Murder (British TV series)

Last updated

Murder
Genre Crime drama
Created byRobert Jones
Starring Karla Crome
Joe Dempsie
Robert Pugh
Claire Rushbrook
Peter McDonald
Morven Christie
Anne-Marie Duff
Peter Bowles
Jessica Barden
Michael Smiley
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes4 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersRob Pursey
Matthew Read
ProducerKath Mattock
Running time60 minutes
Original release
Network BBC Two
Release26 August 2012 (2012-08-26) –
17 March 2016 (2016-03-17)

Murder is a British television crime drama created and written by Robert Jones. Murder is written in a unique[ citation needed ] style in which all of the protagonists in each episode engage in monologues to camera, giving their version of what happened on the night, as the investigation proceeds from arrest to court hearing to verdict. Four independent films have been written to date, each starring a number of guest artistes. The first, stand-alone film broadcast on 26 August 2012, with a series of three films following on 3 March 2016. [1] The first film was released on DVD on 11 May 2015 via Acorn Media. [2]

Contents

Plot

Each episode of Murder is a stand-alone story, which tells the story of the events leading up to and after a murder has been committed. Its unique style includes a style of writing which uses a technique in which none of the characters interact with each other in any one given scene. Each character is seen to break the "fourth wall" and give a monologue to the audience, explaining their involvement and/or role in the crime committed. Although critically well-received, even receiving the BAFTA award for Best Single Drama in 2013, the first stand-alone film did not receive the same level of public acclaim; with six out of nine reviewers for the DVD release giving the film one star. [3]

However, writer and creator Robert Jones has cited this as an inspiration to spend more than three years to bring a second series to screen. The first two films were directed by Birger Larsen, known for his work on The Killing and many other hit Scandinavian dramas. The first episode was broadcast at 10pm on Sunday 26 August 2012, while the second series will be broadcast in an earlier timeslot, at 9pm, on consecutive Thursdays from 3 March 2016. The Radio Times stated in a review of the first episode of series two that Murder is "one of the most original shows on British TV in recent years." [4]

Episode list

Pilot (2012)

EpisodeTitleWritten byDirected byViewers
(millions) [5] 		Original airdate
1"Joint Enterprise"Robert JonesBirger LarsenTBA26 August 2012 (2012-08-26)
Three complete strangers – who only met at noon that day – find their whole worlds turned upside down by 2.00am after they find themselves embroiled in a murder investigation. A young woman is dead in her Nottingham flat, her terrified sister is barricaded inside the bathroom, and a young man in a bloodstained shirt is pulled over for speeding by local police. It is unknown what happened in those fatal hours, and where the truth lies when their accounts of events do not add up.

Series 1 (2016)

EpisodeTitleWritten byDirected byViewers
(millions) [5] 		Original airdate
1"The Third Voice"Robert JonesBirger Larsen1.563 March 2016 (2016-03-03)
When Rafe Carey’s body is washed up by the River Tweed, it looks like he has drowned in a tragic accident on a day of extreme weather after the section of riverbank where they were fishing from collapsed. But when DS Corinne Evans (Morven Christie) investigates, she finds the cause of Rafe’s death is not drowning at all – he has been stabbed through the heart, and his brother-in-law Leo is the prime suspect. [6]
2"The Lost Weekend"Robert JonesPaul WrightTBA10 March 2016 (2016-03-10)
Wealthy American Arla Beckman, who founded Liferaft, a philanthropic charity organisation for helping kids in trouble, is missing. Known to have been in an extramarital affair with divorced English aristocrat Dominic Cotterall, Arla’s close colleague and friend Bryony Phelps is convinced that Arla’s disappearance is down to Dominic and takes to social media to say as much, prompting a sceptical detective DCI Mirella Goss (Anne-Marie Duff) to take up the case. [7]
3"The Big Bang"Robert Jones Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard TBA17 March 2016 (2016-03-17)
Ten years ago, off-duty policeman PC Prescott was killed in cold blood in a swimming-pool car park, but what has never been ascertained is precisely which one of the three armed robbers serving life for his murder actually pulled the trigger. Seven at the time, Jess witnessed the crime and has been tormented by her memory forging gaps in the official account. However, her hopes are raised when a therapist offers to contact those responsible and finally clear up the matter once and for all. [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>Agatha Christies Poirot</i> British television detective series (1989–2013)

Agatha Christie's Poirot, or simply Poirot, is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2013. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie’s famous crime fiction series, which revolves around the fictional private investigator, Hercule Poirot. David Suchet starred as the fictional detective. Initially produced by LWT, the series was later produced by ITV Studios. The series also aired on VisionTV in Canada and on PBS and A&E in the US.

<i>The Inspector Lynley Mysteries</i> British television crime drama series (2001–2008)

The Inspector Lynley Mysteries is a British crime drama television series that aired on BBC One from 12 March 2001 to 1 June 2008, consisting of six series and 24 episodes. The protagonist, Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton, who is assigned to Scotland Yard, finds himself paired with Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. In addition to the tensions involved in solving murder cases, the series is built on clashes of personality, gender and class: Lynley is a polished man and a peer of the realm, and Havers is an untidy woman from a working-class background.

<i>Murphys Law</i> (British TV series) Television series

Murphy's Law is a BBC television drama, produced by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Northern Ireland, starring James Nesbitt as an undercover police officer, Tommy Murphy. There were five series of the drama, shown on BBC One. The first two were composed of individual stories. Series three, four and five were each single stories composed over multiple episodes. Colin Bateman adapted the pilot for a novel.

<i>Clocking Off</i> British television drama series

Clocking Off is a British television drama series which was broadcast on BBC One for four series from 2000 to 2003. It was produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company, and created by Paul Abbott.

<i>The Knock</i> British television crime drama

The Knock is a British television crime drama, created by Anita Bronson and broadcast on ITV, which portrayed the activities of customs officers from the London City & South Collection Investigation Unit of HM Customs and Excise. The series derived its name from the distinctive "Knock knock knock" command used over the radio to synchronise a raid.

<i>New Tricks</i> British police procedural television series (2003–2015)

New Tricks is a British television police procedural comedy drama, created by Nigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell, produced primarily by Wall to Wall, and broadcast on BBC One. The programme originally began with a pilot episode on 27 March 2003, before a full series was commissioned for 1 April 2004; New Tricks concluded after twelve series on 6 October 2015. The show utilises an ensemble cast, of which Dennis Waterman was the only constant over all twelve series; this cast variously included Alun Armstrong, James Bolam, Amanda Redman, Denis Lawson, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tamzin Outhwaite, and Larry Lamb.

<i>Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes</i> British TV series or programme

Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes is a television crime drama series created by David Pirie, and co-produced by the BBC and WGBH Boston, a PBS station. Six episodes were made and were first broadcast on BBC Two, the first two on 4 and 5 January 2000, and the other four from 4 September to 2 October 2001.

Paul Marquess is a television producer from Belfast, Northern Ireland. His credits include Brookside, The Bill, Family Affairs, Hollyoaks, Crime Stories, Suspects and Hope Street. He also originated the idea for the series Footballers' Wives. He currently holds the post of managing director of Newman Street, a label of Fremantlemedia.

<i>Murder in Mind</i> (TV series) British TV series or programme

Murder in Mind is a British television anthology series of self-contained stories, each with a murderous theme, seen from the perspective of the murderer. The series was created by Anthony Horowitz, and broadcast on BBC One from 22 April 2001 to 29 June 2003.

<i>Whitechapel</i> (TV series) Television series

Whitechapel is a British police procedural, produced by Carnival Films and distributed by BBC Worldwide, in which detectives in London's Whitechapel district deal with murders which replicated historical crimes. The first series was broadcast in the UK on 2 February 2009 and depicted the search for a modern copycat killer replicating the murders of Jack the Ripper.

<i>DCI Banks</i> British television crime drama series

DCI Banks is a British television crime drama series produced by Left Bank Pictures for the ITV network. Originally broadcast over five series in 2010–2016, the series was based on Peter Robinson's Inspector Alan Banks novels and stars Stephen Tompkinson as Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. In 2013, the series won in the drama category at the regional Royal Television Society Yorkshire Programme Awards.

<i>Death in Paradise</i> (TV series) Crime drama television series

Death in Paradise is a British–French crime comedy drama television series created by Robert Thorogood, starring Ben Miller, Kris Marshall, Ardal O'Hanlon and Ralf Little.

<i>Crime and Punishment</i> (2002 TV series) British TV series or program

Crime and Punishment is a two-part British television crime drama series, based upon the 1866 novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, that first broadcast on BBC2 on 12 February 2002. The novel was adapted for television by playwright Tony Marchant, and was directed by Julian Jarrold.

<i>Shetland</i> (TV series) BBC Scotland crime drama television series, 2013–

Shetland is a Scottish crime drama series made by ITV Studios for BBC Scotland. First broadcast on BBC One on 10 March 2013, it is originally based upon the novels of Ann Cleeves and adapted by David Kane. The first seven series starred Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Pérez, whilst Ashley Jensen stars as DI Ruth Calder from the eighth series. The cast also includes Alison O'Donnell as DS Alison "Tosh" McIntosh and Steven Robertson as DC Sandy Wilson, as well as Lewis Howden and Anne Kidd. Henshall won the 2016 BAFTA Scotland award for Best Actor and the series received the award for Best TV Drama.

Thirteen is a British drama serial created and written by Marnie Dickens. The series centres on Ivy Moxam, a 26-year-old woman who escapes from the cellar where she has been imprisoned for 13 years, and the impact on her family.

<i>Strike</i> (TV series) 2017 British crime drama series

Strike is a British crime drama television programme based on the book series Cormoran Strike by J. K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The programme was first broadcast on BBC One on 27 August 2017, after receiving an advance premiere at the British Film Institute on 10 August 2017.

Three Girls is a three-part British television drama series, written by screenwriter Nicole Taylor, and directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, broadcast on three consecutive nights between 16 and 18 May 2017 on BBC One. A co-production between BBC Studios and Studio Lambert, the series is a dramatised version of the events surrounding the Rochdale child sex abuse ring, and describes how the authorities failed to investigate allegations of rape because the victims were perceived as unreliable witnesses, and the local authorities didn’t investigate through fear of being accused of racism because of the ethnicity of the perpetrators.

Dynasties is a 2018 British nature documentary series on five vulnerable or endangered species known to form enduring populations: chimpanzee, emperor penguin, lion, tiger and African wild dog. The series is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit and narrated by David Attenborough. The music score was composed by Benji Merrison. Each episode ends with Dynasties On Location, a behind the scenes look at the planning of each episode, which could be years in advance before production crew even started filming.

<i>London Kills</i> British television series

London Kills is a British police procedural television series, written and created by Paul Marquess, that premièred on Acorn TV on 26 February 2019 in the United States. One of Acorn TV's first original commissions, London Kills centres around an elite murder investigation squad in London headed by DI David Bradford, an experienced detective whose judgement is called into question following the unexpected disappearance of his wife.

References

  1. ↑ "Murder is one of the most original British dramas ever" . Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Murder - Joint Enterprise". 11 May 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2018– via Amazon.
  3. ↑ "Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: Murder - Joint Enterprise [DVD]". www.amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  4. ↑ "Murder: The Third Voice, BBC2, Morven Christie - CrimeTimePreview". 25 February 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Top 30 Programmes – BARB". barb.co.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  6. ↑ "BBC - Murder: The Third Voice - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  7. ↑ "BBC - Murder: The Lost Weekend - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  8. ↑ "BBC - Murder: The Big Bang - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.