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| Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes |
Historical mystery and historical fiction in general are two of my favorite genres, for TV, books, and movies. I really enjoyed the first series of "The Alienist", based on the book by Caleb Carr, and I'm eagerly awaiting season two to come out on July 26th! Below you'll find four suggestions that will hopefully tide you over while you wait! *Slight Spoilers Ahead*
*Update* The second season of The Alienist will now premiere July 19.
Ripper Street (2012-2016) - Netflix and Amazon Prime
I watched this show when it originally aired on BBC America and was immediately hooked. The story follows Detective Inspector Edmund Reid, Detective Sergeant Bennet Drake, and American doctor Captain Homer Jackson as they deal with the aftermath of the Ripper murders which were committed only six months before. They are a part of the H Division, which still exists to this day, and were in charge of one and a quarter square miles of East London, a region which had more than 67,000 of the sick, poor, and destitute. Between the brothels, pubs, and dark and labyrinthine rookeries women are being killed again, and they fear that Jack is back.
This show ran for five seasons, and starred Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn and Adam Rothenberg as the three main characters.
Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes (2000-2001) - Amazon Prime
I've always had a fascination with Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle and was really pleased when I found this show was available on Amazon Prime! Unfortunately they do not have the pilot episode but luckily you do not need it to enjoy the show, as it picks up several years after the initial episode. Charles Edwards plays the young Arthur Conan Doyle, trying to navigate his career as a Doctor and his friendship with his mentor, Dr. Joseph Bell, played by Ian Richardson, the real life inspiration behind Sherlock Holmes. Together they solve mysteries, from a woman haunted by an apparition that follows her down a dark forest path, to a killer who photographs his victims moments before death in the hopes of catching proof of the afterlife.
The series is based on the novels by David Pirie and sadly only ran for one season. Each episode is about an hour and a half, which sometimes feels a bit too long, even for someone with a keen interest in Doyle. But I really enjoy the methods they use, the glimpse into the medical side of the Victorian era, and Doyle's burgeoning obsession with the Occult.
The Limehouse Golem (2016) - Amazon Prime, Hulu and Youtube
This excellent film is an adaption of the novel "Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem" by Peter Ackroyd, and tells the tale of a serial killer stalking the streets of Victorian London, leaving messages written in the blood of his victims. Assigned to the case is Inspector Kildare, played by Bill Nighy, who believes that the killer is connected to music-hall star Elizabeth Cree, a woman accused of poisoning her husband on the same night as the last murder committed by the Golem. She is set to hang, but Kildare is convinced of her innocence and fights to prove it before she is hanged. He finds a diary kept by the Golem on the pages of De Quincey's "On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts" in a public library and knows that one of the four men who were in the library that day must be the Golem - among them Elizabeth's now dead husband.
The twist in this movie is simply spectacular and Olivia Cooke's performance as Elizabeth Cree is one of her best.
Freud (2020) - Netflix
Out of all of my suggestions I believe "Freud" is the closest to "The Alienist" in terms of tone and subject. Freud, while taking a rather melodramatic angle, shows us Sigmund Freud as a young man, before his marriage and his fame. Robert Finster plays a convincingly erratic and drug-addicted genius who is embroiled in murders that all lead back to a medium by the name of Fleur Salome, portrayed by Ella Rumpf, who is one of the strongest of the cast. Fleur has visions of the murders before they happen, and she wants desperately to help solve the crimes while also being scared of the power she possesses.They are joined on their quest by Alfred Kiss, a Detective with a dark past that won't let him go, played by Georg Friedrich, the other stand-out of the show.
Freud ended up going down a campy, paranormal route that I hadn't anticipated, and I think ultimately cheapened the story. However I would like to see a second season, if just to continue my guilty pleasure obsession with the show.
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