Murder in Sububria Season 1, Disc 1

Murder in Suburbia Season 1, Disc 1

Episode 1:
We meet Ash and Scribbs as they show up at the scene of a murder. An attractive young blond woman lies stabbed to death in a pool of her own blood in the living room of her house. There is no sign of forced entry and the murder weapon is near the body.
That's it. That's all the introduction we get before the two, who turn out to be Detective Inspector Kate Ashurst and Detective Sergeant Emma Scribbins, start working on solving the crime. We watch as two female detectives do their thing in what is awfully reminiscent of an American procedural. Except they're British and are a lot more self-effacing than any American show would be.
Over the course of the investigation of this woman, her fiancee, her ex-husband, her best friend and the singles club that ties them all together, we learn that Ash and Scribbs have worked together for a number of years on the Middleford police force, and that both are what you might call unlucky in love.

Episode 2:
This time round, Ash and Scribbs have traded the sexy singles club for the wife-swapping ways of a group of upper middle class charity minded couples. Of course, none of them are up front about the wife-swapping nor with anything else. And every time one of them is asked why they didn't come clean, they answer by saying that they didn't think it was relevant. I've noticed that this answer gets given a lot in British police dramas.
Meanwhile, we learn that Scribbs has been seeing a married man, and while she wants to break it off with him, she just can't bring herself to do it, until Ash finally convinces her to do it by text message. This whole back story would not have happened in an American cop show, or if it did, it wouldn't work out the same way, where Scribbs doesn't really want to break it off, but she is because the guys wife seems normal.
The first time out, Ash has the a-ha moment, but in this episode, it's Scribbs. It is nice to see the writers being equitable. I am liking this show because while there is that moment of insight, it's because they've been doing police work - interviewing witnesses and suspects, going over physical evidence, discussing important matters with their hunky DCI.

Episode 3:
It's DS Gavin! Wait, they're calling him Simon for some reason. Oh, that's right, this isn't Midsomer Murders, it's Murder in Suburbia. One of the things I love about British television is that you see actors popping up all over the place, in each others shows, in mini-series and made for television movies. Very different from American television where it's only acceptable to appear in various shows if you are either a relatively unknown actor, or a character actor that specializes in playing one-shots.
On their way to solving the murder of a former professional rugby star whom no one seems to terribly mind is dead, we get a peak into Ash's personal life and her maybe boyfriend whom she has lied to about her profession and told him that she's a doctor. Of course that ends badly but he does come around and asks her out again, but ruins it by wanting her to dress up in her uniform with a pair of high heels. This is not the kind of thing Ash goes in for.
This show is very reminiscent of Midsomer Murders in the way Ash and Scribbs do their policing. There is the same witty banter that reveals imperfect personal lives. Neither show is in your face and both feature cops that will do what's right by the law solving the crime, even if it is not personally advantageous. Let's hope that Murder in Suburbia is as well received as Midsomer Murders. It's something I would definitely watch, but I suspect it isn't on any more.