My Life is Murder: Series 5 Review

Five series in and Alexa Crowe remains one of the most enjoyable amateur sleuths on television. My Life is Murder returns for another eight-case run, and while it’s not reinventing anything, it’s very good at being exactly what it’s always been.

Lucy Lawless is still the whole show here, and rightly so. Alexa’s blend of blunt curiosity, dry wit and complete disregard for personal boundaries when there’s a mystery to solve remains as watchable as ever, and Lawless clearly relishes every bit of it. The regular support cast slot back in easily too: Ebony Vagulans’ Madison remains the tech-savvy sidekick every amateur detective needs, Joe Naufahu’s Reuben is as steady and likeable as always, and Rawiri Jobe’s Harry continues to walk the line between professional exasperation and quiet affection for Alexa’s methods rather well.

Series five does throw a couple of new elements into the mix, and they’re welcome ones. A stretch of episodes set in Fiji gives the show a nice change of scenery, and there’s more going on emotionally than usual, Alexa’s bad boy brother Will turning up with fresh chaos, and the reappearance of her old police partner Jesse stirring up some romantic tension that the show handles with a lighter touch than you might expect. It’s a nice reminder that under all the cosy murder-of-the-week plotting, there’s an actual character with an actual life the show cares about.

The cases themselves are as pleasingly odd as ever. A pub quiz night turning fatal, an elite cheerleading team hiding something nasty beneath the pyramid formations, a suspiciously sinister aquarium with an eight legged sidekick, and a set of creepy dolls that’d give Megan a run for her money with Rhys Darby being Rhys Darby, all get their own episode, and the show’s knack for making the everyday and eccentric feel equally sinister is still very much intact. It’s not a series that’s ever trying to shock you, it’s more interested in the fun of watching Alexa needle her way to the truth than in delivering gasp-out-loud twists, and that’s exactly why it works as well as it does.

If there’s a criticism, it’s one that’s followed the show since series one: it knows its formula extremely well, and series five doesn’t push especially hard against it. A couple of the middle episodes feel like fairly comfortable retreads of cases we’ve seen the show do before, just with the furniture rearranged. But for a show that’s built its entire appeal around being reliably good company, that’s a minor complaint rather than a real flaw.

Five series in, My Life is Murder still knows exactly what makes it tick: a brilliant lead performance, a warm, well-worn ensemble, and just enough emotional depth threaded through the cosy mysteries to stop it ever feeling weightless. It occasionally feels like it’d make a good radio soap, its clear dialogue and occasional music beds mean you could listen to it and still get a complete idea of what’s going on. It remains one of the most purely likeable crime dramas going.

Now, following its transmission on U&Alibi, My Life is Murder Series 5 is set to arrive on DVD and digital on 17 August 2026, courtesy of Acorn Media International.