighton. Quite good.

Thanks. I just watched the first episode and it was enjoyable. Though I certainly hope a front line cop's typical day isn't quite that adventurous! I like the setting of Brighton. Other than one episode of Midsommer, Brighton is not a typical location for British cop shows.

Edited January 19, 2022 by dleighg

[abbyzenn]

 The Inspector Grace books are set in Brighton.  I watched the first two episodes of the show (I think there has only been 2) and I think they were set in Brighton - can't really remember but I do recall seeing water from one of the apartment balcony.

[TaraS1]

On 1/7/2022 at 7:41 PM, LisaM said:

Edited to add: just watched Dark Woods on Topic. German murder mystery based on a real life event - - police head's search for his missing sister. Quite good. 

I'm pretty sure there's a new documentary series on Netflix that covers this case.  It's called Dig Deeper: The Disappearance of Birgit Meier.  I watched it a couple of weeks ago and it was very good.

On 1/18/2022 at 8:56 AM, krankydoodle said:

I was really looking forward to Stay Close, but sadly didn't make it past the first episode.

I tried, but same.

[LisaM]

I just signed up for AMC+ primarily to watch Happy Valley, which I have never seen. I started by watching The Split (which is not a detective/mystery show but which stars Nicola Walker, star of many British detective shows). So far, quite good. The streamer appears to have some interesting looking mysteries - many of which star British actors from some of the other shows discussed here. I will try out a few and report back. 

Also a bit off-topic: watching The Larkins on Acorn, which is as far from a detective/mystery as possible (not a dead body in sight). Very cheerful and nice family show starring Joanna Scanlan, who starred in my all-time favorite detective show, No Offence. 

 

[J-Man]

I'm all caught up on the recent releases of new episodes of "Vera" and "Father Brown," so I binged all of the new version of "Dalgleish." The original version doesn't seem to be available for streaming anywhere (in the US anyway.) And then I moved on to the six-part "based on a true story" miniseries "A Confession," with Martin Freeman, Imelda Staunton, and Siobhan Finneran. Both are recommended.

[LisaM]

I had to give up on Happy Valley - too dark for me. Now watching Traces on Britbox - set in a Scottish forensic university and focused on the murder of the lead character's mother. Not great but not terrible, Also watching Last Tango in Halifax (not a mystery so far but full of excellent British actors). 

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, LisaM said:

Now watching Traces on Britbox - set in a Scottish forensic university and focused on the murder of the lead character's mother.

I watched that too.  It's a good description.  Overall, though, it was a pretty easy binge which is many times all I really ask for. 

I just started the second season of the wall on PBS Masterpiece.  It's a French Canadian series.   The first season was about murders inside of a "wall" which is actually like a city near where they do some oil drilling.  So it's a bit of a claustrophobic feeling.  The second season takes place in Quebec City so there's less of an isolated feeling but it still has decent atmosphere so far.

Again, it's probably not great but I do enjoy it, especially for the atmosphere.

[roseha]

I am just catching up with some shows.  I was glad to see Queens of Mystery back, but I have to say I'm disappointed that with so few plot lines per season that the writer of the first show ripped off the entire tony spa setting and even the early murder scene from last season's Brokenwood Mysteries (The Witches of Brokenwood).  Do these writers really think fans don't watch other mystery shows?  I agree that unfortunately they are also dragging their feet way too much on the mystery of Matilda's mother.    If the reveal doesn't make much sense in the end it's going to be a big letdown.

I haven't caught up with the new Vera episodes yet - I have only seen the first 2 of Season 11 - but I am looking forward to that later this week.

[Irlandesa]

Agatha Raisin comes back next week and it looks like Candice Renoir S3 is back on the schedule for Feb. 28th.  Let's hope it doesn't get pulled again.

[J-Man]

Just finished the four-episode "The Long Call." (I never figured out what the title referred to.) It's also based on an Ann Cleeves book. It's set in Devon. Some familiar stars: Juliet Stevenson, Neil Morrissey, Martin Shaw. I enjoyed it.

[dleighg]

41 minutes ago, J-Man said:

Just finished the four-episode "The Long Call." (I never figured out what the title referred to.)

I think it was mentioned (once--in the book, not in the show). As I recall, it is the sound of a bird (a heron perhaps?) that is heard in that area. Not that that really illuminates anything regarding the show, LOL.

[mledawn]

Just finished Traces and learned that S2 is on its way. Britbox has it starting Feb 22, which is quite close to the UK airing of Feb 15. Nice.

[J-Man]

I keep looking out for new episodes of my "regulars" (Agatha R, Father B, Vera, Midsomer, etc.) but when I run out, I keep searching for other shows that I haven't yet seen. I try to keep to things from this century since anything older usually has lower quality production values. Right now I'm on "WPC 56." There are three seasons available from the mid-2010s. It's about the first Woman Police Constable in the Midlands. Set in 1956.

[LisaM]

Watched the first episode of Sister Boniface on Britbox. It was okay. 

[Ms Lark]

I liked Sister Boniface. She's a good character. Rewatched the Father Brown ep she was in: S1 E6 "The Bride of Christ" before the new ones dropped. Helped give it some background. Wish they had kept the original Mother Superior (whatever), but the current bitch one is needed for friction. Watched both eps, the second one was funnier with a really bad movie being filmed at the Abbey. I'm in. Rumor has it:

Spoiler

Father Brown will be making an appearance in one of the episodes this season.

That'll be fun.

[abbyzenn]

Just watched the first episode of The Chelsea Detective which I liked surprisingly since the chelsea detective is an actor I've seen in other shows like Midsomer Murders, Death in Paradise and he always played a whiney annoying character.  The show takes place in the Chelsea area (I know surprising) and I found the scenery interesting.  He actually lives on a houseboat.  I've never seen the rest of the cast except for the woman playing his aunt and it's driving me crazy as to where I've seen her since she isn't listed in this show in IDMB.

[mledawn]

Just saw an announcement that Bloodlands as been renewed for S2 and S3. The S2 renewal was already announced by BBC One last year...

The same article also mentions S2 and S3 of My Life is Murder, but since S2 already aired, it must mean S3 renewal.

I'm confused how AMC has a role in these shows as they're homegrown in Ireland and New Zealand respectively but I like the announcement all the same, even if it's a bit confusing.

[LisaM]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZz1REqLJ5E/

Acorn posted a video of their upcoming 2022 shows on Instagram. Among the returning are Brokenwood, My Life is Murder, Good Karma Hospital, Bloodlands, Murdoch, Whistable Pearl and Midsomer. 

Some interesting newcomers as well. 

Edited February 11, 2022 by LisaM

[Irlandesa]

Ugh.  I'm disappointed.  I keep waiting for news on Cannes Confidential.  It was announced in 2020 but I haven't heard of any updates. 

3 hours ago, mledawn said:

I'm confused how AMC has a role in these shows as they're homegrown in Ireland and New Zealand respectively but I like the announcement all the same, even if it's a bit confusing.

AMC Networks is US-based and it owns many channels and streaming services including Sundance TV, AMC and Acorn.  It also operates internationally and it often partners with the BBC.  (It manages BBC America).  Acorn is international as well.

So that's how AMC is involved.  It's bigger than just the one channel.

[J-Man]

12 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Ugh.  I'm disappointed.  I keep waiting for news on Cannes Confidential.  It was announced in 2020 but I haven't heard of any updates.

I contacted Acorn on Twitter about "Cannes Confidential" a few months ago. Here's how our conversation went:

ME: (12/2021): "Cannes Confidential" was reported (here) as coming to Acorn "soon" over a year ago. Still not available. Update, please?

ACORN: We'll let you know as soon as we can. Where are you located?

ME: U.S.

ACORN: That program is not currently slated for AcornTV.

ME: Really? According to this recent article, it's an "Acorn TV Original." So where else would it be showing? [I linked an article from "iheartbritishtv.com"]

ACORN: At this time, there is nothing on the AcornTV schedule that states when it will be released. The Acorn TV schedule will be updated as shows are confirmed.  For more updates on upcoming programming, follow Acorn TV on Facebook! Please click the following link for our upcoming schedule: https://support.acorn.tv/en/support/solutions/articles/11000007882-view-our-us-canada-premiere-schedule

 

[BlackberryJam]

21 hours ago, LisaM said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZz1REqLJ5E/

Acorn posted a video of their upcoming 2022 shows on Instagram. Among the returning are Brokenwood, My Life is Murder, Good Karma Hospital, Bloodlands, Murdoch, Whistable Pearl and Midsomer. 

Some interesting newcomers as well. 

Thank you so much for this. I love my easy murder shows and I needed to know they are coming back and there will be new ones. 

[Irlandesa]

9 hours ago, J-Man said:

I contacted Acorn on Twitter about "Cannes Confidential" a few months ago. Here's how our conversation went:

Sounds like you got someone who isn't high enough if they've never heard about it but I am so happy I'm not the only one curious about it.

[LisaM]

Binged all 6 episodes of Vigil (on Peacock). Mystery thriller starring Suranne Jones partially set aboard a nuclear submarine. Quite good. 

[wanderingstar]

On 2/24/2019 at 7:14 PM, Writing Wrongs said:

I'm now watching Shakespeare and Hathaway. It's a fun show.

Just started this show on BritBox. I like it so far. This is my third cozy mystery show in the last few months (after Death in Paradise and Father Brown). I guess I'm going to make my way through all these now.

[LisaM]

Watched first episode of Traces season 2 and bailed midway through. I can't get over how boring this show is. I'm not sure if it is the writing or the lead actress but I rarely bail on a British mystery. Even Laura Fraser can't save it. 

[Irlandesa]

On 2/23/2022 at 2:09 PM, LisaM said:

Watched first episode of Traces season 2 and bailed midway through. I can't get over how boring this show is.

I thought the first season was okay but I was surprised it got a second season.  I haven't started watching it yet.

Candice Renoir Season 3 is on Acorn today.  Yay. 

[LisaM]

Very excited for Candice Renoir Season 3. I've been watching Scott & Bailey, which I somehow missed originally. It's great. 

[khyber]

15 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I thought the first season was okay but I was surprised it got a second season.  I haven't started watching it yet.

Candice Renoir Season 3 is on Acorn today.  Yay. 

Thanks for the heads up, I've been waiting for this.  

Tried several episodes of Sister Boniface Mysteries before I gave up.  There was no real reason for her character to be a nun and I just didn't care about any of the main characters. 

[Irlandesa]

Ooh.  I also just read that the fourth season is coming the 28th of March--assuming there's no date change like there initially was with the 3rd.

[wanderingstar]

On 2/8/2022 at 7:28 PM, LisaM said:

Watched the first episode of Sister Boniface on Britbox. It was okay. 

I thought the first couple of episodes were pretty meh, but the show improves considerably in subsequent episodes. The cast seems to gel and mysteries get more interesting.

Has anyone watched Murder in Provence in Acorn on BritBox ? It's on my watchlist, but I'm still going through Rosemary & Thyme.

Agree with others who have said My Life is Murder is just ok. I expected to like it a lot more than I did.

Edited March 6, 2022 by Gillian Rosh
Edited to correct the name of a streaming service.

[dleighg]

1 hour ago, Gillian Rosh said:

Has anyone watched Murder in Provence in Acorn?

before anyone else tries (unsuccessfully) to look for it on Acorn, it's actually on Britbox. Oh well (for me).

[LisaM]

Just read that Annika - starring Nicola Walker as the head of Glasgow's Marine Homicide Unit premieres on PBS Passport on April 17. 

[wanderingstar]

6 hours ago, dleighg said:

before anyone else tries (unsuccessfully) to look for it on Acorn, it's actually on Britbox. Oh well (for me).

You're right! I'm getting my Brit-centric streaming services mixed up!

[mledawn]

On 2/23/2022 at 3:09 PM, LisaM said:

Watched first episode of Traces season 2 and bailed midway through. I can't get over how boring this show is. I'm not sure if it is the writing or the lead actress but I rarely bail on a British mystery. Even Laura Fraser can't save it. 

Agreed - but today I just caved and watched up to episode 3 (all that is available on Britbox right now) and the last 2 were a significant improvement. 

[sempervivum]

On 3/2/2022 at 7:43 AM, Gillian Rosh said:

Has anyone watched Murder in Provence

Just watched the first episode. Love Roger Allam, and the settings are glorious. The actual mystery was kind of lackluster, but the banter between the lovers/leads was pretty good.

I started watching Deadwater Fell (Acorn) yesterday, though, and the difference in quality between the 2 shows is marked.

[Enigma X]

I forced myself through Traces season 1 and can't bring myself to watch season 2. Murder, They Hope is way too silly for me.