Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Marlow Murder Club’ on ‘Masterpiece’ on PBS, Where a Trio of British Ladies Solve Cozy Country Crimes

You know what the world really needs? ANOTHER cozy murder mystery series where a retired English lady and her local pals solve unspeakable crimes! At least, that’s the vibe we’re getting from the newest Masterpiece on PBS mystery, The Marlow Murder Club! But how does the newest entry into this vaunted genre stack up to the greats?

THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We’re underwater among the murky green water and countless weeds and reeds carpeting the floor of a river tributary. When we emerge above the water, we are in front of an incredibly charming British house. A pencil is sharpened and a cat looks on as Judith Potts (Samantha Bond) gets to work hand-designing a crossword puzzle.

The Gist: Retired archeologist Judith Potts is frittering away her time writing crossword puzzles for the local town newspaper and skinny-dipping in the stream when something exciting finally happens: she hears her wealthy neighbor, Stefan Dunwoody (Rufus Wright), involved in a “kerfuffle” before the sound of a gun goes off. When Judith is dissatisfied by the muted response from local law enforcement, she takes it upon herself to investigate. Eventually, she discovers a Nazi bullet casing and Stefan’s dead body.

While local detective Tanika Malik (Natalie Dew) attempts to juggle parenthood, sexism at the office, and the murder investigation, Judith begins to do her own sleuthing. Various tips take her to odious auction house owner Elliot Howard (Daniel Laine), but he has an alibi singing with the church choir. The new vicar’s disaffected wife, Becks Starling (Cara Horgan), is initially dismissive of Judith’s investigation, but by the premiere’s end, she’s kicking off her own inquiries by finally setting aside time to have tea with the church gossip Mrs. Eddingham (Rita Tushingham).

Elsewhere, dog walker Suzie Harris (Jo Martin) is devastated when her teenaged daughter decides to stay abroad with her father. However, Suzie’s suffers a far more traumatic blow when she discovers that her cab driver friend Iqbal (Umit Ulgen) has been murdered by an intruder in his bed.

Are Stefan and Iqbal’s grisly deaths related? Is there a murderer in Marlow? It’s obvious that Judith and Becks and Suzie are about to join forces as the titular…Marlow Murder Club!

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Marlow Murder Club perfectly blends the quaint English aesthetics of classics like Miss Marple with the glossy wealth porn of contemporary American thrillers like The Perfect Couple. It’s cozy, comic, and the perfect escape on a dreary Sunday night.

Our Take: The Marlow Murder Club is so aggressively cozy and fun that it feels almost like a satire of the genre. Indeed, there are multiple moments where you feel as though the Masterpiece Mystery series is winking at its audience. Judith is called out as a “busybody” and walks around with a tote of tools like a real detective. Becks’s breaking point comes when her “Best Mum in the World” mug shatters. Tanika and her cohorts scoff at the very idea of Marlow being a hotbed for crime!

That said, The Marlow Murder Club is aggressively cozy and even more aggressively fun. This is not trying to be a hardboiled detective drama nor is it making grand statements about the state of the world. This show is literally designed to whisk you away to a picturesque British town, only as it exists as a ludicrously aspirational, incredibly wealthy hamlet in contemporary terms.

Besides the joy of the murder mystery itself, The Marlow Murder Club doubles as straight up escapist fun. I am personally obsessed with Judith Potts’s life and now want to retire to a beautiful riverside house to work on crosswords, solve crimes, and swim naked. (A girl can only dream!!!)

Sex and Skin: There’s zero sex, but we do get crane shots of Judith enjoying her au natural dip in the stream. You go, Judith! There’s nothing wrong with a little sunlit skinny dip! I would do it, too, but I don’t think it would fly as well in the Hudson River as it does in the UK.

Parting Shot: After Judith lays out the fruits of her independent investigation to the unimpressed Tanika Malik, she comes to the conclusion that Elliot Howard must have hired a hitman to kill Stefan Dunwoody. Tanika scoffs, telling Judith, “there are no hitmen in Marlow.” Immediately thereafter, a young police officer announces there’s been another shooting death in Marlow…confirming Judith’s suspicions and expanding the case.

Sleeper Star: Rita Tushingham, whose Mrs. Eddingham is terrifying enough to push poor Becks into the cupboard to hide. Mrs. Eddingham is a hilariously on-point satire of every small town’s gossip queen and Tushingham’s sharp silver hairdo is instantly iconic.

Most Pilot-y Line: “I think you’re one of those busybodies who has nothing to fill her days with, who lives on her own, with a cat, if I had to guess?” Elliot Howard essentially sums up Judith Potts’s character — and the charm of the show — to hilariously diminishing returns. It’s so on the nose, it could be up a nostril.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Look, groundbreaking it sure is not, but cozy, it most definitely is. The Marlow Murder Club features a charming ensemble of British actors doing what they do best: countryside murder mysteries with low stakes and high quality. Pour a cuppa and get comfy under a blanket because this is peak cozy murder mystery material.