absolutely ridiculous and brilliant fun for it
Not every small screen crime drama has to be bloody, brutal and difficult to follow, as demonstrated by the popularity of amiable whodunits such as Death in Paradise and Midsomer Murders. Bath-set buddy copper caper McDonald & Dodds (ITV) is another entry in the hit parade of breezy murder mysteries that land with all the impact of cucumber sandwiches and tea from a flask.
Having overcome the challenges of shooting through Covid, the series returned in winningly silly fashion with the first of three new feature-length episodes. It found Tala Gouveia and Jason Watkins striking a cheery tone as the eponymous mismatched detectives fighting crime on the mean streets of Somerset.
McDonald & Dodds is pitched as a fish-out-water affair in which Gouveia’s DCI Lauren McDonald, formerly of the London Met, travels to the law enforcement equivalent of the far side of the Moon when she is posted to Bath. There, she must find common cause with Watkins’s DS Dodds. Alas, the chirpy ambience is offset somewhat by the fact that, with his anoraks and spectacles-on-string, Dodds bears a closer resemblance to a serial killer than to a sleuth.
Still, it’s terrifically ridiculous and never more so than in this instalment. The story opened with a ludicrous set-piece in which a motley assembly that included Martin Kemp and Patsy Kensit went for a trip in a hot air balloon.
The jaunt took a turn for the horrific as the balloon malfunctioned and one of the party plunged overboard. The dramatic weight loss facilitated a safe landing, sparing the lives of the other passengers. The survivors insisted that ne’er do well hanger-on Frankie Marsh (Vince Leigh) had jumped. But what if he was pushed?
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