Quarter 1 Reviews- 018 Mystery- Old

018 Mystery – Old

Venus in Copper is an adaptation by Mary Cutler of Lindsey Davis’ Marcus Didius Falco mysteries, set in ancient Rome.  With 6 x 30 minute episodes, the adaptation structure allows us to go into a lot of detail about ancient Rome.  The music is minimal but effective, and like most modern mysteries set in ancient Rome, the slang is modern while remaining historically accurate (I think), with characters exclaiming, “Jupiter!” or “sacred Juno” when the modern equivalent would be “Jesus!” or “goodness gracious” or something like that.  Anyway, it was well-plotted, well-acted, and Falco a loveable rogue.  Anton Lesser gets to demonstrate a fair amount of range here, with many sotto voce asides. The redundancy/first person narration does make him feel slightly like a noir gumshoe, but they don’t overuse this tonally, even if the plot has to do with real estate schemes, insurance fraud, and femme fatales.  Falco, recently bailed out of jail by his mother, is looking for a new place to live.  His girlfriend, posh senator’s daughter Helena (Ann Madeley), has had a miscarriage, and their future is uncertain.  He wants her to come live with him; she’s unsure.  He meets dodgy estate agent Cossus (Laurence Sanders), who gets him a crumbling, nearly empty tenement.  He’s been hired by Pollia (Julia Hills), one of three freed slaves who now share a household, to protect Hortensius Novus (Jez Thomas) from being murdered for his money, they think, by complex, seductive, quick-witted Severina Zoitica (Bella Merlin).  As Falco investigates, he finds out that three of Severina’s previous three husbands have died.  No one has been able to pin any of the deaths on her, but they all look suspicious—and she has experience with poison.  When she tries to seduce Falco, in true femme fatale style, it’s never clear whether it’s a scam or she has real feelings for him.  It’s the involvement of high-level crook Appius Priscillus that nearly gets Falco killed.  There are some nice minor characters, such as a mesmerizing snake-dancer (Chipo Chung) and Tyche the astrologer.  There’s an amusing sub-plot with Falco being gifted an enormous turbot for services to the Emperor, and Titus Caesar (Jonathan Keeble) coming by personally to the dinner party, where he flirts with Helena.  Falco’s not ‘avin’ it!  It was directed by Peter Leslie Wild and originally broadcast in 2006.