TV Review: Murder In Successville, Louis Smith, BBC3

Murder In successville

And so this weirdly wonderful improvised whodunnit series comes to an end with Olympic gymnast Louis Smith, as the tabloids would say, as you’ve never seen him before. And not just because, as you can see in the picture here, he dons a dress at one point, but because he is forced to think on his feet, not just jump around on them.

The final case, entitled Orangefinger, finds pharmacist Lindsay Lohan on the slab, looked over by pathologist Richard Hammond (Tom Meeten channeling Nigel Havers and Colin Hunt). Rookie Smith and DI Sleet (Tom Davis) have to crack the death-by-spray-tan mystery and quickly narrow it down to three suspects – Vladimir Putin, Russell Brand and Kim Kardashian.

Compared to some other celebrities in this series Smith is a bit of a slow starter. But he is a good sport and after initially looking distinctly flummoxed once he gets a bit of confidence he’s up and running. By the time he is pitted against Putin (Tom Stourton) in a game of touch-the-towel in a gym he is more relaxed. Maybe the familiarity of the setting – the gym, not the Russian leader – helps.

Strong support comes from Luke Kempner as Brand, though I’m beginning to think as many people can do serviceable Brand impressions as can do Frank Spencer. Marie Lawrence is also excellent value hitting on Smith as Kardashian with a whiff of Hannibal Lecter. 

It’s all pretty ridiculous and by the end Smith’s playful ad libs are as quickfire as everybody else’s. He looks pretty fly in a frock too. I don’t know if he fancies doing panto, but if he does the offers should come flooding in after this.

Watch on iPlayer here.

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