The world of entertainment is abuzz with OTT platforms offering amazing global series. But I took a thrill ride with these mystery series on YouTube. Best part, they are free family entertainers with positive messages of love, bonding, honesty and victory of good over evil.

1. Famous Five series

Enid Blyton remains my favourite author. I grew up on her books and was very sad when I had to give most of my collection away as we moved houses. With the pandemic rendering us indoors, I just began searching for the Famous Five mystery series. And I found the 1970s version. In these 27 episodes, I found my love was still as deep as before. I also joined an Enid Blyton Facebook group and discovered there were many people like me. I guess the simple writing and ability to related with curious minds makes this author eternally inspiring.

2. The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew mysteries

These were cult books during my childhood. I would buy new ones week after week. The young detectives stood for every teen’s fantasy. They were brave, taking on criminals and went to the most amazing places, despite the many scrapes they fell into. I loved them then and I loved them more in these series. While the picturisation isn’t much like the books, it’s definitely a good flavour of detective tales. The books were commissioned to different people by the publishing house, but the author’s names were always Carolyn Keene for Nancy Drew and Franklin W. Dixon for Hardy Boys.

3. The Ghost & Mrs Muir

After watching the Famous Five, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, it was but natural to look for more thrilling series. In this search popped out The Ghost & Mrs Muir. Apparently, this was a great movie made in 1947, based on a novel written by Irish authorJosephine Leslie (1898-1979), who wrote under the pseuodonym ‘R.A.Dick’. This was later adapted into a beautiful TV series (1968-70). A young widow, Mrs Muir moves with her housekeeper, two children and a dog into a cottage where the ghost of a sea captain lives. What I liked are the picturisation, the old world charm, the ghost with his many emotional shades, the little town and nuances of a close-knit community life.

4. Children of The Stones

Apparently this was a 1977 series that became a landmark in children’s drama. It has also been termed as the ‘scariest programme ever made for children’ but maybe I didn’t find it that scary. Well, also between 1976 and 2021, we have got used to the adventures of Harry Potter on the big screen, right? The series follows the adventures of astrophysicist Adam Brake and his teenage son Matthew after they arrive in the small village of Milbury. The village is built in the midst of a megalithic stone circle, This megalithic stone structure exists in Avebury, Wiltshire. The stone circle is along the lines of the famous Stonehenge. The outdoor scenes for this series were filmed here.

5. Paradise Corner

This is a Russian crime fiction series on Epic Media English channel. The story revolves around a young girl Vera who comes to the beautiful and small town of Paradise Corner to find her sister Lesya. Of course, it’s not simple as the sister has been missing for three months and Vera goes through many turbulent situations before finding the sister. And she also busts a racket. While I don’t understand Russian, I had the subtitles on and the location was absolutely stunning. The editing and tight-knit scenes keep you hooked. It’s interesting to see masks being shed off and the real self emerging when situations change. But it has a good ending and the channel has other good series too.

So what are you binge watching? Please leave your suggestions in the comments section.

This blog post is part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023 challenge.

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