The "Magician detective" is an idea that's been done to death but never done quite as well as when it was done by this show. This is mostly due to the main character's shyness and retiring nature, played to a "T" by Alan Davis. He would be perfectly happy just sitting at home planning tricks for his self absorbed boss but instead keeps getting dragged all over England to confront the British Isle's criminal population, all of whom are unbelievably well versed in stage magic techniques that are elaborately applied to rather unbelievable crimes. The writing is good enough to keep your disbelief dangling on a tight rope.
The downside of the show comes from every character who isn't Creek.
Take the British police who alternate between appreciating Creek's input to being abusive bullies. It's hard to understand how the main character is placed in the universe in the show when that same universe accepts or rejects him depending on whatever inconvenience is needed for the plot.
Then there's Adam Klaus, the magician who Creek works for. In the first season, he's played by Anthony Stewart Head who manages to make a repugnant sex obsessed narcissist seem charming and despite the fact that Tony Head can't do an American accent to save his life, you find him fascinating. But for the rest of the show the character is played by an actual American, Stuart Milligan who doesn't do my home country very proud when he somehow makes Adam Klaus so repellent that his scenes are actually a bear to watch.
It gets worse in the first three seasons with Maddy, played by Caroline Quentin. Maddy is the female lead of the show and Jonathon Creek's possible love interest but they never actually seem to close the deal, either out of neurosis or bad luck. The problem with Maddy is the opposite for the other characters: she's TOO well written, she's too human and broken. Unlike most female leads on tv, Maddy is a real woman with a real human body and down to earth looks. That's great and fun, she's smart and motivated and a great character. But she's also manipulative, cruel, and rather mean to Jonathon and after the first two episodes their "will they, won't they" becomes "God, why should they?"
Maddy's attitude makes sense when you learn her backstory but it's not much of an excuse for the generally cold blooded way she leaves Jonathon to twist in the wind. Also, despite NEVER actually being a real couple and acknowledging that Jonathon is free to be with who ever he wants, she essentially harangues him mercilessly when he does meet someone.
Maddy leaves after the third season and gets replaced with a series of other female assistants but that's a huge hit to the show because none of the successive assistants are A) As well written and B) getting prettier and prettier to the point that Sarah Alexander plays "Mrs. Creek" at the end of the show and it almost seems like a slap in the face to Caroline Quentin to replace her with, well, go look at a picture of Sarah Alexander. Maddy isn't a very GOOD person but she's definitely the soul of the show and it loses something when she's gone.
Alan Creek is also a prime example of the dumbness of British TV's "scheduling gaps" between seasons because by the end of the show in 2016, so much time has passed for Alan Davis that he looks like he's melted into a blob of Jonathon Creek shaped goo. It's hard to pull off "Boyish charm" when you lack, well, boyish looks.
All in all, the show is saved by the fantastic writing and excellent plots that remain consistently good throughout.
The downside of the show comes from every character who isn't Creek.
Take the British police who alternate between appreciating Creek's input to being abusive bullies. It's hard to understand how the main character is placed in the universe in the show when that same universe accepts or rejects him depending on whatever inconvenience is needed for the plot.
Then there's Adam Klaus, the magician who Creek works for. In the first season, he's played by Anthony Stewart Head who manages to make a repugnant sex obsessed narcissist seem charming and despite the fact that Tony Head can't do an American accent to save his life, you find him fascinating. But for the rest of the show the character is played by an actual American, Stuart Milligan who doesn't do my home country very proud when he somehow makes Adam Klaus so repellent that his scenes are actually a bear to watch.
It gets worse in the first three seasons with Maddy, played by Caroline Quentin. Maddy is the female lead of the show and Jonathon Creek's possible love interest but they never actually seem to close the deal, either out of neurosis or bad luck. The problem with Maddy is the opposite for the other characters: she's TOO well written, she's too human and broken. Unlike most female leads on tv, Maddy is a real woman with a real human body and down to earth looks. That's great and fun, she's smart and motivated and a great character. But she's also manipulative, cruel, and rather mean to Jonathon and after the first two episodes their "will they, won't they" becomes "God, why should they?"
Maddy's attitude makes sense when you learn her backstory but it's not much of an excuse for the generally cold blooded way she leaves Jonathon to twist in the wind. Also, despite NEVER actually being a real couple and acknowledging that Jonathon is free to be with who ever he wants, she essentially harangues him mercilessly when he does meet someone.
Maddy leaves after the third season and gets replaced with a series of other female assistants but that's a huge hit to the show because none of the successive assistants are A) As well written and B) getting prettier and prettier to the point that Sarah Alexander plays "Mrs. Creek" at the end of the show and it almost seems like a slap in the face to Caroline Quentin to replace her with, well, go look at a picture of Sarah Alexander. Maddy isn't a very GOOD person but she's definitely the soul of the show and it loses something when she's gone.
Alan Creek is also a prime example of the dumbness of British TV's "scheduling gaps" between seasons because by the end of the show in 2016, so much time has passed for Alan Davis that he looks like he's melted into a blob of Jonathon Creek shaped goo. It's hard to pull off "Boyish charm" when you lack, well, boyish looks.
All in all, the show is saved by the fantastic writing and excellent plots that remain consistently good throughout.