Season One of TV’s most popular and widely acclaimed detective series Murder, She Wrote comes home to Blu-ray for the first time ever, now fully restored and in high definition. Angela Lansbury stars in the role that earned her 12 consecutive Emmy nominations and 10 Golden Globe nominations as everyone’s favourite super-sleuth, Jessica Fletcher, a famous mystery writer who has a knack for solving murders on and off the page. Along with the quirky residents of Cabot Cove, Jessica is joined in her deliciously suspicious tales of mystery and mayhem by some of the most celebrated guest stars of screen and stage...

Murder, She Wrote: The Complete First Season Blu-ray delivers all 22 Season One episodes including the suspenseful original pilot movie, 'The Murder of Sherlock Holmes'.

Does Angela Lansbury ever age? Or more importantly was she ever young? She starred in one of the first ever movies I ever saw at the cinema, Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), played pensioner Jessica Fletcher for 12 Seasons of Murder, She Wrote (1984 - 1996) and is currently starring as The Balloon Lady in Mary Poppins Returns (2018).

Almost from the first episode of Murder, She Wrote Lansbury hits her stride. As I haven't seen this show since the '80s I was surprised to see how young she looked.

In this first season notable guest stars include (in appearance order) Anne Ramsey (who my generation will remember from her roles as Mama Fratelli in 1985's The Goonies and Momma in 1987's Throw Momma from the Train); Martin Landau (probably most famous for playing Commander John Koenig in the '70s sci-fi series Space: 1999); comedian Milton Berle; Leslie Nielsen, Diana Muldaur (who Star Trek: The Next Generation will best know from her role as Dr. Pulaski in the show's second season); and Rue McClanahan (who played Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls (1985–92)). There are no doubt many more that I didn't recognise, but these were the ones that made the most impact on me growing up.

While there are no extras, and these episodes could easily fit onto 2 discs (rather than the 6 Blu-ray discs the are presented across) this is still as enjoyable as you'll remember. This is one series from the '80s that has aged better then you'll be expecting. Yes, it's lightweight, silly nonsense, but if you embrace it for what it is you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of this collection.

8

Darren Rea