Mystery Maniacs

🎙️ Episode:  https://share.transistor.fm/s/fcc9772b
đź““ Show Notes: https://midsomermaniacs.transistor.fm/episodes/mystery-maniacs-clues-and-reviews-8-3-26

New Mystery Maniacs Clues & Reviews for 08/03/26!

Show Notes
Sherlock Holmes Death Cloud: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Sherlock_Holmes:_Death_Cloud

The Traitor Canada:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28251824/

The East Palace:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35051401/?ref_=fn_t_1

Podcasts
  • Uncanny Cold Cases
  • After Dark

Thanks again for listening!
 
Mark & Sarah

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Upcoming Tentative  Schedule

  • August 3: Mystery Maniacs - Clues and Reviews 8/3/26
  • August 5: Mystery Maniacs - Cold Cases - Midsomer Season 02 BINGE
  • August 10: Mystery Maniacs - Clues and Reviews 8/10/26
  • August 12: Mystery Maniacs - Cold Cases - Midsomer Season 03 BINGE

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Creators and Guests

Host
Mark Bell
Co-host of Mystery Maniacs
Host
Sarah Smith-Robbins
Co-host of Mystery Maniacs

What is Mystery Maniacs?

Mystery Maniacs Podcast is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to British Mystery Television. Formerly, Midsomer Maniacs podcast.

Sarah:

Hey, Maniacs.

Mark:

Hey, Mystery Maniacs. Welcome to the inaugural episode of Mystery Maniacs Clues and Reviews.

Sarah:

Episode one. Uno. Itchy. Itchy. Ein.

Sarah:

Ein. That those are all one.

Mark:

Those are all one. Number one. Number one. Where are we in the world right now? I think we're probably

Sarah:

It cannot be disclosed.

Mark:

Okay. Okay. But we have an episode for you.

Sarah:

Remember unpredictable competing responsibilities. That's what

Mark:

we're going with. We have

Sarah:

Always known as crazy.

Mark:

Yes. Couple of things have come up on social media that we've talked about.

Sarah:

Mhmm.

Mark:

Okay. I posted about both Patience and Inspector Ellis. We have not got to season two of Inspector Ellis.

Sarah:

No. But we did watch Patience season two.

Mark:

Which I thought was far superior than season one, which I like season one.

Sarah:

Season one, I would give a b. Yeah. And season two, I would give an a minus.

Mark:

Yep. I would agree. Yeah. I thought they did they they did a great job with the episodes and the mysteries were interesting, and all that was all good.

Sarah:

The new senior detective is great.

Mark:

Yep. Awesome.

Sarah:

Awesome show. If you weren't crazy about season one, give season two a shot.

Mark:

I think they did

Sarah:

Because the things that might have annoyed you about season one, they they lessened.

Mark:

Yes. I would agree. And I think they did a really interesting thing with the male detective flipping him Mhmm. Flipping his role. Yeah.

Mark:

He he got he went from Scully to Mulder.

Sarah:

Yeah. I think so too. Yeah. You've also been rewatching Professor T.

Mark:

Yes. Because there's new Professor T streaming on the August 9. It's gonna be broadcast later on. They said October and then the new story I read but I don't think it'll be that long. But Professor T season five starts streaming in August.

Sarah:

It's such a good show.

Mark:

It is a good show.

Sarah:

I forgot how good the mysteries are. Yeah. Because what you remember is how eccentric he is with his gloves and everything. And you kind of forget that he's actually solving mysteries, know?

Mark:

Now a lot

Sarah:

of people They're really good.

Mark:

A lot of people on social media said, we should watch the Belgian version. But I didn't know there was a Belgian and a German and like, there's five different versions.

Sarah:

No. I knew there was a Vander what was it?

Mark:

Vanderwolk.

Sarah:

Is that it?

Mark:

Yeah. And the bridge has a number of versions too.

Sarah:

And the tunnel?

Mark:

Tunnel? It became

Sarah:

the tunnel. Or was it the tunnel first?

Mark:

No. No. It's the

Sarah:

bridge first. Okay.

Mark:

The bridge, the tunnel, and other things that span water. We

Sarah:

also watched something that's a little bit older. You well, you posted who's the best Sherlock.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

And unconnected to that, but coincidentally, we recently watched a show called Killing Sherlock that is a historical show. Lucy Worsley is the host. It's on Netflix. Yep. And it's about Arthur Conan Doyle deciding to kill off Sherlock as a character and why he did that.

Sarah:

I think it's the

Mark:

BBC Selects. I don't think it's Netflix.

Sarah:

I thought we saw it on Netflix. No. Didn't. Anyway, it's called killing Sherlock. It's hosted by Lucy Worsley.

Sarah:

You could probably find it a few places because it's not brand new. Think it's like maybe two years old.

Mark:

Yeah. Lots of good backstory to Sherlock. Most of the people online say Jeremy Brett's the best Sherlock, which I can completely concur with. Again, I'm always watching as many Hound of the Bastervilles as I can. Basker.

Mark:

Baskervilles, and I rewatch them constantly.

Sarah:

At first, I thought you said Hound of the Bastardvilles, and I was like, is that a different version?

Mark:

No. It's called Bastardvilles? No. That's the carry on Bastardville. It's a whole different movie.

Sarah:

Jeremy Brett just is quintessentially Sherlock Holmes. I mean, he looks most like the illustrations in the original short stories. So Yeah. I think he's such a good actor. It's hard not to say he is the most authentic Sherlock Holmes, but that doesn't mean that he's the best necessarily.

Mark:

The only problem I have with Jeremy Brett is he should have stopped a season before he did because the last season, he's clearly ill.

Sarah:

Yeah. Struggling. So If you look at if you look for it. Well, way to bring us down there.

Mark:

Well, you know, Jeremy Brett. I but I'll put my I love that they just completely replace Watson and say nothing Just about roll on. Just roll it on.

Sarah:

If if I was gonna throw my hat in the ring on what is the best reinvention of Sherlock Holmes, So not Yep. Consistent to the story, but like a new newer reimagining of him. I would say Benedict Cumberbatch. Not because he not because of the actor necessarily, but I loved how they reinterpreted the stories. They kept stuff from the old ones, and they reinterpreted it.

Mark:

Yes. Which is what I'm hoping they do with Poirot.

Sarah:

Mhmm.

Mark:

That's what I'm hoping they do with Poirot. The other new version that I like is there's a series of young Sherlock Holmes books, which are nothing like the young Sherlock Holmes movie, which is fantastic.

Sarah:

With the the drugged chubby Watson kids seeing the dancing donuts?

Mark:

Yes. But this this new well, it's not new. It's a series of Sherlock books. I'll put it in the show notes. Like, goes to America and all sorts of fun and interesting things.

Sarah:

Well, remember we we watched the miniseries with the young Sherlock that was made by the guy who makes all of the

Mark:

Yes. I'm making Guy

Sarah:

I'm making punchy. Guy Ritchie.

Mark:

Guy Ritchie.

Sarah:

That was good.

Mark:

Yeah. That was good too.

Sarah:

I like that.

Mark:

Yeah.

Sarah:

You know, young Sherlock Holmes, the movie, is the first time I heard Carmina Burana.

Mark:

Oh, really?

Sarah:

And I thought it was from that movie. Then I realized, oh, no. That freaky song.

Mark:

And that that movie has so many Midsommar crossovers.

Sarah:

Oh, so many. So many. If you haven't seen it or you haven't seen it in a while, go rewatch it.

Mark:

Oh, so fantastic.

Sarah:

It's so I mean, the CGI

Mark:

is horrible, but other than that Actually, for the time, the CGI

Sarah:

is amazing. But to watch it now, it's like Muppets with strings. Yes. You know? Whatever.

Sarah:

We've also been watching some some other stuff that's, a little bit outside of the box.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

We watched the Canadian version of Traders.

Mark:

Which got better and better with each season and her outfits. The lady who

Sarah:

The host.

Mark:

The host got weirder and weirder, and that was fantastic.

Sarah:

She is the female Alan Cummings.

Mark:

This lady who

Sarah:

She pulls it

Mark:

off. The Canadian host, and we'll put a link to the the Canadian traders in the show notes. She absolutely is fantastic because they do that whole show in English. So she's done six seasons.

Sarah:

Even though there are only three seasons.

Mark:

They do the whole show in English, and then they have a whole other set of people come in and do the whole show in French.

Sarah:

They have different contestants.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Wow. Unbelievable. It was really fun. Yep. We also started watching a Korean drama, South Korean drama called the East Palace.

Mark:

It's a fantasy supernatural drama.

Sarah:

But it's also a mystery. It is also a mystery. And it's beautiful. Yes. Oh my gosh.

Sarah:

What do we it's It's medieval.

Mark:

Medieval South Korean Ghostbusters. Yeah. Yeah. With mystery. With amazing effects, amazing shots, and such great fight scenes.

Sarah:

And it has voice dubbing, so you don't have to read the subtitles. You can Yeah. Listen.

Mark:

The fight scenes remind me of Kung Fu Hustle.

Sarah:

Yeah. But the odds

Mark:

Without the humor.

Sarah:

But the the costuming alone

Mark:

is just incredible. Costuming is it it the costuming reminds me of a Kurosawa movie called Ran, which is a retelling of King Lear.

Sarah:

Nah. Well, it's medieval Yep. Asian royal costumes.

Mark:

But color plays an important part

Sarah:

in things. It's just beautiful.

Mark:

Plus with stranger things in there too.

Sarah:

Yeah. Ghostbusters, stranger things, and medieval

Mark:

It's definitely worth worth a watch. It's called

Sarah:

the East Palace.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Netflix. Yes. I've been listening to uncanny cold cases. Yes. If you've listened to any uncanny, that's from BBC Sounds.

Sarah:

I get them on Apple Podcasts Yeah. With Danny Robbins. They're really, really fun.

Mark:

Yeah. Danny Robbins is the man who walks the tightrope. He's like, I don't know. Maybe this is true. Maybe it's not true.

Mark:

I don't know what I believe in. I'm not going to tell you what I think at all or what we think is a podcast. But here is some evidence

Sarah:

and But

Mark:

it's so is spooky. It's all very spooky.

Sarah:

I've also been listening to After Dark by History Hit, which is another podcast that you can get just about anywhere. It's about each episode is a different historical thing that they talk about, but it's always something creepy or mysterious. It's a murder mystery. It's a paranormal weirdness. Just an example of things that they've covered recently, they talked about the witch men of Iceland, is about the witch trials in Iceland that were all men.

Sarah:

Yep. And they talked about

Mark:

There there is a there is a Mott and Bailey Iceland book

Sarah:

forming in my head. Yep. They also did a recent episode about a seventeenth century murder network in That was really interesting.

Mark:

Super interesting.

Sarah:

So again, After Dark by History Hit.

Mark:

Very fun. I'll put links to all this stuff in the show notes.

Sarah:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Mark:

And then I think we need to talk about what's coming up because we're gonna have lots to talk about. So we're gonna we wanna watch Inspector Ellis season two Mhmm. Because we really like season one. Yep. It has Sherlock.

Mark:

Again, this is a Sherlock episode. No. Sherlock, the guy who thinks he's Sherlock Holmes from Murdoch

Sarah:

Yes.

Mark:

Plays her sergeant Yes. Really well, I think too.

Sarah:

I liked the first

Mark:

season a

Sarah:

lot. Yeah. So we're She kicks ass.

Mark:

We're looking forward to that second season. A new show that we we haven't talked about and I that sounds right up our alley is Blue Murder Motel, which starts August 24 on Acorn. It's two retired Sydney detectives move to a seaside motel and think their crime fighting days are behind them, but you know what happens. They're gonna find Murder. They're gonna find bodies everywhere.

Mark:

The other thing is that's a that's a New Zealand show about crime stuff on the North Island. I think we're gonna see some familiar faces in this show.

Sarah:

Man, Australia and New Zealand both are hitting it out of the park Absolutely. With new shows lately. Yep. I mean, Brokenwood is great, but it's just the first. Yes.

Sarah:

Deadlock is awesome. Yep. And then they just keep pushing them out.

Mark:

I would agree. And then as we mentioned, professor t season five starts the August 9 on PBS.

Sarah:

So then just one more thing to talk about.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

It's kind of controversial.

Mark:

It's not controversial at all. So if you remember

Sarah:

It's not controversial because we agree that it was suck. Yes. Is that it? Why it's not controversial? Is it a Midsummer Murder?

Mark:

Mid Midsummer put out this announcement that they were doing a live episode y thing for Midsummer, Midsummer. Get it? It's Midsummer. So let's talk

Sarah:

It's about the middle of the summer. Yes. So let's talk about Midsummer Murders.

Mark:

And they're all filming right now. Right? They're doing filming right now. So they had people on. So they had Neil Dungeon and Nick Hendricks and Annette Badlands.

Mark:

They had four people on. And Fiona Doleman. Right? They had those four people on and they had them guess whether or not there were episodes, the murders in

Sarah:

The host would say a certain method of death, and they had to say whether or not that was actually a death in a midsummer or not.

Mark:

And they kept score.

Sarah:

So it was yes or no. Yep. Now I have to say, though, this was publicized as a livestream.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

And it was clearly a prerecorded thing that they just played on YouTube at a certain time. There was no participation. There was no live to it. With no title or welcome or Explanation.

Mark:

Or I'm doing. Some How you can participate. Camera spoke the questions.

Sarah:

We don't know who she was. Why Yeah. The actors were good sports. The whole thing was, what, twenty minutes?

Mark:

Not even that. And I think there were about 100 people there at most at one time.

Sarah:

And that's sad.

Mark:

Yeah. For

Sarah:

a show like Midsommar

Mark:

That is.

Sarah:

To have a 100 people on.

Mark:

Well, they did it at 02:00 in the afternoon on a weekday.

Sarah:

What were they doing?

Mark:

I I don't know.

Sarah:

What are they doing in general? Hey. Their merch is the suckiest merch I have ever seen.

Mark:

The only thing that could have made it worse is if they had done it the next day because they would have been in direct Competition. Competition. With the England soccer game, which would have been just the height of stupidity.

Sarah:

Well, I would have given all the people who didn't wanna watch the game something to watch. They would have been disappointed because, wow, it was boring.

Mark:

It was it it was boring and then just ended. And then

Sarah:

it was just done. Yeah. Whoever those people were, they've got some questions. Done.

Mark:

Yeah. That was it. And plus, okay. Let's go back. Let's go back to the premise of the entire thing, which is we're going to ask the people who appear in these episodes

Sarah:

Whether or

Mark:

not Whether or not happened in an happened in an episode. Now they asked about some older episodes, so that's not necessarily

Sarah:

They asked about the same episodes more than once.

Mark:

They asked about the same episodes more than once. And Neil Dungy goes, I remember reading the script for this episode. I'm like, you cheated.

Sarah:

Why are they asking you a question about an episode you were in? Of course, you know the answer to that. Well, you better. If you don't, you're in trouble. The whole idea was just so awkward and bad.

Sarah:

And it's such a good show with such a great community. They could be doing such cool stuff.

Mark:

That they should be doing, I don't know, clues and reviews on a regular basis.

Sarah:

We don't have time

Mark:

to help them. No. We don't have time to help them.

Sarah:

We can barely make our own show.

Mark:

And we won't even talk about the official podcast.

Sarah:

Oh, god. I threw up a little bit in my mouth.

Mark:

Okay. So That's it. Thank you very much for listening. That's it for this week. We'll return next week with more clues and reviews.

Sarah:

Tune in later this week for cold cases.

Mark:

Starting Wednesday.

Sarah:

The whole binge, cram a whole season in your brain at once. Yes. Laugh riot. Yes. Bye, Maniacs.

Mark:

Bye, Maniacs. Thanks for joining us on the Mystery Maniacs podcast. If you enjoyed our crazy podcast today, don't miss out on future episodes. Follow us on social media for updates, beyond the scenes content, and exclusive sneak peeks. Subscribe, like, and share to spread the word.

Mark:

Bye, Maniacs.