The Mallorca Files review: If the Beeb's Mallorca Files was a pedalo, Amazon's is a superyacht, writes CHRISTOPHER STEVENS By Christopher Stevens Published: 20:33 EDT, 8 August 2024 | Updated: 20:33 EDT, 8 August 2024 e-mail View comments The Mallorca Files (Amazon Prime Video) Rating: Same sunshine, same island, different world. The Mallorca Files, BBC1’s lightweight afternoon crime show, has transferred to Amazon Prime Video..
. and it’s quite a holiday upgrade. If the Beeb is a budget hotel in Magaluf with a karaoke bar, then Amazon is an all-inclusive five-star resort where waiters bring chilled cocktails to your poolside sunbed.
You’ll love it, but the cheap option will never seem half so attractive again. Starring Elen Rhys as uptight British detective Miranda and Julian Looman as her goofy, laid-back German counterpart Max, the series won an immediate fandom on its launch five years ago. Starring Elen Rhys as uptight British detective Miranda and Julian Looman as her goofy, laid-back German counterpart Max, the series won an immediate fandom on its launch five years ago Echoes of The X Files were obvious, without any of the paranormal overtones.
Investigators Miranda and Max frustrate and fancy each other in equal measure — but she’s too prickly and he’s too easily distracted for them ever to be a romantic match. Best of all, the locations are effortlessly fabulous. In the BBC original, if the plots sprang a leak, there was always a picturesque street scene or sunset coastline to patch over it.
This was daytime TV’s answer to Death In Paradise...
until Covid interrupted. Spotting its international appeal, and knowing how U.S.
audiences adore our escapist murder mysteries, Amazon has revived the show — and, with those unlimited budgets, transformed its production values. Auntie’s holiday pedalo has been remade as a Sunseeker yacht. Max still drives his open-top classic BMW, but now the shots of him racing through the Tramuntana mountains look like a lavish car ad.
When he zooms up from the harbour to park outside Palma’s historic palace — usually one of the city’s busiest taxi ranks - he has the street to himself. That scene alone must have taken some financial clout. Same sunshine, same island, different world.
The Mallorca Files, BBC1’s lightweight afternoon crime show, has transferred to Amazon Prime Video...
and it’s quite a holiday upgrade More than once in the opening episode, Max and Miranda leave the car on the dockside, and set off in search of their next lead by top-of-the-range speedboat — white leather upholstery, rocket-booster engine, sleek millionaire styling. No wonder that everywhere they go, they are accompanied by funky 1970s guitar. For the benefit of American viewers who haven’t seen the first two seasons, a swift summary at the start introduces the characters.
But it really isn’t necessary — the writing is good enough, and the natural chemistry of the stars is blatant enough, that no explanations are needed. The stories are as daft as ever. In the first, a geography teacher with a bank account full of Bitcoin profits decides to plunge his fortune into a treasure hunt.
He buries a golden artefact somewhere on the island, publishes ten cryptic clues, and promptly gets murdered. Solving the puzzle requires Max to go swimming with sharks, before he and Miranda try to discover a secret passage in the crypt of a medieval church. All eight episodes are available to stream.
If you’d love a Balearic break but can’t afford to moor your yacht in Palma’s marina, this is the ideal alternative. Just don’t expect to be satisfied with Benidorm ever again. Prime Day BBC Share or comment on this article: The Mallorca Files review: If the Beeb's Mallorca Files was a pedalo, Amazon's is a superyacht, writes CHRISTOPHER STEVENS e-mail Add comment.
