McDonald & Dodds (TV Series) Clouds Across the Moon (2022) User Reviews

A strong series finale.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 10 July 2022]

The body of Felix Gibney is found near Glastonbury by a psychic, who claimed to be out on a ghost Hunt.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, a very well imagined, very well acted mystery, once again it's beautifully produced, although this one lacks the usual showing off of Bath.

Nice that we got to see a bit of conflict among the regulars, and It was interesting to see one of the duo mixed up personally in the crime, that added a different flavour to the episode.

There was a real sense of mystery to this, you really did have to wait until the end to learn the outcome. The game of cat and mouse was smartly played out. It seemed possible for someone to outsmart DS Dodds.

I wish they'd develop some of the other members of the team, I have the same feeling about Vera, familiar faces, nice actors, but they're just window dressing, they should involve them a little more. That said Detective Super Ormond came across very strongly here again.

I looked in vain for information about series four, and couldn't find anything. I personally hope it continues.

Very good this,

8/10.

Chess

[DoctorStrabismus · 9/10 · 19 November 2022]

A plot worthy of Agatha Christie or Colin Dexter, or maybe Montalbano, and with shades of 'The Bridge'.

The 90-minute format necessitated a bit of 'suspend disbelief' to fit it all in, and it might well have been worthy of a mini-series of double the run-length. The 'evil-genius' who manipulates both victims and police like chess pieces is not a new dramatic concept, and such a puppet-master story might at times have needed that bit more fleshing out.

In the end it was very dark, in some ways quite troubling, but made for satisfying viewing, with the need for a a stiff whisky at the end!

An added bonus was excellent footage of the magnificent Dundas Aqueduct just south of Bath. Built of local stone in classical Doric style, and completed in 1805, this carries the Kennet and Avon Canal over the River Avon itself. Not Shakespeare's Avon, but the Gloucestershire version of that name. Good trivia question: Why are there so many rivers named Avon? Answer: Because in Welsh and other Celtic languages, Avon or Afon is the word for 'river'!

Well worth 9/10, and we do very much hope for a series 4 of McDonald and Dodds.

Bit darker, less humour - still great

[SunnyDaise · 9/10 · 10 July 2022]

A well-written, albeit slightly more depressing and lacking in the usual humour. However the warmth of the show is still maintained by the regular characters' mutual respect and ever-strengthening bond, which is always beautiful to watch.

Excellent finale!

[River225 · 10/10 · 23 August 2022]

Wow! This was an awesome finale to a really great show. It had all the usual twists and turns that we've come to expect but this episode went a step further. Kudos to the writers and excellent cast. You've raised the bar for next year. Don't do anything stupid link tinker with the formula &/or the chemistry between the stars.

Would have been a perfect episode...

[TomFarrell63 · 9/10 · 11 July 2022]

I thought this was great fun, possibly the strongest episode so far overall, but the way the character Martin Silver was just ditched in the end having played an important part in the build up didn't make sense to me.

If they'd tied up that loose end, this would have been perfect.

It's called ENTERTAINMENT!

[epacrisimpressa · 10/10 · 21 December 2022]

This was terrific, very entertaining, with the usual eye-popping architecture, some very good songs, and the camaraderie of McDonald and Dodds and the team. It's not for children though, as it features a terrible death by fire, the only really grim moment in the episode. In my opinion, M&D is basically a comedy, with some drama thrown in. And it's not really a police-procedural, since the forensic details are not explored minutely. Neither is it remotely intended to show what real policing is like, yet some reviewers complain that it isn't realistic enough! They don't seem to grasp the nature of entertainment: you have to relax, let go of your normal ability to judge, and enjoy the show. By the way, Danyal Ismail as DC Malik is serious eye-candy! I'm totally hooked on this series and I can't wait for the next season.

Wrong cast

[jennifer-young34 · 8/10 · 10 July 2022]

This show is fun and easy to watch and I really like Jason Watkins. This was a Good episode to end the series. However, the cast listed is that from "Belvedere"

Fun mystery

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 10 July 2022]

The detectives investigate when the body of a successful Bath businessman is found in a shallow grave in the shadow of Glastonbury Tor on the dawn of All Soul's Day. Their first suspect is local artist Hector Ingham, although McDonald can't help but be suspicious of the man who found the body. As increasingly cryptic clues come to light, one name keeps reoccurring in paper trails, credit card statement and on the lips of witnesses - that of Dodds himself

A rather convulated mystery but still quite fun with a macabre idea of a corpse in the grave, a society headed by a bloke with odd ideas, Someone trying to get at Dodd's, a burning wedding ring pushed through a letter box and plenty of twists and turns. A watchable piece of escapism.

Slight technical problem

[pkemp-65949 · 8/10 · 17 July 2022]

I love this series. OK, the format is a time-honoured DCI/DS police format, and like my favourite, Midsomer Murders, contains technical flaws. In this case, Sgt. Dodds would have known the correct sequence, which would have been: King, Queen and then Rook, not Castle. In chess, castle is a verb not a noun, and getting this wrong is a common mistake.

And I'd love to know the connection to the RAH Band. I had hoped that Lizzie Hewson would have been the singer, the original, of the title song in this programme.

Solid 8 - A SUCCESS!

[whoareyou-25120 · 8 August 2022]

I ping ponged through this marvellous episode... I was hooked with the DS Dodds being prime suspect mystery... then I was a bit disappointment with the random anagram clues and was tempted to five it 5 stars. But the. There was a TWIST about this "mother with difficult child whome she gave up" that was awesome. :) Watch it and beware whom you give birth to in the name of continuing your family name lol!!

Clouds Across the Moon

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 4 August 2022]

Martin Silver is a medium with an online following. He discovers the body of a businessman in a shallow grave in Glastonbury.

48 Hours later, another body is found. Hector Ingham was an artist who did 20 years for murder.

Suspicion falls on Dodds. Luckily he has an alibi but someone is trying hard to frame him.

Silver is also acting shadily, he even seems to have information not released by the police.

The dead businessman's wife is a singer with a scarred face. She was a victim of a knife attack some years ago and the assailant was never caught.

It takes time for McDonald & Dodds to see a pattern. They then face a race against time to stop any further deaths.

It is a story with a nod to Agatha Christie. It also owes to serial killer movies of the 1990s such as The Silence of the Lambs, Seven, Primal Fear.

Unfortunately it got too preposterous by the end. An interesting but convoluted story just got too silly for my liking.

The new Chief Superintendent is the real star

[BillontheCorner · 7/10 · 21 July 2022]

Another implausible plot with entertaining byplay between the main characters, marred by a particularly unpleasant murder method.

Impossible to imagine James Murray as Chief Superintendent for this episode, but that just shows the writers and producers are more concerned to avoid racial stereotyping than gender stereotyping.

Awful & Ridiculous

[Johnny_West · 3/10 · 27 March 2024]

Dodds is implicated in murders by someone framing him. It is pretty obvious, and yet he is falling apart over it. McDonald is not a very warm or friendly person, and it is hard to tell if she has his back or not.

The killer is out to get revenge on Dodds for arresting him several years earlier. His life was ruined due to spending five years in prison. Killer thought Dodds owed him some jail time.

The killer's Mom is one of the worst Mom's in the history of cinema. She saw her son getting arrested as a great opportunity for her to kick him to the curb, and turn his room into a music studio so she could revive her career as a lounge singer.

The underwhelming finale was a scene ripped from a dozen other shows. McDonald and Dodds are both shocked and overwhelmed by walking into a trap on a bridge. Bad Mom shows up to support her killer son, who just wants to finish his perfect revenge.

The convoluted resolution was a miracle that the two detectives were not killed. They should not be handling sharp objects or solving crimes. McDonald's needs fry cooks.

Decent who done it.

[lizzieqever · 7/10 · 23 October 2023]

I like this episode. It was reasonable, but I have one criticism of it. It was really easy to figure out who the murderer was I mean honestly, I guess the murderer as soon as I showed up on the screen, and I really mean error on screen about five seconds and I was like oh that's probably the murderer there.

They should've done a better job of trying to camouflage the murderer. Beyond that it was pretty good. I didn't guess the specifics of the murders motive, that wasn't revealed until the end. There was a red herring for the motive, I suppose, at least. Otherwise it was a strong outing not a bad way to spend an hour and a half if you like murder mysteries.

One thing they did well was well there was at least one main suspect who wasn't very cooperative with the police. It's always irritating to me when they make suspects or people become suspects and they're like really overly cooperative. That is just unrealistic in my opinion. But we are talking about fiction here, and they have to make the suspects cooperative to give you the viewer information.

Out of character

[lisbethinsydney · 6/10 · 23 August 2023]

Having our favourite detective duo McDonald and Dodds acting out this dark episode involving a serial killer seems out of place and out of character. Disappointingly, in this episode, this outstanding series falls into step with all the other crime-solving series around. The exceptionally light touch which made McDonald and Dodds sing is sorely missed. Sure, the plot is intriguing but the execution is flat and humourless. We've come down to earth with a thud after the joys of such triumphs as The Fall of the House of Crockett and The War of Rose. The new chief super appears to have strayed onto the wrong set from a rather dull police procedural. Her mistaken goal of "justice", which is what the Courts are for, and goody two-shoes micro-management makes me think she was written by focus groups not screenwriters. There's no dramatic tension as there had been with Houseman.

Here McDonald is cast as a helpless victim (seriously?) and Dodds is in a dither. What happened to the wonderful McDonald and Dodds battling together against the odds with their humorous banter, their growing connectedness and shared revelations? This is a betrayal of all that was so enjoyable about them from the beginning and of those of us who appreciated them for their spark and ability to lift us out of everyday reality. Why does everything that is fresh, clever, creative - and different - have to be dragged down to be just as mundane and miserable as everything else? It happened to Queens of Mystery. I hope McDonald & Dodds bounces back next season but I think the best has already been seen.

Great episode, but

[ldousmc · 3/10 · 23 August 2022]

DSI is a micro-manager. Meddles in the investigation. Let the experts do their jobs. McDonald and Dodds seem competent, so why do the writers let this "boss" mess with them?

A real dud of a Dodds - such a disappointment

[jenniferpoole · 1/10 · 13 July 2022]

Oh no! Not another one of these tedious super-criminal episodes where instead of following the work of the team as usual we have to see them all acting totally out of character in order to make the plot come out. Utterly stupid actions on behalf of nearly everyone, and the pathetic behaviour of Macdonald at the end (surely they taught her some simple self-defence) was ludicrous. This episode ruined what had been a great series otherwise. My advise is skip it. It really was a cringe with none of the lovely light humour we enjoy so much. Plus so ignorant about the Catholic Church procedures for divorce, and All Souls Day itself. (A day for honouring one's ancestors and nothing to do with dead people!). I do hope we wont have any more duds like this.

Easy as ABC

[parfster2010 · 4/10 · 17 July 2022]

This is the ABC murders - a plot line that is about 80 years old. It worries me that were expected to believe that people are employed as detectives that couldn't see the connections of the murders it was so so much in plain sight. I was half asleep when I watched this and I could see the connections on their white board at the first glance. Has the bar got so low for ITV Crime Drama.

Extremely far-fetched

[per-181 · 1/10 · 11 July 2022]

This is perhaps the worst crime mystery episode of any kind, all-time. Never have I seen such a convoluted, far-fetched an downright silly plot, totally impossible for the viewer to follow - but not in a funny, tongue-in-cheek, clever Jonathan Creek way - just really bad. Full of loose ends, very obvious red herrings and abysmal acting - this is just depressing, and even worse than S1E1 which I at the time believed to be a new low. Watkins & Skinner are wasted on this, they deserve better material to work with. Retire the writer!