“You’ll want to watch this – it’s like a sexy Miss Marple.” This is what, nine years ago, my mum said to get me to first sit down and watch an episode of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Since then, I’ve deployed the same line countless times whenever I’ve come across someone who seems as if they too would enjoy the strange joyous mix of crime-solving, vintage fashion and history.
Here’s how pretty much any given episode of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries unfolds. It’s 1920s Melbourne and someone has just been murdered in a creative but not-too-gory way. Phryne Fisher (Essie Davis), lady detective, dons a beautiful outfit and sets out to solve the case. Along the way she is helped out by a ragtag group of friends and companions. She flirts, she drops pithy one-liners, and ultimately brings the killer to justice. The episode almost always ends on an upbeat note.
I love it. Based on the book series by Kerry Greenwood, the show navigates difficult lines with expert precision. It’s light without being disrespectful of its darker themes. It’s historical without being detrimentally intense about accuracy. It’s Australian without being inaccessible to an international audience – as shown by the fact it has been sold into over 179 countries and inspired both an Australian spin-off featuring Miss Fisher’s fictional niece and a Chinese remake, and eventually a partially crowdfunded film.
As a character Miss Fisher is unexpectedly unique. Early on in the first series, her newly hired butler (delightfully named Mr Butler), who is at that stage yet to meet her, expresses how “I haven’t worked for a spinster before … it’ll be a pleasure to serve a lady with a strict routine who appreciates the quiet life.” When they do cross paths later in the episode, however, she is bustling into the house with the daughter of a murder victim, talking about the unpleasantness of hanging deaths. It’s the perfect way to demonstrate how the character completely demolishes the assumptions of those around her. Despite the conservative expectations of her era she doesn’t feel pressured to marry or settle down, she doesn’t care what people think and, even though each episode sees her getting in a whole lot of danger, she almost always manages to rescue herself.
The brash woman detective isn’t a new idea – after all, Agatha Christie offered up several across her writing life. However, Miss Fisher brings together confidence, competence and a liberated attitude to gender roles and relationships. She has no qualms about breaking into crime scenes or inspecting dead bodies. She’s equally comfortable hosting an intimate dinner party as she is performing a burlesque show. She has casual sex in an era when even talking about contraception is taboo.
Even though the series is set almost 100 years ago, watching it in 2021 she still feels like a character pushing against the seams of society. Miss Fisher, if she were transplanted into the modern day, still probably wouldn’t fit neatly and quietly into the background. Somewhat depressingly, it seems the expectations placed on women haven’t really changed that much between her time and ours. She’d be a “challenging” woman, no matter when she lived, which is a big part of what makes her so great to watch.
Despite its popularity – it’s one of Australia’s most successful recent television exports – Miss Fisher can be an elusive show to find. Over the years I’ve watched it go up and then be taken down from streaming service after streaming service. When lockdown first hit, I couldn’t find it anywhere. It was frustrating because this was the comfort show I craved most of all.
It feels a bit weird saying that because – despite the fun and the glamour and the jokes – it is, at heart, a show about people being killed. Is it bad to find comfort in a series ostensibly all about death? But here’s the thing I’ve come to realise: “nice” murder shows fulfil a specific desire. Adaptations of Agatha Christie books. Castle. Bones. The blood and guts and horror and gore varies wildly across them but they all share one crucial, addictive thing: resolution. Justice. Catharsis. At least one person dies in every episode, but you know going in that the killer will be caught, that there won’t be loose ends. And, living in a world where things aren’t ever tidy, where there are no guarantees, I need that. I need the escapism of an alternate reality where things just always work out. Add in some lavish sets and elaborate 1920s costumes and, for an hour at a time, the world feels like it makes sense.
When the series finally popped back up this year I dropped everything else I was watching and started again from the beginning. The tenth viewing is just as great as the first. There’s a Miss Fisher for every occasion. Want a glimpse into theatre and film in the early 1920s? You got it. How about a nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None or Murder on the Orient Express? Yes and yes. Magic, car-racing, circuses or psychics? It’s all there. So, I guess there’s just one thing left to say: you’ll want to watch this – it’s like a sexy Miss Marple.
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