Top 5 Tuesday reboot #1 - TV Crime Detectives

I mistakenly thought that this would be easy, I do watch any and all TV crime and detective shows so I assumed that I would naturally be able to select five.

I have come to the conclusion that I need to be even more specific when having themes because there are sooooooo many good detectives. Maybe if I had said, top 5 TV detectives from the 1980s? Or 90’s or even 00’s? Or TV detectives with the best moustaches? Or best crime related cross stitch patterns? Or….yep…so many alternatives! I shall have to start being more specific. But alas, that is the power of hindsight, and so I shall have to be suitably general.

I am also going to list these in reverse order, with number 1 being the best of this brilliant bunch.

5

DI Vivienne Deering is the main character and lead detective in a relatively new show here in the UK called No Offence. The first series was released in 2015, but series two has only just started airing now (2017). The show is set and filmed in Manchester and the accents for some might be strong, and there are a lot of colloquialisms used. The show has some good characters in and easily 50% of those are female, another reason to like it. Viv Deering acts like one of the boys, can be crude and blunt, but ultimately gets the job done.

This is Channel 4’s official description…

“The cast-iron boss who chews lightning and craps thunder. Deering is in the prime of her life and is a great Detective Inspector, with a great team that she leads with respect. A Valkyrie on speed and dizzyingly capable – a splendid cross between Jane Tennison and Miss Piggy – she is a filthy warrior.”

The shows creator and writer is Paul Abbott who previously wrote Shameless (which I believe there is now an American version of?? He also wrote Cracker (another awesome detective (from the 90s) who I was reluctant to leave off this list), Touching Evil, and State of Play to name but a few.

Here is a clip…

4

Kurt Wallander is someone I believe that I have mentioned before on my blog, probably because I love the character and the show, he is played by a Swedish actor (in the original show) and by Kenneth Branagh (in the UK version). I am not sure if the show is over now, I think after the last UK series it probably is.

The Kurt Wallander character is very calm, craggy and intelligent but constantly seemed to carry around with him a cloud of inner turmoil which we get a glimpse of from time to time but is never quite resolved.

Here is a clip from the UK version,

3

Miss Marple has long been a favourite of mine, and I have in the past mentioned this and my desire to play that role when I’m in my late sixties, I’ve yet to be approached or cast oddly…heheheheh. Anyway, Marple isn’t the only Agatha Christie Detective in this list but as a child I always found her the most interesting and the funniest. She has been played by many actresses over the years and the idea of a nosey old womaan solving crime definitely appeals to me, you should never judge a book by its cover. My two favourite Marple actresses are Margaret Rutherford and Joan Hickson.

See the following clip for just a glimpse...

2

Much like Marple above, my next favourite is an Agatha Christie detective and I have two favourite actors who owned the role. Both so very different but the character shines through, and that is Hercule Poirot, I like to ponder over how Agatha came up with the character and which attributes belonged to people she knew and which were made up. 

The two actors I favour most in this role are Peter Ustinov and David Suchet.

As you can see, Poirot is very Sherlock-like with the arrogance and confidence in his convictions. If I had a bigger list, Sherlock would have made it! 

1

And at number 1 it has to be Inspector Morse, in his original show and in the latest show Endavour. I spent many years with John Thaw as Morse and he was great, the show Lewis (when his partner became an inspector is also very good). Morse is filmed and based in Oxford which is about half an hour away from where I live.

You can check out some Morse here.

And...just because I was curious...I went in search of some crime related cross stitch.

I thought some of you would be missing Sherlock....