Extra Insight

I watched a BBC4 documentary this morning "Who is Kurt Wallander", a slightly misleading title as it was more about the Sweden that provides the context for the detective. Very interesting background on the social state ideal that has crumbled and now has the same problems as the rest of Europe.

Then the Sunday Times television critic A A Gill (the Marmite of critics, but I'm very much in the love camp even if I don't always agree with him) writes today about the death of the television detective in relation to Wallander. His theory is that the detective characters are still great but are let down by the plots (the article can be read here).

I think he has a made a good point. Many current shows rely on smoke and mirrors, tricks and quirks to distract from the slightness of the plot. The ante is upped on the levels of gore, nastiness or science to compensate. Perhaps we've seen it all before.

But does that matter so much? My favourite thing about Morse was not the crimes or their resolution, but the character of Morse and his relationship with Lewis. The plot is largely secondary to that. In the Rebus novels (particuarly the early ones), I was frequently disappointed with the whodunnit element, as I was with the Henning Mankell book I read, "Return of the Dancing Master", but enjoyed the characters. If the characters are strong enough I think the detective can survive.

So I will continue to watch the detectives even if all of the good plots have already been used. Although, of course, I do have a higher tolerance and intake of detectives than the average person.

Poll Results: If You were Murdered...

So the votes are in and have been counted in my poll ‘If you were murdered who would you want in charge of solving the case’.

And the winner is Frank Pembleton from Homicide Life on the Street.

I am a bit wary about declaring him the winner as I suspect my OH may have been block voting to fix the result – if you can count seven votes as block voting, that is. But I suppose he is a worthy winner. He’s an astute detective, he doesn’t let his personal feelings get in the way and he is adept at getting murderers to confess.

There was a three-way tie for second place between Criminal Intent’s Goran, Morse and Columbo. As much as I love Morse, I wouldn’t want him in charge of my case – he is too easily distracted by opera-loving women and there is too frequently a follow-up murder. I would trust both Goran and Columbo to get the job done, although they both have habits (head tilting and re-entering the room respectively) that might annoy my nearest and dearest.

Another poll will follow in due course, when I can think of a topic – any suggestions welcome.

Three Times a Lady (Detective): Mataharis

The OH was going to an NFL game (yes, bizarrely, in London) so I thought I might do something cultural with the afternoon myself. I looked at the website for the London Film Festival, expecting it to all be sold out but was surprised to find a screening this afternoon with tickets available. And the film sounded right up my street. A Spanish film called 'Mataharis' about three female detectives. I could believe my luck so bought a ticket on Friday. Unfortunately, today comes along with a stinking cold and going out in the rain is the last thing I want to do, but I've got the ticket already so off I go.

The introduction prior to the film given by someone from the British Film Institute talked about the film's look at society and some other such things that made it sound terribly worthy and dull. I wasn't in the mood for unflinching protraits of women's role in society - I had come for detectives! But the film rose above my misgivings.

Set in present day Madrid, it followed the lives of three detectives who work for the same agency run by an uncompassionate male boss. Eva is a mother of two young children, who has recently returned to work. Her story is mainly about the off-duty detecting she does when she suspects her own husband of having an affair. Carmen has been following the business partner of a man who suspects they are doing extra work behind his back, only to discover that the business partner is actually having an affair with the client's wife. Away from work, she is struggling in a love-less marriage. Ines goes undercover in a major corporation, where she is expected to report on the union activity but inadvertantly falls in love with one of the main subjects.

All in all, not much detective work was actually done. It was more about relationships with each woman representing a different stage in a love affair. But it was a beautiful film, it has a wonderful lyrical quality to it that Spanish films often do. I was glad I had ventured out into the rain to see it.

Rooting for the Bad Guy

When looking for the Talking Heads clip, I came across this quote from David Byrne about his inspiration for the song, Psycho Killer:

"Both the Joker and Hannibal Lecter were much more fascinating than the good guys. Everybody sort of roots for the bad guys in movies"

I understand why many actors prefer playing the bad guy, as it is more of a challenge than playing a bland goodie and I've also worried about what it says of me that I enjoy crimes so much - but actually rooting for the bad guy takes this further. So I started to wonder, do I ever root for the bad guy?

Unfortunately I think the answer is 'Yes, sometimes'.


Moral ambiguity is integral to both The Wire and The Sopranos, and are designed to make you identify with what would traditionally be a baddie. There would be no point in watching the Sopranos if you didn't like Tony at all and the same is true of the drug dealers in The Wire. So I don't think these count.


But I have sometimes rooted for the bad guy when they are definitely the all round baddie.

The most recent case was watching 'Dial M for Murder' the other week. Ray Milland was just so charismatic that I really wanted him to get away with it. Grace Kelly, I didn't care about one way or another. Or was that Hitchcock's intention with his love of making his blondes suffer?

Whilst I do love Columbo, it does sometimes get on my nerves that he solves the case so easily, that he immediately instictively knows who the culprit is. So sometimes while he plays his cat-and-mouse games with the murderer, I do want them to get away with it. Just for once. Especially if its an episode I've seen before, I hope that somehow it may have an alternative ending.


Watching Profiler, the main character did get annoy me and I was bored with watching the show and wanted it over with, so often found myself hoping that Jack of All Trades would hurry up and do her in. I kind of got into it towards the end, but then the first series finished, and I was still none the wiser about his identity and haven't seen any more of it. So I still wish he'd have finished the job off.

But then there are some shows where I always want the good guys to win - Morse, Monk and the Law & Order lot, so perhaps there is hope for me yet.

Song of the Week: Talking Heads "Psycho Killer"

The first in a possible series.

It really doesn't get much better than this - a song which combines a few of my favourite things; New Wave, New York (David Byrne is so New York despite not actually being born there) and fictional serial killers.

Hearing this after a drink or two, I am liable to do a side-to-side swaying New Wave guitar playing dance & mouthing along to the 'fa fa fa fa fa' bit. Embarrassing I know.

Eleven Months of Viewing

So what have I been watching in the eleven months since I last updated?

• Several series of Law & Order SUV (now my favourite L&O series)
• Quite a bit of regular Law & Order but I'm less keen on it without the legal powerhouse that is Stone
• A couple of random episode of Homicide Life on the Street which spurred me to buy the first season on DVD. I'm now waiting eagerly for the second season to arrive from Amazon
• The fourth season of The Wire - it did not disappoint.
• The final season of the Sopranos (another illicit copy)
• Four seasons of The Shield - its awful, it makes me feel cheap
• A few episodes of Adam Adamant Lives (really once you've seen one, you've seen them all)
• Six big series of Waking the Dead
• One episode of Medium
• Probably a smattering of Monk, Columbo, Diagnosis Murder etc in the mix

Career Change?

I have thought about becoming a detective.

On more than one occasion. Even as an adult.

Putting aside childhood aspirations based on Red Hand Gang, Captain Caveman or Scooby Doo, my first proper thoughts about becoming a detective were raised by a programme that, rather shamefully, I now can't remember the name of.

I think it was a BBC programme (British anyway) and it was about two sisters-in-law who set up their own detective agency, after one of them used a private investigator to follow her husband who was having an affair. Newly liberated by her divorce and hoping to help other women in similar situations, she pairs up with her sister-in-law (whose circumstances I've forgotten - widowed perhaps?) under the guidance of the dishy detective who helped her. In the second (and I think final) series, the sister-in-law had gone and it was just the one woman.

I've tried searching for it on the internet, but Google has failed me. I know the title was the same surname twice with an 'and' e.g. Smith and Smith. I can't remember any of the stars or character names either.

But this show more than any other made me think it would be possible for me to be a detective. I even went so far as to look up local detective agencies in the Yellow Pages.

However, there were two things holding me back (besides not having a sister-in-law to go into business with and a handsome mentor):

1) I couldn't drive (and still can't). This makes following a suspect difficult - car chases would be somewhat one sided if I was on foot.
2) I'm terrible at recognising people. It wasn't just that I needed glasses (which I now have) but I just don't recognise people out of the context in which I'm used to seeing them. I walked past my own mother in the street once - I was only used to seeing her in our house. I'm rubbish at the picture round in pub quizzes and I've failed to recognise Kathleen Turner on five occasions (once in person, the rest on screen or in a picture). Again, this would make missing person work rather tricky.

I am incredibly persceptive and intuitive, but alas these skills are going to waste as I lack the more practical skills necessary for a career as a PI.

(I also look rubbish in a trenchcoat)

Confessions of a Detective Show Junkie

I'm obsessed with detective programmes. I never tire of watching them, although I am starting to find that I've already seen most episodes of Columbo and Perry Mason.

I will watch any crime-related programmes - I like private investigators and police, but don't mind if the sleuthing is done by doctors, lawyers, authors or busybodies.

I like the grim 'n' gritty ones that make you question your faith in humanity - Cracker, Waking the Dead, Taggart, Morse. But also like the light-hearted ones - Monk, Diagnosis Murder, Moonlighting etc.

I am slightly concerned that I do prefer 'a good murder' to other sorts of crimes, as it is a rather morbid, but I will watch other types of crimes - as I said I'm not fussy.