Catherine Tyldesley’s returning crime mystery that’s “fantastic cheesy fun” returns on TV tonight
The Good Ship Murder, 5’s cruise ship crime drama starring Coronation Street‘s Shayne Ward, Catherine Tyldesley and Claire Sweeney, as well as Hollyoaks‘ Ross Adams and Doctors‘ Zak Douglas, is back for a Christmas special and the first episode of season 3 tonight.
The show follows Jack, a singer aboard a cruise ship where people constantly turn up dead. Luckily for everyone involved, he’s also a former police detective (stay with us here) and teams up with First Officer Kate to work out whodunnit and why.
Once the murder is solved, every episode ends with a musical performance.
The Christmas special is airing tonight at 9.30pm on 5, and will be available to watch on the broadcaster’s own streaming service afterwards.
The third season is set to follow shortly afterwards.
Channel 5
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The Good Ship Murder is seen as one of those shows that’s ‘so bad, it’s good’ and has been a favourite for the Gogglebox cast to rib (Pete and Sophie’s quote that the show is a “cracking comedy… considering it wasn’t meant to be” was used in the intro montage for ages).
“Man season 1 was so bad. And yet….my wife and I can’t wait for season 2,” one fan wrote on Reddit, while another said “It’s awful and I binged it all on BritBox in a day. It’s so horrifically entertaining”.
“Don’t expect anything too serious, and expect to be made to believe some rather impossible scenarios,” wrote a viewer on IMDb, who praised Ward’s song covers and the “gorgeous location work” in the Mediterranean.
Channel 5
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Lots of reviews pointed out that the show was quite the fromage, calling it things like “fantastic cheesy fun” and “cheap and cheerful”.
Someone compared it to the cozy crime dramas made by Hallmark, although with plots so outlandish that it makes that channel’s mysteries “comparatively plausible”.
The Good Ship Murder Christmas special airs at 9.30pm on 5 tonight.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I’m a Fish.
