TV News: Sky Arts' Urban Myths and Agatha Christie

Next week's episode of Urban Myths on Sky Arts (17 May) puts its own spin on the mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926:

From Sky:

Agatha Christie's mysterious 11 day disappearance in 1926 gripped the nation and set off one of the biggest manhunts ever mounted. In desperation, Britain's most famous crime writers of the time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers, were drafted in to help the search. As they took matters into their own hands with their contrasting methods of detection, this was the beginning of crimes most unlikely investigative partnership: Sayers and Conan Doyle, together at last and on the hunt for Agatha Christie.

Starring Anna Maxwell Martin (Agatha Christie), Bill Paterson (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), Rosie Cavaliero (Dorothy L. Sayers), Adrian Scarborough (Inspector Danders) and Robert James-Collier (Colonel Archie Christie).

Written by Paul Doolan and Abigail Wilson. Directed by Guillem Morales. Produced by John Rushton. Executive Producers Lucy Lumsden and Lucy Ansbro. Produced by Yellow Door Productions.

TV News: The Tunnel on Sky Atlantic

As well as Talking to the Dead, Sky is also showing next week, the first episode of The Tunnel based on the Swedish/Danish The Bridge and not surprisingly features a body in the Channel Tunnel.

Set primarily in Folkestone and Calais where detectives Karl Roebuck and Elise Wassermann are called to investigate the death of a French politician. When a shocking discovery is made at the crime scene, the pair is forced into an uneasy partnership as they seek out a politically-motivated serial killer who draws them into his own personal agenda.

The Tunnel begins on Wednesday at 9pm on Sky Atlantic.

(I still haven't watched The Bridge though I really want to. Should I watch The Tunnel first or stick it on the HD as well and watch it after The Bridge, or not bother at all? )

TV News: Talking to the Dead

Sky Living are showing a two-part adaptation of Harry Bingham's Talking to the Dead as part of their Drama Matters season.

The first part is on Tuesday 15th October at 9pm on Sky Living, the second part is on Thursday, 17th October at 9pm.

Sophie Rundle plays a young rookie cop with a brilliant mind, a mysterious past and a deep empathy with the dead. The drama also features Russell Tovey, Keith Allen and Michael Smiley.

Watch a clip at the Sky website.

DC Fiona Griffiths reappears in Love Story, With Murders which came out in June.

Romanzo Criminale returning to Sky Arts

The second series of Romanzo Criminale begins on Sky Arts 1 on 18 September at 9pm.

If you can't wait or don't have Sky Arts then you can buy the second series on DVD already, with English subtitles. (It appears that the DVD of series 1 does not have English subtitles.)

Crime drama - A Touch of Cloth

Charlie Brooker has written a crime drama spoof for Sky One, called A Touch of Cloth. Its stars are familiar with the genre having appeared in Rebus, Scott and Bailey, Marple and Poirot between them. From The Guardian:

Charlie Brooker has written a two-hour spoof crime drama for Sky1 starring John Hannah, Suranne Jones and Julian Rhind-Tutt.

A Touch of Cloth has been co-written with Daniel Maier, a writer on ITV1's Harry Hill's TV Burp, and sets out to be a "spoof of every British crime drama made in the last decade".

Hannah stars as DCI Jack Cloth, a "maverick, heavy drinking loner" who throws himself into his work after the death of his wife.

He is teamed with a "plucky, no-nonsense sidekick" played by Jones investigating a series of grisly murders. Rhind-Tutt plays their boss, Tom Boss.

Read the whole article here.