Virtual Murder

Infobox Television
show_name = Virtual Murder


caption = Kim Thomson and Nicholas Clay as Samantha Valentine and Dr John Cornelius in Virtual Murder
format = Drama
Mystery
runtime = c. 50 minutes per episode
creator = Harry Robertson and Brian Degas
producer = Harry Robertson and Brian Degas
executive_producer = Barry Hanson
starring = Nicholas Clay
Kim Thomson
Stephen Yardley
Jude Akuwuike
Alan David
Carole Boyd
theme_music_composer= Harry Robertson
country = UK
language = English
network = BBC1
first_aired = 24 July 1992
last_aired = 28 August 1992
num_episodes = 6
imdb_id = 103577
tv_com_id = 4423

"Virtual Murder" was an unusual investigative drama series shown on BBC television in 1992. It starred Nicholas Clay as Dr John Cornelius, a psychology lecturer at a provincial university, and Kim Thomson as his vivacious, red-headed partner, Samantha Valentine.

Subject matter and cast

"Virtual Murder" was in the mould of some earlier off-beat series, such as "The Avengers" and "Adam Adamant Lives!", both shown in the 1960s. Like Steed and Emma Peel or Adam Adamant and Georgina Jones, Cornelius ("JC") and Valentine investigated a succession of rather eccentric or bizarre occurrences. They often did so in cooperation with the police, represented by Stephen Yardley as Inspector Cadogan and Jude Akuwuike as Sergeant Gummer. Complementing the occult elements and those of virtual reality, there was a thread of playful, sometimes dark humour running through the scripts and an underlying sexual frisson between Clay and Thomson.

Other regular characters were Professor Owen Griffiths (Alan David) and Phoebe Littlejohn (Carole Boyd, best known for her role as Lynda Snell in BBC radio’s "The Archers").

Production

The series was created and produced at the BBC’s Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham by Brian Degas, [imdb name|id=0214659|name=Brian Degas] a scriptwriter for the film "Barbarella" (1968) and co-creator of the TV series "Colditz" (1972), and Harry Robertson, best known as a composer of film music (mostly under the name of Harry Robinson). [imdb name|id=0731862|name=Harry Robertson] The original title of the series was "Nimrod" but this was changed to "Virtual Murder" – this was the original title of the script for what was intended to be the first episode, later renamed “Dreams Imagic”.cite journal
last = Pixley
first = Andrew
year = 1997
title = The Murder of a Series (in the Summer graveyard slot)
journal = TV Zone
issue = Special #26: Anniversaries Special '97
pages = p. 8–11
id = ISSN 0960-8230 ] As things transpired “Dreams Imagic” was, in fact, the last episode to be broadcast. Direction of the episodes was shared between Philip Draycott [imdb name|id=0237274|name=Philip Draycott] and Peter Rose [imdb name|id=0741608|name=Peter Rose] with the episodes recorded between 12 August 1991 and 28 February 1992 on location in Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Kidderminster and Wolverhampton as well as at Studio A in Pebble Mill. All but “Dreams Imagic” had an array of guest stars.

The series

Episodes

Six episodes of "Virtual Murder" were made and broadcast by the BBC on Friday evenings in 1992: [cite web
url = http://open.bbc.co.uk/catalogue/infax/series/VIRTUAL+MURDER
title = Virtual Murder
accessdate = 2007-01-06
work = BBC Programme Catalogue
publisher = British Broadcasting Corporation ]
* "Meltdown to Murder" (broadcast 24 July 1992 at 9:32pm): "script:" Philip Martin; "director:" Philip Draycott; "guest stars:" Helen Lederer, Bernard Bresslaw, Julia Foster

* "Last Train to Hell and Back" (broadcast 31 July 1992 at 9:48pm): "script:" Barry Smith; "director:" Philip Draycott; "guest star:" Richard Todd

* "A Bone to Pick" (broadcast 7 August 1992 at 9:47pm): "script:" Tom Needham; "director:" Peter Rose; "guest stars:" Tony Robinson; Hywel Bennett; Dora Bryan

* "A Torch for Silverado" (broadcast 14 August 1992 at 9:33pm): "script:" Tim Aspinall; "director:" Peter Rose; "guest stars:" Jon Pertwee, Bernard Horsfall

* "A Dream of Dracula" (broadcast 21 August 1992 at 9:35pm): "script:" Bennett Byron Sims; "director:" Philip Draycott; "guest stars:" Julian Clary, Ronald Fraser, Jill Gascoine, Alfred Marks, Peggy Mount

* "Dreams Imagic" (broadcast 28 August 1992 at 9:32pm): "script:" Harry Roberston; "director:" Peter Rose

Critical reaction

On the whole, the series received a lukewarm critical response with Lynne Truss in "The Times" summing it up as “"The Avengers" re-written by someone who heard about it once but never actually saw it”. [cite news
first = Lynne
last = Truss
authorlink = Lynne Truss
title = TV Review: Fifty Ways to End it All
work = The Times
publisher = News Corp.
date = 1992-08-08 ] Another commentator, who, on balance, judged the series a failure, described it as being pitched "uncomfortabl [y] somewhere between the camp of "The Avengers" and the dark fantasy of "The X-Files" [cite web
url = http://www.eofftv.com/v/vir/virtual_murder_main.htm
title = Virtual Murder [1992]
accessdate = 2007-01-19
work = EOFFTV ] , although the latter highly-acclaimed American science fiction series post-dates "Virtual Murder" by over a year. Others have blamed the summer evening scheduling for jeopardising its chances of success. [See, for example: cite web
url = http://www.action-tv.org.uk/guides/virtualmurder.htm
title = Virtual Murder Episode Guide
year = 2002
accessdate = 2007-01-19
last = Seymour
first = Kieran
work = Action TV Online ]

Ratings fell from 6.53 million for the opening episode to 4.9 million for the fourth episode and the series was not renewed for a second season. [cite journal
author = May, Dominic; Clark, Stuart & Yau, Edward
year = 1992
month = October
title = News: Ratings
journal = TV Zone
issue = 35
pages = p.4
id = ISSN 0957-9844 ] "Virtual Murder" is well regarded in some quarters: for example, the eminent television historian Andrew Pixley, recalling the show in 2002, wrote, “Finally, I thought, "somebody" had been brave enough to craft a modern thriller which, while captured on videotape, boasted all the style, fun and imagination of the great British film series of the 1960s such as "The Avengers" and "Department S"”. [cite journal
last = Pixley
first = Andrew
year = 2002
title = Virtual Murder
journal = TV Zone
issue = Special #45: TV Heroes
pages = p. 30 ] However, the series remains largely forgotten today and, as of early 2008, has never been repeated, nor released in any video format.

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.mjnewton.demon.co.uk/tv/vmurder.htm Newton’s Laws of Television]
* [http://www.action-tv.org.uk/guides/virtualmurder.htm Action TV episode guide]