Off The Telly - Summer Special: Super Sleuths Part Two

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

In this Summer Special it's round 2 of voicenotes about listeners' favourite TV detectives. They chat about iconic characters like Sherlock, Jessica Fletcher, Poirot and Luther.In Off the Telly, Natalie and Joanna talk about what they can’t stop watching, what they definitely aren’t going to bother with, and what you’re all watching at home. From new shows to comfort telly to guilty pleasures, there’s no judgement here. What’s kept us all glued to our screens this week?Self-confessed TV addicts and stars of two of the biggest shows on our screens, EastEnders and Gavin and Stacey, Natalie and Joanna are the perfect companions to your weekly viewing habits.Get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to 03306 784704.Hosts: Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page Producer: Georgia Keating Executive Producer: Richard Morris Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts Production Co-ordinator: Becky Carewe-Jeffries Sounds Editor: Arlie Adlington Music by MCassoOff The Telly is a BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome to Off The Telly from BBC Sounds. I'm Natalie Cassidy. And I'm Joanna Page. And this is the podcast where we talk all things telly. Now there is going to be some swearing and there probably will be some spoilers. Well, there you go. This is the second of our summer specials where we're revisiting old themes from What Shall We Watch? So we get to hear more from you lovely lot while we're on our summer break.

And the second theme we're revisiting is Super Sleuths. Oh, God, because we had so many messages last time, didn't we, that we didn't get to play all of them? Loads and loads and loads. And we do love messages last time, didn't we, that we didn't get to play all of them. Loads and loads and loads. And we do love a detective show, don't we, Jo? We do, and there's so many that you're just like, oh my God, we can't just do this one. We've got to keep talking about it more.

Well, we always wanted to do a part two, so it's lovely that whilst we're having a little summer break that we've squeezed them all in. Yes, it is. Let's have a listen. Come on. Just wanted to say, love Jo's idea of an outfit To be a detective With the flares and the leather jacket

I actually am a detective And it's really given me inspiration Of what to wear into work tomorrow Love the podcast Been listening to you I'm a few weeks behind But I've listened to all of them from the beginning I think you're doing a great job

Thanks ladies I'm very excited that I've inspired her outfit And she's a proper detective Jo Well that just makes me borderline detective now. I think that's amazing. I bet she'll look amazing tomorrow. Like, really means the business. Do you know what as well?

I have bought myself some, like, 12-inch knitting needles. Oh, right. They're really thick, right? Yeah. And I've got, like, this mustard colour, really chunky wool. And I've started knitting myself a scarf. Yes, you have. And I just thought, I'm going to knit it. Just because I haven't done knitting for ages now. And I feel like like this mustard colour, really chunky wool. You're going to knit. And I started knitting myself a scarf. Yes, you have. And I just thought, I'm going to knit it.

Just because I haven't done knitting for ages now and I feel like doing some knitting. Yeah. Well, I started and I thought, well, you know what this is? When we do our detective series and we can be like double act detectives, I thought, you know what? I'm going to put this bloody scarf in it. You're going to finish that. Yeah.

Whilst you're knitting it. Yeah. You need to keep manifesting. Yes. Our show. Yeah. And when you finish that scarf, we're going to get you need to keep manifesting yes our show yeah and when you finish that scarf we're going to get a phone call we are i can just see you now yeah on the front of the radio times with the scarf on yeah and inside talking about how it's yours and that you knitted it yeah it's a great story yeah brilliant brilliant let's have another one a hundred A hundred percent, without a shadow of a doubt, using all my little grey cells, is Poirot.

David Suchet is Poirot. There is no other Poirot. He is Poirot. Me and my husband are obsessed. We love it. We must have watched those episodes so many times. And it got to the point when we were getting married and we were thinking how shall we walk out of the church we thought we're going to walk out to the Poirot theme tune and we did and all the congregation had cardboard mustaches to hold up to them as we walked out of the church. That is how obsessed we are.

So, yeah, Poirot every day of the week. Thank you so much for the podcast. Really enjoy it. I'm on maternity leave at the moment. And it's great on the long walks when my little boy falls asleep. Pop you on and listen to you on the walk. So thanks so much. Well, that is a Poirot fan and a half.

It is. That is amazing. Can you imagine them all with their moustaches? I can. It's exactly what I'm imagining now. Oh, my God. That's so good. But I'm with her.

Yeah. That is my favourite Poirot. You love him, don't't you i absolutely love him it just reminds me of a sunday evening my tv curled up on the sofa next to my dad brilliant oh less of another one hey and joanna jasmine here from hampshire um so my favorite detective series has to be Broadchurch. It's just so brilliant, the twists and turns of every season. I think there's three in total, and I've watched all three over and over again. The main lead actors, David Tennant and Olivia Colman, obviously

they're both amazing. All the sub-characters are great, and there's lots of different sub-plots going on in every series which makes it really entertaining um the cinematography is beautiful all the shots of the coastline are so lovely um but yeah that against the dark things that happen in that town it just makes for a really good series do you remember when broadchurch first came out that was brilliant it was kind of we hadn't kind of seen anything like that before. No, no. No, we hadn't. I mean, Olivia Colman's character, you know, the fact that she was just a bit,

you know, she was just like warmer and she was lovely and we just hadn't really seen anything like that before. No, it was a real, yeah, it was a real first, wasn't it? Do you know, I'd like to go back and watch it. Yeah, the whole country were watching it going, oh my God, who's the murderer? Yeah. I mean, everyone was watching it.

David Tennant's good as well, isn't he? He's good, isn't he? Yeah. I mean, he is good. You know, if he's in something, you're like, oh, I'll tune in and I'll watch that. Yeah, I'll have a look at that. Yeah.

Was it David Tennant who did Dennis Nilsson? Yes, it was. He was brilliant, wasn't he? I didn't see him, was that? Oh, it was. He was brilliant, wasn't he? I didn't see him as that. Oh, it was fantastic. I just remember looking at the image of him and thinking Jesus looked the same. It was really good.

I actually think I'll go back and watch that. I'm surprised you've not. They set up your street. Well, it is, isn't it? Yeah. It's really good. God, I'll have to go back and watch that. Have a little look.

You think, my God, all the different things that he's done and the things that he's been in, you just forget, don't you? You think, Jesus, he can turn his hand to anything. He can, yeah. Very, very clever. Yeah. Great actor. Let's have another one.

Hi, Natalie and Joanna. It's Tiffany here from Brighton. Fabulous podcast. Love the Off the Telly podcast. First one I've ever tuned into and I'm hooked now like many other people so thank you very much for doing that I had to ring in with my all-time favorite and it's got to be Luther the fabulous Idris Elba I mean say no more um I could have picked him for my tv crushes or any number of your other episodes, special episodes.

But yeah, Luther, fabulous, fabulous. Watched it loads of times. If you've not seen it, I know it's been around for a little while. I think it first started in 2010. There's been five series of it. Don't worry about the film. You can sort of skip past that. That was the last bit.

But the actual series, five um series have been brilliant so if you've not seen it definitely check it out um from the brilliant actors in it as i've already mentioned idris who just totally owns the series but there's some brilliant villains in it ruth wilson but it's just got a fantastic atmosphere to it it's quite dark the costumes in it the way it's just filmed um and directed so yeah my go-to luther watch it and you'll love it i promise i am going to start watching luther you have seen luther i've never seen it i saw a clip of an episode where there was a man hiding underneath. The bed?

No, it was hiding. I've heard about the bloody bed one so many times that I'm just like, oh, my God. No, he was, there's a shot, you can still see it now, of a woman sitting on the top of a double-decker bus. Oh, yeah. And she goes along and all of a sudden you see this figure crawling and I shat myself. It is.

That's all I've ever seen of it. You know what I'm like? Yeah. Scaredy cat. Yeah. But I did watch a lot of those. I don't think I've seen all of them. God.

It's so good. He's so good. He's amazing. I really, really, really wanted him to be James Bond. Oh, God. I was really desperate for him to be James Bond. Well, he might be. We don't know who the new one is.

Well, I really, really would love him to be James Bond, please. Is he sexy in it? He's amazing. He's got such a presence. Yeah. He's just, everything about him is just classy. He's in control. He's funny.

He's got everything about him. He's fantastic. Do you know what? That's it. I'm going to start. I'm actually going to start tonight. I'm not even going to tell you. Oh, go on.

Give me a little clue. You can't. I'm always the one who is just like, oh, my God, tell me, tell me. There's an episode that what? There's this episode and it's an older man. Oh, God, yeah. He's done something. Yeah.

Where there's fingerprints involved. Yeah. And to protect something. Yeah. Where there's fingerprints involved. Yeah. And to protect someone. Yeah. He puts his hand... Oh, I don't want to know, I don't want to know. Jesus Christ. But it's so scary.

Oh, God. And you're, like, crying because you're kind of feeling for what's happened. Oh, God. It's awful. Oh, my God. Right, I'm starting it tonight. I am damn well starting it tonight. It's brilliant.

It's going to be my new one. I might end up being controversial and I might end up saying that Luther is my new comfort watch. You might do. Yeah, yeah. I'm starting tonight. Brilliant. I shall have another one.

So I love all whodunits books, programmes. It's always my go-to. If I'm on my Kindle, I go straight for the whodunits. If I'm watching the telly and I'm browsing, straight for the whodunits every time. I watching the telly and I'm browsing, straight for the whodunits every time. I think it stems back from when I was a child. My absolute go-to programme as a child was JB Fletcher. I mean Murder, She Wrote, back to the classics.

She was absolutely gripped every single time I watched an episode. Absolutely gripped. I think most recently, actually, and it's one that I keep continuing to watch, is Unforgotten. Nicola Walker, absolutely. Is there a better actress than Nicola Walker? Well, obviously you two, but

Nicola Walker is just phenomenal. Talk about girl crushes. Absolutely unbelievable. I just have great memories of, on a Sunday especially, going over to my aunt's house, having dinner and always sitting down after dinner and watching a good whodunit and always

Midsomer Murders. We used to always sit down on a Sunday evening and watch Cup of Tea, Chocolate Bicky, Chocolate Cake and watch Midsomer Murders with John Ethels. Absolutely just brings me right back there. I'm 40 years of age but even now sitting down on an evening

or a Sunday whenever and seeing Midsummer Murders and just pop it on the telly and have a cup of tea and it brings me right back there. How lovely. Aww. She's right though.

She is, isn't she? It's the nostalgia. Mm. For some of these things, it is going, takes you right back to being a child or memories of people that maybe you've lost and not there anymore, you know,

and spending time with them watching stuff. Yeah. You can't beat a good whodunit. Jessica Fletcher. She always just reminds me of being ill and being off school. With a leukosade. Yeah, with a leukosade.

Being in bed and always watching something like that on the telly. Little flannel. Oh, yes. Cold flannel. Oh, yes. Cold flannel. My mum used to give me. Cold flannel. For my temperature.

Yeah. Bottle of cowpul. Oh. It's like just grow... Yeah. The typewriter. Yeah. The beginning.

And isn't it funny when you actually think about it that she's just like a writer, but she will go and solve all these different crimes and the police are like, thank God for her. Yeah. You basically are now a detective. It was an amazing programme, wasn't it?

God, it was. How many years did she do that for? I was going to say, how many did they churn out of those? I mean, good God, she was quids in with that, wasn't she? We need to get ourselves one like that. That would be perfect. 1984 to 1996. 12 years.

12 years. I'd like that, 12 years being a detective imagine being jessica fletcher i did 12 years as sonia before having a break did you my god well that's my god i did 12 years 12 years and then i had eight years off my god and obviously now i'm back and i've done nearly 11 years oh my god are you serious Are you serious? Yeah. Wow. What was it like when you had an eight-year break? Did you miss her? Did you feel like she'd gone?

Were you just, like, dying to get her back? Or are you and her one now? We're sort of one. Yeah. I think once you've been someone for 30 years, it's very difficult. Oh, my gosh. But I just, you know, you miss the place. Yes. You know, you miss the place. But I just, you know, you miss the place.

Yes. You know, you miss the place. But, yeah, you know, I love Sonia. Oh, playing someone for that long, it must be really, really nice. It is lovely. Very comforting, actually. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, but Jessica Fletcher. My God. She was iconic, wasn't she, with that red hair? Yeah. She reminds me of being young of being ill off school and I don't think

I've ever actually watched an entire episode all the way through but it didn't matter you know if you just catch pockets of it and you just

you know you just had her there isn't it weird that sometimes there are shows like that that are really comforting as well I just feel like

it's an institution it's what you know like you say it's just within your I like to say the fabric of your childhood do you know what I mean it's an institution. It's what, you know, like you say, it's just within your, I like to say the fabric of your childhood. Do you know what I mean? It's just within the wallpaper almost.

It's that recognisable to you that when it's on. Do you know what I mean? Yes. It's like your favourite drink as a child. It's like Ribena. Yeah. And because it was all in America, I just loved it. And it was kind of like, well, yeah yeah it must have been like 80s and stuff

so I mean you had you know everybody the women were all just like with that sort of sort of shoulder pads yeah a little bit of a bouffant blow dry yeah I quite liked her hair

I'd like my hair like that yeah isn't that good getting a gig like that when you're 60 yeah and I bet they had quite a few breaks I bet it was a lovely gig then it was i bet she did you know you work hard but you have a little break yeah you know you do your series then you know you've got six months off before you start again

and she had 12 years of that wow i think it must be like that doing vera as well you know you get to do it but all of these like long running shows you know you get to you get to do it you get to do it. But all of these, like, long-running shows, you know, you get to do it. You get to have a little break and a bit of time off. That's perfect. And then it's like, boom, back on it again for a good few months. But then off again. And you know you've got it every year. And every year you know what you're doing.

Yes. And you have nine months off, but you know you've got the three months of being that absolutely brilliant detective that everyone loves. My parents are mourning Vera at the moment because they've been obsessed with her. They have watched the entire thing. My mother-in-law's the same.

Yeah. Well, they've now progressed onto George Gently. Mum was just like, yes, we've done two George Gentlys last night. So we've got another one that we're going to watch tonight and they're loving it. Well, that's good. Absolutely loving it.

It's good they've found something else. Yeah. Good. Let's have another one. You should really try elementary it's got um johnny lee miller and uh i think it's lucy lu in it uh it's one of my favorites i've watched it from the beginning uh right the way through to the end about three or four times i know that sounds probably a bit sad but there we go. I think you'd really

like it because actually it takes the traditional telling of Sherlock and it flips some of the characters on its head. So like Watson is a woman and there are some other strong female characters in it as well. And it also focuses a lot on Sherlock and his struggles with addiction and sobriety and things like that. So there's a lot more depth to it than you'd originally suspect. Ooh, interesting. Elementary, I've never heard of that. Lucy Liu, what film was she in? Lucy Liu was in Charlie's Angels.

Charlie's Angels. Yeah, I love that in Charlie's Angels. Yeah. I love that. It was Charlie's Angels. I've not seen it. I've never watched it. But I know what he's talking about because I've seen pictures of it and stuff. But interesting.

A slant on the whole Sherlock Holmes thing. Johnny Lee Miller. Oh, I loved him. I used to really fancy him. First of all, when he did Trainspotting. You fancied him in that, did you? Yeah. I haven't really fancied him in anything since., when he did Trainspotting. You fancied him in that, did you? Yeah. I haven't really fancied him in anything since,

but I thought he was lovely in that. Crackhead. Yeah. It's impossible... What? ...to know your kind of taste. To know my taste? In my... I thought my taste is quite...

I like a tracksuit bottom. But you know what, right? I heard that that is not unusual amongst women, to like a tracksuit bottom i think there's something about a man who's got like a low slung tracksuit bottom bare chested being like a gardener good with his hands i'm not more for it when dark hair listen when mark's in the garden yeah pottering about in the summer yes his tracksuit bottoms on. I'm not going to let you round. Can you imagine?

Like she's coming round for a barbecue, get that fucking top on now. Get your jeans on. Take those track suit bottoms off. She's coming round. The track suit bottoms in the drawer, just put your bloody shorts on now. Oh, brilliant. Oh, brilliant. Oh, let's have another one i've just been listening to your podcast isn't it fab i've been listening to you for well pretty much since you started

so yeah and i'm intrigued to know if the squirrel got away with the passports but that's a whole story and you were asking about favorite detective shows now this might be a bit of a stretch because i get i get that but i love absolutely love lie to me it's got tim roth in it as the lead character and he's absolutely brilliant especially if you get past the first episode because he's a little bit too american in the first episode and then he gets proper British and he's absolutely brilliant. I think it might be on Disney Plus. I've watched it so many times I've forgotten where I'm watching it now but it is just absolutely brilliant. So yeah I hope you enjoy it. So it's Lie to Me with Tim Roth. All right then take care. Keep up the good work. You two are absolutely fabulous and

you always bring sunshine to a rainy day and we have lots of those here in yorkshire but hey we're strong take care lovelies bye how lovely yeah okay another show i've never heard of heard of it but i've never seen it i don't know if he's some kind of you know like um not psychologist but like like a criminal psychologist okay or i could just be making that up but i've seen I've never ever seen it, but I've just heard of it. Let's just have another voice note. Hello, ladies.

It's Catherine here. Just wanted to say, I've listened to your podcast. Absolutely amazing, amazing. I've binge listened to it. And there's a reason as well why I binged listened because I wanted to make sure whether you guys had actually watched mind hunter on Netflix it's basically about these American FBI agents who are building up the

psychological profiling of serial killers. Probably one more for Jo than that. There are two series. Absolutely amazing. And I hope you get to watch it. It's great. I'm loving the podcast, ladies. Please keep it up.

It's amazing, amazing, amazing. Take care both. Lots of love. Bye. Oh, my God. I so agree with you, right, Take care both. Lots of love. Bye. Oh, my God. I so agree with you, right, because I've seen all of it. It's directed by David Fincher. It's two series of it, and he was going to do more,

and then he ended up not doing any more because I don't think that he could give it the amount of time that it required. But it basically tells the story of two real-life detectives who set up the actual FBI. And so it was all, you know, brand new. And they set up the FBI. And they're the ones who invented the whole, you know, like profiling of what is... They, you know, did the term serial killer and what that actually meant.

And then they go around and each, like, episode is an actual real-life serial killer. And what's mad is that it's such, obviously, a serious subject and, my God, it's dark, right? But there's two detectives. There's an older man and then a younger detective. And the younger one is played by Jonathan Groff, who played Christoph in Frozen. Amazing.

So it's quite freaky at first because he starts talking and you're like, oh, my God, it's Christoph's voice. And you're like, it's Christoph. And he looks just so sweet and he's just all blonde and everything. But then as you're watching it, obviously, he becomes this other character. And, oh, my God, it's just really dark. It's good. It's really, really good.

Gosh. There's a lot of telly to watch, isn't there? It's a lot, but it's good. It is good. And I wanted more. I was gutted when they finished it. What's it called again? Mindhunter.

Mindhunter. It's good, really good. Interesting as well, because it's not all really gory and really whatever. It's more like going in and talking to them and it's interesting. That's brilliant. Right. Well, let's have another one. Natalie and Joanna, I am loving this podcast.

You are keeping me company on so many of my boring daily tasks usually laundry because it never ends um you've asked for shout outs about favorite detectives ashamed as i am to say one of my favorites lately has been um death in paradise all of them are great they've all all the different people who've played the detective have been charming in their own way the the latest one neville parker with him off of uh two pints of lager um i think has been one of my favorites because he's just so sweet um but it's just proper escapism it's cheesy it's naff you can see the punch lines coming miles away but it's got beautiful settings on all the beaches and you can imagine you're not here and I like to watch it in the bath on a Friday night

and just drifting away from all my troubles. Highly recommend it. Love it. It's lovely when you know a show is a bit cheesy and you know what you're getting. Yes. And she's happy with that. Yeah.

And she really loves it. Loves it. Wants a bit of cheese. Knows what's going to happen. Easy watching. That's it. Wants a bit of cheese. Knows what's going to happen. Easy watching. That's nice. Really lovely. Well, I think we've got time for just one more.

Come on then. Hi, ladies. This is Rachel from Bristol. I hope I'm not too late to send this in for your bonus episode about TV detectives. So, Jo, you mentioned a few weeks ago about remembering an episode of Miss Marple back in the 80s, Pocketful of Rye, where the maid was found hanging from the washing line. I, too, remember that very, very well and being very traumatized as a 10 year old, like what an awful way that was to die. So, yes, as soon as you mentioned that a few weeks ago, I was like, oh, my gosh, I know exactly what you're referring to. In terms of favourite TV detectivesives love everything from miss marple

to hercule poirot um but a massive fan of jessica fletcher and murder she wrote me and my friend georgina are huge fans of it and even though we're both in our 40s we still like to kind of talk about it and like some of the great episodes and in fact when georgina got married a couple of years ago um we had a murder she wrote themed hem party for her where we made up our own typewriter and the purple book from the credits at the beginning and dressed Georgina up as Jessica Fletcher so yeah absolute

classic TV detective show also as a recommendation I'd like to suggest Only Embroidered in the Building which is on Disney Plus stars Steve Martin has had a great star cast Paul Rudd, Meryl Streep, Matthew Broderick. But absolutely brilliant, brilliant programme. Very clever, very funny.

It's a bit like murder she wrote with swearing. So I would highly recommend it. Anyway, loving the podcast, ladies. Absolutely brilliant. Look forward to every week. So keep doing what you're doing. Thanks very much. Bye. Oh, what a lovely So keep doing what you're doing. Thanks very much. Bye.

Oh, what a lovely voice note. Thank you so much. That sounds interesting. We need to do it because my mate Tim recommended that the other day and he said he was surprised that I hadn't seen it. Really? Let's do it. Stuff it.

Let's do it. All right. Let's get it on the list. Definitely. Amazing. Oh, that has been so lovely. My God, there are so many new things I'm going to watch now. I can't keep up, Jo.

All these recommendations, people's things that they love. Got loads of new stuff to watch now. Loads and loads and loads. And stuff that we want to keep watching. Yes. Really, quite a lot of telly. There's shitloads of telly. How in God's name are we going to get through it all?

I don't know. We can just do it in spits and spurts, can't we? Yes. Well, that is it for our second summer special. As ever, thank you so much, all of you at home. We love our Off The Telly Club. It's such a treat to hear from you all, isn't it? It is lovely.

And if you want to send us a voice note or message on WhatsApp about the telly, the number is 03306 784704. And we might play it in one of our episodes. Thank you again for listening and we'll be back next Wednesday with another voice note special all about your favourite TV villains. There's just so many

good ones, we can't wait to see what you guys have sent in. Keep an eye out for TV Villains Part 2 next Wednesday on BBC Sounds. Bye! Bye! a BBC Studios audio production for BBC Sounds. Hello, lovely listeners. I know, I know you're busy. Well, let me help you, my friends,

with my brand new Friday night comedy, Catherine Bohart, TLDR, Too Long, Didn't Read. I'll be going beyond the headlines to get to the bottom of one big news story each week. You know that story that is huge and constantly being discussed but you miss the details and now it feels like it's too late to ask? Yeah, that one. I'll be speaking to people who know what they're talking about, then we can pretend we know what we're talking about when it comes up at a family dinner. So join me for Catherine Bohart at TLDR, a new Friday night

comedy from Radio 4 available on BBC Sounds.