  Watch a clip |
Guest stars
Charles Kay, Annette Crosbie, Simon Day and Sarah Markland.
Directed by Sandy Johnson
First transmitted 7th June 1997
Ratings 7.75 million
|
The Puzzle:
Elliot Strange, a respected doctor in the field of cancer research, lives with his wife, son and daughter-in-law in a house full of monkeys.
When Strange is found in his locked study, impaled on an antique Samurai sword, the police are baffled. Who had he been screaming and hurling books at seconds before his death? Was his murderer an agile ape perhaps, or did he kill himself?
Friend of the family Jonathan Creek may have the answer. If he can just survive the attentions of a rampaging silverback gorilla and Maddy's attempts to bed him, Jonathan suspects he may just have the problem licked... [Solution]
Quiz
Five quick questions to test your knowledge of the episode.
Alan Davies
"The gorilla stuff was great. There were lots of things about that one I remember. I remember it was snowing outside [and] the monkeys got a bit chilly. We weren't allowed to go and look at the monkeys in case it made them ill.
"I think the story here was that David was told that there wasn't a lot of budget, so it was all set in one house. It was actually my favourite episode of that series. We had Annette Crosbie in it, which was fantastic, and Simon Day who I decided then was the funniest man in Britain.
"I had to fall down the stairs dramatically, being chased by a gorilla. They got a stunt man who did it for me. He was extremely tanned and well muscled - so I actually looked quite good!"
David Renwick
"I hadn't originally intended to feature a gorilla in The House Of Monkeys. I'd written in two chimpanzees, but we couldn't get any. You'd assume that with all the Brooke Bond commercials and everything chimps would be readily available, but by the time we got to pre-production we discovered there were none at all working in this country.
"The reason we went with a gorilla was because they'd just built a technically sophisticated animatronic version for the film Fierce Creatures, and it was available to us at very little cost. It was incredibly convincing to look at, so that's what we ended up with.
"However, I have to say that seeing this giant silverback male gorilla walking across the hallway with little Annette Crosbie did make became cringe at the end of the day. It wasn't one of my favourite compromises."
Jonathan Geek:
Hypochondriac Jonathan is so worried about his aerobic fitness that he buys a heart rate monitor. His subsequent geekish joy in measuring his heart rate after walking, running, climbing stairs and so on reaches its logical conclusion when he attempts to discover how fast his heart beats while making love. Oddly enough, Maddy doesn’t find it romantic.
Going ape:
Gorillas aren't monkeys, they're apes. We just thought we should mention that. Neither are chimpanzees, which originally appeared in the script.
Class Reunion:
The distinguished actress Annette Crosbie has of course worked with David Renwick before, as Margaret Meldrew in his acclaimed sitcom, One Foot in the Grave.
Alan Davies has suggested to us that Annette should be the next Doctor Who, probably to wrongfoot those of us who feel it should be him...
The Solution: (point your mouse over the space below)
An objector to Strange's experimental work with animals has sent the doctor a book to sign - with a return envelope containing a gummed flap laced with a hallucinogenic compound. Spaced out and confused after moistening the envelope and thus ingesting the drug, Strange rants and throws the books around, accidentally wedging the Samurai sword into his desk before falling upon it.
|
|
|
|
Trivia
Two Doctor Whos, two Doctor Who assistants, and the show's original producer have all worked on Jonathan Creek.
|
|
|
