Crimes and murders shows I actually like
In honour of Deadloch returning to our screens this month. Though it's hardly been off our particular screen. Must have watched that show seven times now.
I've said many times I dislike crimes and murders police procedural stuff. Not my cup of tea at all. And yet. My two favourite things on TV currently? Crimes and murders police procedural stuff. My favourite TV shows historically? A whole lot of crimes and murders police procedural stuff. What can I say? Massive hypocrite obviously.
In my defence, there's so much crimes and murders that inevitably some of it is going to be terrible and some is going to be amazing. That's just statistics. I maintain my stance I don't like it because I dislike the vast majority of it. There must be two hundred crime mystery police procedural shows available at any given moment and I like two: one percent.
Which two?
Slow Horses. Rightly extremely popular so there's not much more I can add to what you've no doubt already read if not watched. Spectacularly British and extremely funny.
Then there's Deadloch. Extremely Australian and spectacularly funny.
Deadloch is such an amazing satire of crimes and murders mystery police procedural stuff that I assumed it would kill them. You can't make them any more - Deadloch happened. Deadloch murdered them in their beds. Deadloch ripped the Aussie piss out of them. Genre-ending, I thought (hoped.)
When I say 'right now' I mean current. Ongoing. Slow Horses had its fifth season last year, new season later this year. Deadloch season two is later this very month.
Also, RIP Poker Face. Poker Face was great because it treated the locals with respect and dignity and care. Which most shows like it do not. Charlie actually cares about people and wants to help them. She has her own problems and they aren't the typical grizzled alcoholic detective ones. It's also a case-a-week, which is now a nice change.
Every so often when my wife and I are watching a bad crimes and murders show we turn to each other and say, "We could be watching Scott and Bailey right now." So we do.
Obviously I don't know but Scott and Bailey feels like a more realistic depiction of actual police work. As in, the actual work. Meetings and assignments and cataloguing evidence and doing risk assessments and having to co-operate with other departments because you are professionals getting a serious job done, not babies throwing dummies out of prams.
Goodness knows I have bones to pick with Sally Wainwright but Happy Valley is good too so now a third of this post is about her shows. Whoops.
One of my all time favourite TV shows, top five, is Bletchley Circle. The pitch is usually "1950s housewives solving crimes" and it is but also it very much isn't. Housewives is used in the pejorative (also most of them aren't) when the point is that everyone (even 'housewives'!) have stories, skills, and heroism.
It's no coincidence that two of the six shows I mention here aren't 'police' shows, more citizen-detective. Doing what the police can't - or won't. I know the Slow Horses aren't technically the police but they are the Long Arm of the Law. This stuff has to be watched with scepticism and a certain amount of detachment. We do not glorify law enforcement in this house. The very concept of 'should this awful stuff be used as entertainment' is what puts me off most of the genre.
Still. I'm excited for Deadloch.