C.B. Strike

I have just watched 'The Cuckoo's Calling'. This is a great take on the hard on his heels private investigator gets an opportunity story. JK Rowling's content is as well written as a John Grisham/Agatha Christie with the added frisson of cool London locations and culture. I particularly like the casting of Tom Bell as the rough-round-the-edges sleuth and the engaging Holliday Grainger as his ever so capable assistant; they are both so watchable. I look forward to the next series (and for any critics of this series yes I am perfectly happy to overlook any plot holes).

Tom Burke and Holiday Grainger are a stand out team in what could easily have been a tawdry run of the mill Detective trawl.

Cormeran Strike is a lovable mess of a reinvented down at heels gumshoe. The pacing manages too drag the fashionable locations and characters into the gutter along with him, humanising them all in his search for the truth over the death of a model.

There is an endearing quality to this show which so readily could have been destroyed by bad casting. Ignore any opinion drawn from knowing the writer. Approach with a fresh face. Definitely a good first outing for Strike.

I'd already read the book, but Strike as portrayed was more convincing than my own prior vision.

You get a nice range of people in one limited slice of London, as well as a series of puzzles that get solved.

They improve the ending, giving a better excuse for the murderer doing something I can't detail without giving away the plot.

As a non-US and non-UK citizen, I can wholeheartadly say that this is what I really appreciate. A show with suspence, heart, surprise and emotion.

Compared to the US shows where there are a lot of fights and action but no substance, this is more like it. The UK proves yet again that they are superior in making quality TV with good stories, great characters, and with a lot of heart and emotion.

Holliday Grainger and Tom Burke are killing it as the main characters. They are tough, they are emotional, and most of all, they are relatable.

Well done. I hope for many more seasons to come. I just love this series.

'Strike: The Cuckoo's Calling' is on the Poirot-Marple-Midsomers branch of the mystery tree with its irresistible stars in the lead roles, its slow but never time-wasting character developments, its high-on- thinking and low-on-physical-violence story, and its beautiful camera work. If you like all of the above features and a good, escape-for-an- hour mystery, please watch this. J.K. Rowling wrote the book and I'm glad that the British television peeps had the great good sense to bring this to us as beautifully as they did. I hope they make more.