Magpie Murders

Anthony Horowitz is the author of the successful "Foyle's War". He has also written numerous episodes of "Poirot", "Midsomer Murders" and the children's favourite "Alex Rider". In other words, the guy has an impressive CV.

And Horowitz doesn't disappoint with his latest TV production. "Magpie Murders" is based on one of his own books, and as usual the dialogue is both sharp and intelligent. When Horowitz then sneaks in his typical, humorous reflections on life and death, the mix is perfect.

However, a successful script isn't everything. Even a top-notch writer needs talented actors. With Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan in the lead roles, Horowitz has really been given the perfect interpreters of his stylish text. "Magpie Murders" is first-class entertainment.

The fictional investigation into the murder of an overbearing and obnoxious Lord by a literary detective parallels the actual investigation into the murder of the book's overbearing and obnoxious author. The story within a story is very well structured and the rationale for the 'real life' characters having 'fictional' counterparts quite clever. The cast, led by Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan, is uniformly excellent and the story holds together well over the six parts, avoiding the 'suspect of the week' structure common in multi episode who-done-its and setting up a final resolution that is both cheeky and satisfying. Consider counting the birds. Recommended.

As others have correctly said this is a slightly above average offering from the genre of the easy watching gentle whodunnit

Lesley Manville and the main actors are all and the plot interesting and engaging but ..... Why oh why do they feel the need to change historical fact to supposedly attract a more diverse audience?!

All the fringe characters from this little English village in 1955 are non-white, of course they are! 😔 I'm not begrudging anyone making a living but it is ridiculously jarring and distracts from your investment of time and suspension of disbelief

Will stick with it and try and gloss over the failings until/ unless it gets even sillier.

This is a very different quite quirky whodunnit, the way the modern day story mirrors the story in the murdered authors book is exceptional, this isn't a gritty in your face murder mystery, it's clever, well written and well acted, thoroughly enjoyable and a great addition to the excellent tradition of whodunnit dramas.

This was one of the best series I've seen in a long time. The story is told in several layers. The central mystery follows the book editor's investigation into the death of the best selling author and the missing final chapter of his last book. In parallel we follow the fictional detective, Atticus Pund, as the story in the last novel unfolds. The use of the same actors in both the present day and the novel adds another dimension to the story telling. The acting is superb, with Lesley Manville as the editor leading a strong cast. Seek this series out. It deserves to be seen more widely.