In search of a mystery series on DVD...
November 26, 2014 5:11 PM   Subscribe

I am trying to remember the name of a mystery series I ran across recently and my google-fu is failing. All I can remember about it is that it was a mystery series, it was available on DVD in the U.S. (my local library has copies), and there were multiple seasons. Can you help me figure out what it might be?

Here's everything I can remember about the series. It's not much to go on, and so far I haven't been able to find anything that looks right by googling.
--mystery series with several seasons (at least 4, perhaps as many as 6 or 7?)
--I think it was a BBC production, but I am not sure -- IIRC the DVDs were labeled "series #" rather than "season #"
--historical; I had the impression, reading the back of one of the DVD cases, that the characters may have interacted with Arthur Conan Doyle (or possibly Sherlock?)
--I don't think they were "cosy" but I could be wrong
--I think the series is recent-ish, early 2000s or late 90s at the absolute oldest
--the main character was a man, and I think he may have been rich, or at least well-off enough to have a house with a housekeeper and/or other staff.

I ran across a couple DVDs of the series at a branch of my county library. They didn't have the first series, and I didn't have time to look for it in the catalog. I foolishly thought I'd remember the name, but no such luck. Suggestions, Mefites?

Bonus question: can you recommend some series similar in overall *tone* to the Brother Cadfael, Miss Marple, and Foyle's War series? My family (2 40-ish adults, one pre-teen boy) has really enjoyed watching those together, and we would love more suggestions in that vein. (N.B.: though David Suchet does a fine job as Poirot, none of us have really liked those mysteries; also not the Midsomer Murders series because those too often have some troublesome content, e.g., references to incest, child abuse, etc.)
posted by Janta to Media & Arts (10 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Was it the Nero Wolfe series?
posted by xingcat at 5:16 PM on November 26, 2014


Best answer: This is a bit of a wild-ass guess, and I suspect probably not right, but Murdoch Mysteries, which is Canadian and historical, but not cozy and features a police officer rather than an investigator has an episode in the 6th season where they run into someone who claims to be Sherlock Holmes. The show is still on the air so very recent.

Even if it's not right, you might like it.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:32 PM on November 26, 2014 [1 favorite]


Try Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (Trailer). It's on Netflix. Very charming (with terrific costumes) but maybe a bit saucy due to the fact that Miss Fisher has a LOT of gentleman callers. It's all ultimately much more PBS than HBO, though.

And honestly is that more troublesome than, say, the fact that all of these shows generally feature at least one gruesome murder per episode?
posted by bcwinters at 5:39 PM on November 26, 2014


Not the answer to your original question, but you may also like Dr Blake Mysteries.
posted by Kerasia at 5:49 PM on November 26, 2014


Lord Peter Wimsey?
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 5:53 PM on November 26, 2014


George Gently?
posted by JenMarie at 8:51 PM on November 26, 2014


Best answer: Bonus Answer: I am certainly projecting my own opinions, but what I see as the "common tone" in the three shows you mentioned is a certain fundamental decency of the protagonists, along with a desire to buck the system and treat everyone in a very class-conscious society with dignity and respect. And for me, another good historical show along those lines is Heat of the Sun. (also imdb) It is a police drama set in 1930s Kenya. And I noticed just now that it is back in rotation on Amazon Instant Streaming, so I guess I know where part of my holiday weekend is going. The show is PG, but touches on adult themes like drug use and the amoral excesses of the British aristocratic plantation society in the colonial Kenyan highlands. There are some intelligent pre-teen boys I might trust with that subject matter, and some I would wait a few more years to watch with. You will have to make that decision.
posted by seasparrow at 11:57 PM on November 26, 2014 [1 favorite]


Was it Campion? Probably too early. But a good possibility for the bonus question.
posted by girlpublisher at 5:50 AM on November 27, 2014


Response by poster: I think it was the Murdoch Mysteries! Thanks, Jacquilynne, that was not such a wild-ass guess after all. Everyone else, thanks for the other suggestions; my kid is a huge fan of mysteries and it's really nice to have something we can all watch together in the evenings. I'll definitely be checking out most all of these suggestions. (Seasparrow, your point about the decency of the protagonists is an excellent one; I hadn't made that connection between the three.)
posted by Janta at 7:40 AM on November 27, 2014 [1 favorite]


Seconding George Gently as a series to watch. You might also try WPC 56. These are murder mysteries of course, and also do sometimes deal with issues such as racism or other questionable things, but not for prurient reasons, and the protagonists in both series take a moral stance, and I think if you can handle Foyle's War these would be ok.

like bcwinters, I also quite like Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, and have no issue with her stance as a single woman that she is entitled to live her life the way she wants (which she makes clear includes a fair amount of sex.) YMMV.

Not my particular cup of tea, but my father quite liked Pie in the Sky, which is a more light-hearted type of series.
posted by gudrun at 7:54 AM on November 27, 2014


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