Sally Phillips and Charlotte Jordan are giving Holmes and Watson a run for their money in The Hairdresser Mysteries, a BBC cosy crime drama about a hairdresser and her assistant who solve murders in a sleepy northern market town.
Shear-lock Holmes, if you will.
It is cosy dialled up to 11, and Phillips is “hoping it will get cosier”.
“I said to Jim before I took this role, ‘So, why have you done a cosy crime?’ And he said, ‘I’m really interested in transformation, the way hairdressers make people feel better, and ’70s music.’ He just wanted to create a show with that kind of vibe,'” she told Radio Times.
“And I don’t know about you, but I’m a bit over young women being found dismembered in snow. And maybe this isn’t a good substitute, or maybe it is, I don’t know. It’s not trying to replace those things.
“But it doesn’t feel like a bad time to be doing something like that. We just hope it is something that will give people a bit of a lift while they’re doing the ironing or the laundry or waiting for the kids to come from school.”
The show’s feel-good qualities were also emphasised by former Coronation Street actor Charlotte Jordan, who joins Phillips as Lily’s “bright and analytical” salon assistant and investigating partner, Clary Combs.
“We were saying when we were auditioning for it, it’s obviously a very kind show,” she explained. “It’s a show that’s rooted in empathy and community.
“And it’s OK to lean into that. It doesn’t have to be serious; it doesn’t have to be grim; it doesn’t have to be harrowing, and we don’t have to be trying to teach you anything.”
“The murderers say sorry afterwards,” giggled Phillips.
Lily Petal has swapped her trendy digs in London for a fresh start in the countryside, where she’s joined by the “bright and analytical” Clary Combs (that’s nominative determinism if ever we saw it).
“Lily and Clary are opposite ends of the spectrum,” said Jordan. “Lily is this wonderful, free-spirited hippie at heart, whereas Clary is this studious, by-the-book person who needs some things to be exact to feel at peace.
“They work together in very different ways, but there’s a real synergy between the two.”
Expanding on the show itself, Phillips described The Hairdresser Mysteries as “a mash-up of genres – like a cosy crime show meets The Vicar of Dibley.
“But it’s truly like a televisual jukebox, firing on every cylinder to make you feel good by the end,” she added. “I just really hope that this will be something that will cheer people up when they need it most.”
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As well as featuring a slew of kooky, memorable characters, the backdrop to The Hairdresser Mysteries plays a key role in establishing the show’s distinctive tone, from the sleepy market town to Lily’s retro 1970s-style salon.
So, where was the series actually filmed?
Read on to find out.
Filming took place in and around the West Midlands.
Locations included:
- Worcester – around Majestic Bingo in Derwent Close.
- Ragley Hall, a 17th century stately home in Warwickshire.
- Alcester – Church House in Butter Street, which doubled as Lily Petal’s 1970s-style salon, and Bridge House in Oversley Green. Fans of Shakespeare & Hathaway, another cosy crime drama, may also be interested to know that Alcester was used as a filming location for the series.
“When we walked on the hairdresser salon set, you feel transported to this other world,” said executive producer Will Trotter.
“Jim Cartwright’s writing creates this heightened world, combined with the nostalgia of the ’70s aesthetic and its music, all encased in crime stories.
“It’s the furthest thing from an Agatha Christie – The Hairdresser Mysteries makes you feel warm, nostalgic and excited. It makes you feel more alive!”
Speaking to the BBC, Mark and Kathryn Cargill, who own the house in Oversley Green, said it was “fascinating and really good fun” to play a part in the drama.
Mr Cargill added: “The location manager put a note through the door saying would we be interested in letting our house be used for the location shots, and we thought ‘why not? It’s a bit of fun’. And I’d like to see what is behind the scenes as well, because I’m an engineer and like to know how things work.”
The couple even got the chance to watch some of the filming in action.
“It was quite a hoot because we were out in the back with the director and he was guiding it,” he said.
“And then I heard ‘I want more blood, more blood, we need more blood’, followed very shortly by ‘the dog’s licking the blood!’
“Fascinating, some of the things they do.”
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The Hairdresser Mysteries premiered on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Friday 17 July.
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