I recently finished watching 31 of the 32 episodes of Jonathan Creek (I could not find one of the specials) after stumbling upon them one day looking for something new. Got hooked. For a number of reasons, the show is an unusual entry in the British detective mystery genre. From 1997 to 2016, the series had one writer, David Renwick. He took years off and changed the dramatic structure considerably from beginning to end and paid little attention to the question of what happened to the criminal after the solution was unveiled. Renwick focused instead on the how an apparently impossible occurrence actually happened. Creek, played brilliantly by British comedian Alan Davies, begins as the creative genius behind a stage magician. He designs magic and knows all the tricks behind what appears impossible. The cases Creek is drawn into are the most difficult in the locked-room genre.
The series not only took time off but became almost a new show. The first three season (1997-2000, including one Christmas special) were perhaps the best in that they were characterized by a good deal of sly comedy. This was the result of the dynamics between Creek, the sex-crazed but clueless magician he worked for, and Maddy, the aggressively annoying reporter who keeps drawing him into the strangest of cases. These shows run along two tracks, the often haphazard antics of the magician and the way the infuriating Maddy (played expertly by Caroline Quentin) worms her way, dragging Creek along, into the latest impossible crime.
With a 2001 Christmas special (which I have been unable to find), a new female sidekick starts leading Jonathan into investigations and through series four (2003-04). Creek continues to work with his magician, who gets into marvelous conundrums trying to take his act up a notch by trying things like being buried alive and crucifixion. From 2009-13, Creek is joined by an investigator friend, Joey for three specials. In the last of these, Creek has left magic to become a businessman and has gotten married. (The nature of this business was unclear to me but, with a wife, probably meant to show Creek getting on with life.) In the final three episodes (2014) and a 2016 Christmas special, Jonathan’s wife tries to keep him from reverting to his detection ways but fails. Jonathan comes alive when on the trail – you can see the twinkle in his eyes – though these episodes are a bit more darker. I give Jonathan Creek a 5 minus because – and this is true of many locked-room mysteries – sometime it seems like the pieces of an unusually difficult chain of events to organize fall into place for Jonathan a bit too easily.
You can find some of the Jonathan Creek episodes via Internet search. The entire series – except for Satan's Chimney – are available on Britbox. (By the way, I make no money from mentioning Britbox or any other streaming service. I pay for Britbox and donate to PBS.)