Whitstable Pearl puts Kerry Godliman where she belongs: centre stage (2024)

Whitstable Pearl ★★★★

The title Whitstable Pearl refers both to the pub of that name in the Kentish coast town of Whitstable, and to its proprietor, Pearl Nolan, a local girl returned to her childhood home to run the pub with her mum and do a little sideline in private investigation. Pearl was briefly a police officer, many years ago, but left the force when she got pregnant. Now, with her son all grown up, she’s grabbed with both hands the chance to live her mystery-solving dream.

Whitstable Pearl, adapted from Julie Wassmer’s mystery series, has all the makings of a perfectly pleasant, if run-of-the-mill, small-town detective show. The fact that it is elevated into something more engaging and irresistible than that is down to the perfect casting of Kerry Godliman in the role of Pearl. Fans of Taskmaster will know how funny Godliman is. Those who’ve seen her in Afterlife or Derek will know her great ability to radiate warmth and reassurance in the face of exhausting sadness.

All these traits are on show in Whitstable Pearl, but it’s especially gratifying to see Godliman take centre stage as the undisputed heroine of the piece. For she is, in a quiet and understated way, a quite extraordinary performer. There are worlds contained in her face: years of experience, depths of hidden grief, lines of hard-won wisdom. Both sadness at the world’s pain and joy at its consolations are so skilfully conveyed in Godliman’s manner and delivery as she walks the chilly streets of scenic Whitstable, hands thrust deep into overcoat pockets, taking the burdens of victims on herself.

As a PI, Pearl is frequently called on to tackle the minor and the banal: cheating husbands, neighbours tampering with the bins and so forth. But something bigger reliably comes along; not always murder, but generally matters of life and death. The show goes to dark places and takes its stories seriously while steering clear of the brutality and violence of more gruesome crime shows.

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Pearl’s investigations are undertaken in partnership with DCI Mike McGuire (Howard Charles), the broodingly handsome copper who is all at once annoyed by Pearl’s interference, appreciative of her insights, and soon attracted to her. Their romance blooms in the first series before faltering. In the second, McGuire and Pearl both have new partners, but the sparks are still flying, and the investigative partnership goes on.

Mike and Pearl make such a good team because the former’s hard-bitten cynicism pairs so well with the latter’s sunnier (if tempered by rationality) belief in human goodness. Also, refreshingly, it’s a properly equal team: McGuire is just as likely to pull Pearl up on her mistaken assumptions as vice versa; no genius Holmes to idiot Watson routine here.

The show is not humourless: often the laughs come from Frances Barber as Pearl’s straight-talking mother Dolly, who does a lot of the comic heavy lifting with her wry asides and commentary on her daughter’s life. In the second season, Barber and Robert Webb, as Pearl’s nice-but-dull new fella, make for a dynamic mutually antagonistic comic duo.

However, despite Godliman’s undoubted skill with a gag, Whitstable Pearl is more warm-hearted drama than quirky romp. The mysteries to be solved are the meat, but the bones of the show are a deep humanity exemplified by the leading lady. Pearl’s knack for making connections and spotting the missed detail is put in service of her maternal care for her town and its people, as she confronts the darkness in human souls and seeks the light.

The first scene of the first series of Whitstable Pearl saw Godliman finding her friend’s bloated corpse bobbing up out of the sea. The first scene of the second series sees her enjoying a hot drink on a clear day as she looks out on that sea with a smile. The two openers stand as symbols for the duality of the show itself: the world contains dreadful horrors, but also beauty for us to gaze on and hope to indulge in. And there can be no better choice than Kerry Godliman to hold our hands on the difficult journey through those two realities.

Whitstable Pearl is on 9Gem, Mondays, 9.40pm and 9Now.

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