Tag: British Murder Mysteries

Media Monday: Endeavor

Published on by Live Vi-Carrie-ously

We’ve been on a British TV show watching kick.

Escape to the Country for late night/exhausted no-brain-needed viewing.

Great British Baking Show, Holiday episodes, ditto. But just me. We do enjoy the regular seasons together, but the Holiday editions aren’t shared.

We were caught up with Midsomer Murders and Father Brown (though both may have new seasons by now), so we went looking for something similar and found Lewis. Lewis is a detective in Oxford who was trained by Morse, who first appeared in books by Colin Dexter. We started with Lewis, then I figured we’d back up to Morse.

One day a couple months ago, Stud Muffin was telling a friend that we were watching Lewis and the friend stopped him and said we needed to start with Endeavor. It’s actually a newer show, but it’s about Inspector Morse as a young policeman and the detective who trained him.

So we put the brakes on Lewis and went to Endeavor. It begins in the late 1960s, in Oxford, England. We see Endeavor as a young officer, confident in his abilities to solve crimes. His trainer/mentor, DI Thursday, tells him he’s a good detective, but not a very good policeman.

Endeavor then learns to be both.

We’re almost to the end of the series, up to the early 1970s. We see Morse struggle to find his place in policing and life. We see him drink too much, sleep around too much, and fall into deep holes. But we also see him loving easily, stopping violence, and being a voice of truth to others.

If you enjoy British Who Done Its, Endeavor is an excellent addition to your viewing list!

Media Monday: Midsomer Murders

Published on by Live Vi-Carrie-ously5 Comments

I had no idea when we started watching this British murder mystery series that it would take us over a year to watch them all. But we persisted and last week we finished all twenty-one seasons! Yes, you read that right. Twenty-one seasons! Now British seasons are shorter than US. Most seasons had only six episodes. Some had only four. But the episodes are all 90 minutes, so essentially movie length. Definitely a time commitment.

MMThey take place in the fictional British county of Midsomer and follow DCI Barnaby and his younger assistant. The younger assistant changed every few seasons. And even DCI Barnaby changed in Season 14. The original Barnaby retired and his younger cousin moved to Causton CID and became Detective Chief Inspector.

The coroner changed about the same time. First was a very professional man, then a young woman to provide some romantic interest for the young assistant, then a few subs, then a saucy, middle-aged woman who stood up to John Barnaby.

The mysteries ranged from quite dark to much lighter in tone. Some of them were very easy to pick out the guilty party and some were very difficult.

The series began in 1998, so the twenty year old episodes appear a bit dated. The more current shows represent England’s culture better.

Altogether, we enjoyed them very much. We watched them on Acorn TV, through my Amazon Prime subscription.

Just be warned, if you start watching, you’re making a commitment. A big commitment!