LITTLE ROCK — Heaven knows there are enough law and order shows on TV to back up the judicial system for decades.
That's why some viewers pre
fer their detective shows with
a British accent. Crime and its
solving are so very much more
civil over there, ol' chap.
Fans of British detective shows
rejoice, Masterpiece Mystery! In
spector Lewis, Series II debuts on
PBS and AETN at 9 p.m. today.
The 90-minute episodes will air
at the same time each Sunday
through Oct. 18.
Kevin Whately returns as De
tective Inspector Robbie Lewis,
former partner of the inimitable
Inspector Endeavour Morse.
Fans will recall that in Series
1, Lewis had been gone on a long
assignment to the British Virgin Islands. He returned to the Thames Valley Police and the university town of Oxford five years after the death of Morse.
The criminal element that simmers in the dark underbelly of Oxford must have quaked with trepidation.
Honestly, it's a stretch for me to think about the idyllic academic confines of Oxford seething with anything, let alone crime.
But there's enough to keep Lewis and his young partner, the erudite and somewhat stiff Detective Sergeant James Hathaway (Laurence Fox), on their toes.
About the first episode, "And the Moonbeams Kiss the Sea," PBS tells us, "As the relationship between inspector and sergeant grows and develops we see new sides to the inimitable duo.
"Stolen rare books and the murders of a brilliant Oxford Fine Art student and a librarymaintenance engineer lead Lewis and Hathaway to a web of art forgery and black market antiques. Can Oxford's finest trace killers before they claim their next victim?" Does that whet your appetite?
Here's a glimpse at future episodes.
"Music to Die For," Sept. 6. Norules boxing, academia, the Cold War, a dead Oxford don and the ghost of Inspector Morse. We'll also learn about the pain Lewis has suffered since the death of his wife in a hit-and-run accident.
"Life Born of Fire," Sept. 13. A serial killer seems to be targeting a secret religious group. As he learns more, Lewis begins to lose trust in Hathaway as he discovers his young sergeant's dangerous connections to the outfit.
"The Great and the Good," Sept.
20. A teenage girl is assaulted,but the prime suspect has an alibi provided by three pillars of the Oxford community. The suspect is murdered and a tangled web of upper-crust intrigue is exposed.
"Allegory of Love," Oct. 4. A Czech barmaid is murdered and Lewis and Hathaway must uncover the connection between the victim and a prominent Oxford professor.
"Quality of Mercy," Oct. 11.
An arrogant young actor and a theater critic are murdered and Lewis and Hathaway have several suspects. But how are the crimes connected? As the duo track down the truth, they unearth a dark secret that hits Lewis eerily close to home.
"The Point of Vanishing," Oct. 18.
The vicious scalding and drowning murder of a small-time criminal leads Lewis and Hathaway to a prominent atheist Oxford don. The investigation uncovers
a web of deceit and lots of mis
taken identity.
Now that I see it all written
down in one place, I've conclud
ed there are quite a few webs
in Oxford - webs of intrigue,
webs of deceit, tangled webs.
And there are quite a few mur
ders for a quiet university town
in a country not known for its
crime rate.
The bottom line: Inspector
Lewis is for fans of old-school
detective shows. Those were
the gumshoes who solved cases
by being tenacious and extra
sleuthy. They did not rely on the
convenient deus ex machina of
a computer or the razzle-dazzle
of all those forensic bells and
whistles so commonplace on TV
these days.
Does that make Inspector
Lewis old-fashioned? Perhaps,
but it also makes it stand out
from the crowd.
TV Week, Pages 85 on 08/30/2009