When his first wife Imelda was found poisoned to death in a bizarre locked room case it was only through the deductive talents of Jonathan Creek that the puzzle was eventually solved. As Jonathan looks into the man's real identity, his only clue being a package in the attic containing six books by a best-selling author, Maddy takes the opportunity to perform a disappearing trick of her own.

Orvat zber fcrpvsvp nobhg zl ceboyrzf jvgu gur ernfba Nyvfba jnf frag njnl – juvyr V pna pregnvayl haqrefgnaq jul gur qverpgbe jbhyq jnag uvf qnhtugre gb or fcnerq sebz yvivat fbzrjurer gung jbhyq unir cnvashy zrzbevrf, V pnaabg erzbgryl haqrefgnaq jul ur bcgrq gb fgnl naq yvir va vfbyngvba.These elements do a lot to remind us about the show’s history and make this feel like an intentional effort to pay homage to the show’s past. They investigate how a well-known actress could have been shot through a window during the filming of her latest movie without the glass having been broken.

Guvf vf ernyyl vagrerfgvat greevgbel sbe Wbanguna qenzngvpnyyl naq V guvax vg nyybjf gur fubj gb cerfrag Wbanguna va n fyvtugyl qvssrerag yvtug – erpbtavmvat uvf cerivbhf cevqr naq birepbasvqrapr znl unir pnhfrq uvz gb znxr reebef. The police surround the garage but when they open the door, the killer has vanished, leaving only the daughter who has no memory of the incident. An early misguided joke about Polly accidentally mentioning ‘cotton picking’ in front of one her new black acquaintances, proves crucial as we’re lead to assume that her husband working at the property is the black CCTV installer, rather than a white bearded taxi driver seen momentarily at the start. For the viewer, however, there’s a certain amount of suspension of disbelief required for the crucial moments, and indeed throughout the episode the quality of output varies widely. The episode is available on Netflix in the UK and Ireland and the entire series is available on DVD in the UK and other countries, including a comprehensive box set of all the episodes, released by the BBC.These deeply domestic environments coupled with decaying haunted settings has been a Renwick tool of old. I realise it has been two years since the last special and about 200 since Alan Davies first graced our screens as the proto-Cumberbatchian Sherlock, but this is a rise from the dead too far. As the puzzle unfolds, with ever more sinister twists and turns, the gruesome rituals that were once enacted in the dungeon of Daemons' Roost are frighteningly revived - with horrifying consequences. When a classic locked room mystery is turned into a West End musical, its female star falls victim to a real-life 'impossible crime', which Jonathan reluctantly becomes involved in solving.

But before she arrives Clore has a debilitating stroke rendering him paralysed and unable to communicate. With his health failing, Clore summons his stepdaughter Alison to Daemons’ Roost to share with her the chilling truth of what happened to her family there.Gur bayl cneg bs gur fbyhgvba V qvfyvxr vf Elzna vzcrefbangvat n ubzr frphevgl rkcreg sbe frireny qnlf. Which is a shame, as Creek's irritating, shallow wife finally seems to be thawing enough to support him in his endeavours. Jonathan, for his part, is more concerned as to how a piece of chewing gum got moved from one potted plant to another at the crime scene. We are told that Creek had assisted Alison’s husband Stephen Belkin 6 years previously with what has come to be known as ‘The Striped Unicorn Affair’.

Imagine a cross between James Herbert’s “Haunted”, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Musgrave Ritual” and …something else (I’m not sure what)… and that would be a good description of the atmosphere of this episode. Then came series 5, a mere three episodes, including an inverted impossibility — we’re shown how it happens, but the other characters including Jonathan are unaware — and something about a phone number that was so embarrassing I’m surprised they didn’t can the whole thing there and then.Here’s what’s lovely and weird and aggravating about this Creek: it’s keen to remember its past only then to lug it into the skip and move on. The brainchild of David Renwick, himself a magician’s assistant in his younger days, it was a glorious mix of magic, mystification, mood, and m-comedy that was enriched by Renwick’s ability to dream up brilliantly inventive, original solutions. Alan Davies, now doing a perfect impression of Alastair McGowan doing an impression of Alan Davies, remains the master of starting to talk only then to stop mid sentence and go ‘of course’.