In one of those marketing mysteries, UKTV has decided to rebrand as U. Which means that Drama, a nicely self-explanatory name for a channel, is now U&Drama. The channel formerly known as Dave is now U&Dave, and so on. And all of their programmes can be found on a streaming service called U. This doesn’t seem to improve anything for viewers, but I’m sure a team of transformation consultants (yes, that is a real job title) have been well-paid for their time.
If any of this encourages you to look afresh at the channels, then you could do worse than watch Whitstable Pearl (U&Drama), which is now beginning its second series. Based on the novels by Julie Wassmer, it taps into the trend for midlife lady detectives.
It’s a bit of a jumble: an odd-couple comedy, an aspirational lifestyle product and a cosy crime drama, all with the look of an old Nescafé advert. This series opens with the Pearl of the title, played by Kerry Godliman, in a cream cable-knit jumper gazing contentedly over the harbour while sipping from a candy-striped mug. This is a show to be enjoyed in the same way one enjoys flicking through a copy of Ideal Home and fantasising about moving to the coast.
Pearl Nolan is a seafood restaurant owner in the titular Kent town who runs a private detective agency on the side, or maybe it’s the other way around. To solve crimes, she teams up with a real detective named Mike (Howard Charles). Pearl is a maternal character with a close family – she was training to be a police officer but teenage pregnancy got in the way – and Mike is more of a brooding loner, but they are romantically drawn to each other. Whitstable Pearl is also a midlife soap opera of sorts, complete with a meddling mother, Dolly (Frances Barber). Oh, and did I mention that some of the stories are themed, so one of the episodes in this series is a homage to Rear Window?
To add to the mishmash, Robert Webb has been cast as Pearl’s new partner. Webb is essentially reprising his role as Jez from Peep Show, if Jez from Peep Show had become a supply teacher, because he has all the same mannerisms. Mike is dating a chirpy sort.
Whitstable Pearl isn’t quite as cosy as something like Midsomer Murders, and the dialogue is a bit more down to earth. “I’m freezing my t–s off,” says Dolly, when asked how she enjoyed her early morning dip in the sea. As with so many crime series, the plots are perfunctory and the endings disappointing. But it has a certain charm.
All episodes of Whitstable Pearl are available on U now