SOPHISTICATED SLEUTHS

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple (A&E)

In America crimes are solved by detectives with guns and muscle. In England they are sleuths, intelligent folk who employ reason and deduction to unravel the schemes of evil-doers. It's a model primarily pioneered by the creations of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, whose proud creations have, for decades, provided fodder for a host of popular television and movie adaptations. "Agatha Christie's Miss Marple" is one of the most beloved, arguably the model on which "Murder, She Wrote" was based given that "Murder" star Angela Lansbury first portrayed Miss Marple in the 1980 film "The Mirror Crack'd." But with all due respect to Lansbury, it's Joan Hickson's who is now considered the definitive Marple thanks to her performances in a series of sensational BBC adaptations from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Hickson was, in fact, Christie's own choice to portray her own favorite character and alter-ego.

Four discs, divided into two double-disc volumes, feature eight delightful adventures. The image quality isn't great - it suffers from the same grainy and dingy look associated with most of the shows seen on PBS' "Mystery!" in the United States - but the writing is faithful and the performances delightful. And while the original "The Mirror Crack'd" is still the more widely seen, the better version is "The Mirror Cracked From Side to Side," featured on Marple the first of the A&E Marple discs. Extras include a text bio of Christie and a listing of all the Marple stories.

Agatha Christie's Poirot (A&E and Acorn Media)

Christie may have preferred Miss Marple but her fans are of one mind in consistently selecting Hercule Poirot their favorite of Christie's crime-solvers. And with all due respect to the great Peter Ustinov, who turned in several enjoyable screen Poirots, it's the David Suchet's television Poirot which most have come to know and love through numerous adventures and mysteries. Unfortunately, thanks to some peculiar licensing glitch, the DVD Poirot mysteries are divided between two different distributors with the earlier installments from the early- to mid-1990s released through Acorn Media and the more recent ones through A&E. As of this writing there are seven Acorn discs (two new ones due in February of 2002) and three A&E discs, each with one mystery apiece. Of the Acorn discs the standouts are the famous "The ABC Murders" and "The Peril at End House." Of the A&E discs, "Murder in Mesopotamia" is the most memorable. Video quality is dicey in both cases, roughly on par with the Marple discs. Extras include general notes on Christie and Suchet.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (MPI Home Video)

No assemblage of British television sleuths would be complete without the granddaddy of them all, Arthur Conan Doyle's immortal Sherlock Holmes. Like Marple and Poirot, of course, any take on Holmes is certain to be compared with the numerous screen portrayals, many of them undeniably expert. And that's all the more reason to be impressed by Jeremy Brett and David Burke as Holmes and Watson - confident and consummate professionals, they forge their own brave interpretation of the famed duo that is at once in harmony with Doyle's vision yet utterly unconcerned with any perceived prerequisites established by previous actors. Brett in particular cuts a striking Holmes - more elegant than one might expect, yet not without his brusque rough edges.

Originally produced in 1983, the series consists of one-hour adventures, 8 of which have been released on three discs from MPI (four on volume 1, two on volume 2 and 2 on volume 3). Quality is decent but not stellar though, as with the Marple and Poirot efforts, the writing is impeccable. Several episodes, like "The Solitary Cyclist" and "The Speckled Band,"are well worthy of Doyle-level distinction on their own. Extras include the usual assortment of textual biographies, filmographies and stills, with the original series promo added to the first volume.

Cadfael (Acorn Media)

Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle may have started the ball rolling, but that has by no means precluded others from picking it up and running with it. Around about mid-‘90s novelist Ellis Peters was invited to the club when his creation, the crime-solving medieval monk known as Brother Cadfael, was seen on PBS' "Mystery!" As of this writing, six Cadfael mysteries are either on DVD or due in coming weeks: "St. Peter's Fair," "The Devil's Novice," "The Virgin in the Ice," "The Raven in the Foregate," "The Rose Rent" and "A Morbid Taste for Bones." The jewel in the Cadfael films, of course, is the great Derek Jacobi whose Shakespearean prowess anchors these challenging mysteries set at a time when crime-solving technology was decidedly less sophisticated. It's refreshing to watch Peters' unorthodox mysteries, so different from the English norm, which the Acorn DVDs further enhance with audio comments from Jacobi, production scrapbooks and the usual biographical, bibliographical and filmographical data.

Lord Peter Wimsey (Acorn Media)

Ironically, long before Marple, Poirot, Holmes and Cadfael found their way to television success, the BBC leaned on the more obscure talents of Lord Peter Wimsey to draw audiences. As early as 1974, the sophisticated Wimsey, whose manner and wiles make even Marple look working class, was deftly charming his way through the diabolical plotting of thieves, vagabonds and rogues. Created by novelist Dorothy L. Sayers and beautifully incarnated by the delightful Ian Carmichael, Wimsey is perhaps the most atypically English of them all, a delight that compensates for the fact that the mysteries themselves aren't quite as deviously plotted as those of Holmes, Marple or Poirot.

By comparison, however, they are also longer and more leisurely. The current Wimsey title, "The Nine Tailors," lasts roughly three-and-a-half hours, divided between four parts on two DVDs. The dated look of videotape interiors mixed with rough, filmed exteriors is also something that potential buyers will want to take into account. Extras include filmographies, trivia, information on Sayers and a short but lovely videotaped interview with Carmichael from September of 2000. The second Wimsey title, "Clouds of Witness," is due for release shortly.