Le père Dowling

The concept of a Priest who spends his spare time solving murders and crimes is nothing new of course, Father Brown had been doing it for decades before Father Dowling arrived on the scene, but this is an American slant on the thing, and good leads like Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson make it work, back before crime shows got too dark and gruesome, this one has plenty of humour, and plays like some of those wonderful old 'B' movies of the 30's & 40's, in other words, just plain old fashioned good entertainment. How many people I wonder realize that 20 years before this, Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson appeared in the same movie together? 'Yours, Mine and Ours' with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, of course Tracy was only about 4 years old at the time, neither could have imagined one day they'd co-star in the same series.

Like Perry Mason, this series wasn't an original, it was based on a (still ongoing) series of books by Ralph McInerny. Unlike Perry Mason, though, the producers took almost nothing from the books but the characters of Fr. Dowling and Mrs. Murkin, and of those two only Mrs. Murkin bears any resemblance to the character in the book. I'd advise anyone who likes mysteries but was disappointed in Fr. Dowling on TV to read the books, they are excellent.

This is a really great detective show,I have watched all the other ones aswell and have found Father Dowling to be the most enjoyable to watch.It has humour,a serious side at times and shows a side to religion that many people may not have seen or known.Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson are excellent in this,both are funny with how they act and the looks that Tom's character Father Frank gives to Tracy character Sister Steve are brilliant,makes me laugh.I also think that James Stephens is brilliant as Father Prestwick.

I really like this show. While I do slightly prefer Murder She Wrote and Diagnosis Murder, Father Dowling is an entertaining watch. Tom Bosley is superb in the title role, a performance of great warmth and dignity. Tracy Nelson does show real promise as an actress, she has a likable and quite bubbly personality, and it was a pleasure to see her develop as the series progressed. My favourite has to be the late Mary Wickes as Marie, Wickes was a very underrated actress, and I enjoyed her here. The episodes are benefited by some nice camera-work, lovely locations, a beautiful title tune and good scripts, not to mention a number of funny moments. Of course you may find some over familiarities in the story lines, but overall this is a very entertaining mystery series, probably not the best out there, but worth a watch. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The mystery solving parish priest Father Brown who was the creation of converted Catholic G.K. Chesterton got an American makeover in that most American of cities Chicago for the Father Dowling Mysteries. That man did get himself involved in more situations that were not necessarily related to his calling which made for interesting episodes. Tom Bosley as Father Dowling was a trial to both the Catholic Archdiocese and the Police Department which he was always showing up.

That's usually the way it is with most television series, the private detective or the amateur is constantly showing up professional law enforcement. As viewers we enjoy that.

Unlike Chesterton's detective Dowling did not dwell too much on Catholic dogma, the better to get a universal audience. Tracy Nelson was a young nun who shared Dowling's taste for mystery and adventure and her being a nun and all that that entailed put her in some interesting situations as a Dowling operative so to speak.

Sad to say the show did run out of creative ideas and that was probably due to the parameters imposed by making a priest your lead character. When Dowling confessed to really fathering a child before taking his vows of celibacy you knew the jig was up for this show.

Still it was a pleasant series to watch and Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson gave a good account of themselves in the series.