Media Murder for Monday

Quote of the Week Author R&R with David Rohlfing

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

The Hollywood Reporter compiled a list of twenty movies now set for 2021 that were supposed to be released in 2020. They include The King's Man (Release date: March 12) about the origins of the first independent intelligence agency that stars Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Daniel Brühl and Djimon Hounsou; the latest James Bond outing, No Time to Die (Release date: April 2); and Death on the Nile (Release date: Sept. 17), the Kenneth Branagh-directed follow-up to Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

BBC Four has acquired the six-part Finnish drama, Man In Room 301 (Huone 301), its first-ever series from Finland. The drama is written by British actress and writer Kate Ashfield and directed by Mikko Kuparinen. Man In Room 301 is a psychological thriller that weaves between the past and present to tell the story of the Kurtti family, whose lives are irrevocably changed when two-year-old Tommi was killed by a gunshot. When on a family holiday in Greece twelve years later, they come across a man that looks just like the boy’s alleged killer.

The BBC premieres a new crime drama tonight, Traces, which is based on an original idea by crime writer Val McDermid and written by Amelia Bullmore. Traces is set in the world of forensic science in Dundee, Scotland, and centers on Emma Hedges (Molly Windsor), a lab technician at the Scottish Institute of Forensic Science and Anatomy (SIFA) who learns that the "fictional" murder case in an online course is actually her mother, murdered when Emma was seven. The six-part series also stars Laura Fraser as the director of SIFA and a professor of forensic chemistry; Jennifer Spence as a professor of forensic anthropology; and Michael Nardone as DI McKinven.

Also in the UK, Channel 4 premieres the stylish Norwegian thriller, Monster, set in a bleak northern town after a young girl vanishes and her boyfriend dies from stab wounds. Local cop Hedda Hersoug is assigned to the case with a detective from the south, Joel Dreyer. But the two detectives also try to keep a lid on their own secrets as they pursue the brutal killer.

ITV has slated Monday, January 11th, as the premiere date for The Pembrokeshire Murders, adapted from the true-crime book, Catching the Bullseye Killer, written by Senior Investigating Officer, Steve Wilkins, and ITV news journalist, Jonathan Hill. Luke Evans takes the role of Wilkins, who decides to reopen two unsolved double murders from the 1980s.

CBS Studios has pushed back the return-to-production dates for several shows coming off the current holiday hiatus, including NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, and SEAL Team. The news comes a day after Deadline reported that the L.A. County Department of Public Health had urged the film and TV industry to consider pausing production for a few weeks during the ongoing surge in coronavirus cases throughout the county (and hours after the stay-at-home order for Southern California was extended to Jan. 16).

Prolific television writer-producer William Link, co-creator of classic TV series including Columbo and Murder She Wrote, died December 27 of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles at the age of 87. Steven Spielberg, who directed the first episode of Columbo in 1971, "Murder by the Book," shared a personal remembrance of Link: "Bill’s truly good nature always inspired me to do good work for a man who, along with Dick Levinson, was a huge part of what became my own personal film school on the Universal lot. Bill was one of my favorite and most patient teachers and, more than anything, I learned so much from him about the true anatomy of a plot." Other television series created by Link and Levinson include Jericho (1965); Mannix (1967); Tenafly (1973, one of the first TV shows featuring an African American lead); Ellery Queen (1975); and Blacke’s Magic (1986).

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

A new episode of Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the first chapter of The Roman Heir by Zara Altair as read by actor Kelly Ventura.

In GAD We Trust discussed contemporary authors who make life difficult for themselves by upholding the traditions of Golden Age detective fiction in their own works.

Crime Cafe host, Debbi Mack, interviewed Avanti Centrae, author of the VanOps thriller series.

Nev March stopped by Speaking of Mysteries to talk about her debut historical crime novel, Murder in Old Bombay. The very real unexplained deaths of two women more than 100 years ago in Bombay become the focus of the compelling Anglo-Indian protagonist, Captain Jim Agnihotri.

Jon Land was the featured guest on Meet the Thriller Author hosted by Alan Petersen, discussing his critically acclaimed Caitlin Strong series and writing the Murder, She Wrote book series based on the hit CBS television show starring Angela Lansbury.

The Spybrary podcast featured a book review of The Power of the Dog and The Cartel by Don Winslow, with a discussion of the various sub-genres that make up the spy genre and why Winslow fits both the cerebral and action spy genres.

Wrong Place, Write Crime host, Frank Zafiro, chatted with Matt Phillips about his contribution to A Grifter's Song, the subscription series of novellas from Down & Out Books.

The Gay Mystery podcast welcomed J.S. Strange, an author from Wales who writes crime, mystery and horror. His upcoming novel, Murder on the Rocks, is the first in a cozy crime mystery series featuring a leading gay male detective.