Wycliffe and the Cycle of Death

This feature length episode of Wycliffe is different from the retooled series that followed. Several parts were later recast.

Jack Shepherd though remained as Wycliffe. He investigates a murder in a dysfunctional family in Penzance.

Bookseller Matthew Glyn is murdered. Bludgeoned on the head and then strangled.

Matthew was wealthy and domineering, especially to the rest of his family. His wife had walked out on him some years earlier and not been seen for 17 years.

Later his brother Alfred who was more reclusive is also found dead. Thought to be suicide.

Another brother Maurice who is more artistic was in dispute with Maurice over a proposed development of some land.

Their sister has tried to keep the peace between them but she constantly tells lies to Wycliffe.

Director Pennant Roberts tries too hard to show off the Cornish scenery than make the crime drama interesting.

Too much time is spent interviewing potential suspects. It lacked dynamism. It all ends hysterically.

No wonder ITV went back to the drawing board. Subsequent episodes were shorter and there was more chemistry between Wycliffe's team.

There is a lot of sitting comfortably and talking, then standing and talking, then one standing while talking and the other sitting comfortably and talking. None have any expressions on their face except occasionally somewhat pensive, or maybe they were constipated. Sometimes they were standing outside talking in almost monotone voices, which was a nice diversion from when they were sitting comfortably inside talking in expressionless voices over tea. There were a great variety of tea and mantles. One woman had great hair. I was able to go about tidying and take my dog out for a small walk without feeling like I'd missed much. By the end all I wanted was a nice cup of tea - sitting inside, comfortably.

Quick witted lead actor jack shepherd as chief superintendent investigating 2 deaths with the subtlety of a sledge hammer in scenic penzance, cornwall, united kingdom .... moves too slow due to a lot of re-interviews by people lying deliberately about everything ....cornwall is a beautiful place to be investigating murders

Prior to the successful launch of the Wycliffe series in 1994, ITV aired this pilot episode, which sees Wycliffe investigates the murder of a bookshop owner, an unpleasant man from a wealth and influential family.

It feels very distant from the forthcoming series, pretty much all of the supporting cast differ from the cast that fans of the show will be familiar with. Fortunately Shepherd is strong enough in the role to make it watchable, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't boring, and featured the worst opening credits you'll ever see, but the beautiful Cornish coast compensates.

I can't imagine fans of the series reaching for this one too often, better things were to follow. 6/10

Slow and dull, with very amateurish direction. Jack Shepherd seems to be trying to play a version of the rather morose Morse, but really isn't strong enough as the lead. The rest of the cast appear somewhat bored with the whole thing. The action jumps from scene to scene with little logic or cohesion and the dialogue is pretty mundane. Overall, it lacks anything to grab and hold the viewers' attention and, frankly, I quickly lost interest; none of the characters made much of an impression and I really couldn't care less who the bad guys were or why they'd done what they'd done.

On the positive side, the background musical accompaniment does not intrude and there's some decent scenery which may encourage tourism even if it doesn't add much to the story line..

It's not awful but certainly nowhere near as good as other similar detective series of its time. 4 out of 10 is the most I can give it.