Showing posts with label Fred Thursday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fred Thursday. Show all posts

Friday, September 16, 2022

Murder in Provence

Earlier this year I watched all the episodes of Endeavour that have currently been released. The biggest joy of watching the prequel to Inspector Morse is Roger Allam as Fred Thursday. So obviously once I had watched all the episodes of Endeavour I started having severe Roger Allam withdrawal. The Morse withdrawals were staved off by moving directly onto an Inspector Morse rewatch. Thankfully BritBox came to the rescue for all my Allam needs with the timely release of Murder in Provence, an adaptation of the Verlaque and Bonnet series by M.L. Longworth. Allam is still firmly in the crime solving genre, but he's traded in his trademark mac and fedora for blue suits and skies. And as for his day of the week sandwiches? They have been upgraded to fresh seafood and delectable French cuisine. This is a series as much about the lifestyle of Provence as it is about the crime solving. Which brings me to one of the main criticisms of the show by reviewers, and that's it's a show about France, set in France, and yet where are the French actors? It's like the stable of British actors who appear in murder mysteries were just given trips to Provence instead of French actors being found. And while yes, I can agree with this criticism, I have two rejoinders, it could have been worse, with the British actors putting on French accents, and Roger Allam. This show got made because of his star power. It's not blind luck that this show actually crashed BritBox when it premiered. This wouldn't have happened with a French cast, which is just a sad truth. But seeing so many actors who have been on Endeavour and Father Brown in different roles with their old costars is just comforting. Which is what this show is, a comforting murder mystery, with a little more style and substance than most. Though what I really connected to was the relationship of Antoine Verlaque and Marine Bonnet as played by Roger Allam and Nancy Carroll respectively. They are an older couple who are unmarried and yet have a fruitful relationship surrounded by quirky friends and family. I defy you not to love Marine's communist mother and Didier Laurent AKA Dirk Gently by another name. But going back to their mature relationship, they have real conversations, about health issues like prostates and menopause. And yes, I feel like it ages me saying that these conversations add some weight to the show, but it's refreshing seeing these subjects handled in a matter of fact way amongst all the other issues of a crime solving life. Even if Nancy Carroll is far younger than you would guess!

Friday, September 8, 2017

Endeavour

By including Endevour I'm kind of bending the rules as to book adaptations. But seriously, I couldn't leave off a show of such brilliant acting and atmosphere even if it's really a prequel to an adaptation. Endeavour follows the career of a young Inspector Morse, who was created by the wonderful Colin Dexter and brought to life by John Thaw for over twenty years starting in the late eighties. Inspector Morse was so loved and so iconic that a sequel centering on his second in command, Robbie Lewis, soon came about and after nine stellar seasons the only logical solution to fill this Morse sized hole in the viewing schedule was a prequel, until the inevitable Hathaway spinoff that is! What makes Endeavour so wonderful, aside from the casting, the music, the scripts, the locations, the little references for die hard fans, is that it's a period piece! It's almost like someone looked into my head and saw that by combining my love of period drama and my love of Inspector Morse it could result in the perfect show. Set in Oxford during the sixties the golden hues on the screen just call back to a more innocent time that was simultaneously in upheaval. And while many people will rightly point to Roger Allam's portrayal of Fred Thursday, Morse's boss, as the star, I say look to the subtle performance of Shaun Evans as the titular character, he is the glue that keeps it all together.

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