PBS MYSTERIES: MIDSOMER MURDERS AND WHITECHAPEL


     This blog's recent homage to TV's SHERLOCK HOLMES ( with  Benedict Cumberbatch  ) might make us believe that there are no other current mystery programs that are as good. Depending on one's taste, that could be true. Yet there are some programs  that appeal to other tastes; ones where plots are easy to follow, actors are not ambiguous, and environments are attractive, leaving us with the notion that we wished we lived there. (After all, the episodes are shot on location, mostly in England, giving the setting a welcomed reality.) 
     MIDSOMER MURDERS is one such example which has been on PBS since 1997, a homey, entertaining series about English village life. It's a place where, if given the chance, we would move to immediately. And why not? Consider the rolling hills, market towns and thatched cottages. A real celebration of the past. The people are friendly as well, with the community pub offering a comfortable place to be oneself. The Chief  Inspector, John Barnaby ( played by Neil Dudgeon) and his younger assistant, Jones ( what is his first name, anyway) are affable and carry on a dual relationship that is part father/ son, part boss / assistant.  This buddy-buddy pattern is common in police dramas and contributes to the plot's dynamics. 
     Another established pattern is the numerous people who are killed each week, leaving us to  wonder if there will be anyone left alive in the village. What's more interesting and consistent is the interrelationship between the inhabitants. Each week we see people discovering a long- lost family member or finding some other bond, unbelievable as it may sound. However, what is provocative about the series, despite its lack of psychological aspects  ( the characters are one - dimensional and do not have Sherlock's idiosyncratic personality  ), is the fact that its bucolic setting belies the murder and mayhem lying behind the hedgerows. Is the theme, "Don't trust what you see? " A simple idea and plausible at that.
     WHITECHAPEL is another example of a PBS murder mystery appealing to a different taste, unlike Sherlock Holmes and Midsomer Murders in most regards. Relatively new to the airways, it follows Midsomer Murders every Saturday night, emphasizing their extreme divergence.   Consider Midsomer Murders' spacious country location versus  Whitechapel's claustrophobic locale in a seedy part of London.  While the ensuing entrapment includes all kinds of  interiors like offices, living quarters and underground space, they are all dank, dark and spooky. The past and present collide ( the present-day cops use both evil-doings of the 1600s and modern technology to help catch the criminals, this week being witch hunters).
     Of course, Midsomer Murders and Whitechapel have similarities consistent with their generic conventions: the often ambiguous relationship between the  two male police partners; the gore and blood that predominate ( although Midsomer Murders have less); the unpredictable terror.
     As one character in Whitechapel says, " How can so much horror be visited on such a small area?" The same could be said about Midsomer Murders: "How can so much horror be visited on such a beautiful area?"

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