Jonathan Creek

For years now, I've heard my friends and relatives in the UK singing the praises of "Jonathan Creek". Unfortunately, I had never gotten the chance to experience the genius that is this show. But thanks to BBC-America, I can savor each and every mystery on Thursday afternoons (we get 2 episodes back-to-back!). I realize that, especially in the past 3 years, American television has consisted of a lot of very bad reality shows, and little else. Anything of substance is quickly taken off the air.. so that two more Real World/Survivor/Bachelor clones can take its place. There are millions of Americans who are starving for intelligent, thought-provoking entertainment. Of course Americans can handle "Jonathan Creek" -- why else would BBC-America continue to air it? This is an amazing show, and I truly wish our television big-wigs would realize that these kinds of shows work. Alan Davies is the ultimate anti-hero. Davies is gorgeous as the shy, rather nerdy, Jonathan. (I've developed a bit of a crush on him, to be honest :D) Maddy, played by the amazing Caroline Quentin, is the kind of role-model American women need: a tough-as-nails every-woman, who looks nothing like the malnourished actresses and models we see every day. The Americans who love this show are intelligent and witty, and we know good television when we see it.. and this is by far the best show I've had the pleasure of watching in a very long time.

I was hooked on this programme when it first came out and now I have it on DVD, I can see just how fantastic this series is. Its a completely different take on the usual crime solving programme and the solutions to puzzles are absolutely amazing. I was constantly baffled and thought it was very clever the way Jonathan worked out some of the clues. Alan Davies and Caroline Quentin were absolutely fantastic in their parts, and I thought perfect for their roles. When Julia Sawahla replaced Caroline, I was dubious at first but she too was great in her role, despite not being the ultimate replacement for Caroline. I did not think any of the mysteries were at all daft, just very very clever and the chemistry between Alan and Caroline was fantastic.

The guest stars were great in their roles, Annette Crosbie was particularly good in the House of Monkeys episode and it was a joy to see Bill Bailey pop up in the later series. I think, providing the mysteries keep coming, this programme can continue for maybe one or two series more.

I loved this series with Carolyn Quentin as Maddy. However, after she left, it simply wasn't as charming. Maddy provided comic relief and believability in her character as unique and "real folkes". I watched the entire series. I am American and we seldom see really Smart TV series. Unlike most UK Series that I watch repeatedly, (on my 5th viewing of New Tricks & Dalziel) for their character driven shows, JC sold out after Maddy was replaced with a different type of female lead. Maddy and Jonathan were quirky and unique. As the show progressed it became "a sell-out" to American type-casting, pretty blondes all in a row. The following UK Series illustrate the wonderful beauty of realistic, "non-blonde stereotyping" and/or "pretty people" characters that I love. You can't beat Warren Clarke as Andy Dalziel in Dalziel & Pascoe, truly rare and beautiful in my eyes. Alum Armstrong as Brian in New Tricks. New Tricks, an older mature character driven series gives us a real Blonde role model. (America has only come close in The Closer and Major Crimes). Blonde Amanda Redman as Sandra was not at all typical, she was a real tough, non apologetic, non whinning, non flirting, character. Endeavor, Morse, Lewis, Frost, George Gently and more...all of these intelligent series have flawed real people as characters as real people. Jonathan Creek lost that when Maddy left the show. Jonathan turned into an odd unrealistic sham of a character after that and the show suffered. I finished the series only in hope that Maddy would return and Jonathan would return to his original "nerdiness" Maddy made the series and required me to research her SWEET choices in life.

Starting watching this after being gifted a Britbox subscription, and the first three seasons are excellent. Well-thought out problems/plots, interesting, 3 dimensional characters with an odd but palpable chemistry between the main 2, great acting, humor, etc. Season 4, not only is the chemistry between the 2 leads odd, but the mysteries are further out there. What I liked about the first 3 seasons is that you could actually figure out the mysteries - you might not know the why, but you could sometimes figure out the how. Fair mysteries, where the viewer really was given most of the pertinent information. This starts to ebb as we hit season 4. I just watched the first episode of season 5, and yeah, so far, it's the worst. I guess it just jumped the shark.

Hooked up on the series quickly, very funny and love how they are thinking through the impossible crimes. However after Quentin left it's not as funny anymore.. She made Creek interesting. Otherwise I would have given a 10.