The Inspector Lynley Mysteries

I never read the novels so all I know of Lynley is the tv show. As far as British mystery show go it's not Morse, Lewis or Holmes. Also the two actresses who play Helen are so different that it makes no sense. Nathaniel Parker is good as the aristocratic Lynley and Sharon Small is cute and tough as Havers. As a midwestern American I love seeing the English countryside and the camera work is great. I bought the entire series on DVD and overall it's a worthwhile show. It does have it's weak points but taken as a whole it's very good. It could've been great, but just missed it. That said I will re-watch the shows.

I have now rewatched several of these, and have refined my appreciation.

The usual models for these sorts of projects is to distribute the episodes among different directors and screenwriters, assuming that the continuing characters are what matters. This series is different. The producers kept a firm hand on the way the episodes are framed; there is a consistent framework carried from one to the other that understand George's structure perhaps better than she does herself.

There is a murder or two. The dynamics of this murder happen in their own word, a world of madness or unraveled anger. The sense behind this is fantastically abstract, and is framed by a sort of soap opera centered on the events and characters that are suspects.

A more human, immediate layer — an entire third world — is the soap opera of a quite different nature in the lives of the continuing characters: Lynley and Havers. He is derived from Peter Wimsey, a second order aristocrat engaged in justice for his own reason. He has friends and lovers. Havers is an abrasive young lower class woman, struggling with family issues. This world is layered as well between Lynley and Havers.

One can easily imagine George seeing herself as Havers, watching and commenting on Lynley as he tries to understand the dynamics of the world he has entered to solve the crime, and find the embedded "world of motive."

This layered narrative format is understood by the producers of the series. Significant attention is paid to camera distance to register intimacy or lack of it. In particular, Havers is always the omphalos of the thing. Sharon Small is the actress who has taken on this central role and she is simply magnificent in it. She has the job of being a person in the thing, but that is an ordinary chore for an actor. She also has to be the observer and observer of the observer as the writer's surrogate. We never lose sight of the fact that this is a novelist's construction and she has included herself in the world as its origin.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Great stories, good acting and compelling but somehow I am so down after watching these.

It's a very good series, one that seemed to run for longer than it's twenty three episode run.

Based on the novels of Elizabeth George, the Series saw Highly educated, suave Inspector Lynley solve crimes alongside his colleague DS Havers, a little more down to Earth. Known for being hard to work with, Havers would form an unlikely, strong bond with Lynley.

I like the earlier episodes best, they feel more raw somehow, the later series are still good, but feel a bit too polished.

The acting was always great, I loved both Small and Parker, there were many strong guest performances throughout, Sophie Ward in particular.

It ran its course, and ended on a strong episode, it's not up there with Morse, Endeavour and Vera I would say, but it's not far off. 8/10.

I find this series very satisfying. It is character driven and has compelling dialog between Lynley and Sgt Havers. Havers is the real star of the show. She has very real problems in addition to working with her ponce of a boss. She lives paycheck to paycheck while caring for her parents, who suffer from dementia. How she juggles this situation with the need to be seconded to different locations to work on cases creates real angst in her character. In comparison, Lynley's problems are more social, as he frequently moralizes over dilemmas in his love life. Still, the rich detective and the hardscrabble sergeant work well with one another while solving cases that are twisty and intelligent. Like CSI, many of the cases are fashioned after recent cases in the news, so to say they are far fetched is not true. Try it out. You'll like the series.