Jonathan Creek – Daemons’ Roost [DVD] [2017]

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Onto Daemons’ Roost and possibly the stepfather being the mystery or possibly the ancient warlock thing. But, as it has done in its recent weaker episodes, Jonathan Creek takes a thrilling macabre mystery and then surrounds it with too much fiddle-faddle. The last full series of Jonathan Creek, back in 2014, divided critics and audience; at the time our own reviewer complained that the central mysteries lacked the intricacy and peril of previous instalments, and there was a feeling that the spark had gone out of the show ever since Creek put away his duffel coat and moved out of the windmill.

A judge on a police protection programme is killed by a rapier blade into the chest and after a brief struggle, but only his sleeping wife was in the room at the time, and the only evidence at the crime scene is a torn fingernail.It’s an obvious comic turn by the ubiquitous Davis, but if you’re a fan of his work you’ll find a perfectly charming performance here – which is just as well, as the reverend is given the bulk of the heavy lifting for the first forty minutes, and there are times when you wonder whether you’re watching The Warwick Davis Mystery Hour (programme commissioners, you know where to find me).

Anti-money’, a strange sign-off on a letter in a scientist’s bedroom is missed by Creek as a reference to ‘antimony’ the chemical element, but the detective somehow manages to piece together a dying man staring at a mobile phone, then a film poster containing the word ‘Yeti’ to surmise he (obviously) means the man stood near him is a ‘phone-y’. A hundred and fifty years later, the house is occupied by Nathan Clore, a veteran horror film director with secrets of his own.The house is home to veteran horror film director Nathan Clore (Ken Bones) but in the 19th century a sorcerer was said to torture his victims there using the powers of hell. And let’s not forget Patrick Tyree, the grunting vengeful con that Creek helped convict who was on his tail in a weird subplot. Harry Potter star Warwick Davis joins the cast of the new episode, written by David Renwick and directed by Sandy Johnson.

Guest stars: Amanda Holden, Annabel Mullion, Alistair Petrie, Georgie Glen, Clarke Peters, Jennifer Piercey, Jessica Lloyd and Stanley Townsend. Jonathan had assisted the daughter’s husband years earlier when he was accused of murdering his first wife and is now asked to help discover the truth of what happened and what the message might have been. Instead I appreciate that he is looking into something to help a woman settle some daemons from her own childhood. A welcome addition to the Creek canon, with top drawer support from the always entertaining Warwick Davis. Orvat zber fcrpvsvp nobhg zl ceboyrzf jvgu gur ernfba Nyvfba jnf frag njnl – juvyr V pna pregnvayl haqrefgnaq jul gur qverpgbe jbhyq jnag uvf qnhtugre gb or fcnerq sebz yvivat fbzrjurer gung jbhyq unir cnvashy zrzbevrf, V pnaabg erzbgryl haqrefgnaq jul ur bcgrq gb fgnl naq yvir va vfbyngvba.

An early misguided joke about Polly accidentally mentioning ‘cotton picking’ in front of one her new black acquaintances, proves crucial as we’re lead to assume that her husband working at the property is the black CCTV installer, rather than a white bearded taxi driver seen momentarily at the start. By the time Danse Macabre’s finished playing it looks like it’s going to go hard on the horror and the grand guignol. We do, however, get treated to a genuine red herring that fools both Creek and probably many playing along at home. Jonathan Creek has left magic and theatre behind and is now a high-powered businessman with a wife, Polly.

Here I will confess to being quite handily beaten by Renwick and I am happy to report that I think he set things up quite fairly. Within the house the ghostly presence of Jacob Surtees can still be felt, as Alison and her husband Stephen ( Emun Elliot) unearth clues to the mystery that become more challenging and opaque, the deeper they probe.

Similarly, the last few minutes are given over to a strangely forced emotive storyline that involves Creek’s brother Terry – who despite all the nostalgic elements featured, is one plot point that’s never been mentioned in the previous two decades. Still, electric train sets are cool (note to May, girls like them, too) and I do get an infinitesimal kick out of seeing the firebox light up when May attaches it to the locomotive. We open with a clip of B-movie horror director Nathan Clore (played by the excellent Ken Bones) introducing his own film centred around the legend of Jacob Surtees, a demonic man who ravished women and made them watch their lovers being launched across a spooky dungeon room into to a fiery furnace. Indeed, you can’t help but feel that maybe the Christmas special format is somewhat stifling Jonathan Creek, with Renwick spreading himself too thin over 90 minutes. Certainly the TV guide synopsis sounds like it’s going to be a bloody thrill every minute, minus the boobs, with talk of ‘sinister twists’, ‘gruesome rituals…frighteningly revived’, and ‘horrifying consequences’.