One Good Turn, Part 1

Another Great Bristish Mystery
I thoroughly enjoyed watching this series. The acting is quite good, and the cast consists of many veteran UK actors who are recognizable from other dramas. The series is well written. It weaves together multiple investigations within each story line. For example, the first drama consists of three investigations, as well as developments in the private life of the main protagonist, Jason Isaacs. I watched the UK episodes without captions and the PBS episodes with captions, and the use of captions greatly helped me understand the dialogue. I strongly urge using the subtitles.

The structure used by the BBC in broadcasting this series was to air twin one-hour episodes on consecutive nights; resulting in a single drama consisting of approximately one-hour and 55 minutes. The only problem that I have with this structure is that you have a climax in the middle of the drama, which seems unnecessary when the two episodes are viewed back to back (as opposed to on consecutive...

Blue mouse
We all know that film adaptations of books are rarely up to the mark. There are exceptions.
Kate Atkinson has written some superior crime novels around English private investigator Jackson Brody, a former police man. The novel called Case Histories has him involved in 3 diverse cases at the same time, all related to mysteries about missing or dead girls.
A little girl has disappeared 30 years ago. Now her father has died and the girl's sisters find her Blue Mouse toy in father's desk.
A young girl starts an internship in her father's law firm. On her first day in office, a man shows up with a knife, kills her, and disappears.
While a woman is in jail for murdering her husband, her little girl disappears from foster care.
Lots of problems for Brody.
This is the only book of hers that I read myself. My daughter tells me that her others are also good.
A BBC series with 6 episodes based on 3 of Atkinson's Brody novels has been produced and shown on TV in...

A Great Jason Isaacs Unravels Mysteries That Are Overly Reliant On Convenience And Coincidence
First off, I think any show that has the wherewithal and good sense to cast the underrated Jason Isaacs in the leading role is worthy of a look. As a fan of these imported detective/mystery programs (this originally aired in the U.S. under the PBS Masterpiece Mystery banner), the BBC produced "Case Histories" seemed like a solid proposition. Adapted from the fourth novel of Kate Atkinson's popular Jackson Brodie series, "Case Histories" showcases six episodes (each is a two-parter) with interconnected and overlapping storylines. A typical individual show may introduce three or four disparate groups of characters with absolutely no relationship, but through happenstance and absolute coincidence will be tied together into the program's central mystery. Sadly, this overly convenient plotting really detracted from the show's allure for me. It's just too tidy, too written. In other aspects, the episodes are reaching for a brooding and realistic feel with a grounded Isaacs and better than...

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