Episode 168 Use Murder Mystery Shows To Improve Your English!

This week is Angela Lansbury's birthday. This wonderful actress had a very long and varied career which included playing two famous detectives. During her life Angela Lansbury played both Agatha Christie's famous Miss Marple and the fabulous Jessica Fletcher, murder mystery writer and amateur detective from the TV show Murder, She Wrote. In celebration of Angela Lansbury's birthday we have a special episode looking into some famous old murder mystery TV shows that you can check out. These shows tend to be fun and easy to watch with lots of question and answer scenes and lots of daily conversation and casual gossip. Vocabulary Gruesome - something uncomfortable to look at, usually with lots of blood Pose a question - to put or ask a question Dialogue-filled - lots and lots of people talking Prolific - someone who has done a lot of work in their time 10 seasons to go at - to go at - phrasal verb - often used together with 'a lot', 'lots' or 'plenty' to tell someone there's lots to watch or eat Bumbling - someone who is a little clumsy, doesn't always speak clearly, seems a little old and not so smart. Always gets his man - a common phrase for these kinds of stories, it means the person always finds the culprit. CGI - Computer Generated Imagery - commonly used to describe the animations done since computers instead of hand drawings were used. The Blitz - the phrase used to describe a period of intense bombing during the second world war, focused on London and other big cities in the UK. During the war many children were sent away from cities to live with strangers in the countryside. A star of stage and screen - a common phrase used to describe any actor or actress who has worked both in theatre and on TV or in movies. Who Dunnit - A phrase used to describe murder mysteries. This phrase doesn't work for shows like CSI, where it's often impossible to guess who the murder was, but is instead used for shows and stories like Murder, She Wrote and Agatha Christie stories where, if you're clever enough, you can work out who the murderer is. Cardiac - related to the heart.