Streaming Favorite: Mr. and Mrs. Murder
Shaun Micallef and Kat Stewart as Charlie and Nicola Buchanan © Network Ten
My mom introduced me to another great television show called Mr. and Mrs. Murder. It was an Australian television series that only lasted one season (2013) but it does have 13 whole episodes which is perfect if you are binge-watching (like I do) on a cold, rainy day.
Personally, I cannot believe they did not renew the series for a second season. It is great fun and puts in me a good mood which is hard to do with any Tortie cat. We are known as spicy. Obviously, some are far more mellow and domesticated but my mom says that I seem to have retained a bit of a feral streak from when I was a kitten. I like to jump at strange sounds and I hate the vacuum. In fact, I am afraid of pots of dirt before seeds start to grow in them. They are very creepy to me. Oh, my mom is reminding me that I need to stay on topic. Sorry.
Mr. and Mrs. Murder is about a happily married husband-and-wife crime scene cleaner team. They live in Melbourne. My mom showed it to me on a map but that meant nothing to me but I could see she felt like it was a teaching moment. She does that a lot with me. I think it was because she was once a professor so it is natural for her to start giving lessons in everything. Boring! Oh, now she is shouting at me again to stay on topic.
The two main characters are what my mom describes as middle-aged. The husband has grey hair! I think this guy is too old to be one of my husbands so he can come over and clean out my cat box on a daily basis. I think that would be a great job for him since he should be flattered I’ve chosen him as the official poop scooper. I also feel that he does a very good job cleaning up toxic crime scenes and considering how dramatic my mom acts when she has to scoop my litter box, I feel that he would be a better person for the job. He has his own hazmat suit!
Okay, I’m in trouble now. My mom didn’t know I hit the nip before I started doing this piece. I’ll try and focus. There is a lot I like about this show. First, the old couple, sorry, middle-aged couple, are happy. They have a niece who lives with them and helps them with their investigations as well as people from their book group. I think that it is always interesting to watch amateur sleuths bring in amateur-amateur sleuths. It ups the suspense level for things going wrong and endangers every amateur involved in the investigation.
The pilot episode is about introducing us, the audience, to the world of crime scene cleaners. Apparently, Mrs. Murder, also known as Nicola Buchanan (Kat Stewart), is friends with Detective Peter Vinetti (Jonny Pasvolsky) who obviously likes her. Mr. Murder, the good-natured Charlie Buchanan (Shaun Micallef), does his best to sublimate his jealousy by doing things like suggesting that Detective Vinetti eat peanuts that he suspects are contaminated.
Charlie’s and Nicola’s sleuthing abilities far outweigh Detective Vinetti’s in every episode. It is sort of like Poirot upstaging Inspector Japp every time. I will admit that it does seem improbable that two crime scene cleaners could effectively run an investigation, although we do learn that Nicola was once in the police academy at the same time as Detective Vinetti, which is how they know each other.
I don’t think this series is for everyone. It is a bit campy with quirky humor. It definitely skews toward the female audience (my mom taught me about that—yet another lecture). This show does manage to somehow make each murder a light-hearted romp, which says a lot, considering it is murder.
I think that Nicola does a spectacular job being a fabulous cleaner with a highly analytical mind. She can talk down a subject off a roof ledge as well as strategically flirt for information and evidence. My mom says this is a feel-good murder show for stressed-out women. I am definitely a stressed-out female cat if I don’t get my nip and cat treats several times a day. But if I am having a hard day, I just put on an episode of this show and purr.
If you want to watch the show, it is available on Acorn TV.