The Hairdresser Mysteries, a new cosy crime series on BBC One, stars Sally Phillips as Lily Petal, a hairdresser who moves to the fictional village of Blossom Vale and begins solving murders. The show has been described as the strangest daytime TV drama in living memory, blending relentless cheer, 70s nostalgia, and audacious plotlines.
A Time Capsule of 70s Nostalgia
Lily Petal, played by Sally Phillips, arrives in Blossom Vale with a blow-dried backstory: she worked with fancy types in London but now wants peace, quiet, and a place of her own. She purchases the high street's dilapidated salon, which assistant Clary (Charlotte Jordan) describes as a time capsule, untouched since the 1970s. Lily herself, with corduroy flares and a penchant for Hot Chocolate, embodies the era.
The first episode, titled Storm in a Teacup, revolves around a missing teacup, while later episodes include Gym, about a gym. Characters include flamboyant celebrity weatherman Jonty Starr, a sparky called Parky, and Mrs Crudd. The show features wrecking-ball literalism and catch-all nostalgia.
Bananas Plotlines and Relentless Cheer
The strangeness of The Hairdresser Mysteries is not the everyday oddity of shows like Father Brown. It is described as bananas. Early in the opening episode, viewers visit Valhalla With Chips!, a Viking-themed takeaway where men in horned helmets serve battered sausages in cardboard longships. Lily and Clary discuss a brutal bludgeoning while dancing to Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.
The mood is harrowingly relentless cheer. Even by cosy crime standards, the show is an unyielding slab of snuggle, like being body-slammed by a Womble. Each episode ends with a singalong to 70s hits like Sister Sledge's We Are Family or T-Rex's I Love to Boogie. Even the murderers are essentially good eggs, expressing remorse over tea.
Brilliant and Awful: A Brawful Delight
The Hairdresser Mysteries is both brilliant and awful, or brawful. It features iced buns, cheap wigs, influencers thrown from minstrels' galleries, and vicars everywhere. One character says, 'Sorry I'm late, I was worming my whippets.' The discovery of a corpse in a belfry is met with 'Bloomin' 'eck!' Guy Henry appears as a twitchy antiques dealer with a magnificent false moustache.
According to the review, the show has effectively placed a whoopee cushion under sanity's buttocks. The series aired on BBC One and is available on iPlayer.
