The murder mystery genre, where a new case is solved in every episode, does have a certain structure that’s hard to monkey around with. What the better shows in this genre are able to do, though, is try to be unique in other ways. It could be through the actor portraying the main detective, or it could be how the relationship between the crime-solving partners evolve, or it could be the kinds of crimes being investigating. In a new Acorn TV series, Stephen Moyer plays a detective that solves crimes related to fine art and antiquities.
Opening Shot: At a large estate, we look into a room displaying portraits of various nobles.
The Gist: Lord Hugh Astleigh (Christopher Villers) is celebrating the restoration of the portraits of his predecessors as Earl. One of the people there, Francis Crozier (Matthew Christmas), is a historian from the National Gallery, and he says that, before the exhibition of the various portraits, he’ll reveal an explosive detail he found. Crozier is also trying to poach the Earl’s assistant, Helena McGuigan (Laoise Sweeney), for both personal and business reasons. Later that night, Crozier is writing about something on his laptop in the coach house apartment on the estate property, when he’s killed by a hammer-wielding assailant.
DI Mick Palmer (Stephen Moyer) is called up to Yorkshire from London to work the case; he’s part of a Heritage Crime Unit that investigates crimes related to fine art and antiquities. The local detective in charge, DI Hollis (Michael Condron), scoffs at Palmer’s presence and tells the patrol cop at the scene, PC Shazia Malik (Nina Singh), to stay with Palmer and report his progress.
Palmer starts to concentrate on two details: A School of Vermeer painting that looks “wonky” to him, and a vandalized portrait of one of the Earls that’s with father-son restorers Jeff and Dunstan Fisher (Adrian Wheeler, Joe Barber). Also coming under suspicion is the Earl, his commoner wife Arabella (Michelle Connolly), and property manager Brendan Kennedy (Barry John Kinsella). At the crime scene, Palmer finds a discarded sticky note that says “Triumph equals Desire” on it that he thinks is a critical clue.
As PC Malik reports back to her jerky boss, though, she seems to appreciate the fact that Palmer doesn’t jump to conclusions, and knows how to literally sniff out a centuries-old shipp’s ledger that the Earl hid on one of his bookshelves. Yet DI Hollis is eager to jump in and arrest the killer, and blames PC Malik when that inevitably goes wrong.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Art Detectives is similar to any number of mystery series on Acorn or BritBox, like the recently-reviewed Death Valley, but this one centers on art-related crimes.
Our Take: Two things distinguish Art Detectives from the aforementioned mystery series: The art tie-in and the presence of Stephen Moyer (True Blood). Executive producers, Dan Gaster, Will Ing and Paul Powell don’t strain to make DI Palmer some sort of quirky detective with lots of tics; he’s an art expert who just happens to use that expertise as a police detective.
Yes, Palmer is definitely intellectual, but he’s not pretentious. He’s not trying to interpret the art, give it meaning, or make up adjectives about how it makes him feel. In fact, his use of the word “wonky” to describe the composition of that School of Vermeer painting points to the fact that he’s using his knowledge to help him analyze things that cops like DI Hollis will never even notice. Moyer plays Palmer in such a way that he feels like a cop first and an art snob second, striking that balance well.
By the end of the episode, Malik moves to London to become Palmer’s partner in the Heritage Crime Unit, and the first episode shows why they make good partners. She’s curious about art and what Palmer knows, but is also less cerebral than he is. She can be the cop asking impertinent questions of witnesses and suspects while Palmer notices the tiny details, which makes them good complements for each other.
There does seem to be a continuing b-story involving Palmer and his mostly-estranged father Ron (Larry Lamb), but we’re not sure how deeply that will be explored as Palmer and Malik travel around England solving these art-related murders and other crimes.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: As Mick Palmer sits admiring paintings at the National Gallery, Ron Palmer finds him and says hello. Mick stands up and walks past Ron without saying a word.
Sleeper Star: Sarah Alexander plays Rosa Conaghan, who definitely works with Palmer, but seems to be in some sort of personal relationship with him, as well.
Most Pilot-y Line: When Palmer tells Lady Arabella Astleigh that he thinks she turned off the CCTV at the estate, she snarkily replies, “Bravo, Sherlock.”
Our Call: STREAM IT. While Art Detectives isn’t really doing anything revolutionary format-wise, Moyer’s charm and the art-centric themes to the crimes Palmer and Malik investigate does make this show stand out from the sea of British mystery series that are streaming these days.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.