My father in law is 92 and has cancer. My wife and I go over to his house every Sunday (or sometimes she brings him over here) and we have dinner together and watch some TV. For the last year or so it’s been one or two episodes of “New Tricks” every week. We’re nearing the end of the last season, so I’m looking for suggestions for what to watch next.
One requirement is that it must be a show on Amazon Prime/BritBox, because we both have those services and so we can watch at either place. Suggestions for shows on any other streaming service will be completely ignored.
Preference is for something British and either a mystery or police procedural show, but doesn’t have to be. Should be appropriate for watching with an elderly parent/in-law, so nudity, swearing, etc while not deal-breakers, should be kept to a minimum.
I watched Shakespeare & Hathaway and Jonathan Creek on Britbox. And people were talking about Cracker in the Robbie Coltrane memorial thread. And there’s always Midsomer Murders.
(BTW, I was working my way through New Tricks but I found I liked it less once the original team broke up.)
“New Tricks” has a kind 60s/70s US series feel, not too dark (maybe a little darker late in the series), lots of interpersonal chemistry/humor plus a touch of romance and personal drama…that’s a hard one to mirror. You might try the first couple of episodes of “McDonald and Dodds”, which has some of that, or if you want real old-school there’s “Hetty Wainwright Investigates” with that woman from “Keeping Up Appearances”.
Also, “Rosemary and Thyme” with the lady from “The Good Life” is pretty good.
We’re about halfway through Midsomer Murders, and it’s quite good, but I’ll just tell you that every episode has 3-4 murders, and they can be quite gruesome.
Pie in the Sky – dramedy about Deputy Inspector Crabbe who wants to retire and run his eponymous restaurant but Assistant Chief Constable Fisher, who has been promoted above his ability, keeps wrangling ways to keep Crabbe on the force at least part of the time.
Typical episodes have a dramatic A plot (the police procedural) and a comedic B plot (running the restaurant) and the plots will cross over at times.
Cracking choice! My favourite TV show ever. I also recommend Unforgotten and Annika, both with Nicola Walker. The latter is a bit more “modern”. From a few decades ago, Hamish Macbeth is set in a Scottish fishing village, and is also in the comedy/drama vein. This is a bit more quirky than the others, but quite gentle. No idea what service they are available on, sorry.
I believe Hamish Macbeth is produced by the same team responsible for Doc Martin, which I watch every week. I also enjoy Heartbeat and The Royal (also produced by a single team), but I get all of these on either Vision TV or PBS/TVO. Can’t imagine they’re not available on Britbox or Acorn, though.
I don’t know which streaming service has which, but I recommend:
Agatha Raisin Professor T Whitstable Pearl Miss Scarlet and the Duke McDonald and Dodds Father Brown Murder They Hope Unforgotten Dead Still
and finally Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
Only the Belgian original. While I love Ben Miller (great in season one Death in Paradise), his version of Professor T didn’t work for me. I understand there’s at least two other versions from Germany and France.
Only the Francesca Annis one. The more recent version that they shoe-horned Miss Marple into was awful.
Death in Paradise is made, I believe, by some of the same team as did New Tricks, and would be my first choice. A new season is being made, and there is a spinoff featuring one of the detectives and one of the cops but set in England.
We’re just about done with Shakespeare and Hathaway. Good also, but not the same vibe.
Death in Paradise handled cast transitions better than New Tricks did.
