Sister Boniface Mysteries (TV Series) The Star of the Orient (2023) User Reviews

The fall of The Family of Usher.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 23 December 2023]

Sister Boniface and The Inspector take a train ride during a severe British winter. On board the train is a prized ruby, one with an ancient death curse on it, owner Sir Swinton Usher plans to get rid of it.

I thought this worked incredibly well, how nice that they made a feature length episode, even the source show, Father Brown has never spawned a special.

Very nicely written, plenty of references to Christmas itself, and more than a nod to both Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle. Intriguing, clever, fun and entertaining.

As always there are some nice touches of humour, Mrs Clam and Miss Thimble providing the laughs, you can only imagine spending a Christmas day with these two.

Production values were terrific, credit to the team, if looked great, a great job with the snow, sets and costumes. The Train station in particular looked great.

A really lovely cast assembled for this, aside from the regulars, Siobhan Redmond was great, Alex Newman steals the show.

Just lovely.

9/10.

A fun episode

[haroldj-08183 · 8/10 · 19 December 2023]

Agatha Christie influenced tale. Some might say it is contrived but I found it quite enjoyable.

I'm looking forward to the rest of series 3.

Kudos to the makeup people who could transform the beautiful Belinda Lang into Mrs Clam and Siobhan Redmond into Miss Fitz D'Arcy.

I hope the cast had as good a time as it appears, especially as this was filmed during the summer but they all had to dress in Winter clothing.

I always like a happy ending even when corny, as it should be at Christmas.

This is a good old-fashioned show, just right for the festive season. Don't expect high drama, enter into the spirit of this light-hearted drama.

Deliciously derivative fun

[leadingladiesmedowie · 8/10 · 22 December 2023]

Despite her many remarkable talents, Sister B is a notoriously second-rate cook, and in this enjoyable romp she gets out her big wooden spoon to stir up what should be an indigestible pudding loaded with chunks of Agatha Christie, Wilkie Collins, Midsomer Murders and Death In Paradise, all washed down with the Vicar of Dibley.

However, there's so much goodwill and good humour in the mixture, the cliches all slip down easily and the pud settles warmly in your stomach.

So let's lift a glass or three of the nuns' convent-made wine to the conclusion of a fun-filled season, and here's to the next!

In closing the words of Sister Boniface, 'Perfect'!

[SunnyDaise · 10/10 · 20 December 2023]

I find the Sister Boniface Mysteries a mixed bag, but I couldn't fault the storyline here. Ok, to the eagle-eyed there maybe there might be one or two inaccuracies, but I didn't spot any, as I was too busy enjoy the festive fun. It is really great to see a 21st Century celebrate the Nativity in a respectful way, whilst also having some ethnic diversity and drawing parallels to other cultures. Alongside the mystery, there's plenty of classic Sister Boniface humour and the comedically flawed characters all become heroes in one way or another, much like the Shepherds and the Magi. I really look forward to re-watching this for Christmasses to come.

A Good Christmas Special & Good Introduction To Series . . . .

[sundayatdusk-97859 · 7/10 · 14 January 2024]

After watching nine seasons of "Father Brown" and anxiously awaiting the 10th season, I tried to watch "Sister Boniface". Since she was so comical in the "Father Brown" episode where she helped him solve murders, I just knew I would love her show! Wrong. I tried watching the first episode of Season 1 and didn't even make it to the end. Later, I tried watching the first episode of Season 2 and also never made it to the end.

I simply could not get into the series. Plus, Sister Boniface's voice strangely often went low and I had to turn up the volume. Forget it. However, I saw this special Christmas episode this weekend, and decided to give it another shot. Three's a charm! I had no problem at all watching all of the special. It was an interesting enough mystery with interesting enough characters. It also provided some insight as to why Sister Boniface became a nun instead of a detective.

I shall now try to watch all the episodes in Seasons 1 and 2 . . . .

The Star of the Orient

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 22 December 2023]

Sister Boniface gets a feature length Christmas special. She is off to see her parents and finds herself in the same train as Inspector Gillespie.

However heavy snow leaves the train stranded. One of the passengers is Sir Swinton Usher who is carrying the precious but cursed jewel, the Star of the Orient.

The User family have taken the jewel from India, their possession of it is shrouded in some skulduggery. It has led to the deaths of some of Sir Swinton's ancestors.

Sister Boniface and Inspector Gillespie find themselves investigating the theft of the jewel but before long a dead body turns up as well.

Back at Great Slaughter, Felix Livingstone finds himself investigating a murder case as well. A man who froze to death. Maybe that death is linked with the stranded passengers on the train.

There were a lot of familiar elements in this Christmas special. A slight nod to the parent show Father Brown to the Sherlock Holmes story A Sign of Four to more incredulously Call the Midwife.

I did feel it was too long and maybe the Great Slaughter bits with Chief Constable Lowsley doing panto was superfluous.