Mystery Themes

One of my mom's favorite shows while I was growing up was Mystery! on PBS. At the high point of her watching, it would broadcast a lot of British serials done in the 80's and early 90's. Several of these seriels had some very distinctive themes and are quite good. I've had a devil of a time tracking a few of them down on CD, but now there is Youtube to help out.

This first one is the main theme for Inspector Adam Dauglish of the P.D. James series. I actually never cared much for these but the theme is so haunting. Finding this on CD has been absolutely impossible.



Second is Commissaire Maigret. Maigret actually has history going back to at least the 60's and his theme is established based on those. Mystery! actually broadcast a British version done in the early 90's with Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) as Maigret.



Third is the David Suchet version of Poirot. Poirot was actually made famous in the 70's and early 80's by Peter Ustinov, but David Suchet was cast in in the television serial and was highly memorable, as was the light jazzy theme.



Rounding out this round (of which I hope will be more) is Inspector Lewis. Lewis was much later as he actually started as the sergeant to Inspector Morse back in the late 80's. Morse has been so popular over the years (even after Jonathan Thaw's death) that the character was promoted and given his own show. His own sergeant is an obvious reference to Morse, reversing the relationship of the original show.