Harry Wild

There have been a number of similar shows on UK TV recently; odd-couple detective teams e.g. The Chelsea Detective, Murder in Provence, McDonald & Dodds. Fabulous for me as they are right in my wheelhouse and this one delivers.

Harry (Jane Seymour) is self-confident, mouthy with few social filters and, as a recently retired English Professor, offers unwelcome grammatical corrections during conversations. She has a detective son Charlie (Kevin Ryan) whose life she generally makes a misery by interfering with his cases - usually by solving them! Her partner-in-crime is Fergus (Rohan Nedd) who is an articulate, street-wise teenager from a poor background. Indeed they first meet during a mugging perpetrated by Fergus on Harry! Their relationship works well and they develop a growing mutual admiration as their complementary skills help them solve cases.

Easily-digestible, enjoyable viewing - believable core characters - interesting stories flying above the mere procedural.

This is a mystery series built around a newly retired professor Harry Wild, played by Jane Seymour, and a quirky albeit snarky teenage boy from the wrong side of the tracks named Fergus, played by the wonderful newcomer Rohan Nedd.

This series won me over from episode one! The mysteries are great and the dialogue is fantastic. The supporting cast is wonderful and anything but typical. Harry has a son Charlie who is a guard (police officer), Fergus' dad, who is a low level criminal, seems to know a guy who can just about do anything. Harry's local pub is filled with colorful characters including the owner and a constant bar stool fixture named Glen, who has some of the most ridiculous dialogue!

I really enjoy all of the literary references in the regular banter...Harry establishes early on that she is not your typical "grandmother".

I have already started recommending this to my closest friends and can't wait for season two. I found it thoroughly delightful!

Time sure flies. As early as 1973, Jane Seymour had her big break as a Bond girl in "Live and Let Die". After leaving her native England, she then made herself known as the "Queen of the Mini-Series" on American TV. Among other things, by playing the lead in "Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman" for more than five years.

But now Jane Seymour is back in Europe again. In "Harry Wild", she portrays a retired English professor who discovers that she has a penchant for solving criminal cases that the police have failed at. Especially such assignments where her own son, Detective Inspector Charlie Wild, leads the investigation. That this is not always so popular in the police force doesn't come as a surprise to anyone (except for Harry Wild of course).

The result: a TV series that combines police procedures and comedy in a very entertaining mix.

/Refers to Season 1/

A distinct Irish approach with lots of black humour and political incorrectness - but crimes are never fun, but characters or situations can be. Singular performances (well, Jane Seymour was 70 when filming, can you believe this?) and versatile cases (true, not all are equally interesting and meaty, but still...).

In spite of evident exaggerations, the Series captivated me in the very beginning and I really do hope that Season 2 will follow as the last episode ended in a promising manner and several storylines remained infinite. As for similarities, I would juxtapose Harry Wild with Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators from UK. If you liked-enjoyed one of them, you would definitely like-enjoy the other as well.

PS Season 2 has somewhat lost its "sheen" and vigour, with some cases where one could easily surmise the wrongdoer, but 7.5=8, so - no change in my opinion here.

PPS Season 3 is pleasantly frisky again, although in some cases the solution comes a bit abruptly and the role of Garda is undermined.

My main issue with this series is that it's weak on the mystery part, which is what most will be expecting when watching it. It's borderline Columbo style in that you either know who did it in the beginning or "Harry" is certain she knows and spends the episode trying to prove to official investigators, that have the wrong person or don't believe her, who really did it. That's just not as fun as the traditional style where there are multiple suspects and you try to make the best guess based on what they share. Too much time is also unrelated drama between Harry and other characters.

Although this has characteristics common in cozy murder mysteries, it's sometimes more disturbing than those are known for. It's also not as light hearted as I expected. Likewise, even the idyllic village setting common with cozy mystery shows is barely shown. The vast majority of the scenes are indoors and when outdoors, often too close up. A lot of low light / dark scenes as well.

None of the characters are really appealing. Harry can be overly mean, her son even more so. Her sidekick is unlikable initially but is a lot different from episode 2 onward, just that situation is hard to believe.