At the recommendation of a few people, one of them Richard Osman, I started watching The Good Ship Murder a few weeks ago. All the episodes are available on the Channel 5 website, provided you’re within the UK.
As the title suggests, it’s a crime drama set on a luxury Mediterranean cruise ship. This is the real-life MSC Virtuosa. Although the name is widely publicised online, it’s never mentioned in the programme except for the credits, presumably to avoid contravening product placement rules.
I’ve become a fan of the programme, but I could see through the formula from the start. In short, it’s like Murder She Wrote, but at sea. Shayne Ward plays Jack Grayling, a cabaret singer who was once a detective. He ends up informally investigating the suspicious deaths that occur on the ship and in port.
The production also receives incentives from the Malta Film Commission. I’m conjecturing here, but with its close proximity to Italy, I wonder whether that’s why we frequently see Italian supporting characters and locations.
But what about the other leading characters? The real strength of any script lies in what it does with these.
Grayling needs the help of Jamil Al-Rashid, his colleague in Housekeeping who can gain access to areas of the ship that a cabaret singer can’t go. He also has the trust of Kate Woods, the ship’s First Officer and his own romantic interest, who can act as lookout.
The contrast between leading characters is the bedrock of any ensemble piece. The A-Team, for instance, would never manage with four characters like Hannibal Smith or B A Baracus.
As for antagonists, an honourable mention must go to Geoffrey Breton as Staff Captain Piers de Vreese. He’s so well-written that I find him insufferable, and I often wish he would be pushed into the sea under cover of darkness.
The series was created by Mike Benson and Paul Matthew Thompson, who have written a lot of British TV dramas and soaps between them, but this appears to be their first collaboration. There is a further credit – Based on an Original Idea from Ben Frow – referencing the long-serving Director of Programmes at Channel 5.
Importantly, it never pretends to be highbrow or realistic. Viewers are taken to sunny far-flung locations and asked to suspend their disbelief while the former cop manages the friction between his crewmates and goes on to uncover the vital clue that the serving police have overlooked.
Gavin Cameron 