Stream It Or Skip It?

British mystery series tend to build a world around their main sleuths, whether a murder is solved over an entire season or one poor soul gets killed per episode. Some series take more time building that world than others, even examining stories that may have little or nothing to do with the central mystery, as we see in a new Acorn TV series.

Opening Shot: The opening of the 1980s UK talent show Opportunity Knocks.

The Gist: We pull back to see that the show is playing on TV. In a different room, Canon Daniel Clement (Matthew Lewis) is working on his sermon. The paper is dated “2nd April 1988.” The blaring TV isn’t helping come up with something, so he takes his dachshunds for a walk and goes to the church where he a vicar, so he can perform his nighttime prayer. The dogs run to the pews and come back with blood on their feet. That’s when Daniel sees the body of Anthony Bowness (Adam Semethurst).

One day earlier, Daniel had things other than murder on his mind. During the parish church council, he proposes building a bathroom in the old church, but Stella Harper (Tamzin Outhwaite) challenges it, wanting to keep her “flower room” intact. Bowness, who is a historian, gets everyone annoyed when he talks about rooms that have been in the building over the years.

Another thing that’s on Daniel’s mind is that his mother Audrey (Amanda Redman) is moving in with him, a result of having to sell just about everything to settle his recently-deceased father’s numerous debts. She shows up unexpectedly early, starts blaring the radio and TV and rearranging things in the kitchen of the rectory.

Daniel and Audrey go to a festival at the estate of Bernard De Floures (Adam James). Bernard is Bowness’ cousin, and has recently helped Bowness get sober, moving him in to the estate. But something happened that is making Bernard rethink that arrangement.

After Daniel finds Bowness’ body, his throat slashed, DS Neil Vanloo (Amit Shah) begins his investigation, and speculates that Bowness might not have been the intended victim.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Murder Before Evensong was written by Nick Hicks-Beach and based on the novel of the same name by the Reverend Richard Coles. It is the first novel in Coles’ Canon Clement Mysteries, and the story seems to have a bit of the feeling of a series based on one of Agatha Christie’s novels, like Murder Is Easy.

Our Take: Like a classic Christie-esque mystery, Murder Before Evensong is as much about the people and the world surrounding the murder(s) than it is about the mystery itself. Sure, Daniel is going to join DS Vanloo in the murder investigation because Vanloo thinks people will open up to him. But there’s a lot of atmosphere in this series that makes it very British in tone but also warmer than a typical mystery series.

Daniel isn’t just going to be helping Vanloo find out who the murderer is, but he’s going to be fighting Stella Harper about the lavatory issue, with his feisty mother Audrey backing him up. The De Floures family — Bernard, his daughter Honoria (Meghan Treadway) and son Alex (Alexander Delamain) — have their own issues, especially with each other. Kath and Dora Sharman (Marion Bailey, Amanda Hadingue) are sisters who are coping with the idea that one of them is dying and doesn’t want treatment. Nathan (Sam Baker Jones), a handyman, is involved with Alex in a way that could prove scandalous in 1988.

So while it should be fun to watch Daniel become a crime-solving vicar, it’s also going to be interesting to watch how the surrounding stories play into the main mystery, or they are just slices of life in the small, church-centric village where it takes place. Lewis’ performance as Daniel balances the empathy that his character is supposed to have in his job with his desire not to be a pushover, whether it’s when confronting his mother Audrey or pushy parishioners like Stella. He and Redman, who plays Audrey as pushy and meddling, but loving and always looking to right wrongs, make a good team.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Daniel shows DS Vanloo the anonymous, threatening notes he’s been getting.

Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Alexander Delamain as Alex, if only for the terrible piece of performance art we see him do during the festival. You know, now that we think about it, he is going to share it with the two adorable pups that play Daniel’s dogs.

Most Pilot-y Line: Would Audrey really be listening to a radio station that plays “She Drives Me Crazy” by Fine Young Cannibals? It feels like they needed that scene just to have a period-appropriate needle drop.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Murder Before Evensong is an engaging mystery that builds a world around Canon Daniel Clement as he becomes the sleuthing vicar that will likely solve murders in future series.

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How To Watch Murder Before Evensong

Murder Before Evensong is exclusively available to stream with a subscription to Acorn TV.

New Acorn TV subscribers can take advantage of a seven-day free trial. After that, the service costs just $8.99/month.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.