Murder Most Horrid

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Murder Most Horrid was a British television black comedy starring comedian Dawn French. It ran for four series runs, in 1991, 1994, 1996 and 1999.

The series featured French in a different starring character role in each episode. Most parodied the thriller and murder mystery genres; each was written by different writers or writing teams, though several contributed multiple episodes across the four series.

Each episode of the series was completely different in storyline from all other episodes of the series.


Contents

[edit] Episodes and Dawn French's characters

[edit] Series 1 (1991)

  • The Case of the Missing
  • The Girl from Ipanema
  • He Died a Death
  • A Determined Woman
  • Murder at Tea Time - with Dawn as Bunty Bresslaw, presenter of children's TV show 'Write Away'.
  • Mrs. Hat and Mrs. Red

[edit] Series 2 (1994)

  • Overkill - with Dawn as Tina Mellish, social worker turned reluctant assassin
  • Lady Luck - with Dawn as Denise Cunningham, hairdresser
  • A Severe Case of Death - with Dawn as Maude Jenkins / 'Dr Adams', Victorian maid turned cross-dressing doctor
  • We All Hate Granny - with Dawn as Lily Gibbs, grandmother
  • Mangez Merveillac - with Dawn as Verity Hodge, travel and cookery writer
  • Smashing Bird - with Dawn as Vicky, nightclub singer

[edit] Series 3 (1996)

  • Girl Friday - with Dawn as Sally Fairfax, P.A.
  • A Life or Death Operation - with Dawn as Kate Marshall, surgeon and TV presenter
  • Dying Live - with Dawn as Daisy Talwinning, sacked abattoir worker
  • The Body Politic - with Dawn as Linda Bryce, schoolteacher and wife of the Leader of the Opposition
  • Confess - with Dawn as Wendy Hodge, police sergeant
  • Dead on Time - with Dawn as The Grim Reaper

[edit] Series 4 (1999)

  • Frozen - with Dawn as Lily Wood-Newton, churchgoer and pillar of the community
  • Going Solo - with Dawn as Tracey Phillips, yachtswoman
  • Whoopi Stone - with Dawn as Barbara Greaves / Whoopi Stone, police constable turned 'Queen of New York'
  • Confessions of a Murderer - with Dawn as Harriet Snellgrove, serial confessor and nuisance
  • Elvis, Jesus and Zack - with Dawn as Jill Tanner, head of the Obituaries Department at Broadcast One
  • Dinner at Tiffany's - with Dawn as Tiffany Drapes, school dinner lady

[edit] Notable guest stars

[edit] The Murders

Dawn French was usually the murderer or murder victim in each episode. The murders ranged from the straightforward to the bizarre, with the murder weapon shown on a pedestal during the end credits. The murders (and Dawn French's character's part in them) are listed below.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
  • The Case of the Missing
  • The Girl from Ipanema
  • He Died a Death
  • Determined Woman
  • Murder at Tea Time - Dawn is the MURDER VICTIM. She is suffocated when the cap of a washing-up liquid bottle is placed over the end of her air tube while her face is in plaster.
  • Mrs. Hat and Mrs. Red
  • Overkill - Dawn is the MURDERER. She shoots several security men with a shotgun, kills two people with poisoned darts, one person with a metal arrow and one person with cyanide and scorpion venom before being blown up herself (by accident). An assassin (played by Amanda Donohoe) also shoots her mark (played by Peter Vaughan) before accidentally hanging herself.
  • Lady Luck - Dawn is the MURDERER. She stabs her husband in the back with a letter opener. Though we do not see the murder on screen, her responsibility for this murder is implied.
  • A Severe Case of Death - Dawn is the MURDERER. She serves her blackmailer port laced with poison.
  • We All Hate Granny - Dawn appears to be the MURDERER. She leaves the gas supply running in her daughter and son-in-law's house overnight, causing it to explode when they wake up and her daughter lights a cigarette. However, her culpability is only implied, the couple in question having tried to murder her numerous times by this point, and the 'murder' appearing to be a very plausible accident. It is also implied that she poisoned her abusive late husband.
  • Mangez Merveillac - Dawn appears to be the MURDER VICTIM. She is cooked as part of a village feast and served to tourists, though a post-credits sequence shows she has survived and that this was a ruse designed to bring more tourists and Hollywood interest to the village.
  • Smashing Bird - Dawn is the MURDERER in the sense that she deliberately sets up a situation where the four gang members who murdered her boyfriend (played by Ray Winstone) all shoot each other while aiming for her head.
  • Girl Friday - Dawn is the MURDERER. She throttles her boss's wife immediately after he hits his wife with a heavy trophy in a fit of rage. She lets him believe that he is responsible for the death (which may have occurred anyway).
  • A Life or Death Operation - Dawn is the MURDERER, though the man she ultimately kills is not the person she had planned to murder (having already failed to kill her intended victim by driving over her and giving her a lethal injection). She smothers her victim with a pillow while he is in intensive care, believing him to be her intended victim.
  • Dying Live - Dawn is the MURDERER. She gasses the entire Panadorian government (and a TV presenter) during a live broadcast in which a charismatic rebel leader (later to become her husband) was to be executed.
  • The Body Politic - Dawn is the MURDERER. She accidentally kills a policeman with a stray crossbow arrow and stabs another man with an arrow in self-defence. A third man dies by falling down a flight of stairs while advancing on her. The catalyst for the deaths is the discovery of bodies under her house from murders that occurred twelve years earlier.
  • Confess - Dawn is neither murderer nor murder victim. The murder in the episode turns out to have been committed by her police colleague (played by Minnie Driver), who shot another police colleague (who was also her lover).
  • Dead on Time - Dawn is neither murderer nor murder victim, though she spends the entire episode trying to set up the murder of a housewife by her husband. In the event, the husband is killed in an accident.
  • Frozen - Dawn is the MURDERER. She initially believes she has crushed a refrigerator repairman to death when trying to make love to him, and only realises that he survived this ordeal after he has spent the night in her deep freeze (and, obviously, frozen to death).
  • Going Solo - Dawn is the MURDERER. She drowns her fellow yachtswoman as they are being rescued from their capsized boat. Though we do not see the murder on screen, her responsibility is implied.
  • Whoopi Stone - Dawn is the MURDERER. She shoots a gangster while working undercover to win his trust, and later teams up with the remaining gangsters and arranges the deaths of the senior policemen who involved her in the operation.
  • Confessions of a Murderer - Dawn is the MURDERER. She hits a detective on the head with a mallet, causing him to fall off the top of the mountain they have just climbed.
  • Elvis, Jesus and Zack - Dawn is neither murderer nor murder victim. No murder takes place in the episode, the idea being that when a celebrity is widely reported as dead, the media myth becomes self-perpetuating. As Dawn's character starts the rumours that lead to the 'death' of a rock star (played by Sean Hughes), she is effectively the 'murderer' in this context.
  • Dinner at Tiffany's - Dawn is the MURDERER. She poisons three colleagues (though the first two are accidental): one with a sandwich, one with a drink (who then falls out of a window as a result and hangs herself on her very long plait) and the third (her intended target) with her sports drink. She suffocates a fourth victim (the object of her desire, who has spurned her affections) by holding her face down in an extremely thick, creamy chocolate cake.

[edit] External links

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