Cosy crime is the genre TV viewers just can’t (and won’t) quit — warm villages, whispered secrets, mild eccentricity, and at least one unfortunate soul who won’t survive until the next ad break. With Bookish and The Marlow Murder Clubthriving, Channel 5’s Murder Before Evensong lands with the confidence of a show that knows exactly what its audience wants. And while it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it turns it well enough to keep cosy-crime fans snug through the winter.
Based on Reverend Richard Coles’ bestselling novel, the series finally arrives on UK DVD and digital this November after its broadcast run, and it’s easy to see why it’s poised to become a new comfort-viewing staple. Matthew Lewis leads as Canon Daniel Clement — empathetic, slightly harried, and stuck in the kind of sleepy village where everyone has an opinion, and most have something to hide. Lewis plays Daniel with genuine softness, never overselling the heroics, which fits perfectly for a clergyman reluctantly dragged into the role of amateur detective.
He’s surrounded by a strong supporting cast. Amanda Redman is terrific as Audrey, Daniel’s formidable mother — equal parts protective, exasperating, and oddly endearing. Amit Shah brings understated wit to DS Neil Vanloo, a detective who knows he’s outgunned socially and quickly realises Daniel’s closeness to the community is the real investigative superpower. Meanwhile, Tamzin Outhwaite’s meddlesome shopkeeper and Adam James’s delightfully pretentious stately home owner add colour (and motives) to the ever-growing suspect list.
Set in 1988 Champton, the series starts slowly as it lays out the local politics — Daniel’s attempts to modernise the church ruffle more feathers than expected — but once a body turns up in the pews, the show finds its rhythm. The gossip escalates, the secrets spill, and Champton’s polite veneer crumbles in all the ways cosy-crime fans relish. It’s a slow burn mystery that takes its time getting going, but when it does the series becomes satisfyingly addictive, building to a twisty finale that rewards the patient viewer without resorting to cheap theatrics.
A warm, well-crafted, thoroughly watchable whodunit elevated by its cast and its charming, lightly eccentric world. And with more books waiting to be adapted, Daniel Clement may well become the next cosy-crime staple on British screens.
Murder Before Evensong is out now on DVD, and Digital.
