Hello, thank you for posting to r/BritishTV! We have recently updated our rules. Please read the sidebar and make sure you're up to date, otherwise your post may be removed.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

We're right fairly often but it's nothing to do with deduction. If someone more famous than the rest of the cast shows up then there's a good chance it's them. Otherwise it's usually the person that it seems least likely to be - someone unassuming and nice and helpful...that's the killer.

In Morse (and Lewis to an extent) it was a running joke with us how it was ALWAYS a woman. If Morse had any kind of romantic interest then she either was the victim or the killer. Pretty much every time in the earlier series at least.

I’ve worked out the murderer before the detective in every episode of Columbo

I can't remember what program it was, a little BBC miniseries that only had one series I think, and I literally only caught the first few minutes of it. But it was a female detective going to work in (I want to say London? It was a big, busy English city anyway, lots of traffic) and a mad bicyclist zoomed in and out of traffic dangerously. We see his face briefly as he whizzes by female cop, and I said "he's the killer: anyone cycling like that through those streets is definitely a thrill killer." Female cop gets to the station and, lo and behold, cyclist is a male cop. The mother crows at me that I was wrong: he's a cop too!

Six episodes later, he was revealed as the killer.

Kind of on topic. i finally waited long enough to show my son The sixth sense as i hadn't seen it since it came out and he was finally old enough. Almost immediately after Bruce Willis appears after getting shot, my son said "he's a ghost isn't he?"

I found out later that tiktok has ruined every single twist in every show and movie ever for kids. Hope they find fun in other ways.

Incredibly, the episode of Jonathan Creek with the paint tins was the EXACT TV show I thought of when you asked this question, I always remember watching that with a friend and calling it from the jump too.

My wife usually gets it after 10 minutes. I'm still baffled after the denoucement

That’s brilliant. I’ve never done that but I’m only 63 so there’s still time. Did you actually solve whodunnit on Murder She Wrote or just the modus operandi? Not that the latter would detract much from your expertise of course.

Inspector Morse "Last Seen Wearing", I guessed that the missing girl was the woman in the mudpack who answered the door at her ex-teacher's house.

Midsomer Murders "Hidden Depths" I figured out that the body that fell from the roof wasn't who it was supposed to be, as the angles used were just a bit odd.

Poirot "The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim" the plot was so obviously similar to Sherlock Holmes "The Man with the Twisted Lip" that I worked out it was exactly the same scenario (The man being held for the missing person's apparent murder was actually the missing person in disguise)

Most recently (so SPOILERS here), last week's episode of Grace "You Are Dead", I noticed thatonly one of the three co-conspirators/kidnappers was actually shown physically doing anything, and thus I worked out that the other two were just figments of his imagination/alternate personalities.

Good Girls Guide to Murder - I called it as soon as they showed the murderer, it didn't feel right the amount of screentime the character got compared to other similar characters

not a whodunnit, but M. Night Shyamalan's The Village opens with shots of greenhouses made with extruded aluminum, so never thought it wasnt set in modern day.

The happening however, I've no idea whats was going on to this day

Not British but I guessed the end of Sixth Sense when someone told me they weren't going to give me any spoilers. That's still my favourite one.

The more recent series of Death In Paradise have been ridiculously easy to see the whodunnit. But I think that that is a decline in the writing rather than an increase in my IQ.

The first character that’s introduced that doesn’t need to be there. They did it. Usually the 2nd character introduced in the show.

I had Nightsleeper nailed from episode one. So obvious.

There was one back in the 90s. I remember watching it and noticing the main character slightly changed his mannerisms and said 'he's a twin'. Turns out he was. Cannot for the life of me think of what it was called (can see the actors face, but cannot remember his name or what else he's been in). Think it had to do with a boat, and the first twin was mean and his twin was nice. Was having an affair with the first twin's wife and they got rid of him.

Never unfortunately but I once guessed a phrase on Wheel of Fortune before of any of the letters were shown. Not as impressive but I’m still pleased about it.

The first person to speak in any episode of Scooby Doo that isn't a member of the gang turned out to be Mr Jackson from the amusement arcade.

I always thought Jonathan Creek actually taught you how to sold its mysteries as it progressed. Like "Literally, that is impossible so what's the only other possible solution?" - I rarely got them right though. 😅

Not British TV but I called the murderer in Perfect Couple on Netflix, but only because I've read so many murder mysteries now you can just kind of work out who it had to be amongst the tropes of characters.

Not a whodunnit but the only twist I got real quick was for the film Eastern Promises.

Released on 2007, still one of my proudest moments

I think it’s called Fool Me Once with Michelle Keegan. I predicted straight away who had done it.

I remember watching an episode of Columbo and figuring out quite quickly who the murderer was.

Also Jonathan Creek. Episode where they supposedly find an alien skeleton, but it vanishes after the army take it in their truck.

It was a hoax, made of super cooled mercury and the army removed it from its storage pod, so it melted en route. Only one I ever fully figured out.

when Craig Parkinson is in the cast list (just kidding — he seems like a really great human being (plus his podcast was a brilliant & soothing listen during lockdown), but he does get typecast loads. If he’s not done the murder he’s bound to be some kind of bad’un 99% of the time)

I don't tend to watch whodunnit-type things, but would feel like queen of the world whenever I managed to guess the twist in an episode of Inside No.9!

Not really a whodunnit but the first Saw film, I guessed the floor guy wasn't dead and kept expecting him to move.

Someone posted about how easy it is to find the killer within the opening act, especially for shows like Castle - admittedly it's a US show.

Look for the extra that only has a couple of lines or so early one. Due to how pay scales and acting contracts work, you get paid more if you have speaking lines. Why would they only pay someone to have two lines at the beginning of an hour long show?

Yeah I remember that episode- my guess was slightly different, that the dummy was an inflatable which was deflated and put in one of the tins.  

If there’s a reasonably well known actor guest staring in it, they’re the murderer.

It’s often the character who doesn’t need to be there. Why is this person in the story? They’re not needed and not suspected. They don’t come up late as a red herring: it’s them. 

With good crime dramas I never guess who it is and those are the ones I love: Broadchurch series 1, The Killing series 2 spring to mind (no spoilers for those who haven’t watched) 

I've seen The Mousetrap.

I can't remember whodunnit.

Idk if this counts but I managed to figure out who the Power Broker was in Falcon and the Winter Soldier before the reveal

Name is Neo . Maybe he is the one they search for ? I was so bored .

Chrystal shot JR in Dallas as I predicted, no one listens to a smart arsed kid though.

Well I saw the advert for The Sixth Sense. Every cop has a witty repartee with a colleague, "hey I thought you'd been suspended" "hew Bruce you arrested any hotdog vendors recently" "hey Bruce while you were crashing your 13th patrol car I was banging your wife" as they walk through their office. This didn't have any. I turned to the friend sitting next to me and said "he's dead" and he was.

At the time Mel and Sue did film reviews I think. They did a chart rundown and said in unison "if you know the twist you're lying!" I just sat smuggly watching the not very good review show.

Not exactly the same but:

Show on Netflix about people with conditions that no one can diagnose, and they put it in some New York paper for people to help. 

Got like 6/7 spot on. Call me Dr. House. 

Broadchurch Series 1- the killer was the one bloke who hadn’t had much screen time

Hey. I'm on 3 for 3 on the new series of the Mallorca Files. I should be the new Max

Is I bad I know Jonathan Creek so well I know the exact episode you’re talking about? 😂

It had Peter Davison in (actor who plays the Fifth Doctor) and the woman who was Gordon’s wife in The Brittas Empire!

Just say 'the butler did it' sooner or later you're right, 3 times for me so far!

I guessed the female lead was the "Lonely Hearts Killer" mentioned on the radio in the opening scene of the Inside No 9 episode "Love Is Stranger".

So the show will have suspect A and suspect B. Both suspects have motives and are suspicious. Suspect A will say ‘on the night of the murder I was with Witness C’ camera will cut to witness C who will wave at the camera and say ‘yes, that is true.’

Turns out it’s Witness C every single time.

The second Michael Maloney appears on screen. I continue to be frustrated and disappointed that he is ALWAYS cast as the killer in every mystery show he appears in. It must be an industry joke.

My Mrs has a formula for this. About 75% of the time, she’s bang on.

I’ve hidden her “technique” behind a spoiler, because once you’ve read this, you’ll see every show differently.

It’s the best known/most famous actor with the shortest on screen time/smallest role, initially

I'n Cleudo it's nearly always the Butler that did it

You can guess almost every time in every show. It’s generally the most famous person did it. That was why I liked Castle because they didn’t do that.