During a ghost-hunting party, a womanizing Midsomer furniture maker gets stabbed to death with a Victorian sword. Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby investigates with the help of his new assistant, Detective Sargent Charlie Nelson. During another paranormal party, another murder results with Nelson nearby. DCI Barnaby has plenty of suspects and motives involved in the murders.
Are you a fan of Midsomer Murders? GRADE: B+
We love Midsomer Murders—which we refer to as “Midders” in our house—and have all 21 seasons (so far) on DVD. One of our favorite pastimes as we watch an episode is called “Spot the actor/actress” where—when someone new appears on screen—we call out what other shows (including other episodes of Midders) we’ve seen them in: “He was in a Poirot,” “She was in a Vera,” “He was in a Gently,” etc. Our favorite episodes include “Country Matters,” “Hidden Depths,” and “The Sword of Guillaume,” among many others. Great fun!
Deb, I have the first five seasons on DVD and hope to buy the other 16 seasons in the months ahead. You’re right about the actors cycling in and out of British series.
At Deb’s urging, we started watching them from the beginning, and – one a week on Saturday nights – we went through the entire series, both Barnabys, all the Sergeants (some were definitely better than others), all the outre murders (stabbed with a pitchfork was commonplace, especially compared to being crushed by a giant wheel of cheese), etc. There are definitely better shows as far as mysteries go (Lewis, for one), but these are still fun for the most part. You do notice things as time goes on. Certain actors (hello, Simon Callow) are on several times, various members of the Fox family are apt to turn up – James and his son Jack (Laurence starred in Lewis), Edward and his wife Joanna David (can’t remember if his kids were on, but his son Freddie guested on Lewis) – sometimes as murderers, sometimes as victims.
Like Deb and her family, I spend much of each show identifying where we know the guest stars from (not only Vera and Gently, but New Tricks and Death in Paradise, among others). At times, you can go by “the most famous guest star is the killer” but they got past that.
Apparently, there were complaints about the lily white casting of the show, so in the last couple of seasons or so, there is almost always exactly ONE black person in the village and the cast, though occasionally there are more than one (or, perhaps, one black and one Indian).
The Sergeants were:
Gavin Troy (first 7 seasons), known for his fast, reckless driving and being exceedingly dim, if likable.
Dan Scott (series 7 & 8) I didn’t care for him much.
Ben Jones (series 9-15) My personal favorite. Eventually promoted to Inspector.
Charlie Nelson (series 16-18)
Jamie Winter (series 19- )
Jeff, you’re right about the wackiness of some of the MIDSOMER MURDERS. And I agree with you on the Sergeants.
Years ago when I first got Netflix I gave this a try and didn’t much like it. Plus I was scared off by the sheer number of episodes and just couldn’t see devoting the rest of my life to it. It took me a while to realize that there were god only knows how many of these British cop shows out there, most of them having been there for years. I had friends who’d become addicted to them and rarely watched anything else. Eventually I did fall for two of them. The best is the terrific “Happy Valley” which (for now anyway) is only two six-episode seasons. The other one is “Foyle’s War”, and just as I was about to reach the end of the first season Netflix dropped it. Recently I’ve picked it up on Hoopla and will eventually get to the end. And as well as I’ve been able to determine, it DOES have an end.
Michael, they keep saying there will be another HAPPY VALLEY. One thing we heard was that she was waiting for the kid who played the son to grow up. But then, Sally Wainwright is busy writing many other series (not as good, for the most part) – SCOTT & BAILEY, LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX (which has really fallen off), GENTLEMAN JACK.
Michael, you’re right about some of the British mysteries series having a daunting number of episodes. But, during a pandemic, that can be a Good Thing.
Always enjoyable, but when there’s an occasional episode when there are less than the three requisite murders, I am disappointed.
Jerry, the number of murders in Midsomer rivals the number of murders in Cabot Cove (MURDER SHE WROTE aired for 12 seasons with 264 episodes from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network).
Good one, Jerry. Every once in a while there are only two murders (shock!) and (I’m sure Deb has the information at hand) I’m sure there were at least a couple with four murders, Barnaby just has to wait until all the suspects are killed and there is only one or two people left to choose from!
Jeff, you would think that with the number of murders in Midsomer, the population would go down.
I’m with Michael. I like my crime series a little darker and more character-oriented. Although the weapons are clever on Midsommer Murders.
Patti, I think the frothiness of MIDSOMER MURDERS is intentional. The scripts are more light than dark and the characters are occasionally silly.
Not a fan. I agree with Patti and Michael .
Steve, different strokes for different folks.
We’ve enjoyed the few we’ve seen, but it’s rarely on. I don’t know where you all see it.
Rick, we have two main PBS stations and one of them shows it every week. We watched them mostly on Netflix. I think they’ve moved now to Acorn and Britbox, both of which we have through Amazon Prime.
Rick, I have some MISOMER MURDERS DVD sets. And sometimes it’s on the Canadian TV channels.
I have watched many episodes and there always seems to be a fair or show of some type taking place. It’s not my favourite British crime show as I too prefer the darker ones such as Rebus. I also liked the Shetland series.
Kent, I like REBUS, too. But sometimes I’m in the mood for lighter fare.
We love Midsomer Murders. We have watched all the seasons (on DVD) up to the present, and all of the original Barnaby episodes have been watched twice. The comments here are interesting and entertaining.
Tracy, I have some catching up to do on MIDSOMER MURDERS. I’m a few seasons behind.