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"The Grinning Man" is a feature-length and the twenty-sixth episode of the
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crime
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
series ''
Jonathan Creek
''Jonathan Creek'' is a long-running British mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the titular character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician while also solvi ...
'', first broadcast on 1 January 2009. The episode marked the series' return to television following a five-year hiatus and saw the return of
Alan Davies
Alan Roger Davies (; born 6 March 1966) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, actor and TV presenter. He is best known for his portrayal of the title role in the BBC mystery drama series ''Jonathan Creek'' (1997–2016) and as the only per ...
as the show's titular sleuth.
Stuart Milligan returned to the series as Jonathan's boss, magician Adam Klaus, while the episode also introduced
Sheridan Smith
Sheridan Caroline Sian Smith OBE (born 25 June 1981) is an English actress, singer and television personality. Smith came to prominence after playing a variety of characters on sitcoms such as ''The Royle Family'' (1999–2000), '' Two Pints ...
as Joey Ross, Jonathan's crime-solving assistant. The episode was written and directed by series creator
David Renwick
David Peter Renwick (; born 4 September 1951) is an English author, television writer, actor, director and executive producer, best known for creation of the sitcom ''One Foot in the Grave'' and the mystery series ''Jonathan Creek''. He was awar ...
, who chose to revive the show as a means of delaying his retirement.
The central mysteries of the episode focused on an attic room whose occupants disappeared without trace overnight and the kidnapped partner of a stage magician.
The episode was watched by 9.91 million viewers
[Weekly Viewing Summary. See week ending 4 Jan 2009](_blank)
BARB
Barb or the BARBs or ''variation'' may refer to:
People
* Barb (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* Barb, a term used by fans of Nicki Minaj to refer to themselves
* The Barbs, a band
Places
* Barb, ...
. and attained a 36% audience share. Critical reaction to the episode from ''
The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...
''
's Paul Whitelaw and ''
The Northern Echo
''The Northern Echo'' is a regional daily morning newspaper based in the town of Darlington in North East England, serving mainly southern County Durham and northern Yorkshire. The paper covers national as well as regional news. In 2007, its ...
''
's Steve Pratt suggested that, at 120 minutes, the plot was overstretched. ''
The Stage
''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
''
's Mark Wright compared Smith favourably to her predecessor in the assistant role,
Julia Sawalha
Julia Sawalha (born 9 September 1968) is an English actress who played Saffron "Saffy" Monsoon in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous''. She is also known for her portrayal of Lynda Day, editor of the ''Junior Gazette'', in ''Press Gang'', as ...
as Carla Borrego, while both ''
Scotland on Sunday
''Scotland on Sunday'' is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by JPIMedia and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate '' The Scotsman''. It was originally printed in broadsheet format but in 20 ...
''
's Chitra Ramaswamy and Sian Brewis for the ''
Leicester Mercury
The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its ...
'' discussed the nostalgia invoked by the episode, as a result of the series having been off-air since 2004.
Plot
Set five years after the previous episode, "Gorgons Wood", "The Grinning Man" begins by introducing the Gothic mansion Metropolis. Since 1938, a number of visitors staying overnight in the mansion's attic "Nightmare Room" have disappeared without a trace. Originally owned by a
spiritualist, the mansion is now the property of his grandson, stage
magician Lance Gessler (Nicholas Boulton). Gessler lives with his mother, Constance (
Judy Parfitt
Judy Catherine Claire Parfitt (born 7 November 1935) is an English theatre, film and television actress. She made her film debut in a minor supporting part in '' Information Received'' (1961), followed by supporting role in the BBC television ...
), his partner Elodie (Jenna Harrison) and their groundskeeper, Glenn (
Ciarán McMenamin). They offer shelter to paranormal investigator Joey Ross and her friend Mina (
Naomi Bentley) when the two are caught in a storm. Mina elects to sleep in the Nightmare Room and has vanished by morning. Constance calls in sleuth Jonathan Creek to investigate Mina's disappearance.
Jonathan has recently begun a relationship with an old acquaintance, Nicola (
Katherine Parkinson
Katherine Jane Parkinson (born 9 March 1978) is an English actress. She appeared in Channel 4's '' The IT Crowd'' comedy series as Jen Barber, for which she received a British Comedy Best TV Actress Award in 2009 and 2014, and was nominated twice ...
), who is opposed to his investigative career, believing it to be too dangerous an occupation. Jonathan is still in the employment of the magician Adam Klaus, whose television series is receiving heavy criticism from viewers. To Jonathan's bemusement, Klaus invests in the 3D pornography industry and begins dating the porn actress Candy Mountains (
Jemma Walker). Jonathan inspects the attic room and the bedroom directly beneath it, but finds nothing suspicious, save for a small vent in the canopy of the room's four-poster bed, which is opened when pressure is put on the mattress, releasing dead flies.
Investigating events at Metropolis, Jonathan deduces that Gessler's grandfather was a Nazi sympathiser, who laid a trap in the attic room to kill one of his enemies without arousing suspicion and which has subsequently killed anyone else who stayed in that room. Jonathan and Joey spend the night in the room, but uncover nothing. The next morning, when trying to figure out what they had done differently to all the victims, Jonathan comes to the realisation that they would have all taken a bath in the adjoining bathroom. Upon realising the secret behind the disappearances, Jonathan races back up to the attic with Glenn. Unfortunately, Joey had already climbed into the bath, which has descended and released her into a water tank below the room, where the corpses of previous victims (including her friend Mina) remain, drowned and decomposing. The bath has not yet returned to its position so Jonathan and Glenn are able to rescue her. Confronting Constance, Jonathan explains that the room the disappearances occurred in was not the real attic room, but in fact located in a flat-roofed tower next to the real attic which had slanted ceilings built in to disguise it as the attic in order to stop people suspecting any traps beneath it. The vent in the canopy was designed to leak an
ectoplasmic fluid on the first victim to ensure they would use the bath.
[The mystery resembles the real-life case of the Jarmans, the sixteenth-century owners of the Ostrich Inn in Slough (Berkshire), who killed wealthy travellers by tipping them into a barrel of boiling water via a hinged bed in one of the bedrooms.]
During the investigation, Gessler's partner, Elodie, is kidnapped. Joey follows Gessler from his stage show one night and observes him slashing Elodie's throat. She, Jonathan and Nicola later discover Elodie's dead body, but when they return with policemen, the corpse has been switched for a prop dummy. Glenn reveals that he and Elodie were in love and had recently married in secret. He suspects that Gessler may have murdered Elodie out of jealousy after she confessed their marriage to him. The police, however, receive a video of Elodie walking through a park the morning after she was supposedly murdered, with the day's newspaper in plain view for validation. Jonathan realizes that Gessler had manipulated Delia Gunning (
Julia Ford
Julia Ford (born 7 August 1963) is a British actress, voice actress and director.
Early life
She was born in Chester, Cheshire and grew up in Sutton Weaver. She attended Helsby County Grammar School.
Career
Her acting work includes theatr ...
), the editor of the local newspaper, into printing a fake copy a week in advance. By making the video before killing Elodie, he could deflect suspicion from himself, leading the police to believe that she had faked her own death and run away. Gessler ensured the front page's authenticity by having Delia create the day's headline herself, releasing a briefcase full of bees in the middle of a local council meeting. Jonathan's suspicions became aroused as the following story about the construction of a motorway through six villages would have been far more engaging as a front-pager. Jonathan and Joey arrive at Delia's home just in time to save her from being murdered by Gessler, who later kills himself by
gassing himself in his car.
The "Grinning Man" the title refers to is the subject of a painting, reputedly by
Hieronymous Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/ Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...
, which hangs in the attic Nightmare Room. Once the episode's mysteries are resolved, Constance confesses that she rescued the painting from a burning room decades previously, leaving an elderly uncle to die as she did so. She has Glenn assist her in burning the painting in Metropolis' grounds. The episode ends with Jonathan, Joey and Adam arriving at a restaurant to celebrate with their significant others. Adam discovers that he has been conned by Candy and will not be receiving any return on his pornography investment. Joey receives a call from her partner, Alec (Adam James), who reveals that he is in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
with Nicola and the two are now seeing one another. As the maître d' (Graham Vanas) arrives to lead them to their private booth, Jonathan jests; "Three for the Nightmare Room".
Production
David Renwick made the decision to revive ''Jonathan Creek'' for a Christmas special as a means of "deferring retirement".
He considered the alternative of developing an entirely new series to be too lengthy a process,
and regarded reviving ''Jonathan Creek'' as the "safe decision".
He described the process of formulating a plot for the episode as an "agony" and a "torment", revealing that he had stopped writing the show in 2004 partly due to a lack of ideas.
Renwick explained: "Inevitably, you set up a series which is all about impossibilities that then have to have a rational explanation, by definition it’s going to be pretty challenging stuff for a writer. So God knows why I ever embarked on it in the first place."
As well as writing, Renwick also directed the episode, which was produced by Nerys Evans; ''Jonathan Creek''
's former Producer
Verity Lambert
Verity Ann Lambert (27 November 1935 – 22 November 2007) was an English television and film producer.
Lambert began working in television in the 1950s. She began her career as a producer at the BBC by becoming the founding producer of ...
died of cancer in November 2007. Davies noted that he and Renwick met quite regularly following Lambert's death, and when Renwick suggested to the
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Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
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that they revive ''Jonathan Creek'', the broadcaster "bit his hand off for it".