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Why I Love...Monk

Tony Shalhoub as Monk
  • Posted at 10:13am
  • 10 October 2006
  • by DavidWhitehouse-RT
  • 22 comments

The first rule of creating a successful TV detective reads thus:

"The detective must have a major flaw in his personality. It must be exaggerated to such an extreme that, if you were to encounter such a person in the kitchen of a house party, you'd be tempted to launch yourself through the window and send the host a dry-cleaning bill for your suit.

"However, said flaw also makes them very good at their job, like a miner with a torch instead of a nose."

This is why Morse is an interminably miserable old sod. It's why Columbo has all the social skills of a wet dog sniffing your groin. It's why Inspector Wexford is easily the most boring living thing on television since TV became capable of transmitting images of boring living things.

But all of these detectives, from Kojak to Bergerac, showed brief glimpses of normality through their foible armour which, given that these traits made them so popular in the first place, seems like lunacy. It was only a matter of time then before a small screen sleuth came along who could never escape his flaws, and we were graced with Monk.

Monk, for the uninitiated - and let's bear in mind that anyone who doesn't watch it should have to pay six times their licence fee - is a genius crime scene investigator with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD. This means he has a Kim-and-Aggie-style problem with dirt, and washes his hands more times than OJ Simpson.

While other TV cops can temporarily escape their quirks, Monk cannot, to the extent that he can't even form proper relationships with friends or colleagues. He's the most inept TV character ever, bar perhaps Frank Spencer and Nana Moon.

He's played pitch-perfectly by the wonderful, wonderful Tony Shalhoub, an actor of such brilliance that living in hope of a day when he'll turn up and adopt you seems like a perfectly reasonable ambition to harbour on a full-time basis - and at the expense of any others you might have.

There is a school of thought that says heart-warming detective dramas are the exclusive domain of Sunday-afternoon pensioners, high on the fumes of a thousand Werthers Originals. Well, when it comes to Monk, this school of thought is about as valid as that of whichever TV executive is keeping Paul Danan in work.

TV detectives are, after all, an important barometer of the times. Depending upon your age, you'll have different sleuths as reference points. Some of you will have fond memories of Dixon of Dock Green, others more likely to name-check Dalziel and Pascoe. Well, Monk's better than all of them put together. And his hands are nice and clean, too.

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Comments

  • Posted on 13 September 2009
  • at 5:44pm
  • by Madholman

Columbo is still the greatest,not because he would have complex cases,but because his powers of deduction and observation are even bit better than Monks,so Columbo too must solve every case,he is that good and always was,his character is just classic and clues are perfect,for same reason i love Monk who is my number 2,if i knew Monk first he would be my number 1,because he has also suprising plots,reason why Poirot is my number 3.Monk has it all,but Columbo is my hero since i was 11 years old,i just love him too much.

  • Posted on 08 September 2009
  • at 3:59pm
  • by toni

monk is easily my favourite detective! i just wana give him a big hug :) dont think he'd appreciate it though! i agree with everyone else, MORE MONK!

  • Posted on 08 July 2009
  • at 2:15pm
  • by Polly

Monk is my very favorite detective. I do hope he will be back on our screens soon as I used to look forward to seeing him on Saturdays and taping it on my vidio recorder.I think I have almost every one in the series,and look at them time and time again.A friend was staying with us the other day, and could you believe it,had never heard of Monk. So of course I put one of the best ones on, and immediately Monk had another fan.

Do come back Adrian please,Saturdays are dull without you !

  • Posted on 20 March 2008
  • at 8:19pm
  • by paul.nicholson

A perfect Easter weekend - Monk on TV again (at last), Monk Box set, Murder she wrote (both recordings from week and Box set) and Recordings of Diagnosis murder to catch up with (sadly no box sets out as yet for viewing in UK) .... What more can I ask for except kids cleaning house and husband cooking the meals!!!!!!

  • Posted on 03 March 2008
  • at 7:39pm
  • by Cyzaki

I first saw Monk in French, while living in France. I loved it, although I've only seen it a couple of times since coming back to the UK. I think Monk is a brilliant character, and he makes the programme very funny as well as a good detective show. Then again, I'm a sucker for Diagnosis Murder and Quincy too… And although I do like Werthers Originals I'm not quite pensionable yet (having just graduated and all…).

  • Posted on 03 March 2008
  • at 7:30pm
  • by Learner

I started watching it after a friend of mine said it was like Columbo- of which I am a big fan.

Well, there is a passing resemblance between the two series- but where Columbo relies on plot and uses Columbo's character to fill out an episode- Monk is all about character with the plots as the filler. And it works so very, very well due to great writing and Tony Shalob's brilliant portrayal.

Mr Monk and the Actor is a great example of this. The murder plot appears to drive the plot but it is actually the sub-plot. The main story is about Monk and an actor who is trying to play Monk. The climax is a scene which I found to be one of the funniest and, at the very same time, saddest scenes I have ever seen on TV.

My wife and I have devoured the first five seasons on DVD in three months and we are hungrily awaiting series 6.

  • Posted on 12 March 2007
  • at 9:50pm
  • by Laura

I am absolutley addicted to Monk and have all the DVDs. Its so well written and acted- and there is a lovely humourous side to it aswell.

I would just like to agree with the previous posts, that the way BBC treats this programme and other US programmes (such as Medium), is ridiculous. If they are not going to give Monk a decent and regular time slot, then maybe another channel could do a better job.

  • Posted on 12 March 2007
  • at 5:37pm
  • by Zoe

I think the reason we love Monk and his flaws so much is that in spite of them being so ridiculous and exaggerated, they only emphasise his humanity. Who among us hasn't felt that rising panic when giving a public speech, or wanted something done just so? We can relate so well to monk because we identify parts of ourselves and peope we know in him. I always chuckle to myself and think of my boyfriend.

  • Posted on 12 March 2007
  • at 4:03pm
  • by lotus

I have been watching Monk since series 1 and absolutely love it! Tony Shalhoub is a fabulous actor. I wish it had a better time slot....

  • Posted on 14 February 2007
  • at 5:29pm
  • by Simon

Monk is a detective in a class of his own and the series deserves it's own prime-time slot. The acting, plots and the fantastic San Francisco location are first class.

I agree with other viewers. BBC take note, please give Monk a regular time slot. This week it has been relegated for a repeat of "Henry VIII and his Six Wives".......why?

  • Posted on 14 February 2007
  • at 12:37pm
  • by Daniel

Spot on, Monk is absolutely excellent, and is certainly far superior to any of the dire excuses for primetime television in this country right now. Tony Shalhoub is tremendous, the episodes are interesting and satisfying, and Randy Newman performs the theme tune … what more do you need?

  • Posted on 27 January 2007
  • at 6:21pm
  • by mole635

I may only be 12 but I still think Monk is a legend!

Monk should be shown more often I love it!

  • Posted on 12 January 2007
  • at 9:17pm
  • by wez

monk is a ledgend

  • Posted on 12 January 2007
  • at 8:44pm
  • by squeeky

I totally agree with everyone who has said it should be aired at a decent time because like Monk I have OCD and since watching the first episode I have sat with members of my family and been able to laugh at the similarities between him and myself. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it's made a tremendous difference to how my family see's me. I feel if more folk were exposed to OCD sufferers like Monk it would be harder to brand us as 'nutters' because as it is depicted in the show there is often a trauma behind the illness's development and behind that a feeling intelligent person.

  • Posted on 12 January 2007
  • at 8:34pm
  • by Peter

Monk is not only the best detective programme, it's the best programme on TV. I've bought all the DVDs. It's such a pity that the BBC don't give it a better slot. It's a really popular in America and I think it could be in Britain too. Hardly anyone I know has even heard of it. I really don't understand why the BBC doesn't take advantage of what would be a hugely popular show, if only it were well known. MONK FOR PRIMETIME!

  • Posted on 12 January 2007
  • at 7:22pm
  • by Alex

Monk is the best US import on British television, but the BBC treats it very badly. One gets the impression that the corporation puts it out simply to avoid having to show the test-card on a Saturday afternoon. It's never trailed, it's taken off at the slightest pretext, its timeslot varies enormously … I'm usually a pretty dogmatic supporter of the BBC's, but I can't help but suspect that Channel Four or Sky would treat the programme differently.

  • Posted on 29 December 2006
  • at 1:38am
  • by Sam

Adrian Monk is up there with good old Dr Mark Sloan, their simply the daddies of solving crime!

  • Posted on 18 October 2006
  • at 7:20pm
  • by Claire

Monk rocks! i live in a house with five other students and we all love monk, we all sit down in our living room to watch it together with a cup of tea singing along to the theme tune! he's a great character and the plot lines are always amusing.

  • Posted on 18 October 2006
  • at 2:11pm
  • by Hennell

Monk is absolutely brilliant, the only thing wrong with it is the stupid and unreliable times the BBC put it on.

  • Posted on 10 October 2006
  • at 9:24pm
  • by vikingid

I just love Monk all the comments made above are true. I just wish that more people watched it. My wife agrees with me now that it is good fun to watch and she thought that i was odd.

  • Posted on 10 October 2006
  • at 7:15pm
  • by Simon Tolchard

Whilst I love just about all detective series, they mostly follow the same old formula - just look at Midsomer Murders (sill quite good however!) as a good example of this - it plays like a game of Cluedo!!! Mink is different as the producers/directors etc. took a gamble on putting a twist on the main character in that he has some "issues!" to say the least (OCD). However, this affliction is the key to his brilliance as a super-sleuth - he leaves no stone unturned and is a perfectionist for the details in a crime. In short Monk ROCKS!

  • Posted on 10 October 2006
  • at 6:03pm
  • by Nick

Totally agree. Monk is a fantastic detective series and the character of Adrian Monk is a character the viewer can really care about. Shame the BBC has decided to shunt it aside in favour of showing age old repeats of Diagnosis Murder. It's a crime that it isn't on during prime-time to be honest.

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