Jonathan Creek returns for its first new episode since 2014. It’s been almost 20 years since David Renwick’s reluctant deductive detective first appeared on screens and in recent returns, the show had changed almost beyond recognition. Gone is the duffle coat, windmill and magic trick design and most importantly Caroline Quentin. All that remains really is the writer and Alan Davies in the starring role, along with his floppy hair.
Much like Doctor Who, Jonathan has had many companions throughout the years, which have all worked in their own ways while never quite matching the original. That was until Sarah Alexander was cast as Creek’s wife, a character who seems designed purely to be annoyed that Jonathan does investigating. That’s not particularly a gift to storytelling, given that he’s going to be involved in an investigation anyway, so really he might as well embrace it.
Happily, after a short series of Midsomer Murders parodies, the show is returning to its spooky roots as spelled out in the official synopsis.
According to legend, a 19th century sorcerer named Jacob Surtees would summon the powers of Hell to terrorise and subjugate his victims at his home, Daemons’ Roost.
A hundred and fifty years after his death the house is occupied by another, equally macabre, figure: veteran horror film director Nathan Clore. With his health now failing he has summoned home his stepdaughter Alison, to share with her the chilling truth of what happened to her family there.
However, just days before her arrival Nathan Clore has suffered a debilitating stroke, rendering him terribly paralysed and unable to communicate the very truth that she has come to learn.
After assisting Alison’s husband in the past, Jonathan Creek is called upon to help again but as the story unfolds, with ever more sinister twists and turns, the gruesome rituals that were once enacted in the dungeon of Daemons’ Roost are frighteningly revived with horrifying consequences.
Warwick Davis, Emun Elliott, Ken Bones, Rosalind March, Jason Barnett and Jo Martin also star.
Jonathan Creek returns on Wednesday 28 December 2016 at 9pm
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