BBC One’s play-along murder mystery show Armchair Detectives is brilliant fun.

One every weekday, to be precise.

All occurring at approximately 2:15pm in the Scottish coastal town of Mortcliff.

), its arguably the one that most successfully nails the format.

I got way too deep into it, she admits.

After binging on the original series, as well as the spin-offsUndisclosedandTruth & Justice, inspiration struck.

So I thought there was something in this.

We had a whiteboard and papers on the wall.

Shes a massive crime fan, shes even got a dog called Columbo!

Armchair Detectivesuses David Bodycombe and Dan Peake from theOnly Connectteam to turn its murders into puzzles.

Their bread and butter is games, explains Brooks.

You have to forge connections in places that you wouldnt see them straight away.

Its all very meticulously assembled.

Even if theyre not in the story and we dont see them, they plot that out.

They send the Excel sheet to the writer and the writer cant go wrong then.

Its not (always) as hard to play as this may make it sound though.

Thats whats good about having twenty episodes.

DC Knight, the senior officer, was created with a very specific brief in mind.

Knight had to be someone my mum would have a crush on, laughs Brooks.

No matter what, absolutely, my mum had to fancy him!

Among those rolling their eyes at him is his young protege DI Slater.

We brought Roger [Nsengiyumva] on board and hes BRILLIANT.

We definitely wanted a strong intelligent female, says Brooks.

But could there be romance on the cards for future episodes?

Wed love to develop the detectives backstories more with a little will they wont they between Knight and Simmons.

Id quite like it to go there so well see!

Tonally, it takes its cues fromMidsomer Murdersand nestles into the Cosy Crime genre.

I mean it just had to, says Brooks.

Midsomers so perfect and theres so much love for that show.

Its the perfect balance of heres a crime with a bit of ridiculousness and a bit of a wink.

Theres even a couple of real life detectives in the mix.

We wanted crime fans, confirms Brooks.

Everyone had a great time.

Like us, the show loves a good pun as well.

Keep an eye out for some of the local shop names, like the Meat And Greet butchers.

As a format, murder mystery never gets old and Carly Brooks has some theories why it endures.

I think it has everything that we search for in entertainment.

Were clearly obsessed with quizzes and games as a culture.

We love problem solving and the genre hands you that on a plate.

I couldnt have put it better myself.

So put your deerstalker on, set the kettle boiling and get yourself down to Mortcliff.

Those murders arent going to solve themselves.

Previously aired episodes are available onBBC iPlayer.