Campion - Look to the Lady
"Do you take the long road?" a gruff restaurant manager asks a hapless  drifter, and thus is launched one of the serpentine mysteries featuring a  1930s sleuth by the name of Albert Campion, created byMargery Allingham.Look to the Ladycenters around the attempted theft of a  1000-year-old golden chalice from the upper-class family entrusted with its  care; along the way are woven in witchcraft, a vast criminal organization,  strange rituals, and a murderous horse. Peter Davison, a formerDoctor Who,  stars as Campion, a bland-faced and genteel fellow with an almost ghoulish  relish for crime. His interplay with his crusty manservant/assistant, Lugg  (Brian Glover), a former burglar with an almost impenetrable Cockney  accent, is the series' strongest element. The stories slip in and out of  self-satire and seem to tweak the classic mystery genre, yet always stay  firmly within its confines.--Bret Fetzer