JONATHAN CREEK

'''Jonathan Creek''' is a British mystery television series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It ran for four series and two Christmas specials from 1997 to 2004. The series is primarily a crime drama — its cult success won the BAFTA for Best Drama Series in 1998 — but features comic characters and comic sub-plots. Somewhat anomalously, it was produced by the BBC's in-house Entertainment department rather than the Drama department. The distinct theme tune is an arrangement of Camille Saint-Saëns' ''Danse Macabre'' by Julian Stewart Lindsay, who also wrote the underscore for the first three series and the two specials.

Contents

Cast

Main cast

Guest cast

Plot

Episodes

Series 1 (1997)

Series 2 (1998)

Christmas Special (1998)

Series 3 (1999-2000)

Christmas Special (2001)

Series 4 (2003)

Series 5 (2004)

Other versions

DVD releases

'Regions 2' (UK) 'and 4' (AUS)

References

External links

Cast

Main cast

★ Alan Davies - Jonathan Creek

★ Caroline Quentin - Maddie Magellan ''(series 1 to 3)''

★ Anthony Head - Adam Klaus ''(series 1 - pilot)''

★ Stuart Milligan - Adam Klaus ''(from series 2)''

★ Julia Sawalha - Carla Borrego ''(2001 Special and series 4)''

★ Adrian Edmondson - Brendan Baxter ''(series 4)''

Guest cast

Several well-known actors have appeared in the series including three who are better known for comedy playing rare straight roles, Bob Monkhouse, Rik Mayall and Jack Dee.
Other guest stars, both comedy and straight, have included: Geoffrey McGivern, John Bluthal, Nigel Planer, Kate Isitt, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Griff Rhys Jones, Hattie Hayridge, Alistair McGowan, Tamsin Greig, Colin Baker, Jim Bowen, Peter Davison, Maureen O'Brien, Lysette Anthony, Mark Caven, Lorelei King, Mary Tamm, Geoffrey Beevers, Annette Crosbie, Maureen Lipman, Paul Blackthorne, Jimmi Harkishin, and Bill Bailey (who was pencilled as the original Jonathan Creek).
Jonathan Ross, Michael Grade and Bamber Gascoigne have all appeared as themselves.
See also: List of Jonathan Creek cast members

Plot

The series follows the exploits of Jonathan Creek, a designer of illusions for a stage magician, and — in the first three series — Maddie Magellan, a pushy journalist, as they work together to solve baffling crimes where others have failed to do so.
Creek contributes his superb lateral-thinking brain, and Magellan is a plausible liar who never seems to have trouble sneaking in to closed crime scenes. The programme usually features 'impossible crimes', for example a mysterious crime having been committed in a sealed environment from which no earthly criminal could have escaped (a "locked room mystery"). Several episodes deal with apparently paranormal thefts and murders, which Jonathan solves using his knowledge of misdirection and illusion, giving the character a passing resemblance to stage magician turned paranormal investigator James Randi. Creek gradually changed from an antisocial anorak to a man with a great deal of wit and charm. This helped to fuel the romantic thread between him and Maddie. Jonathan's trademark duffle coat was actually Alan Davies' own coat that he wore to the auditions; it helped him win the role, as the writer and producers thought it suited the character.
Creek's employer is the amoral and ambitious Adam Klaus, a flamboyant performer with a sinister stage persona who is really a drug-addled, comically insensitive womaniser. In some instances, his magic tricks go comically wrong. The character appears on camera infrequently, his shenanigans usually revealed to or by Jonathan in conversation with other characters. Some aspects of the character were inspired by Ali Bongo.
For the 2001 Christmas special and thereafter, Caroline Quentin declined to appear, and so a second supporting role was introduced, theatrical agent Carla Borrego, played by Julia Sawalha. After her first appearance, the character married TV producer Brendan Baxter (Adrian Edmondson), and she became a TV presenter.
Part of the humour comes from the fact that Jonathan often doesn't want to get involved in other people's problems, and has to be pressured into it by Maddie or Carla. In "The Scented Room", which centred around a theft from a critic who had lambasted Adam's act, he took great delight in announcing he had solved the crime but wasn't going to tell anybody how it was done. Initially Jonathan was only brought in to investigate because he was asked by Maddie due to her having a connection to the crime, or because it involved an old friend of his, but as time went on and he acquired a more significant reputation, he was independently recruited by such varied contacts as a chief of police or the United States military.

Episodes

The 2003 and 2004 series were made up of three episodes each but were released on DVD as a single six-episode series.

Series 1 (1997)

#	Title	Writer	Director	Original airdate

Series 2 (1998)

#	Title	Writer	Director	Original airdate

Christmas Special (1998)

#	Title	Writer	Director	Original airdate

Series 3 (1999-2000)

#	Title	Writer	Director	Original airdate

Christmas Special (2001)

#	Title	Writer	Director	Original airdate

Series 4 (2003)

#	Title	Writer	Director	Original airdate

Series 5 (2004)

#	Title	Writer	Director	Original airdate

Other versions

There were two attempts to make a U.S. version of ''Jonathan Creek''. The first involved Castle Rock, the production company behind series such as ''Seinfeld'', but the initial scripts were not felt good enough, and David Renwick's scripts were rejected by CBS. The second attempt, also by Renwick, was for Whoopi Goldberg and would have included Alan Davies.

DVD releases

'Regions 2' (UK) 'and 4' (AUS)

DVD	Date
Series 1 & 2	16 February 2004
Series 3 & 4 & the Christmas Specials	2 August 2004
Complete Series 1-4 & the Christmas Specials	29 November 2004

Series One was released in Region 1 (US/Canada) in December 2006.

References

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★ (episode airdates and directors)

External links

★ ''Jonathan Creek'' at BBC Cult

★ ''Jonathan Creek homepage''

★ ''Jonathan Creek'' at the British Film Institute

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