PBS Masterpiece Mystery 2012

[Babi]

 

Masterpiece Mystery 2012 presents the best British mysteries. See the complete 2012 MASTERPIECE MYSTERY schedule.    

NOW DISCUSSING


Wallander: Season 3
Three 90-minute mysteries — Sundays, Sept. 9, 16 & 23, 2012
The brooding Swedish cop Wallander (Kenneth Branagh) returns with a new home and relationship, a new sense of possibility, and three chilling new cases with devastating effects.


Wallander: Dogs of Riga
September 16, 2012 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
The gruesome appearance in the Baltic Sea of two corpses floating in a raft prompts Wallander to pursue justice in an eerie post-Soviet Latvia rife with corruption. Ingeborga Dapkunaite (Prime Suspect 6) guest stars.

ALREADY DISCUSSED


Wallander: An Event in Autumn
September 9, 2012 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Wallander's peaceful new start is disrupted when investigations of two murdered, anonymous girls take him far from home... and to the very heart of it.


Inspector Lewis: Indelible Stain
July 29, 2012 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
A controversial American academic is found strangled after a guest lecture at Oxford, leading Lewis and Hathaway to narrow down a list of motives that includes politics, ambition and vengeance, in order to find their culprit.


Inspector Lewis: Fearful Symmetry
July 22, 2012 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Lewis and Hathaway are drawn into a darker side of Oxford while investigating the murder of a suburban babysitter. Will the babysitter's secret life help the detectives unravel a tangled web of lies and deceit to find their killer?


Inspector Lewis: Generation of Vipers
July 15, 2012 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Suspicions abound as Lewis and Hathaway investigate the death of a lovelorn Oxford professor. Was her death caused by an embarrassing Internet leak, or something much more sinister? Toby Stephens (Jane Eyre) guest stars.


Inspector Lewis: The Soul of Genius
July 8, 2012 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Botany, rivalry and secrecy collide when Lewis and Hathaway attempt to find the killer of an obsessed professor. Kick off the new season of Inspector Lewis with The Soul of Genius. Celia Imrie (Cranford) co-stars.


Endeavour
July 1, 2012 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Before his signature red Jaguar, before Inspector Morse, there was the rookie Constable Morse, deductive powers already running in high gear. Shaun Evans (The Take, The Virgin Queen) portrays Endeavour Morse, the low man on the force returning to Oxford with no track record and his future on the line.


ZEN: Encore Episodes (from 2011)
Three 90-minute mysteries — Sundays, June 10, 17 & 24, 2012
 What does an honest cop do when corruption rules on both sides of the law? Detective Aurelio Zen (Rufus Sewell, Middlemarch), based on the novels by British crime writer Michael Dibdin, brings justice to modern-day Italy, whether the authorities want it or not. Check your local listings to see if the programs are broadcast on your PBS station.


Sherlock Holmes: The Reichenbach Fall
May 20, 2012 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
The crime of the century is just a prelude for the unhinged criminal mastermind, Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott, Lennon Naked), when he poses the diabolical and inescapable "final problem" to Sherlock.
 


Sherlock Holmes: The Hounds of Baskerville
May 13, 2012 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Sherlock and Watson track a gigantic hound to Baskerville, where the military is conducting top-secret experiments. But whether demonic or dubious, something is stalking the moors.


Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Belgravia
May 6, 2012 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Picking up from Season 1's gripping cliffhanger, the whip-smart Irene Adler (Lara Pulver, True Blood) takes on Sherlock in a game he is ill-prepared to fight...love. Watch online through 6/5/12

Discussion Leader:marcie

MacLaine is a top-notch actress.  I'm really lookiing forward to seeing what she does in this
role.

[JeanneP]

Had looked forward to watching Masterpiece last night thinking is was a new one.  Was a repeat and they kept breaking it up every 15 minutes for Pledge money.  I just switched it off.  They have just overdone it this year.  They had been doing it all day.  Heard them say here local that only 2 people had called in.  I can see why.  People are not going to give all the time and have to get  Repeats after Repeats all year long.

[Art Hippy]

Hi...new to the discussion!
Must say that I'm truly looking forward to watching the Wallander Series...all the human foibles always make a character more endearing.
For the same reason, have loved all the Elizabeth George mysteries following Inspector Lynley...got to love Barbara Havers, an entertaining character of great depth in an awkwardly social way!...THAT goes a ways back into the PBS archives. 
Linda

[pedln]

Welcome Art Hippy -- Linda.  We're glad you're here.  I'm looking forward to those Wallender mysteries too.

(And thank you Charter cable for finally fixing what was ailing our PBS channel.)

[marcie]

Yes, welcome to our PBS discussion, Linda. I too enjoyed the interplay between Barbara Havers and Inspector Lynley ... quite opposites in many ways. The Wallander series doesn't really have that. If I remember correctly, he doesn't have a "sidekick" at all. That's pretty unusual for a police show.

[Frybabe]

Marcie I'm trying to remember how the set up was in the books. He had a team of three or four. He also confided in a retired friend and mentor for a while.

I haven't read any of the Kurt and Linda Wallander books. (Before the Frost was the first of those. The Dogs of Riga is one of my favorites. Some of the scenes were shot in Latvia. An Event in Autumn is adapted from a short story/novella. If I remember correctly, it was a special freebie sent with book orders in the Netherlands. It has not been translated into English.

It looks like we can look forward to one more season after this.  The Troubled Man is in my TBR pile. The White Lioness will be a two-part episode. The White Lioness is set largely in South Africa. Wallander's role in the book is rather small  because he never leaves Sweden. He investigates the Swedish connection to an assassination plot in South Africa. It will be interesting to see how they do this one. The book is excellent. I am pleased that they are attempting to produce it, but would rather, I think, see it as a full blown movie.

[Art Hippy]

Since I'm unfamiliar with Mankell's writings and Wallander's character traits, I'm ordering The Pyramid: The First Wallander Cases since, supposedly, it covers three distinct, yet important, periods in his life.  I don't believe that the early PBS presentations are available for review.
Ciao, Linda

[marcie]

Frybabe, you're right. In the books Wallander has a team of police men and a woman but they don't seem to go around in pairs as they do in many American police shows. That's an interesting thought... to do a movie based on at least one of the Wallander books. My mother was born in Latvia (met my father when he was stationed in Germany during WWII) so I'm always interested in references to Latvia.

Linda, here is a list of the Mankell books in chronological order of their original publication in Swedish:
http://www.inspector-wallander.org/guide/timeline.html

[Frybabe]

RE: the list Marcie posted. It should be noted that Return of the Dancing Master is not a Wallander book, however the detective in that book shows up in Before the Frost.  The Grave is the same as An Event in Autumn, just renamed.

Linda, if you haven't checked out Henning Mankell's website please do. He has some very interesting things there about his work in Africa. http://www.henningmankell.com/

[Art Hippy]

Thank you both so much...always like to start at the beginning, or at least be familiar with it.  It develops an intimacy to the the character.

[marcie]

Linda, I agree. I've occasionally read a book that I didn't realize was part of a series and I had to go back and read the series in order so that I could "catch up."

[Lorac625]

I like the new Sherlock a lot.  I'm not a Holmes groupie, or anything, but have read all I can find(Conan Doyle and new ones),seen a lot of the movies but I rarely watch TV.  Thought this might be worth it after seeing last seasons's on Netfilx.

[Babi]

 You might want to make an exception for the Masterpiece channel, LORAC.  They specialize is presenting
both classics and the best mystery series.  Most of what they offer I don't want to miss.

[marcie]

Lorac625, I enjoyed the new Sherlock series too. I've liked all of the Sherlock actors that I've seen in the role, Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch. I looked up a list of actors who have played Sherlock and I couldn't believe how many there have been. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_actors_who_have_played_Sherlock_Holmes

Jonny Lee Miller, who I like in other roles he's played (eg, in a BBC production of Jane Austen's EMMA)  is going to be Sherlock Holmes in a CBS series called ELEMENTARY this Fall. I'm going to watch though I don't know what to think about it yet. You can see a preview at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqOdBSSZkCc (There is a 25 second ad that plays first).

[marcie]

There is an extended preview of the new Downton Abbey for January 2013 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/downtonabbey3_preview.html

[Babi]

 ANOTHER Sherlock Holmes?  How often can we watch the various incarnations of Mr. Holmes before
we are glutted?  Anything that catches the public attention....behold!  A dozen other opportunists jump
on the bandwagon.  Well, MARCIE, since you like Jonny Lee Miller I'll see what he does with the role.
  I'm not familiar with the name.  I must admit I am never able to keep track of all the actors.  I'm
constantly asking my daughter,  'Where have I seen him/her before?"

[Frybabe]

 I am most curious to see how they get SH to New York and with a female as a sidekick. So she is a doctor who was hired by SH's father to see that he transitions out of rehab successfully? Wow! I am not impressed. Since when did SH have a living father in any of Conan Doyle's books? His brother is the only relative I ever remember. I get the feeling we won't see any, or not many, Conan Doyle story remakes with this one. Here is the CBS preview: http://www.cbs.com/shows/elementary/video/2239231109/elementary-exclusive-preview

I first ran across Jonny Lee Miller in Hackers. He also did Emma and Mansfield Park. Otherwise the only other movie I saw him in was Endgame, which was about the discussions that brought an end to Apartheid in South Africa. It is well worth watching.

[Babi]

 Okay, I looked up Jonny Lee Miller and recognized the face.  I did not see "Hackers", but I did see the
other three FRYBABE mentioned.  I think I've seen him in some TV shows, too, but I could be mistaken.
Thanks to Seniornet, he now has another viewer who recognizes him. 

[Frybabe]

Babi, Miller managed to let Angelia Jolie slip his fingers - they were married briefly. She played opposite him in Hackers, which is a movie about a bunch of hacker kids that accidentally come across a cyber crime and are subsequently set up as the fall guys by the perpetrator. They used their collective hacker skills to clear themselves.

[Babi]

 Sounds good, FRYBABE.  I'll add that one to my queue.  As to Angelina Jolie,  I have never been interested
in the private lives of celebrities, so I could have no knowledge or opinion as to whether losing her was a bad thing or a good thing. 

[FlaJean]

I watched the clip on "Elementary" and it looks really interesting.

[Frybabe]

Gosh, actual smiles on Wallander's face. Got to get used to that one. The program seems a bit ordinary to me.

Next week, one of my favorites - The Dogs of Riga.

Is it my imagination or did Brannagh lose a little weight since the last season?

[marcie]

Frybabe, yes the episode started out with a seemingly "new" Wallander. Smiles, shaven (yes, Brannagh looked good and did look like he lost weight)...but by the end we had our brooding Wallander back. I kinda figured out who did it in the beginning of the show. Not sure about the motive, though.

[salan]

I had forgotten how dark and depressing the Wallander series is.  Yes, Wallander seemed to have lightened up some.  I dvr'd it and will watch again later.  Parts of it were  a little confusing.  I do like Brannaugh, but wish the program had some humor in it.
Sally

[Art Hippy]

My first experience with Wallander's personality...am drawn to him and his "ghosts".  Also, I believe that the macabre atmosphere, generated by the author, touches on my cravings for "Gothic" adventure.  I'm going back to re-watch it to better pick up the finer points of the story, now that I know the ending...

[JoanP]

Having read a number of Henning Mankell novels on Wallender - and Sweden - and the "macabre" atmosphere Linda noticed,  which  permeates ALL of his books, I'm left wondering if his work is a commentary on conditions in Sweden specifically - or if Sweden's problems represent a slice of the contemporary society in which we live.    Please don't make me diagram that sentence!  Any thoughts on this?

Frybabe, you're right!  Branagh has LOST a lot of weight!  I was so distracted with the smiling that I noticed little else.  What is his lady's name?  She's the one who seems to know just how to bring out those smiles...that, and the joy he took in the house by the sea...until trouble found him there.  Hopefully the smiles will continue.  Although they seem out of character...

[marcie]

There is an article at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2163452/Sir-Kenneth-Branagh-reveals-ready-graciously-accept-knighthood.html that says that next year's 3 episodes will be the last for Kenneth Branagh and the Wallander series.

[Frybabe]

JoanP, her name is Vanya, and if I remember correctly, he met her in The Fifth Woman. Next week is The Dogs of Riga where he meets and courts Baiba Liepa, the widow of a Latvian policeman. They had a long term, long distance relationship running through several of the books. I will be curious how they handle the relationship on screen.  Vanya came later in the series.

Marcie, The White Lioness will be a two parter and, as far as I am concerned, absolutely not to be missed. I hope they stay relatively true to the book, which means about half or less than half will involve Wallander. Most of the action actually happens in South Africa, while Wallander works the case in Sweden. The thought of waiting a whole year, now that I know they have produced it, is excruciating.

[FlaJean]

I've read many of the Wallender series and like them and have enjoyed the TV presentations.  Is it my imagination but are Europeans less respectful of the police or is that just the way it is portrayed on TV.  I wonder if anyone else has noticed this?

[Art Hippy]

The one thing that I have noticed regarding police in Europe (as per my reading) is that they do not seem to possess the "primadonna" illusion about themselves.  Work roles do not seem as departmentalized as in the US, and they don't seem to mind getting "down" and "dirty".

[Frybabe]

My PBS station is running the Ring Cycle. Last night was, I think, a look at the sets, costumes, how the production was put together. Tonight is part one. I might actually try and watch it.

[marcie]

hmm, FlaJean, I'm not sure about the "respect for police" attitude in the U.S. Do you mean in the tv police shows or actual police. I think real life attitude toward police probably depends on the community. There seems to be quite a range across the U.S. Linda, probably what the police actually do depends on the community too.

Frybabe, I'll look to see if the RING CYCLE will be showing sometime on my station.

[rosemarykaye]

So far as the UK goes, I think most people are respectful of the police - though of course there are some communities where they are (rightly or wrongly) loathed and feared.  Parts of our police force do have a long history of racism, although there have been huge efforts to eradicate this.  It is still said that a black driver is far, far more likely to be pulled over than a white one.

Having said that, most people like and trust our police and would happily approach them on the street for help.  The main complaint these days is that there aren't enough of them walking about in local communities - though again they are trying to address this.

From my very limited experience in the US, the police there appear far less accessible and scary.  I would not stop one just to ask for directions - but would certainly do that here.  In France they are also quite distant and unwelcoming.

Rosemary

[Frybabe]

Last night, I made an attempt to watch the first episode of The Metropolitan Opera production of The Ring Cycle. I ended up watching the first and last half hour. The music, as always, was good, the  set was very interesting, but I couldn't handle the dialog. Seems to me that they were saying an awful lot for the little bit of captioning they used for those of us who don't speak German. Also, it seemed very simple, like from a children's book. The costuming was not impressive, for the most part. The cast made the singing seem effortless, a plus.

Now to the set. They used lighting and moving platforms only. Much of the lighting seemed to come up from the floor and followed the actors. It was very effective for the Rhinemaiden and Thor's scenes. Every time the Rhinemaidens or the thief moved, the gold spots on the floor moved too in a cascading fashion. In Thor's scene at the end, he swung his arms around and the clouds on the floor of the platform swirled; every time he walked, the floor light up under his feet; when he struck the platform with his hammer, lightning streaked out from the spot across the platform floor. The representation of the aurora display at the end was also good. The representation of the castle walled looked like black marble with white streaks. Very nice.

I didn't catch the name of the actor who played the god responsible for the aurora, but gosh was he good looking in his curly blond wig.

Keep in mind that I am not an opera buff, so I haven't seen much to compare it with.

[Babi]

 Sounds like the lighting effects were the main attaction there, FRYBABE.  Did they distract from the singing, I wonder?
Valerie watched "Voice" last night, and from what I caught of the praise given the singers, I couldn't help but regret once
again my loss of hearing.  Ah, well.  I'm quite confident that when I'm finished with this old carcass, I'll get my hearing
back and hear the angels sing!

[marcie]

Remember that Wallander: Dogs of Riga is on tonight.

[Frybabe]

Babi, sorry I missed your comment earlier. I don't think the effects distracted from the singing, but they were pretty neat. The second night was Das Valkyries which, as far as the actual story and action went, I liked a lot. There didn't seem to be as many gaps as the first night. Third night was Sigfried. I got through the first act and fell asleep sometime in the second. The first act was a bit repetitious to my thinking. Fourth night, Twilight of the Gods, I didn't watch a whole lot of it, just the first bit up to the bit where Hagan and his two conspirators showed up.

[MaryPage]

I'll be watching tonight, Marcie.

[pedln]

My station elected to show Les Mis 25th Anniversary performance tonight and is showing two Wallendars next week.  Will definitely have to record, can't sit forl three hours.

[rosemarykaye]

Last night we saw the first episode of the new series of Downton Abbey - a special 90 minute one to start the season.  I won't give anything away - but it was good!

Rosemary