Sun 19 Nov 2023
A TV Episode Review: ALLEYN MYSTERIES “Artists in Crime†(1990).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[6] Comments
ALLEYN MYSTERIES “Artists in Crime.†BBC1, 23 December 1990 (pilot episode). Simon Williams (Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn), Belinda Lang (Agatha Troy), William Simons (Inspector Fox), Ursula Howells (Lady Alleyn). Based on the novel by Ngaio Marsh. Director: Silvio Narizzano.
There was a three year gap between this one-shot pilot and the series that eventually developed from it. In the meantime, actor Simon Williams became unavailable, and his role as Inspector Alleyn was taken by Patrick Malahide, while Simons and Lang continued in two seasons of eight additional TV films of Ngaio Marsh’s mysteries.
I can’t comment on the latter actor in the part (not yet, that is), but I had a difficulty time at first with Simon Williams in the role. Not because he wasn’t more than acceptable. The problem was that while I’ve read about half of the Alleyn mysteries, I had only a general idea of what he looked like. The same is true about his wife-to-be, Agatha Troy, and his second-in-command “Br’er†Fox.
This is the story in which Alleyn first meets Agatha Troy, and in the film at least, he is smitten immediately. The problem he faces is that she is intimately involved in the mystery, and she in fact is for some time an actual suspect. She is the artist overseeing a group of paying clients trying to learn to paint and living together in the same large home if not mansion. Dead is a sexy model, and in strange fashion, impaled by a knife sticking upward from the bed where she has been posing.
She, as it turns out, and not surprisingly, is also a blackmailer. This means that Agatha Troy, whom Alleyn’s mother looks favorably upon, is hardly the only suspect. The film is beautifully filmed, a period piece set in the late 40s, but I found it difficult to keep in mind who the other suspects were, and what their involvement might be. Remembering the book only vaguely, I believe the killer’s identity was the same, but they changed the motive.
Overall, almost more a very tentative romance than a detective story, but as we know Alleyn and Agatha Troy did eventually marry. Oh, one more thing. In this TV version, at one point Alleyn goes into a deep silent mood, and his mother explains he’s been that way since the war. Never happened in the books, nor (so I’ve been told) in any of the TV episodes that followed.
November 19th, 2023 at 8:49 pm
I had the problem with both actors that they were too middle aged and just not the handsome figure Marsh described while the by play with Fox fell flat. I had something of the same problem with the BBC casting Patrick Allen as Roger “Handsome” West even if it was radio.
Granted Ian Carmichael didn’t really look young enough for Lord Peter or Peter Davison silly enough for Campion, but the actors overcame that with charisma, something missing in both the actors and the scripts for the Marsh adaptations.
November 19th, 2023 at 8:52 pm
Ian Carmichael was my choice at the time for the part, and I did not believe he was ideal, I just liked him. Still do.
November 23rd, 2023 at 1:11 am
Barry,
Agree on Carmichael, but based on his Bertie Wooster and films more than any resemblance to Lord Peter.
December 4th, 2023 at 10:53 am
I’m glad to hear that I’m not alone in struggling with the actor’s portrayal. I’ve always wanted to watch them, but the actor has made it less than ideal.
December 4th, 2023 at 9:32 pm
So far I’ve only seen this pilot film. A new fellow took over as Alleyn when the series itself started, and I haven’t watched any of those yet. I’m still planning to, though, and when I do, I just might write something up about it. And him (the new fellow).
April 2nd, 2024 at 8:18 pm
I just found this series, and absolutely enjoyed every single episode! There was a hiccup when they changed the lead character after the first episode, which took some getting used to because I really loved him. But the stories were so engaging and it’s just so nice when I can stumble on a perfectly innocent Murder mystery series these days! I was so sad when I found the series ended so quickly.