A Most Mysterious Murder

The A Most Mysterious Murder series portrays classic and true murder mysteries told through drama and factual techniques to illuminate stories from the past. Oscar award-winning Julian Fellowes appears as a historical detective who takes the audience back to observe and resolve an unsolved murder – this is period drama with a unique twist.

The five stories are distinct in terms of the age, sex and class of the victim, the social environment, region and era in which the murders occurred, and the method of murder.

The common theme is that Julian investigates the human motives (jealousy, fear, greed, revenge) and social strictures of the murderes that give rise to them.

A Most Mysterious Murder: The Case of Charles Bravo

In April 1876 Charles Bravo, a young barrister, died a slow and agonising death as poison burned through his body. Although there were many suspects, no-one was ever charged with his murder. The inquest into his death was one of the most sensational legal dramas of the 19th century, ensuring that the case made not just headlines but history.

In this dramatised account of Charles Bravo's death, Julian Fellowes examines the cases against each of the suspects and presents his own theory as to exactly what happened in the gothic South London mansion where the Bravos lived.

Credits
Written by Tina Pepler and Julian Fellowes
Produced by Clare Alan
Directed by Michael Samuels
Executive Producers Rob Pursey, Liz Hartford and Adam Kemp
Starring Julian Fellowes, Nadia Cameron-Blakey, Michael Fassbender, Elizabeth McKechnie, Michael Cochrane

A Most Mysterious Murder: The Case of Rose Harsent

In 1902, in the remote Suffolk village of Peasenhall, a pretty young servant girl, Rose Harsent, was stabbed to death. She was several months pregnant.

Julian Fellowes investigates a tragic story in which a devout Methodist community is torn apart by violence, passion and scandal.

Credits
Written by Richard Monks & Julian Fellowes
Starring Christina Cole, Gavin Abbott and Elizabeth Rider
Directed by Dominic Santana

A Most Mysterious Murder: The Case of George Harry Storrs

One dark night at the turn of the last century, in an isolated Cheshire mansion surrounded by milltowns, a wealthy industrialist met his untimely death as his servants and niece ran for help and his wife valiantly tolled the recently installed alarm-bell.

Julian Fellowes uncovers a story of thwarted passion in Edwardian England.

Credits
Written by Tina Pepler & Julian Fellowes
Starring David Schofield, Katrine de Candole and Virginia Beare
Directed by Dominic Santana

A Most Mysterious Murder: The Case of the Earl of Erroll

As the Second World War raged across the Western World, in Kenya, members of the privileged Happy Valley set partied like there was no tomorrow. For Lord Erroll, however, it was all about to come to a crashing halt. One evening in 1941, as he drove back to the Colonial Muthaiga Club, Erroll was shot dead.

Julian sheds fresh light on this most infamous of crimes, which plays out under the intense African sun and the rarefied atmosphere of the Colonial Muthaiga Club.

Credits
Written by Tina Pepler & Julian Fellowes
Starring David Calder, Josephine Butler and William Scott-Masson
Directed by Delyth Thomas

A Most Mysterious Murder: The Case of the Croydon Poisonings

In 1929, as the British Empire began to shrink, hundreds of middle-class civil servants found themselves leaving exotic climes for a humdrum existence in suburban England. When matriarch Violet Sidney, the third and oldest member of one such upper-middle-class family in Croydon, died after a short illness in which she feared she had been poisoned, suspicions were raised. A post-mortem revealed traces of arsenic and the hunt was on for a serial killer.

Julian tells the story of an apparently close family, with illustrious ancestors, living in reduced circumstances, and riddled with jealousy and mutual suspicion.

Credits
Written by Julie Dixon & Julian Fellowes
Starring Jean Marsh, Stella Gonet, Amanda Root and Richard Lumsden
Directed by Delyth Thomas