Series 2 of Jonathan Creek has Jonathan, played by Alan Davies, and Maddy Magellen, played by Caroline Quentin, back together solving impossible mysteries. A murder disappears into a locked brick garage, a painting disappears from a well watched locked gallery, a man commits suicide when he discovers his girlfriend in bed with another guy and two weeks later he's seen strangling a woman. You get the idea. Jonathan's power of observation and knowledge base help him find the clues that give his brain the tips he needs to figure out the trick and the solve the mystery.
Magician Adam Klaus is now being played by Stuart Milligan. He's even more of a comical horn dog than the Anthony Head character in the pilot. He's always letting his mouth and/or pecker get him into hot water. It's no trick for him. There's a bunch of guest actors in each episode. Some I knew, like Peter Davison, Deborah Grant, Dermot Crowley, Bob Monkhouse, Amanda Holden, Brian Murphy and Rik Mayall. Rik would return again as the highly entertaining Detective Inspector Gideon Pryke in the 2013 Christmas Special. Sadly Rik dying means he can't comeback anymore.
There's the usual bits of hesitant romance between Jonathan and Maddy. It's sad for me since I find Maddy even more annoying this series. Why Jonathan might think there's potential relationship material there, I just don't get. Maddy is selfish, petty and a liar. She's totally willing to break the law, or a promise, to get her way. The number of times she's screwed Jonathan over to get her story is sad to see. Must be a blind spot for the guy. His track record with women seems to be rather poor in general. He does have a bit of a fling with his tax assessor but that ends with him getting punched out by her dad and her brother.
The 6 fifty minute episodes came out in January and February 1998 and they were followed by a 90 minute Christmas Special called Black Canary. It aired Christmas Eve 1998 and it had 9.86 million people watching. Two of the 2nd series episodes had over 10 million people watching and it never went below 8.94 million viewers. I think it's popular for several reasons: Jonathan is an interesting character, many of those around him are equally interesting on their own, the scripts have clever puzzles and solutions, there are good production values and interesting locations. I think it's a series which lends itself to re-watching. Especially for those of us who seem to forget the plots after a couple of years. It's just an enjoyable place to be for a while. Can't ask for better than that.
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