The Madame Blanc Mysteries

Where to begin?!? It's as if Sally Lindsay has taken Midsomer Murders, Rosemary and Thyme, 'Allo 'Allo, Lovejoy and A Year in Provence, thrown them into a blender, given them a damn good 'zizzz', and then poured out the script for Madame Blanc!!! The resolution of the first episode was 'swift' to say the least and wouldn't have strained the talents of Insp Clouseau, never mind Sherlock Holmes!! Oh yes, Clouseau...there's another who was popped in the blender!!! Line of Duty it ain't, but it's enjoyable enough for a Saturday night with a glass (or two) of Sauvignon Blanc!!! 'Chewing gum for the eyes' as my old Boss would put it!!!

Silly fun in a light entertainment format. Of course it's not meant to be taken seriously. Of course the actors are hamming it up. It's still an entertaining little package best enjoyed with a nice glass of red French wine.

If you can get through the first episode and like it, you're probably good for the season. As characters are introduced, we are taken into a world where there's not much room for believability or a truly plausible mystery.

Instead, this show is more of the Matlock/Murder She Wrote/Charlie's Angels school, which is simple, easy, stagy, and at times making attempts to be mildly humorous. I appreciate the advanced age of the cast, because old people have adventures too, although one might speculate perhaps the star/creator/writer chose her cast in part because so many are obviously older than her.

One might wonder, though, why the characters of Judith and Jeremy, both played by actors in their seventies, are so broadly and loudly portrayed. Evidently the two actors are TV veterans, not the stage, and yet they play their parts like community theater actors trying to get noticed by someone in the back row. They need to rein it in a little, imo.

My wife and I are both fans of British crime dramas such as Line of Duty, Dalgliesh and Manhunt, maybe some Grantchester thrown in as well, but we found this more frivolous variety of "mystery" unwatchable. It is to mysteries what Doc Martin is to medical shows, except that Doc Martin is quite entertaining, well written and very well acted.

Why are the 'couch potato reviewers' on here so cruel when sharing their views? This is as well written, filmed and acted as Any formulaic detective series on TV these days... and in the hands of seasoned actors like these, better than some. Always give a new series 2 or 3 episodes before you make a judgement, a lot of talented creatives worked very hard to bring some much needed entertainment to us... If you can't say something nice, shut the feck up!

Really enjoying this comedy-drama-mystery so far. It's great to have a show written by and predominately starring over 50s that is clean enough for all generations to watch together. I wish the younger characters were a bit more inspiring eg have more interest in their work and the all-age community. The leading lady and man are absolutely lovely together. Plus I love bi-lingual shows, should be more of those on TV, as so many places/groups are.