Cornish crime capers from the archives...

Everyone loves a Maverick detective right? Well, maverick is certainly not DI Wycliffe. He fights crime by the book and gets things done proper. His style is more slow and steady, instead of shooting from both barrels and thinking about the consequences later.

Set in Cornwall, it follows the life of Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe (Jack Shepherd) alongside his colleagues Lucy Lane (Helen Masters) and Doug Kersey (Jimmy Yuill) as they try to solve crime. This, interlaced with stories about inquiries, office politics and the incredibly irritating DCC Stevens (Michael Attwell) who is only interested in keeping his forces nose clean and good public relations, makes for a very easy watch.

Episode 1: ‘Strangers’ follows the story of newlywed couple Karen Drew and John Leigh who are honeymooning and while Karen is out walking her husband is robbed and murdered. The plot thickens when it is discovered that they had only known each other for 3 weeks and had placed an ad in the local newspaper for wedding guests.

Episode 2: ‘Close to home’ shows caravan site owner Tyzack being murdered by Mick Sennam in a seemingly closed case, until he reveals he was only supposed to scare Tyzack.

Episode 3: ‘On account’ A ransom note is sent to the owner of a supermarket claiming that 7 jars of baby food have been contaminated. The race is on to find the jars before it’s too late.

Episode 4: ‘Lone Voyager’ Paula Tresize goes missing after her boat is sabotaged. Later on body is found at the clay pit, but it isn’t Paula’s.

Episode 5: ‘Seen a ghost’ Morna Petheric runs over a woman she is convinced is a ghost. She tells police she killed this woman when she was a little girl and the dead woman has come back to haunt her

Episode 6: ‘Bad Blood Lionel Penmore is shot after trying to evict his tenants. The prime suspects are Kevin and Laura Kessell.

Episode 7: To Sup with the Devil Landlord Ray Gurney is found dead and he isn’t the most popular person due to the noise, and he owed money to someone who wanted it back.

Episode 8: Old Times, New Crimes Murderer Tully walks free from court after the judge calls a mistrial because Sergeant Noble failed to follow procedure.

There are no extras on this DVD, which I was expecting since the TV series was originally created in 1993. Perhaps it didn't need any extras, given the nature of the show. This is only because extras can occasionally take away from the film or TV series a bit. For me, I don’t want to watch a behind the scenes feature, or interviews with actors; I prefer to immerse myself in the programme itself and enjoy it for what it is, instead of hearing from the actors or finding out how the producers did something and why. The whole point is the suspension of reality.

DI Wycliffe is played brilliantly by Jack Shepherd, and Doug Kersey (Jimmy Yuill) is also excellent; but for me the clincher was Lucy, played by Helen Masters. That’s not just because I’m a girl either. She really comes into her own on several occasions. Particularly when she’s dealing with Doug Kersey during an Inquiry after an inmate commits suicide and Kersey is in the firing line.

This was a trip down memory lane, I had seen this series originally in the late nineties, and this slowly dawned on me as I watched. As a 12 year-old I remember being totally gripped by what was happening in each and every one of the episodes, in particular ‘To Sup with the devil’ where Lucy Lane (Helen Masters) ends up putting her life into danger when she unwittingly heads out alone with a murderer.

The downside to all of this was that it did seem pretty dated for a detective series compared to what’s on offer now. With the likes of Luther and Silent Witness around with genuinely harrowing story lines, it did seem pretty tame.But that’s the price you pay for a bit of nostalgia.

Wycliffe: The Complete Series 4 is released on the 18th of October.