This summer I have been watching movies that Angela Lansbury starred in or co-starred. This week I watched my last movie for this particular event.
Up next will be Comfy, Cozy Cinema for autumn with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. The list of movies we are watching is at the bottom of this post.
On Wednesday, I decided the movie I had picked all the way back at the beginning of this marathon wasn’t really something I was interested in at all. I had not looked the movie up or watched anything about it before I picked it and I should have. So, instead, I decided to cap off my Angela Lansbury movie watching marathon with a TV movie from the show that made her a household name — Murder, She Wrote.
When Murder, She Wrote was canceled in 1996, Angela Lansbury and loyal fans of the show were heartbroken. Lansbury was also angry and disappointed. One thing that soothed the shocking blow was when CBS agreed to make a series of TV movies featuring the character to appease Lansbury and fans.
Sadly, none of the movies took place in Cabot Cove with the original cast, but they at least featured Angela as Jessica.
The last of those movies, The Celtic Riddle, which I chose to watch for this week, aired in 2003.
I thought it was interesting that Angela’s son, Anthony Shaw, was the director and producer for all four of the films. This movie was also dedicated to the memory of Peter Shaw, Jessica’s husband, who died that same year. I thought it was also interesting that Amazon just put the movie up this past week. Perfect timing for me!
Here is a bit of description from online: Intrepid investigator Jessica Fletcher travels to Ireland to attend the reading of an old friend’s will, but a series of murders which follow have the police baffled. Jessica realizes that the will contains clues to the whereabouts of a secret treasure, as well as pointing to the real killer.
In the beginning of the movie, Jessica arrives at a mansion in a taxi and then rushes inside to the will reading. She sits down and receives several glares from the others in attendance. It’s clear she is not welcome but we don’t know yet why or even who the people are.
We slowly begin to learn about the family as a man gives his last will and testament on a video on a TV at the front of the room. The man has an Irish accent and it’s soon clear we — er, Jessica I mean — is now in Ireland.
There is a woman wearing sunglasses who looks sour, another sour-looking woman next to her, a free-spirited girl with a tortoise, a youngish man with spiked hair who is glaring, another young man, an older man who is drinking from a flask, a nervous-looking housekeeper, and another man who is sort of plain.
Each of those people will later either become suspects or victims after the man who passed away — Eamon Byrne — has his lawyer give each of them an envelope with a clue inside that will lead them to a treasure. His hope seems to be that they will work together to find out the meaning of the clues. That will be hard to do when each person seems to have a gripe against another person in the group.
The people in the room, it turns out, are his lawyer, his two daughters, his one daughter’s (Breeta’s) boyfriend, a man who wants to be Breeta’s boyfriend, a drunk man, and the housekeeper (Nora).
They will all have to join forces to find the treasure but before that can happen people in the group start dropping like flies. The saddest murder to me was the last one but I won’t spoil why.
Jessica isn’t very welcomed by the family and she especially isn’t welcome when Eamon leaves her Rose Cottage for once saving his life when he was visiting Cabot Cove. This is a small cottage on the property but not the main house, which his called, fittingly, Second Chance.
The problem is that Breeta (Sarah Jane-Potts) is living in Rose Cottage to be away from her money and power-hungry family members. While she’s at first hostile toward Jessica for being given the cottage, they eventually become friends as they try to figure out Breeta’s father’s riddle and who is killing people off.
An aside: The little cottage reminded me of the house my elderly friend Rev. Reynolds and his wife Maud lived in. Rev. Reynolds built his home to look just like an Irish cottage since he was from Northern Ireland. It was so cozy and warm. I loved visiting them there (except when he had another project for me) It brings tears to my eyes to think of it and the memories there. I’m so glad another couple is living there now and keeping the cozy feel of it alive. I need to go visit them soon since I met them through Rev. Reynolds.
Anyhow…back to the show:
The lead inspector in this movie, by the way, was quite amused by Jessica’s suspicions and deductions after the first murder. He looked like he was about to burst into laughter as she laid out her theory.
He seemed to think it was super cute that this old lady mystery writer thought the man might have been hit on the head. I really liked the actor — Timothy V. Murphy. I thought he played the part perfectly. I felt like he was saying in his mind, “Aw..she’s so cute. The mystery writer thinks she knows how to solve a real crime.”
(Excuse the reproduction here – it’s from my computer because there were not a lot of images online from the movie.)
Of course he had to eat his words when it turned out she was right and from then on, he treated her gently and seemed to want to take care of her and also believe every theory she had.
This video is also from my laptop so not the best reproduction:
The Irish accents in this were on point which made me look up the actors to see if they were actually Irish. With names like Cyril O’Reilly, Timothy Murphy, and Fionnula Flanagan how could they not have been Irish? I didn’t have time to research each actor but most of them did seem to actually be Irish and from Ireland.
I did recognize Fionnula Flanagan, but I’m not sure from what. I must have seen her in something or other, though. It will come to me eventually.
As in any Murder, She Wrote episode there were moments where I was like, “Well, that was a stupid move!” Like at one point Jessica runs out the door in the middle of her and Breeta and Breeta’s boyfriend, Paddy, (Cyril O’Reilly) brainstorming who the murderer is and she just says, “Wait here. I’m going to check something out.”
I literally said to the screen: “Jessica! Tell them where you are going! You can’t just run off places alone. That’s dangerous and you’re an old lady now!”
That’s the thing about these mystery shows —someone is always doing something dumb and the characters and us viewers just shrug it off like it is normal — well, after we yell at them of course. *wink*.
Also, Breeta’s boyfriend looked waaay too old for her. Like he could have been her dad old. When I looked up the actors, he was indeed 20 years older than her. Ick.
I feel bad in some ways, that Angela Lansbury, an Oscar-nominated actress, chose to be in these movies. They apparently didn’t have much of a budget because the rocks in the one scene were so clearly fake. Like plastic or Styrofoam fake. Eeek. Angela Lansbury loved Murder, She Wrote, though, and she liked the escape it gave people so I know that’s why she agreed to do them. I like watching the reruns for the same reason. She really gave us a gift by playing Jessica, even is she knew it wasn’t always “great TV” exactly.
Excuse the reproduction here – it’s from my computer because there were not a lot of images online from the movie.
Despite all those weird little quirks and fake rocks in the movie, the story itself and the acting wasn’t too bad.
I will say I guessed the killer about ten minutes into the show because of his expressions (smiling and five seconds later frowning menacingly) but the mystery may be harder for you. They did a good job of dropping red herrings throughout the show to distract me and others, though.
I don’t know that I’d watch this again and again or even … again once, but it was a fun little escape, much like the show. I think this autumn I might watch the other movies and see what I think of those too.
But for now, this is the end of my Summer of Angela.
If you’d like to read what I thought of the other movies I chose you can find the links to them here:
If you were to ask me which ones from this list were my favorites I’d have to say Gaslight and The Manchurian Candidate. The biggest surprise for me was The Pirates of Penzance and the films that made me forget Angela as Jessica Fletcher was The Manchurian Candidate followed by A Life at Stake and then The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Up next, Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I will be watching movies for Comfy, Cozy Cinema. Yes, we do know those two words are pretty much the same word and, no, we don’t care if that bothers anyone. *wink*
Here is the list of what we will be watching and the dates we will be writing about those movies:
You can also find impressions of movies we watched in the past Comfy, Cozy Cinemas HERE.
Have you ever seen this TV movie? What did you think of it?
Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.
You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.
“Well, if I was going to write about you, you’d have to tell me. I’d have to know where you live, whether you’re married or not, what you have for breakfast, what you do on your day off. That’s why people read murder stories.”
“Is that what you think?”
“Yes!”
He shook his head. “I don’t agree. The word is murder. That’s what matters.”
~ The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
Angela Lansbury was almost 60 years old when she decided she wanted to do something other than theater and movies, which had comprised the entirety of her acting career up to that point.
She told her agent she wanted to get involved in television and he began to put feelers out for television shows that might work for her.
What came back from producers was very disappointing for Angela. Scripts submitted suggested she play the maid or housekeeper in an ensemble piece.
“When I got them, I was really pissed off,” Angela said in an interview with the Archive of American Television. “Well, jiminy, I’ve been working all these years in theater and movies and I don’t have a q-rating but I certainly have a little bit of a reputation for someone who knows how to do what I do, which is act. And I sent them back and I said, ‘do you mean to tell me that I’ve been working in the theater, getting ten percent of the gross and keeping the curtains up, for 15 years in New York and you’re going to offer — is that what you call a television opportunity for me at my age?”
Only a week later she received two scripts. One was for a comedy, that turned out not to be her cup of tea, so to speak. The other was for Murder, She Wrote.
When Angela read about Jessica Fletcher, she felt Jessica’s role was something she could connect with and contribute to.
Angela portrayed Jessica for 12 years starting in 1984 and during those years she once said that her show helped keep CBS afloat during some very lean years, especially in the 1980s and early 1990s when the network’s only other “big show” was 60 Minutes.
Murder, She Wrote topped the ratings week after week, year after year. In fact, it was the top-rated drama series for nine consecutive seasons.
Today the show is streaming on various services. It can be found in reruns on regular TV/cable and there are, of course, DVD collections. Fans of the show haven’t waned but merely grown up or are newly discovering it.
But what made a show about a middle-aged mystery writer turned amateur sleuth successful for so long?
Was it the quirky reoccurring characters, the simple and fairly clean mysteries, the fact it offered middle-America a much-needed escape from the trials of life, or Angela’s portrayal of Jessica?
The answer is simple.
It was all of these things. With Angela’s portrayal leading the way.
Murder, She Wrote was (or shall we say still is) the epitome of a cozy mystery show.
Sure, there was murder, but the show still managed to keep the crime and investigation fairly light. There was no-graphic violence, little to no obscenities and no on-screen sex. That isn’t to say that the topics presented or discussed weren’t a bit dark or uncomfortable, but writers and producers approached them in a way that was digestible to audiences of all backgrounds and most ages.
Viewers could tune in each week and watch Jessica solve a crime all while interacting in a caring, yet firm, way with her neighbors, family members (how many nieces and nephews can woman have?!), and strangers. For the first few years of the show episodes happened in the fictional town of Cabot Cove, Maine.
That’s right. Cabot Cove was not a real town. I hope I didn’t ruin that for anyone, but, yes, the exterior scenes for Cabot Cove were actually filmed in Mendocino, California.
Before Murder, She Wrote, Angela, born Angela Brigid Lansbury, acted on stage and in the theater. She began her acting career after her family moved to New York from London in 1940 to escape The Blitz during World War II. Angela was 15 at the time, and by 16, she was looking for acting jobs. Her mother was British actress Moyna MacGill so she knew a little bit about acting.
“Moyna found work on Broadway, and Angela studied drama until, after two years, they decamped to Los Angeles,” states an article by Holly Brubach in The Gentlewoman Magazine. “Moyna was on tour at the time, so it was left to Angela to organise the move – packing and closing the apartment, making travel arrangements for herself and her brothers. She was 16, pretending to be 19.”
Angela, known by her family as Brigid, started acting out scenes shortly after the age of 9 after her father died from stomach cancer. She needed a way to cope from the shock of his loss. Her mother later remarried and it was with her stepfather and mother and twin brothers that she moved to New York.
In 1942, at the age of 18, she signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and in the next 20 years she was nominated for three Academy Awards — Gaslight (1944 and the her first movie!), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), and The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
Then, when others didn’t see her as a leading lady, it was on to Broadway where she started collecting Tony Awards including, four for Best Actress in a Musical for her performances in Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1975), and Sweeney Todd (1979), followed by a win for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Blithe Spirit (2009). She was Tony-nominated for her roles in Deuce (2007) and A Little Night Music (2010). She won the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2022.
Other films she acted in (or voice acted in) included Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), Death on the Nile (1978), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Anastasia (1997), Nanny McPhee (2005) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018).
With all that success on stage and in movies, some in the industry might have considered Angela’s desire to have a role on television a step down. She, however, didn’t. Television was something new for her. She’d done everything else already.
She wasn’t sure what to expect from television, and she liked that. In the end, it was an amazing move for her career. Her portrayal of Jessica was what would shoot her to global fame.
Angela once described Jessica Fletcher as “the American Miss Marple”, which is fitting since it was an Agatha Christie movie that gave CBS executives the idea for Murder, She Wrote.
“CBS was getting beaten badly on Sunday nights,” Robert F. O’Neill, supervising producer, said on a special about Murder, She Wrote that ran after the show ended. “And in desperation, they ran an Agatha Christie movie, and I think it was Murder on the Orient Express, I’m not sure. And lo and behold it beat NBC and ABC. So they initially thought it might have been a fluke. A few weeks later, they purchased another Agatha Christie-type movie, and the same thing happened.”
Executives then began to wonder how a similar-style mystery show might do in that time slot. Harvey Shepard, the senior vice president of programming at CBS, floated the idea of the mystery show featuring a woman as the lead, which was unusual, according to show co-creator William Link, who spoke on the same special as O’Neill.
“Dick Levinson (other co-creator) and I were surprised because usually there hadn’t been any big hits with a woman protagonist carrying the series,” Link said. “Usually, the woman was bailed out by all the male associates she had. We figured if we are going to do a mystery show with a woman, it isn’t going to be like that.”
Once the script was written for the first show, creators had to find an actress that CBS would accept as Jessica Fletcher. When Jessica’s name came to them, Link and Levinson, self-described “theater nuts” were thrilled, but figured CBS executives might never have heard of her, which meant they might reject her.
Luckily, the executives loved Angela because from the start, she made it known how she thought Jessica should be portrayed — from what she wore to how she spoke to how she lived her life.
Angela protected Jessica fiercely over the next 12 years, striving to keep her as a strong, independent woman, rejecting a suggestion she get into a relationship and get married during the show’s run. Jessica was a widow from the start of the show. She was faithful to her husband Frank even after his death, always rejecting any men’s advances gently, but firmly. She wore a locket around her neck in Frank’s memory and often spoke of him.
If writers wrote something Angela knew Jessica wouldn’t say, she went to them and insisted they change that part of the dialogue.
“How much of Jessica Fletcher is Angela Lansbury?” asked one show writer Tom Sawyer (real name!) in an interview. “I would say cumulatively, a lot. Whether or not you start out writing the character to be like the actor, they tend to meld. When you start to get to know that person you tend to write to their strengths, to who they are.”
Many of those involved with the show agreed with Sawyer that much of who Jessica Fletcher became was shaped by who Angela was.
“I hope I share a lot of her traits,” Angela said in the same interview as Sawyer. “I certainly was brought up to conduct myself a certain way, so I suppose I bring that to her.”
Where is the real Cabot Cove?
Getting back to that little town Jessica lived in. Rumors have abounded for years about which Maine towns the fictional town was based on. Writer Laurie Bain Wilson believes Kennebunkport, Maine is what Cabot Cove is based on. Wilson’s father, Donald Bain, wrote 46 Murder, She Wrote novels under the name Jessica Fletcher, with his name underneath.
“Kennebunkport, about an hour-and-a-half drive from Boston, is one of the most favored coastal towns (for being Cabot Cove), and why not?” she wrote in a 2023 article on nextavenue.org. “It has all the feels of Cabot Cove. Kennebunkport’s year-round population is small, about 3,500, much like Cabot Cove’s 3,560; in the summer the number grows considerably thanks to the tourists.”
Cabot Cove isn’t simply a town, says Wilson.
“Ask any Murder, She Wrote fan — of the TV show or books — they’ll tell you that Cabot Cove is more than a location, it’s practically a character in itself,” she wrote.
But Cabot Cove was contrived, even if it felt real, with only nine episodes actually being filmed in Mendocino and interior scenes being shot on a soundstage. There were other locations filmed in the tiny town and used as stock footage throughout the series.
The outside of Jessica Fletcher’s house shown in episodes is actually The Blair House Inn in Mendocino.
According to the Blair House Inn website, residents looked forward to the filming schedule each spring. It was normal to see residents mingling with the cast and crew and filming the show there was a definite boon to the economy.
“It is estimated the series brought in over two million dollars for the local economy, and generous donations were also made to various local service groups and organizations,” the Blair House Inn site states.
It was stated by Lansbury and others that filming in Maine was too expensive, which is why actual filming was done in California. It does make me wonder, though, why the writers chose the state of Maine as Jessica’s home. I couldn’t find a definitive answer online, but I will keep searching.
I found it ironic that the man who had the Blair House built, Elish Blair, arrived in Mendocino from Maine in 1857. Interesting connection, huh?
Fans of Murder, She Wrote, still visit Mendocino to soak up the feeling of Cabot Cove, especially the inn.
“The iconic house that was Jessica’s home has an idyllic location overlooking the Pacific Ocean,” boasts the inn’s site. “It features classic Victorian details such as ornate woodwork. The house has become a popular tourist attraction over the years, and it’s easy to see why. The house is a beautiful reminder of the past, and it’s also the perfect setting for a good mystery.”
A phenomenon
Murder, She Wrote wasn’t just a show — it was a cultural phenomenon that led to books, merchandise, tourism, television movies, and much more.
To this day the topic of Murder, She Wrote still pops up on various social media accounts or — ahem — blogs.
Vanity Fair wrote an article in 2016 about an Instagram account featuring Jessica as a “style icon.” The account featured images or videos of Jessica’s various outfits, which back in the day probably influenced quite a few trends.
The account is now defunct, but at the time it was run by a Cici Harrison, who wasn’t a fan of Murder, She Wrote when her mom and sister were in the 1980s. In her 30s she began to appreciate it more and started the account to focus on Jessica’s fashion.
That fashion was something Angela herself had a lot of input on.
Jennifer Frazee was a freelance assistant wardrobe stylist on the show and told Vanity Fair she remembered Lansbury always being there when the wardrobe department planned Jessica’s outfits for the episodes.
“If you really want to think about it, she was very sophisticated in what she wore in the show,” she said. “And that also has to do with the actress; they expected to see her, even when she was Jessica Fletcher, they also saw Angela Lansbury,” she said. “She’s royalty; she’s Hollywood royalty. It was well blended.”
Fans still talk about Jessica’s fashion on places like Reddit.
Angela didn’t just have input on Jessica’s fashion, style, and personality. In the early 1990s when the show’s ratings started to slip some, Angela took over as an executive producer, moved Jessica to New York City, and helped breathe life back into the show again. The woman was a quadruple threat. She could act in movies, television, on Broadway, and produce television.
Acting and producing wasn’t all Angela did while on the show either, if some rumors are true. Even before she passed away, a rumor started that she offered guest star appearances to actors who hadn’t worked in years, making sure they wouldn’t lose either their insurance or pension payments from the actors’ guild.
An article on Newsweek states that this story was never proven, but admitted there were many out-of-work actors who were given guest spots on the shows over the years. At least one actress said Angela had writers create a role for her so she wouldn’t lose her actor’s guild insurance.
“A 2003 Los Angeles Times obituary for actress Madlyn Rhue revealed how Lansbury had helped her during an illness,” states the Newsweek article. “The article states that Lansbury reportedly had heard that Rhue was in danger of losing her Screen Actors Guild medical coverage because she was short of meeting the annual earnings requirement.
“So she created this character for her and brought her in every three or four episodes. People who had worked with Madlyn and loved her kept giving her the opportunity to work.”
The site Gold Derby also mentions Angela doing this for actors and says a former head of publicity at Universal Television said the rumors were true.
“I can confirm this happened on numerous, if not dozens, of occasions,” the person, who preferred to remain anonymous, said. “This was a genuine priority for her, to help her fellow union members either remain members in good standing or restore their membership. That’s just the way she was. It was extremely important to her.”
There were some weird things about the show…
Over the years, viewers haven’t been afraid to admit there were/are faults in the show. One “fault” (if you want to call it that) was that someone died every week as soon as Jessica stepped through the door. My husband, who watched the show as a teen, calls her The Harbinger of Death and there is even an episode with that title (Season 4, Episode 13). Of course, how could you have a show called Murder, She Wrote if you didn’t have murders? It was an occupational hazard for Jessica’s character. My husband and I often joke that maybe Jessica killed people so she’d have more material for her books.
Another odd thing about the show was how many of the deaths happened in the little town of Cabot Cove. Estimates online that I found were that 60 out of the little town’s 3,500 residents died in those 12 years. I know I certainly would have reconsidered any visits to that town if I had heard that.
Other “faults” included continuity issues, some bad episodes (like what show doesn’t have those?), some odd plotlines (like the woman who was a bigamist but begged Jessica at the end of the show not to tell her second husband), and maybe a bit too much “cheese.”
Liberty Hardy wrote on the site novelsuspects.com that the show could be “silly” at times.
“(One) delightfully silly aspect is that not only were there murders everywhere Jessica Fletcher went, but they almost always involved her family and friends. By the beginning of season four, Jessica had three nieces and a nephew-in-law accused of murder, and a nephew who was a top suspect in killings not once, but twice! (The show never took itself too seriously, though: The episode “Witness for the Defense” even poked fun of her seemingly homicidal family.)”
Most fans would agree that all of those so-called faults are all part of the charm of Murder, She Wrote.
The end of an era
The charm of the show didn’t stop CBS from canceling it in 1996, though, and that is something which truly bothered Angela, even years later.
In 1996, CBS thought they needed to make a change to the night when Murder, She Wrote aired and moved it from Sunday to Thursday, opposite NBC’s powerhouse sitcom, Friends. They realized their mistake fast and tried to move it again, but the initial move was the beginning of the end.
Makers of the show hoped that the loyal viewers would follow and for a while, they did, but then there were more moves and no one knew when to watch it. By then, as my husband said, “the product had been spoiled.”
Not only had the shine gone off the show as it plummeted in the ratings due to fan being unable to find it, but CBS was also looking for shows that would cater to younger audiences.
Finally CBS pulled the plug and it was a move that crushed the cast and fans.
Angela wasn’t ready for the end, she said in an interview with The Television Academy. She would have gracefully bowed out, rather than have been kicked out, she snapped in the interview, still clearly annoyed many years later.
“It surprised us. It shocked us,” Angela told 60 Minutes in a November 1996 feature piece. “We could have told them that it couldn’t be any other night than Sunday night because that was family night.”
The show was canceled in May and in November, during the 60 Minutes interview, Angela still couldn’t talk about it without choking up. She needed to take a sip of tea, in true British fashion, to keep the tears at bay and even then they glistened in the corners of her eyes.
The outcry to the cancellation was so intense that Angela had a letter published in TheNew York Post to thank fans and try to soothe them.
“Dear Friends,
Let me just say that I am simply overwhelmed by the warmth and sincerity of your wonderful messages and I feel tremendously comforted by your support. I think you know I have always held you, our audience, in the highest regard, and believe me, I shared your disappointment in the way things turned out.
But now I’m looking forward to new beginnings, and, down the line, Murder, She Wrote movies of the week. My love and gratitude to you all for letting me know how much you’ve enjoyed Murder, She Wrote over the past twelve years.
Angela.”
Eventually, Angela forgave CBS, or at least somewhat, and agreed to make a few TV Murder, She Wrote movies.
Personal thoughts:
As for me, I didn’t actually watch Murder, She Wrote when I was younger, except for a couple of times with my grandmother. Grandma didn’t have much choice but to watch Murder, She Wrote. For years the only channel she could get on her TV was a CBS affiliate. I think, however, she actually liked the show and would have watched it even if she’d had had more channels.
It was my husband who actually got me interested in the show and it was with him I watched my first full episode. In the last year or so I have begun to binge watch the show with our 10-year-old daughter. One afternoon my family came home from something or other, I can’t remember what, and I was tired, but I clapped my hands in excitement and said, “Oh! I am so excited! I have a Murder, She Wrote episode to finish.” My daughter was excited too and when that one was finished, she declared, “Another one!”
Anytime we’ve had a rough day she now suggests Murder, She Wrote to helps us both unwind. I won’t lie that sometimes we poke a bit of fun at the sillier moments of the show, but affectionately so
TV was a big escape for my husband when he was growing up. He came from an abusive home. For him watching shows like The Rockford Files, Columbo, Taxi, Magnum P.I., and Murder, She Wrote is nostalgic because it reminds him of some of the few good times he had in his childhood. Those shows were a chance for him to forget about the mental abuse he suffered day in and day out. They were also shows he watched with his grandparents, who provided him a type of emotional shelter from what he was experiencing at home. .
For me, watching Murder, She Wrote gives me time to focus on something other than the difficulties in life — parents growing older, children growing so fast my head is spinning, personal health issues, world events, etc. etc. I have found that the show has offered me an escape as well.
I enjoyed a particular section in the article in The Gentlewoman Magazine about Angela where she talked about how she unwound.
“. . . she needs to do things with her hands, she says – cooking, if she’s at home, or knitting, in her dressing room. “I find that very calming,” she explains. “Which might give you the idea that I’m a nervous person, which I’m not. But sometimes one’s mind goes too fast, and by doing something with my hands, I slow myself down.”
I also like to find things to do with my hands to help slow my thoughts down.
Why fans loved the show – in their own words
When Angela Lansbury passed away in 2022 at the age of 96, fans placed wreaths at the Blair House Inn.
A year later the Kelley House Museum, in the same town, offered a reception inside the inn in tribute of Angela, according to a post on their site, and asked fans why they loved Murder, She Wrote.
Here are some of the answers:
“I watched as a young girl, often as my mom did house cleaning. As an adult, after I married and began trying to start a family, I was met with some unexpected obstacles. After several years of unsuccessful IVF treatments, I began to try to make peace with a childless future. I made a list of strong women I admired who happened to not have children. Jessica Fletcher was at the top of my list. I rewatched every episode at that time. Then, a year later, I rewatched every episode again, during my pregnancy. I became pregnant thanks to another ‘childless’ woman I admired–my sister–who became my savior egg donor. XO Malory Marlatte Voith.”
“I began watching the show my senior year of high school (1985 graduate) and continued to watch through college. I loved seeing a female who was so much smarter than the men around her yet wasn’t cocky. I did a career in federal law enforcement with the US Marshals Service. Channeling my inner ‘Jessica’ helped through tough situations over the years.”
“My Nana passed away when I was 7. But before that, she and I would watch Murder, She Wrote as our before-bed show. When she passed, it was my happy show to watch and remember my Nana.”
“Five generations now have watched this wonderful show. From Grandma to my granddaughter who is 3. We love this show! Fav episode— ‘If it’s Thursday, It Must Be Beverly.’ – Debbie, Alejandoro, & Athena (3)”
When looking for posts about why fans love the show, I found an entire Subreddit just about Murder, She Wrote. On one post, fans shared why they loved the show.
“I can’t seem to articulate it really, it just is (comforting),” one poster wrote. “Perhaps because Angela Lansbury reminds me so much of my late grandmother? Or that every episode, even though there is always a murder, tends to end happily? The general 80s-90s nostalgia?”
“As others have said, the gentle tone, and Angela is just such a treat to watch,” another comment reads. “The character of Jessica herself is comforting, wise, kind, practical and reliable.”
Echoing Angela’s comments over the years that the show was one that families watched together, commenters online often mention they have memories of watching it with family.
“This brings me comfort because I grew up watching it with my parents and brother,” one person wrote on Reddit.
Closing Thoughts
I have a long way to go before I have watched all of the Murder, She Wrote episodes and that makes me happy. I look forward to many more nights of watching and getting caught up in the storyline and maybe poking a bit of fun at some of the silly or unbelievable elements.
I look forward to watching Jessica be cool under pressure. I look forward to watching her be bold (and maybe a bit stupid) when she corners the killer and solves the case.
I also look forward to my daughter seeing through Jessica Fletcher that a woman can be independent, determined, and strong but also kind, caring, and compassionate.
I am a fan of quirky mystery shows and lately, I’ve been finding most of those types of shows on Britbox or AcornTV, which are British channels on Amazon Video.
Today I thought I’d share with you five of my (and my husband’s) favorite fun, quirky, and unique mystery shows. I’ve mentioned most of them already during my Sunday Bookends post.
Most we watched are based in the UK but one is Canadian and the other is from New Zealand.
Shakespeare and Hathaway
I discovered this one on my own and fell in love with the characters, though I would say I liked Frank Hathaway more than Luella Shakespeare at first. She did grow on me as I continued to watch.
The premise of the show is that the two are an oddball detective team. Frank was working as a private detective when he met Luella who came to him to find out if her fiancé was cheating on her. At the conclusion of that case (you’ll have to watch it to find out what happens), Lu essentially invites herself to work with Frank as a fellow detective.
Frank is also a former police detective who has a contentious relationship with the local police because of that. As the series goes on you learn a little bit more about why he left the police force and became a detective instead.
Sebastian is Frank’s flamboyant and talented assistant. He’s also an inspiring actor. Of course, to fit the title, the show is based in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays into the Shakespeare theme quite a bit.
At the end of one season, we thought Sebastian was going to leave and I literally cried.
The show is in its fourth season on BritBox on Amazon and I’m not sure what the future holds for it, but luckily we have all the past episodes to enjoy.
Brokenwood Mysteries
This was a new one for us this year, thanks to Erin at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.
The show focuses on Detective Mike Shepherd and his assistants, Detective Kristin Simms and Detective Sam Breen. They solve mysteries in the small New Zealand town of Brokenwood. Similar to other small-town mystery shows, it’s surprising how many people are murdered in this place. It’s like the crime capital of New Zealand and it’s a town of like 600. They might run out of people to kill soon.
What I like about this show is, well, Mike for one —he’s awesome — but I also like that it has reoccurring characters who often play integral parts of each 90-minute episode. When we are watching it, we find ourselves wondering if one of the usual community members will finally get caught up and charged with murder or some other crime.
There is a lot of mystery about Mike’s past, including how he knows a woman in town who used to be in the witness protection program and if this is why he ended up in the town to help with an investigation in the first place. He has a very unique investigation style, including talking to the deceased when he arrives on a scene. No, they don’t answer back, but he feels it’s a way of reassuring them he will find out who killed them.
Mike is a huge fan of country music and thanks to the show, my husband and I have discovered a ton of New Zealand country music we never knew existed. We absolutely love the music for the show, in other words.
I also love the handyman, or whatever he is, Jared Morehu, who becomes a friend of Mike’s and is helping him grow wine grapes to eventually make wine from. Jared is of Maori descent. The Maori are indigenous Polynesian people who settled in New Zealand and are considered the first settlers of the country.
Another fun, quirky, and weird character is the coroner, Gina Kadinsky, who is Russian and has a very dark, dry sense of humor. Her character does poke a bit of fun at the Russian stereotype, but she keeps the laughter in the show, which is fairly light but does have some darker themes at times.
There are currently seven seasons of the show up on Amazon through Acorn TV. Season 8 is supposed to be up sometime this year, according to some information I found online. It will be on New Zealand TV in mid-2022.
Murdoch Mysteries
Murdoch Mysteries was something my husband discovered a year or so ago, maybe longer. We’ve been watching it off and on since then.
The show does not feature the best acting at times and the “special effects” are a bit corny, but we still can’t stop watching.
The show follows quirky Detective William Murdoch, a detective in 1890s Toronto, Canada. There are currently 15 seasons of the show, and I would recommend starting in the beginning because I feel the show has gone off the rails a bit as it has progressed. All 15 seasons are on AcornTV through Amazon.
I am sure many of you will ponder what I have the entire time I’ve watched the show, which is — Is Detective Murdoch wearing eyeliner? I believe he is indeed so there; you don’t have to wonder anymore.
The show follows Murdoch as the main character but also the female coroner Dr. Julia Ogden, Constable George Crabtree, Inspector Thomas Brackenreid, and Constable Henry Higgins (which always makes me think of the Henry Huggins books by Beverly Cleary). There is mystery, action, intrigue and romance.
Again, though, be warned, sometimes it can be a little silly. I think silly and light is fun and welcome, though, so I don’t mind a bit of silly in my shows.
This show is based on books by Maureen Jennings, and I believe they are a little darker than the show. There is also a movie available online and it is much, much darker.
The cast loves to have fun and to show that there have been many short features created as well for fans.
Death in Paradise
I believe this is one I discovered first, a few years ago now.
The show is filmed in the French Caribbean on Guadeloupe Island. For the show the island is called Saint Marie.
The first season kicks off with Detective Inspector Richard Poole coming to the island to investigate the murder of a British police officer. After he solves the case, he is ordered by his superiors at the Metropolitan Police in London to remain on staff on the tiny island. The “staff” are three other officers serving the entire, tiny island. Realistic? I don’t know, but it’s also very disconcerting so many people die on this island. If I was going to choose somewhere to vacation to, I’d definitely choose some place else based on the crime rate here.
So far, we have gone through four detective inspectors in eleven seasons. There seems to be a bit of a rotating door, in other words, but I’ve heard this is partially because they actually film in the French Caribbean and while this provides lovely views, it requires the actors to be away from their families for months at a time. This is why the first DI, actor Ben Miller, left the show after only two seasons.
Each DI has their own quirk, which becomes a joke throughout the show. The first DI was very uptight, stuck-up, and a clean freak. The second DI was accident-prone, the third is dealing with the death of his wife and brings his daughter and is a bit awkward (as all the DI’s are), and the fourth I have not seen yet, but reading up on it, it looks like he has a lot of allergies, including to mosquitoes, which are, of course, abundant on the island.
The show also features native island officers who apparently are too dumb to solve cases without the British detectives who are much more clever, smart, and quite frankly “crime-solving geniuses”.
The show features somewhat light crimes, with a dark edge, but nothing so dark you find yourself up all night thinking about the horrors of the world. Well…usually anyhow. I will admit that some of the episodes have left me fairly disturbed, including a couple in the first season. It’s not a gruesome show for the sake of being gruesome, though, which is one reason I like it.
The Mallorca Files
This is another escape-type mystery show, different from the others because it is based in Mallorca, which is a tiny island off the coast of Spain.
It is interesting because it has very international flavor. While it is set in Mallorca, the one detective is German, the other British and the captain and other characters are Spanish.
Each episode is a new mystery and characters don’t necessarily carry over, other than the detectives.
There have only been two seasons of this show so far and you can find them on BritBox on Amazon (just an aside here, I am not getting paid by Amazon for this post. It just happens to be where we watch most of our favorite shows at this time.) Season two of the show was cut short by the You Know What and it isn’t clear yet if there will be a season three, but if there is, I’ve read that the last four episodes will be added to season three.
Bonus mentions:
The Poirot made for TV movies
There are several versions of the Agatha Christie character Hercule Poirot but our favorite is David Suchet, so we have watched several of the movies starring him as the short Belgium detective.
Most of the movies can be found streaming on . . . you guessed it! BritBox.
Father BrownMysteries
Like Agatha Raisin (which didn’t get mentioned in this particular post, but might in a future post), this show went off the rails a bit for me in about the sixth season, but I am going to try it again. There are nine seasons currently on Britbox.
Not only did some of my favorite characters leave the show but they had a couple of episodes that were just very unnerving and well, to sound like a prude, a bit dirty for my taste (if you’re new to this blog, yes, I am a prude about some things and not a prude about others. *wink*).
Father Brown is a Catholic Priest who gets wrapped up in a type of amateur sleuthing and pulls his housekeeper and others into the sleuthing with him. If you are familiar with the American Father Dowling Mysteries, this is similar except Father Dowling was the American version of Father Brown.
According to research, Father Dowling was also based on Father Brown which is based on books written by G.K. Chesterton in the early 1900s.
This is the second incarnation of Father Brown from British television. There was another series in the 70s.
So, there you go — some fun mystery shows to get hooked on today. What are you waiting for? Turn off the news and social media and lose yourself in the world of quirky and fun mysteries.
Lisa R. Howeler is a blogger, homeschool mom, and writes cozy mysteries.
You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.
