You may have spotted TV crews descend upon a Buckinghamshire town this summer filming an adaptation of a local murder mystery novel – but what exactly is The Marlow Murder Club and when can you expect to catch it on the small screen?
Robert Thorogood, best known as the creator of the hugely popular BBC series Death in Paradise, took a step back from the show that made his name in 2020 when, charmed by the Thames-side town he and his family had moved to in the early 2010s, he embarked upon a new challenge – authoring a series of murder-mystery books set in Marlow.
While his first foray into writing was through a literary translation of Death in Paradise back in 2015, this time the Essex-born writer took the conventional route of writing and releasing soon-to-be three novels in his Marlow-based series before taking the story to the silver screen in a television adaptation.
Film crews were difficult to miss in Marlow this summer, with the thoroughly local series shooting almost entirely in the town, including at the graveyard of All Saints Church, at Longridge Activity Centre and even temporarily shutting down the Marlow Town Council office building for location scenes.
Co-commissioned by Masterpiece and UKTV, The Marlow Murder Club series was announced in June and stars Downton Abbey’s Samantha Bond, Doctor Who’s Jo Martin and The Sandman’s Cara Horgan in its leading roles.
The TV adaptation will be based on the first novel in the series, which follows in the tradition of British cosy crime, with plenty of local references and a signature twist.
The plot follows Judith Potts (Bond), a retiree who lives alone in a faded mansion on the Thames and becomes embroiled in a complex murder enquiry after hearing a gunshot from across the river.
She recruits empty nester Suzie (Martin) and unfulfilled vicar’s wife Becks (Horgan) into her sleuthing enterprise and the three quickly find themselves deep in a web of mystery and danger as they rush to stop the killer from striking again.
The adaptation was written entirely by Thorogood and directed by Steve Barron. While a release date has not yet been revealed by the distributors, you can expect it to debut on UKTV's Drama channel sometime in 2024.
The sequel to The Marlow Murder Club, Death Comes to Marlow was released this year, and the latest in the series, The Queen of Poisons will be published by Harper Collins on January 18, 2024.
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