Columbo in the desert

We’ve been here in our Norfolk accommodation since Saturday and although there is a television it only receives terrestrial programmes. Which is okay because we watch very little television, but it has begun to seem somewhat old fashioned. Nevertheless, as we are on holiday something different is indicated so we have scanned the available programmes each evening. Unfortunately among dozens and dozens of channels we have yet to find anything worth watching. Television? It’s a desert but you already knew that.

However we did find a single episode of Columbo. Not exactly a cultural oasis because I can't even remember what happened but we watched it and passed a couple of hours pleasantly enough. Pleasant enough for holiday entertainment anyhow, but the episode was thirty years old and as predictable as Columbo always is.

I may be wrong because I’m not a Columbo expert but they all seem to go something like this.

We know the identity of the murderer as soon as he or she does the dirty deed. Everyone is glossy and prosperous. Columbo is scruffy, drives a ratty old car, always has a cigar on the go and has his pockets full of screwed up bits of paper some of which are vital scraps of evidence. He knows who did the foul deed but has to construct a case based on tiny mistakes made by the over-confident murderer. He never exits a scene with the murderer without turning back with the words “oh, just one more thing.”

Oh well. It was thirty years old but just about watchable.