A SCHOOL OF Fishers Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries and the Lineage of a Franchise
It starts with a wide shot of a department store. Looking at it, it’s hard to tell what era we’re in. The building has Art Deco details, but the people are too far away, too small for us to use fashion as an indicator. Then there’s a close-up of a package – intriguingly made out to the ‘Adventuresses’ Club’ – which we follow until the camera pulls back, passes through a doorway and shows us a grand Victorian mansion. It’s Labassa, Melbourne’s storied homestead turned flats turned bohemian hub turned National Trust treasure and popular film and wedding location.1 For our purposes, however, it isn’t Labassa at all; it’s the headquarters of the Adventuresses’ Club, and it will feature throughout all four movie-length episodes of 2019 Seven Network series Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries.
This opening sequence is a passing of the flame in more ways than one. The package we have followed contains the recovered belongings of Miss Phryne Fisher (the titular protagonist of predecessor series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, played by Essie Davis) – who has gone missing – and their appearance tells those she left behind that the lady detective isn’t likely to be returning any time soon. The upbeat 1960s hit ‘Please Mr. Postman’ lets us know the era, and that around forty years have passed since we last visited this world in the original ABC series. Then there is the final, more subtle touch – Labassa ). Its inclusion as a key part of the set in the spin-off feels like a deliberate nod.
