Murder Most English: A Flaxborough Chronicle

It's a pity this gentle, low-key comedy-drama didn't attract a bigger audience. It deserved to. My wife and I were delighted by this light, witty, thoroughly enjoyable series.

Anton Rogers was absolutely perfect in the role of Detective Inspector Purbright, and it was a lot of fun to see Christopher Timothy (whom we had come to love as James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small) as Detective Sergeant Love. There is good chemistry between the two of them -- essential in a police drama of this kind. Moray Watson as the Chief Constable and Brenda Bruce as the ever-so-slightly-nefarious Lucilla Teatime also add wonderful color.

All things considered, this little gem was far better than a number of other British mystery series that got higher ratings.

I could pretend I don't understand the bad and average reviews of this brief t.v. series, but actually I do. Murder Most English is not fast-paced, the characters are not heavy-hitting, and the show does not fit into the mindset of too many viewers that have been raised on shows, such as NCIS,Law and Order etc. The Wire is an exception to the bogus quality of most "edgy" films, but most dark and edgy films are over-baked and lack any depth, not to mention any subtlety or truly intriguing characters and plots.

This show has a wonderful tone and the characters are understated and beautifully depicted. It is not fast-moving or "Edgy" (If I read this overused word again in a review or comment on a film or t.v. show, I will regurgitate once again.). This show is dry and witty. The chief detective is marvelously acted and the antic character played by Christopher Timothy (know almost exclusively for his All Creatures Great and Small veterinarian character) is also wonderful. The characters are highly individualized and the stories are playful, yet there is a distinct undertow of suspense and eeriness that strikes me as coming off just right. I am so unhappy that there were so few stories to watch. However, watch these films for the highly creative way that Colin Watson wrote them and do not expect to see Psycho or The Silence of the Lambs or the thousands of their rip-offs or imitations.

An absolutely wonderful series, it sets out to prove that underneath the respectable and softly spoken Middle classes, all sorts of depravity hides, adultery, secrets, and of course murder.

We only get seven episodes, but each of them is a cracking watch, several different cases, my personal favourite is Hopjoy was here. What a shame that we didn't get more episodes, there was clearly plenty of mileage here.

It is very dry, even the humour, the pace I would say is very slow, but deliberately so, designed to absorb you. Lovely locations, great characters, and of course some wonderful acting.

Anton Rodgers and Christopher Timothy are wonderful in their respective roles, and play of one another incredibly well. For me, the pair are upstaged by the wonderful Brenda Bruce, and the rather surprising Lucilla Teatime.

Absorbing, it never loses its appeal, 9/10.

If ever a TV show encapsulated English humour - wry, self-deprecating, sometimes macabre - this show did. The humour here is often so understated you can miss it completely: a man who fell to his death is described by a relative as "very down-to-earth... in a manner of speaking"; describing the social mores of Flaxborough Inspector Purbright says the inhabitants can tolerate anything but "flagrant unostentation", while two roads in the town are named 'Edward Crescent' and 'Abdication Avenue'.

I think Richard Harris made a genuine attempt to capture the idiosyncracies of Colin Watson's fictional world, but with only a handful of 50-minute episodes to do it in, a great deal is lost. Thankfully, the books are now, in 2018, being re-issued so they can savoured once more - they are not to be rushed like an airport thriller. The series also stands as the final achievement of BBC producer Martin Lisemore. In a too-brief career Lisemore gave us (among others) the 26-episode adaptation of Anthony Trollope's 'The Pallisers' (1974), and 'I, Claudius' in 1976 - classics by any standard. He was tragically killed while working on this project.

Anton Rodgers makes a great job of Purbright - patient, placid, dogged, and with a wicked line in penetrating interviews with suspects. Christopher Timothy (not yet James Herriot) is the eager young sidekick who hates dead bodies, but has a way of inviting unwitting confidences as he appears so naive.

If you decide to give this series a try, my advice is: listen carefully; be patient while the story develops, and; be prepared to ignore the dated technical standards and studio settings. It's not perfect, but still worth watching.