The Good Ship Murder

A Luxury Mediterranean cruise ship sets sail, stopping at all the major destinations, but at each stop, murder, and on the case is former Detective now crooner Jack Grayling, and first officer Kate Woods.

If you're a fan of shows such as Mallorca Files, Shakespeare and Hathaway etc, I am sure you will enjoy this series. Don't expect anything too serious, and expect to be made to believe some rather impossible scenarios.

Gorgeous location work, it really does emphasise and make the most of The Med. I spent a fair bit of time in Malta, and I may be wrong, but did Malta double up?

Shayne Ward absolutely makes this series, he has that combination of being talented, likeable and charismatic, he really does help to make this show pretty good. Jack is a bit of a bad luck charm, he's The Jessica Fletcher of The Mediterranean, wherever he goes, murder follows.

Shayne's songs are really good, especially his version of True Faith by New Order.

Some nice guest performances along the way, and the regular cast are all very good.

As it stands series two has been commissioned, looking forward to that.

7/10.

I really can't understand some of the bad reviews about this programme?

Shane and Catherine are superb actors, and the on off relationship with the two is predictable but very watchable the storylines are a little suspect but easy to watch, the settings are good, it isn't going to bamboozle any viewers, it is just good old British humour; and to shoot ot on an actual cruise ship while filled with holidaymakers takes some skill, i wish i had been on there at the time i would have loved being an extra lol. And Shane's singing at the end is well worth waiting for.

Just enjoy it or what it is Good cheesy fun.

I'm enjoying this show. It's lighthearted following in the steps of Death in Paradise, and the scenery is amazing.

The cinematography at the various locations is superb and really makes me want to visit all the ports they've been to.

It doesn't take itself too seriously and this is all for the better.

We don't always need dark, gritty crime dramas every time.

The sunshine helps too, especially in the middle of a UK year of mainly rain.

When it's miserable outside it's good to watch a show like this.

Shayne Wards wardrobe is full of multi coloured linen clothes and they look great. The costume designer has done well.

The stories have been varied and some of the dialogue has been funny.

What's not to like.

I hope there are more series.

As many of the reviewers have noted, this is not a deep dark difficult to discern crime saga. This is light and fun entertainment, which I discovered on a Sunday afternoon and I'm now tuning in for the second episode.

The lead actors are fun to watch in action. The cruise scenery brightens up one's day and it is pure entertainment for entertainment sake.

Of course I was curious as to which cruise line allowed their ship to be included in this program featuring murder and cruising. I did find it interesting to see some of the behind scenes views of a cruise ship.

So unless you are too stuck up in your views of murder dramas, it's time to get in the cruise buffet line and sample this tasty fun program!

First the good things: Shane Ward (who I had never heard of before) can sing and his acting actually isn't bad, especially given it isn't his first job. There are other decent actors in the cast too. The show also gets extra points for - as far as I can tell - using the real locations and for including some characters who at least try to speak languages other than English. Last time I looked, Madame Blanc, for example, hadn't even started trying to speak French!

But that's about it. The plots are a bit average, some are better than others and as has been pointed out the involvement of Jack, Kate & the rest of the ship-board characters in the crimes isn't really credible. However, this is NOT the only TV crime drama that stretches credulity like this, especially at the moment.

This is not great, ground-breaking telly, but there's nothing really wrong with it. It's lovely to look at and it actually doesn't always shy away from the realities of life - episode 3 is particularly good here.

It's a perfectly nice way to spend a winter evening.