The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Not Inspector Morse … Inspector Lewis: The Dead of Winter – PBS NEW Masterpiece Mystery! (Season 3)

Inspector Lewis (Kevin Whately) and Sergeant Hathaway (Laurence Fox) are back! Yes tonight, your local PBS station will be airing The Dead of Winter, the second installment of the third season of the Inspector Lewis mystery shows.

While the Inspector Morse mystery shows were based on the mystery novels by Colin Dexter, the Inspector Lewis shows are inspired by Dexter’s mysteries. I have to admit that I miss Inspector Morse, but perhaps, after as many years of having Inspector Lewis as the main focus, I will miss him as much. Time will tell…

Right now, however, we are able to enjoy the same Oxford-ish atmosphere that the earlier (Morse) series provided. And, The Dead of Winter will give us a little more information about Sergeant Hathaway’s past. So far we know that Hathaway is a Cambridge graduate, who started training for the priesthood…

Some of you will probably recognize Nathaniel Parker (from Elizabeth George‘s Inspector Lynley mystery shows) who will be guest starring… not as a Scotland Yard inspector!

Inspector Lewis : Counter Culture Blues – PBS NEW Masterpiece Mystery! (Season 3)

Masterpiece Mystery! will start airing Season 3 of Inspector Lewis – beginning this Sunday (tomorrow) night on your local PBS station. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Inspector Lewis, he used to be Inspector Morse’s side-kick. The Inspector Lewis 90-minute episodes are inspired by Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse mystery books. Counter Culture Blues is a 2008 ITV production. (This is its first airing in the USA.)

With the passing of John Thaw (Inspector Morse), we would have understood if the production of these wonderful television movie episodes had stopped. I am so glad ITV decided to continue making these really good episodes based on Colin Dexter‘s Inspector Morse mystery books. 

Instead of having Inspector Morse at the helm of the investigations, Morse’s sergeant has been promoted, and given a side-kick of his own. Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox are very convincing as Inspector Lewis and Detective Sergeant Hathaway. Lewis is a working-class bloke while Hathaway is a Cambridge graduate, and very much like Lewis’s previous partner, Inspector Morse.

This particular episode boasts the truly versatile Joanna Lumley. Lumley has such a diverse repertoire >>> She was terrific as one of Roald Dahl’s terrible aunts in James and the Giant Peach, fabulous as the aging drug and alcohol laden hippie in Absolutely Fabulous, and touchingly desperate in A Rather English Marriage. All in all, I cannot wait to see what she does portraying a dead rock star who, perhaps wasn’t that dead…

Hercule Poirot : Appointment with Death – Agatha Christie – PBS NEW Masterpiece Mystery!

Here’s another reminder… Appointment with Death, is the last of the first-run Agatha Christie episodes featuring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot this summer. After tonight’s showing, PBS Masterpiece Mystery! will be airing “encore” presentations of one more Poirot episode, followed by three “encore” presentations of Inspector Lewis, with Kevin Whately… who is absolutely fabulous in this role! If you missed those three episodes, I urge you to watch them (or record them) this summer. There will be one first-run Inspector Lewis episode on August 29. Terrific! I’m looking forward to it already!

Appointment with Death is based on the 1938 Agatha Christie mystery.  And yes, I do know that in the late 1980s, Peter Ustinov starred in a movie based on this Agatha Christie mystery. That version was yet another “Who’s Who” from earlier Hollywood movies: Lauren Bacall, Piper Laurie, Hailey Mills, even Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher)!

This 90 minute version of Appointment with Death will (of course) star David Suchet… AND Tim Curry… who happens to be wonderful in every role he undertakes.

Will Hercule’s little gray cells enable him to solve the mystery? Will Hercule sift through all of the clues and be able to reach the correct solution? And last, but not least (perhaps only for me!), will Hercule be the same Hercule we have all grown to love over the last few decades, and, incidentally, the same Hercule Poirot that Agatha Christie wrote about >>>OR Will Hercule be a different (albeit still very convincing Belgian detective), more soul-searching Monsieur Poirot?

Hercule Poirot : Third Girl – Agatha Christie – PBS NEW Masterpiece Mystery!

Here’s another friendly reminder >>> Don’t forget Hercule Poirot (aka David Suchet) is again going to grace us with his phenomenal little gray cells… tonight, July 18, 2010. Yes, it’s that time again… Someone has done a very terrible “something”… and our favorite Belgian detective is going to tell us who, what, when, and why!

This adaptation of Third Girl  (based on the 1966 Agatha Christie mystery) will star David Suchet… but here’s an extra treat: both the wonderful actress Zoë Wanamaker and the always-great David Yelland will be in tonight’s episode. I won’t list all of their credits, but am guessing you will recognize their very familiar faces… a real treat!

So, I urge you to set up whatever type of recording device you “depend on” for tonight’s showing of Agatha Christie’s Third Girl (check your local PBS schedule for the exact time)… unless you plan on being in front of your television set at the appointed hour!

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