Jonathan Creek

Casting the lead role proved difficult: Nicholas Lyndhurst turned it down, Rik Mayall was busy with stage work at the time, and Hugh Laurie initially accepted but later withdrew because he couldn't figure out Creek's motivations for investigating the cases.

Almost a dozen actors were considered for the role of Jonathan Creek, including Nigel Planer and Angus Deayton, before director Susan Belbin spotted Alan Davies during a sitcom rehearsal and invited him to meet writer David Renwick.

Anthony Head originally played magician Adam Klaus in the 1997 pilot episode, but had to leave the role after being cast as Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, allowing Stuart Milligan to take over from the second series onward.

Jonathan Creek's trademark duffle coat in the first series was actually Alan Davies' own coat, which he wore to his audition and which helped convince the writer and producers he was right for the part; he kept the original coat at home and wore it again for the 2009 New Year special.

In his early planning, David Renwick considered making Maddy Magellan Creek's stepmother, with the pair investigating crimes in memory of his murdered father, but he dropped the idea because it felt too much like a 'Batman' avenging-son concept.

The show was produced by the BBC's in-house Entertainment department rather than its Drama department, because Renwick preferred working with people he already knew rather than unfamiliar Drama department staff.

The series' distinctive theme tune is an arrangement by Julian Stewart Lindsay of Camille Saint-Saëns's Danse Macabre; Lindsay also composed the incidental music for the first three series before Rick Wentworth took over.

Jonathan Creek's method of debunking seemingly supernatural crimes through logic gives him a resemblance to real-life stage magician turned paranormal investigator James Randi.

Three attempts were made to create a U.S. remake of Jonathan Creek: one with Castle Rock (the company behind Seinfeld) whose scripts were rejected by CBS, and another written by Renwick intended to star Whoopi Goldberg and include Alan Davies.