Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20815 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-02-16
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 634 minutes

DVD Description
Jonathan Creek is a master of illusion. Deviser of magic, creator of miracles, Jonathan creates spectacular stage stunts from his home - a mysterious windmill in the heart of the country. His brilliant analytical mind penetrates the darkest corners and cracks the trickiest of puzzles. But no showman, he lurks backstage while his boss Adam Faust steps in the limelight. Then Jonathan meets unorthodox crime journalist Maddy Magellan, who soon discovers another use for his extraordinary talent - solving murder by magic. The hottest partnership since Mulder and Scully, Jonathan and Maddy investigate crimes which seem to have no rational explanation. He is a bit of a nerd but he also a bit of a quick-witted genius. Maddy Magellan is an investigative crime writer, and the pair join forces to solve seemingly impossible crimes. There's a fair element of the Columbo in here - how did-they-do-it as opposed to whodunit - but with plenty of twists, so it's never quite that simple…

Series 1:

• The Wrestler's Tomb
  A celebrated artist has been killed, with a beautiful model bound and gagged by his side. The police are baffled - so it is just as well that Jonathan Creek accidentally spears Maddy's hand with a cocktail stick …
  
• Jack in the Box
  Veteran comedian Jack Holiday has committed suicide. But how did a man with crippling arthritis manage to hold a gun to his head? And how was Jonathan duped into another of Maddy's "grisly murder investigations"?
  
• The Reconstituted Corpse
  A plastic surgeon is murdered. The police suspect Zola Zbzewski, his ex-lover who is publicizing her book on how he gave her the perfect body. But then Zola is found dead in baffling circumstances …
  
• No Trace of Tracey
  A teenage girl disappears at the mansion of `70s rock god Roy Pilgrim. In the bizarre world of former rock legends, Jonathan seems a lot happier than Maddy; but then she was always more of a Percy Sledge girl.
  
• The House of Monkeys
  Elliot Strange's husband has been murdered - in a locked room with bars on the windows - and the chief suspect is a gorilla! Cue Jonathan and Maddy …

Series 2:

• Danse Macabre
  The Halloween murder of a best-selling writer could have come straight from her own chillers. Jonathan is busy with an opera-singing stripper and a bath, so has Maddy learned enough about the illusory arts to solve this case alone?
  
• Time Waits For Norman
  The husband of Maddy's literary agent has been photographed eating in a local hamburger bar. Slightly odd for a vegetarian … very odd for a man who is adamant he was in America at the time …
  
• The Scented Room
  Jonathan knows how a million pound painting was stolen. But after a bad review from the painting's owner, even a £50,000 reward and a begging Maddy can't persuade the moody magic man to tell …
  
• The Problem at Gallows Gate, Part One
  When Jonathan's badger watch becomes a murder watch the intrigue is only just beginning … the man seen strangling a young woman had plunged to his death just weeks earlier.
  
• The Problem at Gallows Gate, Part Two
  As Jonathan develops an unhealthy obsession with stockings and Maddy becomes infuriated with his s-less typewriter, they look as unlikely as the police to solve the killed-by-a-dead-man conundrum.
  
• Mother Redcap
  A high profile judge is killed despite his round-the-clock police protection. Could Maddy's gothic "pub of death" investigation hold the vital key?

Special Features

• Long Hair and Duffel Coat - documentary including exclusive interviews with cast, writer and crew (24 mins)
  
• Commentary on The Wrestler's Tomb with David Renwick and Marcus Mortimer
  
• Screen Tests with Alan Davies and Caroline Quentin

DVD Technical Information:

• Total Running Time: 622 mins approx.
  
• Disc Format: DVD-9 x4
  
• Audio: Stereo
  
• Region Code: 2, 4
  
• PAL
  
• Subtitles: English SDH

Synopsis
Series 1 & 2 of this very popular drama series from the BBC. Working from his home in a converted windmill, Jonathan Creek (Alan Davies) is a magician with a natural ability for solving puzzles. He soon puts this ability to another use - solving murders. Together with Maddy Magellan (Caroline Quentin), a crime reporter, Jonathan is called upon to solve a series of what appear to be unsolvable crimes.

Customer Reviews

Classic comedy drama: unmissable viewing...
Jonathan Creek is the best comedy drama ever to appear on television. It is immensely clever, using plots and intricate mysteries that are always resolved brilliantly. The characters are wonderrful: laid-back, windmill inhabiting, illusionist Jonathan Creek and his unorthoxdox, bossy journalist Maddy made a wonderful team as they partner each other to solve many perplexing crimes. This DVS contains the complete first and second series and shouldn't be missed. Brilliant!

Series 1 & 2 of Jonathan Creek in one DVD boxset! AT LAST!
Enter the magical world of Jonathan Creek: a quirky, off beat detective drama that has run for four series of BBC One. Here one four discs are the original, uncut series one and two, where to say the programmes were brilliant would be quite literally an understatement. David Renwich who wrote the acclaimed sitcom One Foot in the Grave has created a series that combines a unique brand of comedy with gritty drama with the most neat twists imaginable. With wonderful mysteries, such as how can a killer escape from a room that had been locked from the inside, how could a man defy the laws of time, how could a high courts judge be killed when under 24 hour protection? Questions that will be wonderfully and satisfactily resolved if you watch these DVD's, which are a great value for money. However the main attraction of the series are two main stars of the show. Alan Davies is perfect, charming and extremely funny, while his co-star, Maddy played by the superb Caroline Qunetin who starred in Men Behaving Badly plays his sidekick. Jonathan Creek is a part time crime solver but his actual job is creating 'magic' tricks and illusions for a stage magicina called Adam Klaus. Meanwhile Maddy Magelan is a snoopy journalist, unauthoradox, bossy and even quite nasty is a crime writer, who teams us with the superb Creek to solve mysteries that would have any other detective baffled. Jonathan Creek tops the drama tables and I think, I even prefer it to Inspector Morse, even though they are both rather different in style. Anyway both series are incredibly powerful, with the ability to astound and amaze. No matter what happens Jonathan Creek can always made you laugh with is very unusual and special in modern drama. The conclusions are always just right and cleverely tied together, and I find that you can watch Jonathan Creek many, many times and still enjoy it just as much. The episodes included in the set are:
THE WRESTLERS TOMB: Jonathan and Maddy team up to invesitgate how a painter was murdered.. 10/10
JACK IN A BOX: A man with crippling arthritus is found in a locked bunker? How could the killer just evaporate into thin air? Find out... 10/10
THE RECONSTITUED CORPSE: How could a dead boy materialise into a wardrobe when it was empty ten minutes earlier and hasn't been left alone? 10/10
NO TRACE OF TRACY: A teenage girl goes missing at a rock star's country home, but the rock star denies seeing her because he was chained to a radiator all night while the girl's classmates swore they saw her go in. 8/10
HOUSE OF MONKEY'S: Who could Dr. Elliot Strange have been stabbed in the back with a sword in a locked room, and the only suspect is a monkey? 10/10
DANSE MACRABRE: An author of horror fiction is murdered but how could the killer, dressed as a skeleton just vanish into thin air? 10/10
TIME WAITS FOR NORMAN: A man has been seen at the same tme on two different sides of the world: can a man defy time? 9/10
THE SCENTED ROOM: A valuble painting vaishes from under the nose of a tour party and the only clue's are some footprints and a strange scent. 9/10
THE PROBLEM AT GALLOWS GATE, PARTS ONE AND TWO: A two parter proves to be a juicy watch! How can a woman have been murdered by a man who committed suicide two weeks earlier? 10/10
MOTHER REDCAP: How could the death of a high court judge who was murdered in a locked room with security protection be related with an old pub called the Mother Redcap where seven men died of terror some fifty years earlier?
There are a few little extras including a 25 minute documentary 'Long Hair and Duffel Coat' which feature interviews with the writer, cast and production team. there's a screen test which shows an early rehearsal for the first episode by Alan Davies (Jonathan) and Caroline Quentin (Maddy) and also an audio commentary on the Wrestler's Tomb, the feature length 90 minute series opener. There are also subtitles.
So read the review and buy the box set (in that order) and I promise you will be kept guessing to the end every time. Brilliant drama and comedy.

Excellent
I have always loved Jonathin Creek and have been waiting for years for it to finally come out on DVD. Although I have not got as far as looking at the special features yet, it is great to watch all the old episodes again and see the spark between him and Maddy. Even now I can not remember all the twists and turns that lead to the end result. Please BBC bring out the rest on DVD!!!