Part of the “Mystery!” series on PBS, Jericho is a good, old-fashioned investigative import. The
first season of the across-the-pond series is comprised of two dark and
gritty mysteries, both of which are included here. At the center of the
series, set in 1950s London, is Chief Inspector Michael Jericho of
Scotland Yard (Horatio Hornblower’s Robert Lindsay), a
respected, uncompromising and forward-thinking detective tasked with
investigating different high-profile murders. A media darling, Jericho
is haunted by memories of his father, a policeman whose murder he
witnessed as a young boy. (Telling, the differences between the
collective American and British psyches that he didn’t then don a cape
and mask as an adult, but rather an inspector’s cloak.)

Set as it is against a fascinating social and historical backdrop,
when London saw an explosion of color, glamour and shifting attitudes
and mores after the end of World War II, Jericho has a certain
keen anthropological detail, with its protagonist constantly surveying
and reevaluating a familiar city changing drastically before his very
eyes. Though alone since his childhood sweetheart left him for another
during the war, Jericho slowly finds himself drawn to his beautiful
French neighbor Juliette (Aurélie Bargème), a prostitute with a
tortured past. Mostly, though, he’s a stiff-upper-lipped working man,
driven by a do-gooder’s desire and aided by his faithful friend and
colleague Sergeant Clive Harvey (David Troughton, of Foyle’s War) and an ambitious young constable, John Caldicott (David Copperfield’s Ciaran McMenamin).

The two feature-length titles included here kick off with A Pair of Ragged Claws,
in which Jericho investigates the murder of a young black man in the
racially divided neighborhood of Notting Hill (Julia Roberts,
blissfully, does not appear). On the same evening as the killing, a
wealthy man is kidnapped and held for ransom, but Jericho susses out an
intriguing connection between the two events. In The Killing of Johnny Swan,
meanwhile, Jericho is assigned to the case of a murdered track champion
and his new bride — initially believed to have been erased by KGB — but
quickly finds out that not all is what it seems. Well sketched
characterizations and briskly paced directing help these period piece
tales seem anything but staid and boring.

Housed in two regular Amray cases in turn stored in a solid cardboard slipcase, the Jericho
mysteries are presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, with solid picture
transfers. Like most other WGBH/PSB titles, his release doesn’t pimp
any special features, alas, but you can rest knowing that your purchase
helps support public television, and that’s not at all a bad thing,
right? B (Movies) C- (Disc)