Murder Before Evensong brings the novels of Rev. Richard Coles to the small screen.
I haven’t read a book since I was at school, but at that same time, I regularly watched Top of the Pops, and Mr Coles was a regular fixture, given he formed The Communards with Jimmy Somerville – their biggest hit being a No.1 cover of Don’t Leave Me This Way, although he also played saxophone and clarinet in the band’s former journey as Bronski Beat.
But as this new tale starts, a TV blares away with Bob Says Opportunity Knocks on BBC1, on a 4:3 TV, so I guessed it’s the late ’80s… and I was right, since it then showed Canon Daniel Clement (Matthew Lewis – Terminal) writing a sermon with the date April 2nd 1988 written on it.
Before you can say “Walkies“, he’s let the dogs out, taking them for a walk, but they have blood on them, as they’ve pawed in someone’s red stuff… and there’s the body… before it goes back to “One day earlier…”
Daniel’s dutiful to his career – as we see early on – giving an elderly man his Last Rites, but someone’s sending him nasty letters, there’s a donation for the church from an anonymous donor, the victim was seen arguing with various people, etc…
Still, as we catch up with the timeline to the present day, both the murder and beginning of the subsequent investigation is so close to the end of the episode that you know it’s going to lead to this not being solved within the opener.
BUT… this is set in April 1988, and the first song we hear is the Fine Young Cannibals’ She Drives Me Crazy, which didn’t come out until January 1989, and I knew it was that year instantly, because I got their CD album for my 17th birthday in April!
I got both that (35 mins) and the Style Council’s Greatest Hits, which ran for 70 minutes, so two albums at the same price each, yet one was exactly twice the length of the other! Oh, and I had my first driving lesson, too.
But back to the show, and Murder Before Evensong is a very cozy style of murder mystery, playing out slowly as if it’s Sunday at 8pm (albeit, this being shown at 9pm), with the acting and directing all being… just okay… but to have it not concluded is annoying. Maybe these were two-hour episodes that were split in half?
However, while it’s nice to see Amanda Redman (On The Edge: For You) back onscreen, here as Daniel’s Mum, the show is also a bit too serious. I much preferred Harry Wild, with Jane Seymour, which only lasted a few episodes on Channel 5 before stalling, but Acorn have continued it to four series so far.
However, another mystery, is that despite there being a post-broadcast embargo for reviews of Murder Before Evensong, Radio Times went early at 7am! The Times and I Paper did almost similar at 9pm tonight, but The Arts Desk was last Friday! What’s going on?
We all have to sing from the same hymn sheet! Ecclestiacal pun not intended, but it’s a pisser when normal people adhere to embargoes, while big publications think they can swing their might over everyone. We should all be posting reviews at the same time.
Murder Before Evensong continues next Tuesday on Channel 5 at 9pm.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
You can also buy the Rev. Richard Coles books in the series.
If you miss it when broadcast, you can watch the each episode after broadcast on My5.
Check out the trailer below:
Director: David Moore
Producer: Radford Neville
Screenwriter/Creator for TV: Nick Hicks-Beach
Novel: Rev. Richard Coles
Cast:
Canon Daniel Clement: Matthew Lewis
Audrey Clement: Amanda Redman
Stella Harper: Tamzin Outhwaite
Nathan Liversedge: Sam Baker-Jones
DS Neil Vanloo: Amit Shah
Alex De Floures: Alexander Delamain
Bernard De Floures: Adam James
Honor De Floures: Meghan Treadway
Kath Sharman: Marion Bailey
Dora Sharmen: Amanda Hadingue
Edgy: Francis Magee
Jane Thwaite: Nina Toussaint-White
Ned Thwaite: Ben Batt
Margaret Porteous: Emma Beattie
Harry Cobbe: David Newman
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.