Let’s just face it, Persephoneers, it’s hot out. I bet it’s hotter than the center circle of hell in Dante’s Inferno. And who wants to go outside when it’s this hot? Better to sit inside with the A/C on full blast, pour yourself a glass of lemonade (or summer shandy), and fire up the DVD player for this four-hour block of well-used TV time.
Julian Fellowes, of Downton Abbey and Gosford Park fame, wrote and produced a five-part documentary series called A Most Mysterious Murder in 2004. He examines five unsolved murders that have occurred in Great Britain or its colonies and offers his theories as to the murderer was and why. And to top it off, we get to play Spot the British Actor (oh, look, it’s Michael Fassbender!).
The episodes are listed as follows:
- Episode 1: “The Case of Charles Bravo”
- Episode 2: “The Case of Rose Harsent”
- Episode 3: “The Case of George Henry Storrs”
- Episode 4: “The Case of the Earl of Carroll”
- Episode 5: “The Case of the Croydon Poisonings”
Fellowes provides very detailed information about each case, and he even takes a further look at evidence that police may have overlooked. Of course, some of his reasoning comes from pure speculation, but his conclusions are almost always logical. This is no glitzy, glittering CSI treatment. This is Julian Fellowes realizing the times and places of these crimes and trying to get to the bottom of what happened. And as we watch the reenactments unfold, Fellowes is always there like an unseen, all-knowing phantom, watching as all parties involved in the murders go through the moments of their lives without any inkling of what’s going to happen.
The series can be found on Netflix over here in the United States. Add it to your queue for your Fellowes fix before Downton Abbey comes back
5 replies on “Well-Used TV Time: Julian Fellowes’s “A Most Mysterious Murder””
Looks great. Â Should hold me over until the next season of Downton Abbey!
Ooooh, this looks good.
For shame! Maybe my library has this. Or The Internet.
You Tube.
Oooh, merci Linotte.