The Jonathan Creek Podcast

Satan’s Chimney was the 2001 Christmas Special episode of Jonathan Creek. The special featured a curious vindictive religious zealot and a tragically complicated mother-son relationship. In this podcast Gerry and Iain take a look at the second half of the episode and a mystery unravelled.

Jonathan and Carla (Julia Sawalha) face up to the death of Alan Kalanak (Jay Benedict) on top of that of Vivian Brodie (Mary Tamm). Meanwhile Tom (Elliot Cowan) comes to terms with his role in Viv’s death and his place in the world.

Director Herman Grole (Steven Berkoff), actors Jodee Tressky (Lisa Stökke) and Bronson Peterman (Matt Rippy) and Raymond (Raymond Griffiths) keep their secrets, while Bill Bailey and James Saxon remain involved as Kenny Starkiss and Inspector Bullstrode respectively.

Satan’s Chimney was again written by the show’s creator, David Renwick. Sandy Johnson made a pleasing return as director while Verity Lambert remained as producer.

Satan’s Chimney was released in 2001. It is 120 minutes long and originally aired on the BBC. The episode is strangely missing from Netflix in the UK and Ireland, but the entire series is available on DVD in the UK and other countries, including a comprehensive box set of all the episodes up until Christmas 2016, released by the BBC.

The post Satan’s Chimney (2) – Episode 20 first appeared on Jonathan Creek Podcast.

Satan’s Chimney was the 2001 Christmas Special episode of Jonathan Creek. The special featured a mysterious castle and a seemingly-impossible locked room murder. In this podcast Gerry and Iain take a look at the first half of the episode and some unchivalrous behaviour from Jonathan.

While Jonathan negotiates with Carla Borrego (Julia Sawalha) for extra rehearsal time with her client Alan Kalanak (Jay Benedict), Kalanak’s ex-wife Vivian Brodie (Mary Tamm) struggles with a challenging co-star, Bronson Peterman (Matt Rippy), on the set of her latest movie.

Director Herman Grole (Steven Berkoff), co-star Jodee Tressky (Lisa Stökke) and the mysterious Raymond (Raymond Griffiths) play key roles on-set, while there are also roles for Bill Ward as Vernon Spools; Bill Bailey as the remarkable Kenny Starkiss; and James Saxon as the rotund Inspector Bullstrode. Penny Smith and Sonya Saul cameo-ed as versions of themselves.

Satan’s Chimney was again written by the show’s creator, David Renwick. Sandy Johnson made a pleasing return as director while Verity Lambert remained as producer.

Satan’s Chimney was released in 2001. It is 120 minutes long and originally aired on the BBC. The episode is strangely missing from Netflix in the UK and Ireland, but the entire series is available on DVD in the UK and other countries, including a comprehensive box set of all the episodes up until Christmas 2016, released by the BBC.

The post Satan’s Chimney (1) – Episode 19 first appeared on Jonathan Creek Podcast.

The Three Gamblers was the final episode of Jonathan Creek’s third season. This episode featured a corpse attempting to escape from a locked room. In this podcast Gerry and Iain take a look at one last adventure for a favourite character.

When nefarious villain Frank Geiger (John Bennett) invites Floyd Goodman (Harry Peacock) and Joe Wheeler (Cliff Barry) for a meeting ahead of a major drugs deal, the last thing he expects is for undercover police officer Karen Blaine (Nina Sosanya) to tag along. Meanwhile, her boss DI Gallo (John Bird) is looking for results.

Hattie Hayridge (Lizzie Gillespie), Cavan Clerkin (Sidney Australia), Lee Ingleby (Derek Spratley) and Jonathan Ross (himself, a cameo) also appeared.

The Three Gamblers was again written by the show’s creator, David Renwick. Richard Holthouse directed the last of his three episodes while Verity Lambert remained as producer.

The Three Gamblers was released in 2000. It is 50 minutes long and originally aired on the BBC. The episode can be viewed on Netflix in the UK and Ireland and the entire series is available on DVD in the UK and other countries, including a comprehensive box set of all the episodes up until Christmas 2016, released by the BBC.

The post The Three Gamblers – Episode 18 first appeared on Jonathan Creek Podcast.

Miracle in Crooked Lane was the fifth episode of Jonathan Creek’s third season. This episode featured a woman spotted alive and well just hours after an ultimately fatal accident. In this podcast Gerry and Iain take a look at the risks of becoming too obsessed with Jonathan Creek.

Vincent Rees (Nicholas Ball) and his inscrutable house guest Kathleen Gilmore (Dinah Sheridan) are at the centre of events as Jacqui Clifford-Wright (Hetty Baynes) appears to Kathleen hours after her apparent death at the home she shared with her husband Rupert (Benjamin Whitrow). Jonathan and Maddy are drawn into the mystery by Creek superfan Jeff (Tom Goodman-Hill) and his partner Christine (Emma Kennedy).

Frances Low (Daphne), William Vanderpuye (DCI Horner) and Ben Craze (Creek fan Colin) also appeared.

Miracle in Crooked Lane was again written by the show’s creator, David Renwick. Richard Holthouse directed the second of his three episodes while Verity Lambert remained as producer.

Miracle in Crooked Lane was released in 1999. It is 50 minutes long and originally aired on the BBC. The episode can be viewed on Netflix in the UK and Ireland and the entire series is available on DVD in the UK and other countries, including a comprehensive box set of all the episodes up until Christmas 2016, released by the BBC.

The post Miracle in Crooked Lane – Episode 17 first appeared on Jonathan Creek Podcast.

Ghosts Forge was the fourth episode of Jonathan Creek’s third season. This episode featured a novelist, a shrine and a bad case of amnesia. In this podcast Gerry and Iain take a look at the ethics of tricking a person with no memory into living a life you’ve created for them.

When Jonathan and Maddy’s mutual acquaintance Mimi Tranter (Lysette Anthony) shares the tale of her married lover Robin Priest (Mark Aiken) and the mysterious tale of Ghosts Forge it isn’t long before the pair begin to investigate. Robin’s wife Shirley (Sara Stephens) and Shirley’s Uncle Bill (Nicholas Amer) form critical parts of a very unusual story.

Gina Bellman and Jim Bowen also appeared as part of the Adam Klaus B-plot.

Ghosts Forge was again written by the show’s creator, David Renwick. Richard Holthouse directed the first of his three episodes while Verity Lambert remained as producer.

Ghosts Forge was released in 1999. It is 50 minutes long and originally aired on the BBC. The episode can be viewed on Netflix in the UK and Ireland and the entire series is available on DVD in the UK and other countries, including a comprehensive box set of all the episodes up until Christmas 2016, released by the BBC.

The post Ghosts Forge – Episode 16 first appeared on Jonathan Creek Podcast.

The Omega Man was the third episode of Jonathan Creek’s third season. This episode featured aliens from another dimension, US Military overreach and some serious ethical questions. In this podcast Gerry and Iain take a look at truth and whether it’s out there, or all around. (Wait, is that truth, or love?)

When Maddy receives an intriguing invitation to meet a stranger in an abandoned warehouse she inevitably cannot resist and comes face to face with Professor Lance Graumann (John Shrapnel) and his assistant Phillipa Farell (Jane Booker). Before she knows what is really going on a delegation of US Military officers led by Cpt. Frank Candy (Michael Brandon) arrive to take possession of what appears to be an alien corpse.

There was a small role for future EastEnders stalwart Charlie Brooks as Trudi, a Jonathan Creek fangirl.

The Omega Man was again written by the show’s creator, David Renwick. Keith Washington directed once more while Verity Lambert remained as producer.

The Omega Man was released in 1999. It is 50 minutes long and originally aired on the BBC. The episode can be viewed on Netflix in the UK and Ireland and the entire series is available on DVD in the UK and other countries, including a comprehensive box set of all the episodes up until Christmas 2016, released by the BBC.

The post The Omega Man – Episode 15 first appeared on Jonathan Creek Podcast.

The Eyes of Tiresias was the second episode of Jonathan Creek’s third season. The episode featured premonitions, goldfish and bizarre case of mistaken identity. In this podcast Gerry and Iain take a look at the power of dreams and late twentieth century recording devices.

The victim (and, as it turns out, the perpetrator), Andre Masson, was played by Terrence Hardiman and his wife, Delia, by another familiar face to British TV viewers, Diana Weston. James Gaddas played Craig Downey, who Masson tried to frame for his apparent murder. Elsewhere, Jonathan became acquainted with Heidi (Rebecca Front) and her aunt Audrey (Margery Mason) who kept seeing murders in her sleep. Paul Blackthorne and Damien Goodwin appeared as two men Maddy managed to mix up for one on a night out near the start of the episode.

There were small roles for Terry Bird as a security guard determined to keep Maddy away from Downey, Peter Blake as Otto Danziger and Claire Malcomson as Becky Philips, the second fatality foreseen by Audrey.

The Eyes of Tiresias was again written by the show’s creator, David Renwick. Keith Washington directed once more while Verity Lambert remained as producer.

The Eyes of Tiresias was released in 1999. It is 50 minutes long and originally aired on the BBC. The episode can be viewed on Netflix in the UK and Ireland and the entire series is available on DVD in the UK and other countries, including a comprehensive box set of all the episodes up until Christmas 2016, released by the BBC.

The post The Eyes of Tiresias – Episode 14 first appeared on Jonathan Creek Podcast.

The Curious Tale of Mr. Spearfish was the first episode of Jonathan Creek’s third season. The episode featured a dark contract and some dark deeds. In this podcast Gerry and Iain take a look at why money cannot solve all ills.

Andrew Tiernan featured as the titular Mr. Lenny Spearfish, a man whose luck turns on a dime when he signs his soul away to a mysterious man in a curiosity shop. His troubled wife, Alice, is portrayed by Rachel Power while there are significant cameos for Adjoa Andoh as a guardian angel type figure and for Griff Rhys Jones as a prosecutor as Adam Klaus goes to trial in the episode’s B-plot.

There is a small role for a young Maxine Peake as a hotel cleaner exposed for blackmailing high profile guests, while Debbie Arnold and Brett Fancy also appear.

The Curious Tale of Mr. Spearfish was again written by the show’s creator, David Renwick. Keith Washington directed while Verity Lambert remained as producer.

The Curious Tale of Mr. Spearfish was released in 1999. It is 50 minutes long and originally aired on the BBC. The episode can be viewed on Netflix in the UK and Ireland and the entire series is available on DVD in the UK and other countries, including a comprehensive box set of all the episodes up until Christmas 2016, released by the BBC.

The post The Curious Tale of Mr. Spearfish – Episode 13 first appeared on Jonathan Creek Podcast.

Black Canary was the Christmas Special of Jonathan Creek in 1998, between the show’s second and third seasons. The episode featured a seemingly impossible twice-executed suicide. In this podcast Gerry and Iain take a look at family dramas and the extinguishing of an old flame.

Hannah Gordon took centre stage as both Marella Carney and her twin Beryl, one the victim of a gruesome buzzsaw stunt gone wrong, the other dead at her own hand prior to manservant Lionel Prekopp’s (Murray Melvin) inventive intervention.

Marella and Beryl each had one daughter, Charlotte (Kate Isitt) and Hannah (Suzanna Hamilton), whose reactions to the latest death are made all the more complex when it is revealed one twin had been living the other’s life for many years. Francis Matthews appeared as Marella’s husband Jerry Bellinitus, while Vincent Wong (as Hannah’s fellow con-artist Pan Duc Lao), Dave Haskell (as Sgt. Richie of apparently undefined gender) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (as a typically hilarious doctor, tormenting Adam Klaus) also appeared.

The most significant guest star, however, was the late, great Rik Mayall as D.I. Gideon Pryke. Pryke presented as a formidable foil to Jonathan throughout the episode and is doubtless one of the most memorable characters in Creek‘s history.

Black Canary was again written by the show’s creator, David Renwick. Sandy Johnson returned behind the camera, while Verity Lambert remained as producer.

Black Canary was released in 1998. It is 89 minutes long and originally aired on the BBC. The episode can be viewed on Netflix in the UK and Ireland and the entire series is available on DVD in the UK and other countries, including a comprehensive box set of all the episodes up until Christmas 2016, released by the BBC.

The post Black Canary – Episode 12 first appeared on Jonathan Creek Podcast.

Mother Redcap was the sixth and final episode of Jonathan Creek’s second season and featured both an impossible murder and a fascinating historical mystery. In this podcast Gerry and Iain take a look at table manners and sisterly vengeance.

The undoubted highlight of this episode was the performance of Brian Murphy as Ken Speed, a veteran police officer. Victim Judge Forrest Sweetland and his wife Gwynneth were played by Leonard Kavanagh and Georgine Anderson respectively, while Nicola Walker portrayed the salad-licking PC Fay Radnor.

Supporting performances came from Barbara Horne as Dr Climpson, Marcus Gilbert as Jason Tippet and both Scarlett O’Neal and Hilary Sesta as the younger and present-day versions of the Mother Redcap accomplice-turned-bag lady.

Mother Redcap was again written by the show’s creator, David Renwick. Keith Washington continued behind the camera, while Verity Lambert remained as producer.

Mother Redcap was released in 1998. It is 49 minutes long and originally aired on the BBC. The episode can be viewed on Netflix in the UK and Ireland and the entire series is available on DVD in the UK and other countries, including a comprehensive box set of all the episodes up until Christmas 2016, released by the BBC.

The post Mother Redcap – Episode 11 first appeared on Jonathan Creek Podcast.