A Professional Murder Shocks a Country Village in 'The Marlow Murder Club' Premiere

It's a terrible world we live in when a mature woman can't enjoy a nice skinny dip after finishing her crossword puzzle without overhearing her neighbor being murdered. That's how Judith Potts (Samantha Bond) begins the premiere of The Marlow Murder Club. When her neighbor, Stefan Dunwoody, doesn't reply after Judith hears the gunshot during her mid-afternoon swim, she immediately calls the police and watches them do a lackluster investigation. 

The idea of a murder in the quaint country village of Marlow seems beyond the local police's comprehension, but Judith knows what she hears. She returns to Mr. Dunwoody's property and does her own investigation, uncovering the bullet casing from the murder weapon (a Nazi handgun from Munich), and finds Mr. Dunwoody's body dumped in the river. He was shot point-blank in the head, which confirms this was a deliberate homicide. 

After watching the police fumble the initial investigation, Judith continues to take matters into her own hands. She tracks down Stefan's assistant, Antonia (Eleanor Nawal), who reveals that her boss recently got into an argument with the auction house manager, Elliot Howard (Daniel Lapaine). Judith's follow-up meeting with Elliot only serves to convince her that he's definitely involved in Stefan's murder, even if he has an airtight alibi of being at choir practice with the new vicar, the mayor, and about 20 other people. However, he's very rude to both Judith and his wife Daisy (Juliet Howland), which means we strongly dislike him even if he's not guilty of murder. 

Judith's sleuthing brings her directly to Becks Starling (Cara Horgan), the unappreciated wife of the new Marlow vicar. The Starlings are new to Marlow, and Becks is doing what she can to fit in. Still, she's only getting attitude from her children (If I even thought about using my mother's credit card to buy a video game without her permission, I promise you I'd be erased from existence rather than getting an exasperated eye roll) and no help from her husband. The man stole her morning tea, which should be a criminal offense! Becks confirms Elliot's alibi for Judith when they meet at the church, but she initially has no interest in joining Judith's amateur detective agency. That's for the police and all of that proper nonsense. 

It only takes one more extremely aggravating morning in the Starling household for Becks to crack. She channels her frustration over her family's inability to put dishes in the dishwasher (Come on, team) into discovering more about Stefan Dunwoody. She makes an appointment for tea with Mrs. Eddingham (Rita Tushingham), the town gossip, and we assume that she'll take her findings to Judith so they can start putting clues together. I am all in favor of Becks having a fun hobby that gets her out of her domestic hell of a home. 

While Becks is coming around to investigating a murder for funsies, Judith receives bricks through her window, warning her to stay away from the case. Moments before the brick goes through Judith's window, we see Daisy Howard skulking around the Dunwoody property next door to Judith's cottage. Did Daisy throw the brick, or was she looking for something else? Elliot may have been preoccupied at the time of the murder, but there is something very fishy going on with this couple. 

Judith reports the brick and the threat to DS Tanika Malik (Natalie Drew), who is heading up the case. Tanika grew up in Marlow and can't believe professional killers are in her charming hometown. She can't deny that Judith has turned up some valuable insights that her own officers couldn't pin down. Just as she's telling Judith that it seems impossible that a hitman killed Stefan, they are both informed that another murder has taken place in Marlow. 

The second victim is a man named Iqbal Kassam (Umit Ulgen). He is a dog-walking client of Suzie Harris (Jo Martin), who will round out the murder club. We don't know a lot about Iqbal except that his job sent him on a route to Birmingham the night before his murder. He was also shot in the head in his own bed, where Suzie found him during one of the final scenes of the episode. 

So we have two dead victims, killed at point-blank range, in a sleepy British country town. The police are failing to put together basic witness statements and develop leads, making Judith Potts a valuable asset to the investigation. As a viewer, it was disappointing that there was a substantial lack of the actual "Marlow Murder Club" in the first episode of their eponymous series. We can see how the trio will come together with Becks reaching out to Mrs. Eddingham and Suzie now involved because she found Iqbar, but I want to fast-forward to see these feisty ladies interacting and sharing clues already. If Judith can find a primary suspect in only a couple of hours, it will be amazing to see what the trio can do together. 

DS Malik is absolutely not ready for the chaos that's about to ensue in her investigation, but we are ready to join these new sleuths on their first case—it's already a doozy! 

The Marlow Murder Club airs on Sundays on most local PBS channels at 9 p.m. ET and is available to stream on PBS.org and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. All four episodes are available on PBS Passport for members to stream as a binge. Season 2 has already been greenlit.