2014 BBC Mystery

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My last mystery post, on 2013 mysteries, had several series that are still yet to come out, but their release date is a little bit more certain.

Sherlock Season Three is now certainly coming out in 2014, with a January 19 release date for the U.S. The Beeb has also announced a December 25 minisode, though whether that'll extend to us on the other side of the pond has yet to be seen. Needless to say, the hype is getting pretty loud, since it's been two years since season two's cliffhanger ending, and the speculation is intense. The greatest question is: why does Watson have a mustache?

Martin Freeman's real life partner, Amanda Abbington, will be joining him on-screen as his wife, Mary Morstan, which ought to be fun. Lars Mikkelson is signed on as the new villain, and certainly has large shoes to fill after the amazing Andrew Scott.

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Poirot's thirteenth and last season has already aired in the U.K., but the little Belgian will have to wait till 2014 to finish his twenty-five year run over here.

Season thirteen sees him reunited with old friends Captain Hastings, Inspector (now Assistant Commissioner) Japp, and Miss Lemon, as well as rejoining the saucy Mrs. Oliver for two of the five episodes.

Curtain, the last episode, marked David Suchet's seventieth episode, and he has now filmed all the Poirot stories, bar one short story. I've only seen two of them, but they're both quite good, especially Dead Man's Folly.

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P.D. James's Jane Austen pastiche murder mystery Death Comes to Pemberley is set for Christmas in the U.K., and once again, it's likely we Yanks will have to wait a few months.

Anna Maxwell Martin will be reprising her role as Esther Summ...I mean, Lizzy Bennet. She has the aura of classy calm to match Jennifer Ehle, so we'll see how the dialogue measures up to her abilities.

There have been a number of terrible Austen spin-offs (Lost in Austen - ugh), but considering P.D. James's already considerable talent, we may be entitled to hope for a faithful screenplay.

Judging by the dramatic trailer, the tone will be somewhat less restrained than Jane Austen's, or for that matter, James's, but I remain hopeful. Besides, Lizzy Bennet doing a spot of investigating? Yes, please.

From the clips I've seen, the sets are gorgeous. Pemberley looks wonderful - possibly too beautiful. And there's a lake...hmm. Will they possibly be able to resist?

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Father Brown has been renewed for a second season, but I've no idea when that will air. Not extremely excited about this, since the first season was so disrespectful to Chesterton's source material. My money's still on the 1970's show and Alec Guinness's amusing black and white 1954 jaunt with Peter Finch as a marvelous Flambeau. Both had some semblance of Orthodoxy, something old G.K.C. was rather keen on.



Endeavour, the prequel to the long-running and excellent Inspector Morse, is also scheduled to return for season two, likely some time in the summer.

Still no news on Terry Pratchett's The Watch TV series, which is too bad...

More cold war Foyle's War eventually - writer and creator Anthony Horowitz is re-revising his scripts for series nine at the moment.

BBC Wallander begins filming for its fourth and final season in the summer.

Cheers,

Longish