During Deb and John’s marvelous dinner, the conversation turned to Midsomer Mysteries, the British TV series. Deb is a big fan, as are the Meyersons. I had box sets of the series on DVD, but hadn’t gotten around to watching them. Deb’s enthusiasm motivated me to watch Midsomer Mysteries, Series 1. Bucolic English villages hide sordid crimes and wacky characters. Detective Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) and his assistant, Sergeant Troy (Daniel Casey) investigate these cases and expose their cunning plots.
This box set includes The Killings at Badger’s Drift, Written in Blood,, Death of a Hollow Man, Faithful Unto Death, and Death in Disguise. That’s 529 minutes of pure entertainment! I watched Midsomer Mysteries with the Closed Captioning on. Bonus features include Production Notes and a Midsomer map. I don’t know why I waited so long to watch this wonderful mystery series! Do you have a favorite Midsomer Mysteries episode? GRADE: A
I’ve tried watching Midsomer Murders but can never get through an episode. Must just be me because I know a lot of people like them but they just seem too much like cozies to me.
Steve, I like a cozy mystery once in a while.
I love them—we refer to the show as “Midders” in our house. They are “cozies” but with a satirical edge (and far more bloodshed). Probably my favorite episode is “Country Matters”—and there’s an awful lot going on in the country in that one! But there are actually very few episodes that I don’t like—the show is one of my go-to comforts viewings.
I should point out that the first few episodes (all the ones on this set, I think) were adaptations of Caroline Graham’s Midsomer novels, which I also enjoyed reading very much. After that, the scripts were original, just using the Barnaby & Troy characters from Graham’s books.
Deb, I’ll seek out Caroline Graham’s Midsomer novels. Next time we see you and John, I’ll be able to hold up my end of the conversation about MIDSOMER MYSTERIES!
Deb is the expert on this one. No matter which episode I mention, she is on it immediately, down to the details and the guest cast. I can’t remember most titles, but I did like the one with the severed head in the television, and the one where the guy was tied down and a catapult used to pelt him with deadly missiles.
We’re on series 13 now – it is on Netflix and we watch one every Saturday night we’re home – which is the last series before Barnaby retires and turns the gig over to his cousin John. The third sergeant, the Welsh Ben Jones, is a lot more on the ball than goofy Troy, and more pleasant than Daniel Scott, the second sergeant. The fun is in seeing how outrageous the murders can get, recurring motifs, the same guest stars showing up multiple times in different roles, and the beautiful villages,
Jeff, I’m enjoying the off-kilter plots and the screwy characters. And, you’re right about the beautiful villages!
A lot of the big churches and huge houses are reused from season to season.
Jeff, I rarely notice stuff like that, but I know Deb does!
Count me in as a Midsomer fan. As with Deb and John, Midsomer is our go-to comfort viewing:. We’ve seen each episode at least four times and are seriously considering shelling out for Acorn TV so that we can view Season 20.
Midsomer is the Cabot Cove of England (without the terrible Maine accents — and Midsomer tends to have three murders per episode).
So true, Jerry. Last week’s episode only had one murder for the longest time – granted, it was a great one, a decapitation by “The Sword of Guillaume” at a fun fair – but we knew the odds were that it would reach three by the end of the episode, and it did! Rarely, there are only one or two murders, and I remember one or two when there were four.
Jeff, the body count in the MIDSOMER MYSTERIES, SERIES 1 follows the formula.
Jerry, I think MIDSOMER MYSTERIES is Cabot Cove…in the TWILIGHT ZONE!
I watched the first couple of episodes on Netflix last year and just couldn’t get into it. Lots of people seem to love it, though. My idea of a great British cop show is “Happy Valley”.
Michael, I haven’t seen HAPPY VALLEY, but I’ll give it a look.
I enjoyed the Caroline Graham books, and enjoyed the killing at badgers drift on this series.
I would watch them more often, but I’m not sure if the entire mystery is solved in one episode or not. Our PBS is hit or miss and I get frustrated at seeing the first part and not the end.
I might have to get the DVD’s from the library if I ever get my dvr down to less than 20%
I do enjoy death in paradise on PBS It’s on the 2nd or 3rd chief detective, set in a fictional Caribbean island.
Maggie, my Library has the MIDSOMER MYSTERIES DVDs, but I found these box sets at BJ’s Warehouse for a pittance. I couldn’t pass them up!
We like it, and have seen some on PBS and gotten a few from Netflix. I enjoyed them, the characters and setting. I don’t get your description of “shaky” and “screwy” though, George. You make it sound like Are You Being Served? or something. We’ve never seen any of the episodes in order, so if that’s important to enjoying the series, we missed that element. It seemed each case wrapped up in the episode, though.
Yes, each episode wraps up the case, though occasionally they bring back the same actor playing the same character a year or two later. And no, there is no reason to watch them in order, other than if you want to see a particular Barnaby or prefer one Sergeant over another, So far we’ve found Troy to be goofy and a reckless driver, Scott to be a little surly at first because he was sent to the country rather than London, and Jones the best to date. I believe there are a couple of other Sergeants with the second Barnaby, and several new pathologists.
Jeff, it’s good to know order isn’t important in this series. I have the first six series in DVD box sets and will work my way through them during the long winter evenings ahead. Right now it’s snowing. We’re supposed to get about 6 inches over the next 24 hours.
Rick, I found MIDSOMER MYSTERIES include some bizarre elements that might be off-putting for some viewers. But not for you and me, though.
George – MIDSOMER is one of my guilty pleasures. My reading and viewing tends toward the gritty – like the British cop series LINE OF DUTY. With MIDSOMER, I enjoy the contrast between the calm, plodding Barnaby and the over-the-top guest stars.
Elgin, just from the few episodes of MIDSOMER MYSTERIES I’ve watched, I want more!
My partner is from Yorkshire and she watches many UK mysteries on FilmOn TV. Midsomer is one of her favourites and I have watched several episodes. It seems almost every one revolves around some type of fair or show in the area. Different actors now play the two male leads and I don’t like them as much. I much prefer the DCI Banks series and the Shetland series based on Ann Cleeves’ Jimmy Perez series. You defintely will need closed captioning for the latter.
Kent, thanks for the tip about the Shetland series. I’ll check it out.