Series 3 of Jonathan Creek first started airing November 27 1999 and it ran for 6 episodes, each about 50 minutes long. There was a Christmas Special that aired in 2001. It would be two more years before Jonathan would return to the airwaves. Alan Davies plays Jonathan Creek and Caroline Quentin plays Maddie Magellan. This would be her last series, she didn't want to play anymore, and you know, I won't miss her. She was a really annoying character. One of those who would screw you over for her own gain and ask why you're upset. She'll think of something she wants you to do, assume you'll say no, and figure out a way to trick you into doing it. I guess it's to make Jonathan being so much cleverer than her that much more of a treat for me. I can't imagine why else they would write such a character. Stuart Milligan plays Adam Klaus, the magician that Jonathan works for, and his character takes a pretty good beating in the series. It's all his fault, he's an idiot the comic relief machine.
The series got really nice ratings when it first aired with the first episode pulling 11.02 million viewers. The population of England was nearly 60 million in 1999 and that averages out to about 1 in 6 people watching. That percentage in the US would have around 55 million people watching. The highest rated show in the US, during the 2012-3 season, was NCIS wth 21.6 million. Third place was The Big Bang Theory with more than 19 million. I don't watch the first mentioned, I'm just not interested in it. I do like TBBT and look forward to catching up with the current season when it gets rolling. I usually let a few pile up, then gang watch them with the On Demand feature on Comcast.
In the first episode Jonathan meets a man who claims to have sold his soul to the Devil. In the second he meets an older lady who's dreams seem to come through. Alien bones, that freeze people when they touch them, pit Jonathan against the US Air Force in the third episode. He gets a $100,000 reward from them so he did ok. In the fourth a dead ghost writer haunts a house. Jonathan meets his fans and he's disappointed in the fifth episode. In the last episode of the series a dead man moved after he was sealed in a basement. That's him on the stairs and he's not even close to where he was shot in the head. How could anyone move him, when no one had been in the place since it was closed up? Jonathan figures it out.
Julia Sawalha steps into Maddie's shoes as Jonathan's foil Carla Borrego in the 2001 Christmas Special. I much prefer her to Maddie. She's way less annoying. There are two puzzles in this 2 hour episode. An actress is shot on set, through an unbroken sheet of glass. The other puzzle has Jonathan trying to figure out how a body disappeared out a locked stone room. All that's left is some ash. It's quite the solution. Bill Bailey appears as a homeless magician, he's quite funny and completely mad too.
I enjoyed this batch of shows so much I watched them twice. Plus I watched little pieces of them on YouTube when I was checking out the quality of hte picture. Not bad, the dvds are obviously better, but certainly watchable. Alan Davies has gotten better at the acting bit since he started the series. The Jonathan Creek character is such fun. I even enjoy his name, thinking it's a pretty cool one. I likea lot of quirky detective characters and this is a good one. The mysteries are usually odd and interesting. Another series that I'd recommend highly. You can see the whole third series here on YouTube. Watch them while you can.
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