I RECEIVED a copy of the book Murder Before Evensong by Richard Coles (Books, 24 June 2022) as an ordination gift, and was unsure whether I was supposed to find it inspiring or merely entertaining. Happily, the new TV adaptation (Channel 5, Tuesdays) is the latter. Set in the fictional village of Champton, it stars Matthew Lewis as Canon Daniel Clement, the crime-capering Rector, who, coincidentally, also has a strong affinity with dachshunds.
Like so much in the Church, the story begins with bitter division over a pressing and crucial issue: in this instance, the installation of a lavatory at the back of the building, which will impinge on the domain of the flower ladies. Oh, and there is the murder of a local man inside the church, too.
The action is set in 1988; so it includes a nostalgic pop soundtrack and all the back-combed hairstyling and moustaches that we have come to know and love from other 1980s dramas, such as Jilly Cooper’s Rivals (6 December, 2024). The time period is pertinent, as it is set during the AIDS epidemic, a period of extreme prejudice against gay men. This is a significant part of the plot, as our plucky Canon is receiving hate mail with horribly homophobic overtones.
The presence of fabulous female characters is what makes the drama so compelling, while the quieter unassuming Rector is forced to take a back seat and allow the dominant females to claim centre stage. Amanda Redman plays Audrey, Daniel’s mother, a role that she plays with barbed relish. She locks horns with Tamzin Outhwaite’s Stella, the leading flower lady and PCC member, who is also deliciously acerbic. When it comes to crime dramas, there’s a fine line between cosy and twee, and this treads it well.
Riot Women (BBC 1, 12 October) is the story of a group of middle-aged women who form a rock band to win a talent contest. The press-launch photos gave an impression of unseriousness, as they were shots of the actresses dressed in a punky style and gesticulating angrily, but this was really misleading. There is nothing frivolous about this drama series, particularly the opening sequence, which includes a suicide attempt, vividly and powerfully acted by Joanna Scanlon.
The drama is written and directed by Sally Wainwright, the creator of Happy Valley (27 January 2023); and, again, she pulls no punches with her storyline, which has violent moments and veers towards the dark and gritty.
With poignancy and humour, this highlights what is so glorious but often devastating about this stage in life: menopause symptoms, ageism, sexism, and multi-generational caring responsibilities. Riot Women is fiercely female and bold in its depiction of a time in women’s lives when a cataclysmic series of underlying factors can converge, causing chaos and confusion. It was riotous viewing.