Jonathan Creek – The Complete Collection [DVD] [2017]

I was wondering when they were finally going to put all of Jonathan Creek together, and now they have! Everything is there, and I am not disappointed. All five series, plus the Christmas Specials and the separate feature length specials. There is also a disc of bonus works, making a total of 14 discs. I have seen all of the Jonathan Creek episodes, so it will be a pleasure to sit through these again. Obviously haven't seen them all yet, but it is a matter of time! Have looked through as usual, and no complaints with picture quality. Subtitles are there, and are very helpful. I predict this DVD will be very popular. The price isn't bad either!

This collection has every Jonathon Creek show made to date - at time of writing in early Jan 2019 at least (always hopeful there may be more).The show itself is basically a comedy/mystery/drama with at least one impossible locked-room conundrum in each episode that has to be solved by Jonathan Creek using his lateral thinking skills and understanding of magic illusions. All 5 series plus one-off specials and Christmas specials are included. It's well acted, well written and a treat to try and work out how the impossible was done in each episode.The discs are straightforward, un-remastered imports from the already released BBC DVDs which means the discs covering the oldest shows in series one (the first 2 of the 14 discs) have fairly low image quality and an original 4:3 format image stretched to 16:9. Those issues are fixed by series 2 where the 16:9 aspect ratio matches modern TVs and the image quality is generally stronger as the BBC budgets were a bit higher for filming.Extras are minimal with some brief behind the scenes stuff, a single commentary track on the pilot special and the highlight is a neat 30 minute documentary on the writing, casting and making of the series.Overall: a highly recommended collection, albeit of the already released discs with no image upgrades or new extras.

It's a shame that her character Mandy is a ratty irritation. This is what makes me give the series 3 stars instead of the 5 it deserves. Caroline Quentin's character is truly annoying. Mandy's constant snarky remarks and general bitchiness and two-faced attitude towards Jonathan grates on the nerves. Right at the end of series one's final episode. Mandy said to Jonathan she was sorry for being a bitch earlier. He said something like "it's okay no harm done" and then she went mad and was like "So you think I am a bitch. How dare you assume that!". She doesn't change either as series two and three roll on. Just finished Quentin's time on the show with her final outing "Black Canary" she is even more of an irritation in this feature length episode. So glad when she was removed and the show carried on without her. It's all the better for it.

I've loved Jonathan Creek for years, I'm so happy to finally have ever episode ever made, the first three series with Maddie were always the best Carla barrego I could not stand, Sheridan Smith was good, but it all really lost it's charm for me when they hired Sarah Alexander to play Jonathan's wife, and why did he end up living in a regular house, with a boring office job where he wears a suit everyday? This is NOT the Jonathan we all know and love the quirky man with curly hair who wears a duffel coat lives in a windmill and designs magic tricks for a living! There's not even any magic or mysterious murder cases in the last series I don't know what went wrong here but something clearly did, it's such a shame, maybe they can claw it back if Jonathan's wife divorces him or something I don't know! But the three original series and the Sheridan Smith specials are really not to be missed you will have so much fun trying to work out who the killer is and why! Thank you Alan Davies for making Jonathan so real! Highly recommend.

The only criticism of this superb boxset, is there was not more episodes! It's true that the intricacies of the fantastic murder puzzles took so long to write, that David Renwick was restricted to just 32 episodes /films over 20 years. That being said, they are so rewatchable, you will barely notice. What i really love watching these in 2020 is also seeing a time when the BBC were not obsessed with political correctness and gender/diversity quotas. Alan Davies is just fantastic as Jonathan. As a great Comic, he balances the comedic and dramatic elements of David Renwicks macabre scripts, really well. Its sad that Jonathan has hung up his duffel coat for good, but all good things must come to an end, and this boxset will give me hours of viewing pleasure in future.

A really great series which is nice to have with all episodes & specials. On watching the early ones again, it's amazing how young Alan Davies looks & I don't seem to remember any of the episodes. Logic applies when Jonathan Creek works out how things were done, which would certainly baffle most. The show has a great cast, especially his female assistants in solving all the riddles to cases that he seems to get sucked into. Caroline Quentin, Julia Sawalha, Sheridan Smith & Sarah Alexander each play their parts so well, they certainly helped to make the show such a sucess!

Given the state of TV choice these days, I decided to treat myself to box sets of my favourite programmes. Jonathon Creek is nowhere to be seen on tv at the moment, so I've bought the complete set. What a joy it looks. Well packed, and each dvd in its own space (not rubbing against another dvd !). I'm really looking forward to hours of pleasure with this set.

Full series of Jonathan Creek. Brilliant. I’ve watched these time and time again. Of course, we know the solutions, but we forget all the little moments of brilliant humour throughout each episode. Probably the least watchable are the episodes in the last series. My favourite episode is Black Canary. Just good to have all the episodes in one boxed set. Recommended.