I can’t accuse Murder Most Puzzling of being a complete rip-off, since it is adapted from a pre-existing sequence of crime novels by American author Parnell Hall. But at the same time, it’s hard not to conclude that the success of the BBC series has convinced 5 that there might be something to this puzzler-catches-the-criminals premise.
Charlotte Hope as Sherry Carter (Photo: Channel 5/Factual Fiction)
She’s a two-dimensional, nosy neighbour type, who seems to have wandered in from a lesser Agatha Christie mystery. Logan’s cheery performance is a poor fit for what is otherwise a relatively grounded tale of death stalking the English countryside, with the killer leaving the bodies of his victims in a graveyard with a line from a crossword puzzle teasingly attached.
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A plot twist halfway through goes some way towards explaining Felton’s over-the-top behaviour. But that then just leads to further questions regarding her crime-solving abilities – and her assistant’s comparative uselessness at the same.
Richard Croxford as Mayor Firth (Photo: Channel 5/Factual Fiction)
The supporting cast seems torn between the two leading performances – Logan’s broad-strokes Jessica Fletcher routine and Hope’s grittier turn. As Detective Chief Inspector Derek Hooper, Adam Best is bumbling one moment and angsty the next. Likewise, pesky local reporter Anton Grant (Alistair Brammer) shifts halfway through from being a muckraking hack with an ambivalent relationship with the truth to a hunky love interest. The only one who does well with the limited material is former Dancing with the Stars Ireland contestant Yasmin Seky, who has bundles of charisma playing a manipulative solicitor.
In its defence, the solution to the central murder mystery is well thought through and difficult to predict. But it is too little, too late for a programme that, despite its literary origins, never amounts to much beyond a ham-handed Ludwig pastiche, minus the comedic charm. Sorry to say, it puts the “Zzzzzz” in puzzle.
‘Murder Most Puzzling’ continues next Thursday at 8pm on 5
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