Magpie Murders

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.

Susan Ryeland, the editor of the 'Atticus Pund' detective novels, receives a new manuscript but its unfinished and the author is... The drama switches between the present day and the fictional 1955 plot of the book. Its very cleverly done.

Adapted by Anthony Horowitz (Foyle's War) from his own book I was expecting something decent and it doesn't disappoint. If you want a well-written and acted period detective series with some modern twists, dive in you'll love it. Principal cast were all very good and at 45m an episode it breezes by.

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.

Whodunnits are not my thing normally, but I am so pleased I tried this. Highly original and very engaging. The story zipped along and never got boring.

A few of the characters were badly miscast but the leads were excellently played, and Lesley Manville was outstanding.

I hope Britbox will list more quality material.

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.