The BBC were spot on with their attempt of FOX's "Murder in Small Town X". Catherine Prior is the murder victim, and the killer is still out there, but has identified themselves as "one of the nine [suspects]". Ten Special Investigators are drafted in to solve the murder and battle it out to win £25,000. Each week, a special investigator is killed during "The Killer's Game" and the further investigators continue their work to solve the murder of Catherine Prior. Although the series was not heavily acclaimed by the public, it showed a great insight into how the police solve crimes, toured by ex-super intendant Bob Taylor. 8/10
3 Reviews
Enjoyable if sometimes confusing
daniel_green_211 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I enjoyed this show, I barely remember it but I still enjoyed it. The excellent plot, good clues and well done acting were held back by the feeling that they didn't have to do much to progress and they were more of a hindrance to the investigation than a help. I came in on episode 3 and just about managed to get a hang on the plot, enjoying the way they had to gather clues and interview people themselves, and were allowed to make mistakes. Boy did they make a lot of those. People being interviewed together, evidence being ignored or made obvious and then not being reported properly (the dead baby in the cupboard I remember vividly, mostly because of how they found it then ran off). Then the women being murdered right beside the investigators was very well done. Digging through that grave creeped me out, especially as they were being watched. Overall, a good show. Can't help feeling that now BBC have doctor who to combat ITV's line up they would have kept the murder game on as something of an oddity. with the kinks worked out after series 1 it would have been an excellent series 2.
Pretty good--and with sensitive Luke de Lacey and beautiful Rita Davies!
reviewerinoimdbino31 December 2007
I watched this because I'm a fan of Luke de Lacey, having enjoyed his work in "A Dance To the Music of Time." He acquits himself well here, and is as likable and sensitive as always. It was a surprise and a delight to realize that the cast of actors playing characters in this murder mystery also includes the elderly but dazzlingly beautiful Rita Davies, of whom I'm a big fan. Her face and her voice and delivery are riveting.
The show is quite different from American reality TV shows in that the real people chosen to act as investigators here are all basically decent. In America, the whole point is to pick mean-spirited egomaniacal narcissists, feed them tons of alcohol, and watch as they tear each other apart. I much prefer to see nice people being nice, even if they're not always perfect. Of course, I shouldn't exaggerate the nobility of English producers. I've seen an episode of 'Bad Lads Extreme,' and I don't think even America's Spike network, devoted to all things laddish, would ever show such a crew of sleazy, dimwitted, criminal scoundrels. So in England, I guess you have generally higher standards, which then veer away with some deviations lower than anything that would be tolerated in America.
The show's murder mystery is your classic English-manor affair, and I suppose some of the ways it resolves itself are a bit pat, since the case has to be solved and it has to be shaped into the nine episodes of the show.
Of course, if the point was truly to pick the 'best' amateur detective, you'd keep all of them through the end of the series, and have all of them try to solve the case. But as pretty much always with reality television, there's a weekly elimination element, and, again as always, it's handled pretty arbitrarily. The professional detective chooses the worst detective of the week, then the lead investigator chooses another person, and then each of the two grab one of a pair of envelopes which will direct them to some eerie, isolated site. At one site, there will be a clue. At the other site, your hideous fate at the hands of a murderer.
The show is quite different from American reality TV shows in that the real people chosen to act as investigators here are all basically decent. In America, the whole point is to pick mean-spirited egomaniacal narcissists, feed them tons of alcohol, and watch as they tear each other apart. I much prefer to see nice people being nice, even if they're not always perfect. Of course, I shouldn't exaggerate the nobility of English producers. I've seen an episode of 'Bad Lads Extreme,' and I don't think even America's Spike network, devoted to all things laddish, would ever show such a crew of sleazy, dimwitted, criminal scoundrels. So in England, I guess you have generally higher standards, which then veer away with some deviations lower than anything that would be tolerated in America.
The show's murder mystery is your classic English-manor affair, and I suppose some of the ways it resolves itself are a bit pat, since the case has to be solved and it has to be shaped into the nine episodes of the show.
Of course, if the point was truly to pick the 'best' amateur detective, you'd keep all of them through the end of the series, and have all of them try to solve the case. But as pretty much always with reality television, there's a weekly elimination element, and, again as always, it's handled pretty arbitrarily. The professional detective chooses the worst detective of the week, then the lead investigator chooses another person, and then each of the two grab one of a pair of envelopes which will direct them to some eerie, isolated site. At one site, there will be a clue. At the other site, your hideous fate at the hands of a murderer.
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