I really liked Crime Traveller. OK it's not perfect. Morris (the policeman with no brain cells) was an awful character who would never have been tolerated by Grisham (the boss). And the young chap was just superfluous. So.... take them out and what have we got? Grisham as the hard-nosed detective (ably played by Sue Johnston - just needed a few better lines for her) and a great double act, the 'willtheywon'tthey?' pairing of Holly and Slade.
What makes the programme work though is the concept of time travel. Just a few hours back but enough to pick up clues to a crime and even interview the deceased before they were murdered! Of course you can't change anything but you can come back to the present and wrap the case up.
The show was a light drama with comedy elements (which were mostly un-needed) and, as other reviewers have noted, it was pushed aside by Jonathan Creek (which I also have a fondness for). It's a shame there wasn't room for both shows. Or at the very least a second series of this one. Over the 8 episodes the characters of Holly and Slade did get developed as you found out more about Slade's past and his father etc. and Holly's father and her first boyfriend. It was a lovely touch to find a fully perfected time machine (without all the exposed wires and toggle switches) in the last episode and a nastily visual rendering of what happens if the machine goes wrong and traps your ex boyfriend in an eternity loop! Oh and for us fans of another time travelling show the visual and musical nod in the episode with all the phone boxes....and one police box!
I agree that the show could be brought back. Maybe, as suggested elsewhere, after years have passed while Holly has scrimped and saved to repair the machine after a catastrophic failure and now Slade comes back into her life. I doubt it will happen and if it did they would have to dump the comedy policemen but - well, in science fiction anything is possible.
What makes the programme work though is the concept of time travel. Just a few hours back but enough to pick up clues to a crime and even interview the deceased before they were murdered! Of course you can't change anything but you can come back to the present and wrap the case up.
The show was a light drama with comedy elements (which were mostly un-needed) and, as other reviewers have noted, it was pushed aside by Jonathan Creek (which I also have a fondness for). It's a shame there wasn't room for both shows. Or at the very least a second series of this one. Over the 8 episodes the characters of Holly and Slade did get developed as you found out more about Slade's past and his father etc. and Holly's father and her first boyfriend. It was a lovely touch to find a fully perfected time machine (without all the exposed wires and toggle switches) in the last episode and a nastily visual rendering of what happens if the machine goes wrong and traps your ex boyfriend in an eternity loop! Oh and for us fans of another time travelling show the visual and musical nod in the episode with all the phone boxes....and one police box!
I agree that the show could be brought back. Maybe, as suggested elsewhere, after years have passed while Holly has scrimped and saved to repair the machine after a catastrophic failure and now Slade comes back into her life. I doubt it will happen and if it did they would have to dump the comedy policemen but - well, in science fiction anything is possible.