Who's The Murderer (simplified Chinese: 明星大侦探, literally "Famous Detective") is a murder mystery variety show produced by Mango TV. Unlike its predecessor Crime Scene, where real crime scenes from Korea and abroad are recreated, the show sometimes employs Magic Realism and has cases that occur in The Future.
Similar to the Korean version, cast members are introduced to the settings and suspects of a murder case, and they can choose the role they want to play for the reenactment of the case, either as a suspect or the detective. Players are separated into two teams and are given ten minutes to investigate the crime scene for evidence, bringing a camera (later a smartphone) that can take up to ten pictures and in the case of the smartphone, videos and sound recordings. The cast collates their evidence during the free briefing segment. After this, additional on-site investigation is given, and during this, the detective heads to the interrogation room and calls another player in order to have a one on one discussion with them. After all of the players have had their one on one interrogation, each player then secretly votes for who they think is the final criminal, and the result of these votes determine the outcome of the game. If the person is indeed the criminal, the detective receives two gold bars, and the innocent players receive one each. If the arrested person is not the criminal, the true culprit gets all the gold bars.
Unlike the Korean version, however, the murder cases are not limited to sets inside a studio: in the third season, all the scenes have become realistic (such as a real cruise ship, hotel, and hospital), in which the cast members experience the whole crime setting themselves. Props and the background of the cases are all original and solid, though in the later seasons, the studio set makes its return in a few episodes. As the seasons progress, there are one to two victims for each case, making the cases far more complex. The detective's assistant is played by various university students, who also play the roles of the victims in some cases.
Cast Members
Fixed Cast Members
- He Jiong (born April 28, 1974) - Host, actor
- Sa Beining (born March 23, 1976) - Host, journalist
Recurring Cast Members
- Wang Ou / Angel Wangnote (born October 28, 1982) - Actress, model
- Gui Gui / Emma Wunote (born August 11, 1989) - Singer, actress
- Bai Jingtingnote (born October 15, 1993) - Actor
- Qiao Zhenyu - Actor
- Da Zhangwei / Wowkie Zhang - Singer
- Zhang Ruoyun - Actor
- Chen Ruoxuan - Actor
- Ouyang Nana - Musician, actress
- Liu Haoran / Turbo Liu - Actor
- Sun Jian - Actor
- Wei Daxun - Actor
- Kevin Tsai - Writer, television host, film director, screenwriter
- Wang Jiaer / Jackson Wang - Singer, member of GOT7
- Yang Rong - Actress
- Wei Daxun - Actor
- Da Zhangwei / Wowkie Zhang - Singer
- Wang Jiaer / Jackson Wang - Singer, member of GOT7
- Qiao Zhenyu - Actor
Guest Cast Members
- Ariel Lin - Actress, singer
- Dong Li - Actor
- Chen Yihan / Ivy Chen - Singer
- Lin Bohong / Austin Lin - Actor, singer
- Xue Zhiqian / Joker Xue - Singer
- Su Youpeng / Alec Su - Actor, singer, television producer, film director, member of Xiao Hu Dui
- Sun Yi - Actress
- Sha Yi - Actor
- Xia Zhiguang - Singer, actor, member of X-NINE
- Wei Chen / Vision Wei - Singer, actor
- Huang Lei - Actor, director, singer, screenwriter, model
- Wei Daxun - Actor
- Wei Chen / Vision Wei - Singer, actor
- Wang Jiaer / Jackson Wang - Singer, member of GOT7
- Yang Rong - Actress
Guest Cast Members
- Zhang Ruoyun - Actor
- Wu Lei / Leo Wu - Actor
- Wang Yuan / Roy Wang - Singer, television host and actor
- Xiong Ziqi / Dylan Xiong - Singer, actor, member of Spe Xial
- Yan Rujing - Actor
- Qiao Zhenyu - Actor
- Da Zhangwei / Wowkie Zhang - Singer
- Pan Yueming - Actor
- Zhang Ruoyun - Actor
- Liu Haoran / Turbo Liu - Actor
- Wei Daxun - Actor
- Huang Minghao / Justin Huang - Singer, member of NINE PERCENT
- Tan Songyun / Seven - Actress
- Wei Chen / Vision Wei - Singer, actor
- Xie Na - Host, singer, actress
Guest Cast Members
- Deng Lun - Actor
- Lin Gengxin / Kenny Lin - Actor
- Wu Xin / Orfila - Host, actress
- Qiao Zhenyu - Actor
- Ma Li - Actress
- Qiao Shan - Actor
- Qiao Xin / Bridgette Qiao - Actress
- Da Zhangwei / Wowkie Zhang - Singer
- Yang Rong - Actress
- Hou Minghao / Neo Hou - Actor, singer, member of Fresh Teenager Geek
- Wei Chen / Vision Wei - Singer, actor
Guest Cast Members
- Zhang Ruoyun - Actor
- Jing Boran - Singer, actor, member of BoBo
- Jiang Yilei / Papi Jiang - Comedian
- Qi Wei / Stephy Qi - Actress
- Wei Daxun - Actor
- Liu Haoran / Turbo Liu - Actor
Crime Scene provides examples of the following:
- Always Murder: As long there is a body, there is going to be suspects, no accidents, no suicides.
- Amnesia Episode:
- Season 4's first case of Number One Player has a gimmick where, the suspects, including the murderer, lost their memories when the case starts, thus prompting the need to discover their identities in additional to solving the murder
- Season 6's Sour Offer, where the cast (except for the murderer) lost their memories by inhaling a memory loss gas.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: When the correct criminal is arrested.
- Ascended Extra:
- Bai Jinting is initially a guest star for the Season 1 first case, but with Qiao Zhenyu's (one of the initial main cast) additional acting schedule and Bai good performance in the first 3 episodes, the producers decided to make him a recurring regular.
- Da Zhang Wei also has the same treatment, but has other commitments that he stayed as a guest star after Season 1.
- Asshole Victim: Most, if not all of the murder cases have their victims as a Jerkass.
- There are detective assistants (who help the detective) starting from Season 1, but it is not until Season 4 that they are given roles related to the detective. Season 6 even gives them the power to vote for the murderer.
- Boy Band: No Zuo No Die (NZND, literally 'no work, no die'), which has been present for all five seasons. The cast even says that wherever NZND is, danger follows them.
- Butt-Monkey:
- Bai Jinting is one in Season 1, for being jailed 3 times despite being innocent for the entire season.
- As for as guest stars goes, Wu Xin is probably the worst, as for the 4 times she has guest starred, she's jailed for all of them, even with a case she's innocent
- Crossdresser: Season 3's "Dark Fairytale" has Wei Daxun playing the role of Snow White.
- Data Pad: Later in Season 1, contestants are given smartphones (sponsored by Oppo) to take photos of evidence. This vastly improve the quality of the photos compared to the cameras they are initially given, in addition to having the ability to save videos and voice recording during the first discussion stage.
- Easily-Overheard Conversation: Due to the reenactment being set in a studio where the "rooms" are open. Averted in the cases where an actual place is used as a set.
- Everyone Is a Suspect: Everyone except the player with the role of "detective" and "detective's assistant".
- Everyone Is Related: One of the keys in solving cases is to find out what relations the suspects have to the victim and among themselves, as it's very likely that everyone has a relationship with everyone in one way or another.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip:
- Season 3's "Hotel Horrors Part Two" deals with this, with some of the characters swapping their minds with people trapped in the hotel.
- Season 6's "Midnight Hotel Part Two" also deals with this, this time some of the cast are mind swapped with each other and forgot who they initially are.
- Girl Group: Season 5 introduces a three-member girl group You Can You U (YCYU), NZND's sister group from the same entertainment company.
- Genre Savvy: Some cases need a certain amount of being Genre Savvy with regards to how the murders were played out. Usually He and Sa are the members who catch on to these very quickly.
- Gratuitous English: Everyone, but most frequently Sa.
- Haunted House: The mansion in the mountains in "Terrifying Nursery Rhyme" in Season 2 is set up as this.
- To a lesser extent, the Puppet Family's mansion
- Internal Reveal: Averted; the audience only knows about the evidences and stories that the cast members themselves reveal.
- Last-Name Basis: Almost everyone is referred to as their last name (notable exceptions are Gui Gui, who uses Gui, and Ou, whose last name is Wang, among others), and usually the cast member keeps their last name for the character they're playing.
- Long-Lost Relative: All over the place, to the point that "family reunions" happen regularly throughout the course of the show.
- Exaggerated in Season 2 Episode 5 case (See You On Friday), where 4 of the 6 characters (including the detective) are related, having the same father, the victim.
- Magical Realism: Present in some cases, such as the existence of mermaids in Mermaid Island and the case of the mansion in the mountains.
- Multi-Part Episode: Started with Season 2 case "Terrifying Nursery Rhyme", where the cast has to solve 2 murder cases back to back, the second case even has the first case murderer as the victim. After that season, 2 episode cases has been created in the later season.
- Older Than They Look & Younger Than They Look: The cast's ages are different from the ages that their characters have, which of course, confuses the viewers and the cast themselves as these characters' ages sometimes have direct relation to the plot.
- Twist Ending: Whenever the cast guesses the criminal wrongly.
- The best example of this is Season 2's "Crazy Circus", where the murderer got zero votes because its motives are purer (due to greed) compared to the other suspects (which involve relationships).
- Wham Episode:
- Season 1's "Wheel of Fate", the detective turns out to be a suspect, so there are no detective in this case.
- Season 2's "2046", the first time where a cast is murdered for Knowing Too Much.
- Season 2's "Terrifying Nursery Rhyme", where the first Multi-Part Episode is introduced.
- Season 5's "Pianist in the Sea (Part One)" has all the suspects admitting to the detective that they are all murderers.
