MONKHaving been off work for a few days, I've rediscovered a wonderful show now tucked away on BBC 1 in the afternoons called Monk, starring Tony Shalhoub (Galaxy Quest) as Adrien Monk, a brilliant San Francisco detective with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), whose affliction actually gives him an incisive viewpoint to solve crimes...
Monk isn't a new find for me, but since it transferred to daytime TV I haven't seen any of it. I'm not likely to again either unless I'm sick, invest in Sky+, or the Beeb bless us with a late-night repeat. Even a weekend omnibus would be great, Aunty Beeb...
It's one of those rare shows that is ideal family viewing, yet not humdrum so that it alienates the younger audience. Each week Monk basically solves a crime using a combination of his obsessive-compulsive attitude to the crime scenes, photographic memory, and old-fashioned detective work.
The crimes are never particularly bloody, or even wholly believable at times, let's be honest -- but that's not the point. This is old school "murder-as-entertainment" in the same mould as Murder, She Wrote and Columbo, so forget any CSI expectations!
If there is one criticism to Monk, it's that the show sometimes shows the murderer's crime to the viewer very early on, meaning the entertainment comes solely from Monk's investigation. While this is fine occassionally, I'd much prefer being treated with intelligence and have Monk's eventual summation of "whodunnit?" to be something that wasn't obvious to me after the first 10 minutes!
But, even with this flaw to some of the episodes, Monk survives it due to its off-beat style, a wonderful central performance from Tony Shalhoub, fine support from the regular cast (including Silence Of The Lambs' Buffalo Bill as Captain Stottlemeyer!) and some excellent guest stars, such as: John Turturro (The Big Lebowski), Tim Curry (Rocky Horror), Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), James Brolin and Willie Nelson, amongst others.
So if you're ever off sick from work, I recommend catching Monk (and perhaps e-mail the BBC to give it a primetime repeat for those of us who don't want Sky+!)
