Want scripted shows? Acorn has a bundle of them

Surrounded by reality shows, some viewers might start scrambling to find scripted TV.
That makes this a good time for the Acorn streaming service. On Monday (Sept. 18), one British mystery (“The Chelsea Detective”) ends its season and another (“Mrs. Sidhu Investigates,” shown here) begins. Three weeks later, a third one (“Harry Wild”) arrives.
All of those then go to the Acorn library, which is substantial. As the writers’ and actors’ strikes continue, this could be a good place to retreat.
This mini-streamer (at www.acorn.tv) lacks the bulk of Netflix or Disney+. For a modest price (one week free, then $7 a month) it has a modest selection of new shows from other countries, plus that library. A few shows have been awful – “Cannes Confidential” seemed to be performed by runway models, unfamiliar with the English language – but most have been solid and entertaining.
In one way, the two Sept. 18 shows are identical: Their seasons have only four episodes, but each is movie-length (90 minutes), allowing time for nuance, detours and character details.
But in other ways, they are opposites:
— “Chelsea” remains dead-serious. It has occasional plot conveniences, but not many. Each mystery is well-crafted, with Detective Inspector Max Arnold (Adrian Scarborough, who is excellent) and his young colleagues pursuing relentlessly. In the final moments of this year’s final episode, our hero realizes the emptiness of his personal life; it’s a funny moment, in a show where that’s rare.
— “Mrs. Sidhu” is the opposite. Its stories sometimes have gaping plot holes or conveniences. (It’s the sort of show where a hostage has plenty of time to cut his ropes and escape, because the guards are facing the other way, playing a loud videogame.) But likable characters help us overlook some flaws.
“Sidhu” is based on a radio drama-comedy – yes, they still have those in England – created by Suk Pannu. It has a caterer with an “India auntie” personality, able to slip smoothly into other people’s business. She uses that to wedge her way into murder probes.
That creates one of TV’s odd couples – Meera Syal (shown here), 62, as Sidhu; Craig Parkinson, 47, as Inspector Burton. She calls him “partner”; he (6-foot-4-and-a-half) tries to overlook her entirely.
In the first film, he even manages to arrest her; she’s soon out, because her husband was a respected cop, killed in duty. By the fourth one, he’s begrudgingly become a friend.
There are more characters, including her grown son and an earnest sergeant. They visit colorful places – the sort that hire a top caterer AND have murders. We occasionally forgive plot holes.
Starting Sept. 18, that follows the “Chelsea Detective” pattern – a new movie on four straight Mondays. That wraps up on Oct. 9 – the day another series starts.
“Harry Wild” has Jane Seymour as a retired literature professor who corners a teen would-be thief and makes him her partner in a detective agency … upsetting her son, who’s a police detective.
Unlike “Chelsea Detective” and “Mrs. Sidhu,” it has focused on one-hour mysteries, not movie-length ones. Like them, it’s a pleasant alternative to a TV world overrun with reality.