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Why I Love...Midsomer Murders

John Nettles as DCI Barnaby and Jason Hughes as Sergeant Jones
  • Posted at 5:16am
  • 15 March 2007
  • by DavidBrown-RT
  • 7 comments

Murder is the cosiest commodity on the box and a visit to the picturesque county of Midsomer on a Sunday is the televisual equivalent of sweet tea and diamond-print sweaters on a winter's evening.

Can you imagine if it was called Midsomer Muggings or Midsomer Burglaries? Hardly the same rosy glow. No, a good slaying keeps us all sated.

John Nettles stars as the stolid and dependable Inspector Tom Barnaby, a man whose mouth is set in such a grim line of rigidity that you suspect he's moonlighting as a ventriloquist when off-duty.

Mass killing never seems to surprise old Tom or his level-headed sidekick; the chief constable never thinks to assign a murder squad to help them out; and the body count rises steadily for two hours without a sniff of interest from the London press. It's Christie-land in a contemporary setting, complete with elderly thespians who'd otherwise be acting in repertory productions of Dame Agatha's plays.

All of which makes for wonderfully comforting viewing. In Caroline Graham's original Midsomer novels, Barnaby is portrayed as moody and someone of whom others are fearful, while sidekick Sergeant Troy is little more than a thug in a trenchcoat. Smoothing away these rough edges is the transfer from book to screen, a process that has several precedents: Inspector Morse is seedier in Colin Dexter's books, while RD Wingfield's Jack Frost is more lascivious and coarse than David Jason's avuncular portrayal.

But there is a sinister underside to all the pictorial policing and for me, it comes in the form of Barnaby's wife Joyce - either she's the unluckiest person on earth or a closet mass murderer. Every social event she attends results in slaughter: she joins a choral society and someone keels over in the pews, a gathering of amateur artists ends with a painter slumped over his easel. The woman could be the grim reaper with a fringe and sensible shoes.

Luckily daughter Cully is usually on hand to help with any investigation in her flowing floral dresses. Why her parents didn't just call her Laura Ashley Barnaby and have done with, I don't know.

The multi-talented Cully can be relied upon to change occupations to suit any plot contrivance - need a suspect's mysterious holiday plans checking? Well, Cully's just got herself a job in the local travel agents. Suspect there's something deadly going on at the am-dram theatre company? Guess who's got herself a small but vital role among the players?I'm telling you, if it wasn't for Barnaby's willowy offspring, he'd still be issuing parking tickets in Causton town centre.

Still, despite the surreal touches and increasingly outrageous methods of carnage (crossbows, pitchforks, electrocutions), it's the reliability of Midsomer Murders that matters. All those night-time scenes of impending death, complete with thatched cottages, rustling hedgerows, owl hoots and the screams of foxes. Plus the thrilling possibility of Richard Briers, Robert Hardy or Honor Blackman turning up to do a guest turn. Quick, get me a cocoa and my slippers, immediately.

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Comments

  • Posted on 27 October 2008
  • at 8:17pm
  • by Svetlana

I like Jonh Nettles very much (look Midsommer murders now on Hallmark channel) :)))

  • Posted on 29 September 2008
  • at 4:35pm
  • by Dickyboy

I wonder what some people want from M S M. It's highly entertaining, the acting is excellent, the story lines are ridiculus of course, but that's what it's all about. I don't think they are even proper whodunnits. No little grey cells needed. Just a good mix of Murder and other skullduggery. Great stuff!

  • Posted on 05 August 2008
  • at 2:16am
  • by Pelham

What on earth are the rave reviews about for this show? The main actors appear to have phoned in their performances and are only saved by the skill of the secondary actors.

  • Posted on 06 July 2008
  • at 5:46pm
  • by mm fan

did i dream it or in the earlier episodes did barnaby and joyce have 2 daughters one with marital problems and 2 children can anyone corroborate this.

  • Posted on 28 April 2008
  • at 9:38am
  • by terrysharphouse

The only mystery about Midsomer Murders is how this latest dross got on screen. Having really enjoyed the programme in the past & looked forward to the new series, last nights episode was two hours of RUBBISH! Apart from the convoluted storyline, we were expected to believe that the murderer, an aging actor, about 80 years old with a heart condition carried heavy victims onto a scaffold and cut their heads off with a very noisy guillotene unnoticed by everyone including a security man. When the story flashed back to show how he had transported the womans body to the scaffold, we witnessed him flip the body into the tumbrel as if she weighed no more than a crisp packet.

What about the writers producing a believable storyline with a realistic plot and to stop treating us the viewers as if we are halfwitted, prepared to watch anything because of previous good reviews.

  • Posted on 28 March 2007
  • at 4:25pm
  • by Guest100

I find Midsomer Murders, entertaining also, and am glad, that it is being repeated, in the afternoons, along with another good programme Kavanagh QC.

M M is larger than life, and has as many murders, as Oxford did, with Inspector Morse. I do not agree that Mr Barnaby's mouth is set in a grim line. He has some humour, and an assistant, as dependable, as Lewis was. At least Mr Barnaby, and his assistant, are courteous, and do not shout or swear at people.

I would disagree with the comparisons. I do not have sweet tea, sugar spoils a good cuppa, or wear the type of sweater mentioned. I doubt if Joyce wants anyone to be murdered. As I have not read the books, or those featuring Messrs Frost and Morse either, to date, I cannot comment, on their TV Adaptations.

  • Posted on 28 March 2007
  • at 4:24pm
  • by Guest100

I've never missed an episode of Midsomer Murders, it is simply one of the best things on the block. John Nettles has been my favourite TV detective since the days of Bergerac.

Midsomer Worshipper, I record DM on my DVR and MM on my VCR because I just can't miss either, lol. I am about to watch my MM recording for Thursday and Friday right now.

More MM, please.

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