# Murder Most Horrid (1991)

> Dawn French stars in a BBC anthology of tongue-in-cheek murder mysteries where she plays a different character in each self-contained tale.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/844

## Facts

- Seasons: 4
- Episodes: 24
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, mystery, crime
- Created by: Paul Smith
- Network: BBC Two
- Cast: Bill Paterson, Timothy Spall, Peter Bland, Stephen Frost, Gary Love, John Boswall, Kate Williams, David Barber
- TMDB rating: 7.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101149/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: wry, mordant, breezy, deadpan, tongue in cheek

## Synopsis

Murder Most Horrid (1991-1999) is a British anthology dark comedy series created by Paul Smith for BBC Two. Comedienne Dawn French anchors a run of four seasons, six episodes each, in which her various characters become tangled in a fresh murder every installment. Each half hour is a self-contained tale, and the engine is simple and mischievous: whoever she plays is either the one committing the crime or the one who ends up on the slab. Supporting players such as Timothy Spall as a pathologist, Bill Paterson as a chief inspector, and Martin Jarvis and Jane Asher as the married couple Maurice and Lydia Howling supply the procedural foil and the domestic deadpan. The register is wry, breezy and mordantly funny, with a cosy British sensibility that keeps the bodies light. Its anthology structure makes it easy to dip into, and fans of Tales of the Unexpected, Inspector Morse and Fawlty Towers will find the same blend of crime plotting and British comic timing.

## Shows like Murder Most Horrid

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- [Year of the Rabbit (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/76442)
- [French & Saunders (1987)](https://ember.film/tv/854)
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- [The Thin Blue Line (1995)](https://ember.film/tv/2182)

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