The Times, May 12, 1997, by Matthew Bond
"Degradation, death, destruction: such fun"
-----------------------------------------------------------

[...]

Hold that thought, be cause somehow it leads us to *Jonathan 
Creek* (BBC1, Saturday). 

It took up where *Crime Traveller* left off (it's possible 
that the respective heroines even share the same mansion 
block), as an off-beat drama considered sufficiently 
undemanding to get 11 million or so of us through Saturday 
night. But unlike its predecessor, it had a certainty of 
purpose and a sureness of execution that means, in the 
looking-glass world of television ratings, it probably 
won't. So, as insurance, the producers made this feature-
length, opening episode rather rude. The fact that I thought 
it was also rather good is, of course, entirely unrelated. 

The victim (it was Saturday night, there had to be a victim) 
was Hedley Shale (Colin Baker) an artist who conveniently 
specialised in the female nude, which meant the production 
could be littered with eye-catching canvases and glamorous 
models. Someone had shot him and if I tell you that the 
woman who did it wore only a silk blouse and a revolver that 
rather captures the lubricious style of Marcus Mortimer's 
direction. A kiss was not a greeting unless it was 
accompanied by a fondled bosom, a revolver not a revolver 
unless it was fired by toes attached to a very, very long 
pair of legs. 

Now, all this enjoyable but gratuitous titillation may have 
been to make up for the essentially untitillating nature of 
our central couple (it was Saturday night, there had to be a 
central couple). Caroline Quentin and Alan Davies may be 
many things but conventionally sexy they are not, and for 
some time it looked like we might get through an enjoyable 
whodunit without any of that unresolved sexual tension stuff 
at all. But then David Renwick's otherwise-inspired 
typewriter ran away with him and, before we knew it, our 
couple were enjoying a significant moment over the 
levitation board. 

With two comedians in the central roles, the producers 
wisely packed the cast with established character actors: 
Baker (who despite his early exit managed to regenerate 
himself in time for last night's instalment of *The Knock*), 
Sheila Gish as his magnificently fearsome wife and Anthony 
Head as a lascivious, bosom-fondling magician. But Quentin 
and Davies more than held their own in such company, with 
Davies in particular turning in a nicely understated 
performance as the trick-designing, windmill-dwelling Creek. 
Helped by Julian Stewart Lindsay's catchy reworking of 
Saint-Saens's *Danse Macabre*, a promising start. 

[...]



-----------------------------------------------------------
                     Bentley's Bedlam
            http://www.BetsyDa.com/bedlam.html

This website is for information and entertainment purposes only 
and is not intended to infringe on copyrights held by others.