Jonathan Creek (Alan Davies) works with the amoral magician Adam Klaus (Stuart Milligan), creating a range of various magic tricks and illusions for him.

When he bumps into investigative journalist Maddy Magellan (Caroline Quentin), Jonathan suddenly finds himself reluctantly trying to solve crimes, which on the surface appear to be impossible to crack. However, Creek's superb lateral-thinking always manages to figure out what is going on.

In later series, Maddy is replaced by different assistants. In the 2014 series, Creek is now a happily married man and is helped by his wife Polly (Sarah Alexander).