Pearl of wisdom
KERRY GODLIMAN PLAYS A SEASIDE SLEUTH WITH A BOATLOAD OF CASES IN CRACKING CRIME DRAMA
WHITSTABLE PEARL Drama, 9pm
SEASIDE town crime, amateur sleuth, murder mysteries and British charm – it’s a welltrodden, yet well-loved format.
Kerry Godliman takes the lead role as single mum Pearl, who runs a family restaurant in the Kent coastal town of Whitstable.
In further good casting news, the excellent Frances Barber plays her mother, Dolly.
Pearl’s lifelong dream was to start a private detective agency, but an unplanned pregnancy left her police career in tatters.
So there’s nothing else for it, but to start an agency out of her restaurant.
Drawn by her affable nature, the locals flock to her with all kinds of cases, some more ‘small-town’ than others.
In the opening scene, a man is lying unconscious next to a spilled jar of marmalade – which a cat is happily lapping up. Turns out he’s an estate agent in a diabetic coma after being force-fed the sweet stuff.
Back at the restaurant, Dolly asks, with meaningful looks, if Pearl is “OK”.
Something terrible has happened in her past.
Then an old lady knocks on the door wondering why £5,000 has been posted through her door.
There’s more action when a friend of Pearl’s is found dead in mysterious circumstances.
She suspects foul play and teams up with slightly grumpy cop DCI Mike McGuire (Howard Charles) to learn the truth.
In this re-run of the series – originally shown in 2021 on subscription streaming platform Acorn TV – expect sweeping vistas of the Kent coast – largely grey, but familiar, as well as lots of eccentric characters in the seaside town.