#avenuesofexpression

The short answer is: I don’t know, really. It probably started with Sherlock Holmes, because I’d read the books when I was younger, seen some episodes of the Granada series with Jeremy Brett and watched many of the gazillion films whenever they were on telly. I also watched and loved shows like Life on Mars, but I don’t think it was the crime angle that interested me about all of it? There is this hugely popular German crime drama called Tatort (‘crime scene’) and it’s basically an institution, people (including my parents and many of my friends) watch it religiously every Sunday. But I didn’t like it at all, I just couldn’t get into it, so for a very long time I thought that meant that the whole genre wasn’t for me.

And then BBC Sherlock came along, and it took something I loved and made it new and modern in a way that maybe shifted the focus a bit from everything else to the things that were happening? I’m not sure how to explain that lmao I think I had always loved the Victorian setting of the Sherlock Holmes stories as much as the characters, and the plots had always kind of taken the back seat, but with Sherlock I found that the plots were pretty exciting as well? I enjoyed them a lot (and tbh at least some of the credit has to go to Andrew Scott’s Moriarty, because damn what a flawlessly layered, deeply fascinating antagonist), in series one and two anyway.

So during the hiatus after series one I started watching Whitechapel, Lewis and Inspector George Gently, all of which I can recommend, lol. And if you’re following my blog you probably noticed at some point that I’ve helplessly fallen into Endeavour, which is without any doubt one of the most high quality programmes on television right now. It’s set in Oxford in the 60s and because I came across it by accident, I didn’t know at the time that it was a sort of prequel to Inspector Morse, which in turn had been a prequel to Lewis. They’re all based on Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse novels (which have subsequently broken my heart, again). So yeah, I can definitely recommend all of these shows (and books), but you should be aware that they come with a lot of feels and you will probably cry. A lot.

Let’s see, more recommendations, hmm. Apart from many, many Sherlock Holmes films, there is of course Elementary, which I feel like is something of a compromise between the various CSI shows and Sherlock Holmes? I enjoy it though, and it’s probably the only American crime show that I’m watching atm (oh, and NBC’s Hannibal, but I guess that isn’t for everyone). Then there is Luther, another BBC series that will break your heart, and Broadchurch, and Ripper Street if you’re into the Victorian setting at all. Also BBC Shetland (based on the novels by Ann Cleeves and obviously set on the Shetland Isles), and an Australian series called Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. It has a woman sleuth solving murders in 1920’s Australia and I liked it, but I feel like it’s a much more light-hearted entertainment than the other shows. Oh, and a bit unconventional but really, really good (and funny and insightful) is A touch of cloth, which is a sort of comedy, but also idk an almost satirical meta view of crime shows on television in general?