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Jonathan Creek

Good use of the word "companion". Make me think that, if only Davies were a slightly better actor, he'd make a decent Doctor...

Nice to see that, as we have a whole series to look forward to, the episodes are back to one hour long. I've been watching some of the older stories on the Drama channel recently, and not only have they dated rather well, but they pack a bit more punch than the bloated "specials" of recent years. I rewatched a couple of the later ones again recently, and while still very good, they didn't half go on.
 
Saw the first one last night.

There be SPOILERS below!
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I thought it was a bit predictable really, certainly not up to the usual standard. Normally I'm at least mildly stumped when the 'puzzles' are presented, but most of these I saw a mile away. Septimus Noone was clearly going to be 'No one', and I remember thinking beforehand "I bet they'll show a copy of Erewhon at some point"... :D Other things just didn't make sense. I didn't buy the whole "making up a fake lover to spare the husband anguish" line - not much of a comfort! Plus the whole upside-down picture thing - wouldn't the makeup artist bloke have simply taken the latex stomach and disposed of it somewhere else? Why hide it in the room at all?

A bit disappointing, I thought.
 
I enjoyed it (OK, I laughed at the sick in the tuba) but like you I guessed the lover was imaginary. The rubbish Sherlock is a good concept someone should have done before now (or have they?). I'd class it as light entertainment, but I doubt it'll ever be as good as the original run of series again.
 
I found the second episode another enjoyable hour's telly. Not the most gripping of mysteries, perhaps, but entertainingly told, and notable for the introduction to the English language of the phrase "whacking the ketchup bottle" (which, despite one character's assumptions, meant exactly what it said)!
 
Peripart said:
I found the second episode another enjoyable hour's telly. Not the most gripping of mysteries, perhaps, but entertainingly told, and notable for the introduction to the English language of the phrase "whacking the ketchup bottle" (which, despite one character's assumptions, meant exactly what it said)!
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I thought much better than last week's. I was a bit, 'Meh!' about last week's.
 
Hmmm. The problem for me with this series is a failure to flag which puzzles you need to think about. While I got the 'plus' as it was telegraphed, was I supposed to then guess about the rabbit or the correlation with the baby monitor beast? Was the parish news flagged as a mystery that needed solving?
In my head, jonathan creek did the 3 of diamonds trick to show that far from a mistake from the old codger, it was a sleight to reveal a more brilliant trick. That was going through my mind... not a red herring gun in a rabbit.

There's a lack of prompting and a scattergun approach to too many mysteries which is less rewarding than solving the locked room mystery this show used to be about.

Bit of a jumbled mess I'm afraid and it was the beeb what dun it.
 
jimv1 said:
Hmmm. The problem for me with this series is a failure to flag which puzzles you need to think about. While I got the 'plus' as it was telegraphed, was I supposed to then guess about the rabbit or the correlation with the baby monitor beast? Was the parish news flagged as a mystery that needed solving?
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You mean, all the dramatic music, shocked expressions and just blatantly bloated storylines didn't inform you as to what the mysteries were?

But I will agree the format is somewhat different than we are used to. I don't mind that, though. I thought it worked this week.
 
Yeah, an improvement on last week's, mainly because it made for very funny comedy, I laughed a lot. Didn't guess the mystery either, though I was halfway there with the "Will + Win" bit, and the coincidence was a bit of a stretch, but you expect that with this show. For a bit of fun TV you could do a lot worse.
 
jimv1 said:
Hmmm. The problem for me with this series is a failure to flag which puzzles you need to think about.
[...]
In my head, jonathan creek did the 3 of diamonds trick to show that far from a mistake from the old codger, it was a sleight to reveal a more brilliant trick. That was going through my mind... not a red herring gun in a rabbit.

There's a lack of prompting and a scattergun approach to too many mysteries which is less rewarding than solving the locked room mystery this show used to be about.

Bit of a jumbled mess I'm afraid and it was the beeb what dun it.
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Exactly what I thought. Whilst I too enjoyed this episode more than last week's, the solutions were still a bit 'meh' in the end, and like you I thought more would be made of the three of diamonds trick.

Still, good to see an appearance from John Bird as well as the delightfully slimy Michael Troughton - I thought he'd given up acting! :D
 
I got excited because I thought Josie Lawrence's husband on last Friday's episode was Barry Shitpeas, but a quick internet search proves otherwise. Oh well. Anyway, this latest series went a bit Midsomer Murders with jokes, but I've enjoyed it more than the specials of the past few years and would welcome it back if David Renwick wants to write more.
 
For all the Creek fans in Sydney, Davis is in Sydney on Friday 21 March 2014 for a signing.
 
Wait a minute, is Jonathan now a murderer?! I know that was a baddie, but he's now guilty of that which he seeks to prevent, or at least solve. Apart from that, as often with the later ones the mystery is better than the solution, but I did like the gravity idea and Warwick Davies is welcome back as the comedy vicar anytime.
 
I was ahead of this one all the way... apart from the ridiculous 'phoney' which was ridiculous.
 
I thought that was another example of Renwick's particular sense of humour. He used to write for The Two Ronnies, don'tcha know.
 
GNC said:
Wait a minute, is Jonathan now a murderer?! I know that was a baddie, but he's now guilty of that which he seeks to prevent, or at least solve. Apart from that, as often with the later ones the mystery is better than the solution, but I did like the gravity idea and Warwick Davies is welcome back as the comedy vicar anytime.
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Self defence M'Lud. Furthermore he shut the doors not to ensure the villain would die, rather because he feared the conflagration would spread endangering more lives.

Heh.
 
Hmm, I see by the Internet there are four of the newer episodes I haven't been able to see. Dratted BBC America keeps letting us down.

Last one I saw I wasn't sure what to think about the changes they'd made to the character. And his wife seemed so unpleasant. Hope things have improved since then (on the off-chance I ever get to see it!)
 
Tried to watch but was feeling a bit ruff so fell asleep at intervals and couldn't follow it. Warwick Davies was being the usual posh/cheerful character, I caught that much, and noted that old Without A Paddle is even uglier these days.

Will give it another whirl.
 
escargot1 said:
old Without A Paddle is even uglier these days.
.
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You mean Alan Davies? My dear OH claims that Davies is, quote, "the homeliest thing I've ever seen" which is hilarious because they bear a very strong resemblance to each other. :rofl:

(Homely in tne American sense, BTW. I've only recently discovered it means something else overseas.)
 
Ulalume said:
Homely in tne American sense, BTW. I've only recently discovered it means something else overseas.
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Do tell. Here it's safe and cosy. Alan Bennet talking about ruined abbeys over a cup of tea sort of thing.

Do you mean like a 'Homie'? Like rappers say?
 
Ulalume said:
You mean Alan Davies? My dear OH claims that Davies is, quote, "the homeliest thing I've ever seen" which is hilarious because they bear a very strong resemblance to each other. :rofl:

(Homely in tne American sense, BTW. I've only recently discovered it means something else overseas.)
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I'd say he was 'homely' in the British sense.
 
AFAIK 'homely' to American means plain 'ugly'. It's not normally used to describe people by Brits at all, as to us it means 'cosy' or 'welcoming', as in a home or room where you'd feel at home.

Whereas Alan Davies is plain ugly. I hate him. He bit a tramp's ear.
 
escargot1 said:
Whereas Alan Davies is plain ugly. I hate him. He bit a tramp's ear.
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I'd forgotten about that. Also, didn't he get duffed up by locals when out drinking in his home village once?

There was another actor on Creek who rumour has it is quite difficult to get along with. Despised by the other cast members, apparently.
 
Beans - spill - NOW, please. :D
 
That might explain why, despite CQ expressing a desire to return, and interweb fans asking for the same, there's been a steadfast "No", or "No comment" from the producers.

As to the episode, I quite enjoyed it. Certainly better than the most recent series, and the previous specials, but not up to the quality of the "original" series.
Whilst the death of Tyree may seem a little gruesome and unnecessary, let us not forget the death of Mina in "The Grinning Man" (I thought at the time of broadcast it rather smacked of a disposable black character) and the lack of justice for the perpetrators in "The Judas Tree".
 
It's tough out there in Jonathan Creek Land...
 
Creek is the murderer. And here is his plan.
It's certainly out of character to miss the antimoney reference, especially as I got that on the first mention with regard to a research chemist. Just this once, he let the ensuing scenario play out, and with full understanding of the relevance of the zebra picture - knowing he had a murderer in the bag for future reference. He researches further into the history of the suspect he proved innocent. And memorises the faces of those he finds on social media.

Thanks to the internet, he also was aware of Reverend Wilkie's interest in him, as well as his interest in a a hostile criminal due for release. On moving to Wilkie's village, he instructed the removal men to leave his forwarding address in plain sight, as well as a man-sized trunk designed to appeal to a man who had been in prison for some time. A woman in suspenders. The removal men were instructed to deliver the box wrapped in bubblewrap. A convenient package to slip into the Reverend Wilkie's estate car.
Sometime later, Creek overhears the answerphone message the first time it is played and sets about putting a plan into operation. He visits the area incognito and finds the hidden 90 degree room. Later, he can't help saying the trick required little or no force at all.

Knowing there are two potential killers on the loose, after the first killer is disposed of, he reasons he can use the same methods to dispose of his assassin. The fumbling around in the dark is a messy assassination but luckily he has left the same matches he planted in the jacket pocket in the room where the excorcism was taking place and also next to the oil pit. It's risky but he's planning on killing several birds with one stone. His partner stooge has been implanted with the word oil, yet he still has to point it out. She has already been brought to a state of distraction as Creek planted the dead man right next to her in bed to shred her nerves a bit further.
His assassin has been primed to respond to the old image of Creek and that stupid duffle coat, which Creek continues to wear despite fashion changing over the years.

It's worth mentioning the wily nearly-dead bloke was astute enough to have recognisned a person rummaging around in the shrubbery before as the person introduced to him as Jonathan Creek and points to the phone and the 'Y' to alert those present he's the suspect.

So it all ends in a grisly fashion but Creek has one trick left to pull off. The Denouement.
He's previously contacted the CCTV guy that he will let him go without the plod being involved. If he refers to this again, he's toast.

Creek manipulated the whole thing to kill his potential assassin.
Nastily.
 
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