The 'Other Detectives' Lounge

[HerlockSholmes]

I think you mean this Arcadia.

 

 

[Arcadia]

So what is that from? (And why does the narrator say "Sherlock" in such a weird way? )

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I take it to be a fan video.  The text is from John's old online blog.  The narrator appears to be someone "doing" Martin Freeman's John Watson voice (and coming fairly close a good bit of the time). 

[Arcadia]

Ah.

So Moftiss didn't borrow it from Doyle? Or the other guy whose name I've already forgotten?   Carr.

ETA: I just found this ... somehow missed it before ... which answers my question. Never mind!  

Hmm, for some reason I can't quote it, hence the link.

On 6/5/2019 at 9:28 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

I don't offhand recall that being one of Holmes's untold cases (not that I'm any expert), nor does Google turn up much except references to Carr's book -- which was published in 1935, so it's apparently a classic in itself; therefore I'd hazard a guess that the Moftisses were alluding to it, just as they've often done to The Private Life of SH.

 

 

Edited February 7 by Carol the Dabbler
Added the quote (from earlier in this thread)

[Carol the Dabbler]

I suspect that Moftiss did sort of borrow the name from Carr, though they changed "The Hollow Man" to "The Hollow Client."

@HerlockSholmes  Can you tell us whether John's blog entry bears any resemblance to the actual plot of Carr's novel?

[HerlockSholmes]

17 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I suspect that Moftiss did sort of borrow the name from Carr, though they changed "The Hollow Man" to "The Hollow Client."

@HerlockSholmes  Can you tell us whether John's blog entry bears any resemblance to the actual plot of Carr's novel?

I can’t Carol sorry. I’ve only read the first book Hag’s Nook. The Hollow Man is one of the radio shows on YouTube though. I’ll try and have a listen to this one over the weekend and let you know.

[HerlockSholmes]

I’ve just listened to The Hollow Man and it’s totally unconnected.

Sad as I am I still got a Holmes connection. Apart from the Donald Sinden version of Gideon Fell there was another radio play starring Norman Shelley as Fell. Norman Shelley played Watson on the radio for years to Carlton Hobbs’ Holmes.

ok so the chances of that ever being a useful piece of knowledge in a quiz is fairly minimal but you never know.😃

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'm trying to identify a book I read maybe 20 years ago (presumably having borrowed it from the library), and liked well enough that I also read it aloud to Alex.  It was some sort of light mystery novel, British I think, and the sleuth was female, but neither of us can recall the title, the author, or even very much of the plot.  In fact all either of us can remember specifically is the recurring phrase "... and other similar shrubberies."

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

[Hikari]

Recent discovery and the reason I finally broke down and signed up for BritBox…

MCDONALD AND DODDS Starring Jason Watkins and Tala Gouveia

If you watch Netflix’s The Crown, you may recognize Jason Watkins as PM Harold Wilson in Season 3.  His part was not huge, but his scenes with Elizabeth (Olivia Coleman) were a highlight of the season for me.  So I was delighted to hear that Jason continues in work as the co-lead(he takes first billing) Opposite newcomer Tala Gouveia.  The show is up to its third season, but the runs are brief, only two or three episodes each. So it didn’t take long to catch up.  Watkins demonstrates his character actor prowess as he inhabits a completely different character here in both looks and manner to Harold Wilson.  Indeed, so different is he that unless you recognize his name, you might not know he’s the same guy.

Ambitious high-flyer Lauren McDonald left the London Met for the picturesque spa city of Bath In order to take a promotion to DCI.  She is very young for the post, and anxious to prove herself.  She gets assigned mild mannered socially awkward Detective Sergeant Dodds (no first name given) Who has been riding a desk and out of the field for the past 11 years.  The top brass hope to get the new DCI to encourage Dodds to take early retirement by showing him he can’t handle field work any more.  DS Dodds surprises everyone, including his DCI by being a quiet quirky deducing machine, with a  specialty in research and a prodigious ability to absorb new information fast.  McDonald is the mouth and the extrovert bluster fronting this team, but Dodds is the brain and the soul of deduction.  This partnership is what Conan Doyle’s might’ve looked like if Holmes and Watson had switched personalities—and if one of them was a woman.

In an already overstuffed genre field, this show distinguishes itself with its inventive casting and its gorgeous location—Bath has not been featured before in a detective drama.  The tone is more akin to Midsomer Murders than Inspector Morse or Vera.   I felt that the 90-minute running time per episode was too long, as the cases didn’t have enough heft to warrant that length.  So there was a lot of extraneous padding which made for slow going at times.  I think the show might have been slightly more successful as a 60 minute drama, allowing for six episodes per season rather than three. I would definitely enjoy seeing more opportunities for DS Dodds to flex his stuff.

[Carol the Dabbler]

17 hours ago, Hikari said:

The top brass hope to get the new DCI to encourage Dodds to take early retirement by showing him he can’t handle field work any more.  DS Dodds surprises everyone, including his DCI by being a quiet quirky deducing machine, with a  specialty in research and a prodigious ability to absorb new information fast.

Sounds like a good premise for an entertaining show.  Maybe I'll spring for the DVDs one of these days.  Amazon (US) has them, so I assume they're also available in the UK for people like me who A] don't have high-speed internet service, and/or B] want a copy that they can rely on re-watching years and years from now.

 

[Hikari]

4 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Sounds like a good premise for an entertaining show.  Maybe I'll spring for the DVDs one of these days.  Amazon (US) has them, so I assume they're also available in the UK for people like me who A] don't have high-speed internet service, and/or B] want a copy that they can rely on re-watching years and years from now.

 

You might luck into a PBS broadcast or find the DVDs at your library.  The show is a hit for ITV and a fourth season has been commissioned and is probably shooting as I write.  I notice that most of these detective shows that go on location tend to shoot in the summer months.   S3 was supposed to have 4 episodes but I only see 3 listed.  Either the last episode got delayed or it got scrapped altogether.  The second season was interrupted by Covid and may have also affected the schedule for the following year.  I wouldn’t call it a necessary purchase but seeing Jason Watkins as Dodds is not to be missed.

Tala Gouveia said there was some pushback against the show being too woke because she,  black woman of Portuguese descent was cast as the lead.   Technically Watkins is the star, even though his character defers to hers.  More woke than a black DCI is a gay Detective Superintendent who is obliged to mention’my husband’ in every scene he’s in.  

Bath is on the bucket list.  It makes a refreshing change from London.