It stars Alan Davies as the title character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician while also solving seemingly supernatural mysteries through his talent for logical deduction and his understanding of illusions.

After Quentin's departure in 2001, Julia Sawalha joined the cast as new character Carla Borrego, a theatrical agent turned television presenter.

Following a five-year hiatus, the series returned for a one-off special on 1 January 2009, "The Grinning Man", which featured Sheridan Smith as another paranormal investigator with whom Creek joins forces.

[5] Alexander returned as Jonathan Creek's wife Polly, alongside guest stars Warwick Davis, Emun Elliott and Rosalind March.

[8] It has included guest-stars such as Bob Monkhouse, Griff Rhys Jones, Rik Mayall, Jack Dee, Bill Bailey, John Bird, Nigel Planer and Ade Edmondson, who are mainly associated with comedy, but who gave straight performances.

[8] Also, whereas most of these were about who did it (Inspector Morse or Taggart) and why it was done (Cracker), this new series would be about how it was done, with such tropes as murders committed in locked rooms, a person being in two places at once, or impossible thefts.

[8] Others who were tried for the part included Nigel Planer (who would later guest star) and Angus Deayton (who had already worked with Renwick and director Susan Belbin on One Foot in the Grave).

Davies was invited round to talk to Renwick and "turned up in his duffle coat with straggly hair and a broad grin [and] was self-evidently the closest match yet to Creek as we had always seen him".

Many well-known actors have appeared in the series, including Bob Monkhouse, Rik Mayall (who had been considered to play Jonathan) and Jack Dee who are better known for their comedy roles.

Other guest stars, both comedy and straight, have included: Rob Jarvis who made two appearances, each time as a different character, Colin Baker, Sheila Gish, Alistair McGowan, John Bluthal, Lysette Anthony, Simon Day, Selina Cadell, Peter Davison, Pippa Haywood, Dermot Crowley, Deborah Grant, Amanda Holden, Nicola Walker, Francis Matthews, Griff Rhys Jones, Maxine Peake, Rebecca Front, Terrence Hardiman, Michael Brandon, Jim Bowen, Dinah Sheridan, Hattie Hayridge, Steven Berkoff, Mary Tamm, Benjamin Whitrow, Bill Bailey, Sophie Thompson, Maureen Lipman, Celia Imrie, Judy Parfitt, Katherine Parkinson, Paul McGann, Ian McNeice, Joanna Lumley, Paula Wilcox, Raquel Cassidy, Kieran Hodgson, June Whitfield, Josie Lawrence and Warwick Davis.

Magellan is a plausible liar who never seems to have trouble sneaking into closed crime scenes (though she is frequently unceremoniously ejected), and Klaus is a flamboyant performer with a sinister stage persona who is really a dull-witted, insensitive womaniser.

The programme usually features 'impossible crimes', for example an offence having been committed in a sealed environment from which no criminal could have escaped (a "locked room mystery"), paranormal thefts and murders.

No matter how fantastic the crime appears to be at first, he always finds a rational explanation, giving the character a passing resemblance to stage magician turned paranormal investigator James Randi.

[14] For the 2001 Christmas special and thereafter, Quentin declined to appear, and so a second supporting role was introduced, theatrical agent Carla Borrego, played by Julia Sawalha.

In "The Scented Room", which centred around a theft from a critic who had lambasted Adam's act, he took great delight in announcing that he had solved the crime but wasn't going to tell anybody how it was done.

In the 2013 episode "The Clue of the Savant's Thumb", Jonathan Creek had left the world of theatre and magic and is now a high-powered businessman with a wife, Polly.

Despite this, and his disillusionment with his old work due to the lack of real awe received when he made his announcements, he has still returned to his roots when faced with particularly baffling cases, such as a dead man vanishing from a locked room.

The Christmas 2016 special sees a similar format to past specials as an old secret – in this case, an apparently demonic ritual where women witness their lovers thrown through the air into a fire – plays a key role in the death of a man Jonathan once cleared of murder (although the subsequent investigation prompts Jonathan to realise that the man actually did commit the crime of which he was accused).