Midsomer Murders

The series is set in idyllic English countryside with beautiful villages and archetypical inhabitants. It's fun to watch as Barnaby and Troy are amusing, the stories are fairly good and they are a pleasant break from the hard and gripping detective shows that leave a nasty taste in the mouth. The stories are not demanding, police procedure is appalling, we all know England is not like this, but if you want an enjoyable show with a detective story, I recommend it.

Midsommer Murders is the very definition of a guilty pleasure: it delivers a thoroughly and sustainably enjoyable and rewarding viewing experience when it shouldn't; the production value, is there, of course, as is the top notch acting and confident, if simple, directing. It is in the stories, plots and characters that the show is comically simplistic, outdated and unrealistic. And yet, it does not bother you. Contemporary rural England seems to have been frozen in time - the villages might as well be the setting for a Hercule Poirot/Sherlock Holmes murder mystery - all these butlers and manors and decadent heirs and disenfranchised servants and hunting parties and minor nobles..and still, one plays along, you suspend everything you know England is, for the illusion and the stereotype that is presented to you. And even though the crimes can be appalling and the motives quite dark and daring ( the show had episodes dealing with incest, madness and extremely violent deaths), what you are left with is a type of nostalgia and dreamlike impression, a lingering memory of country pubs and inns and stone bridges and a luscious green countryside.

I've been binge-watching (unintentionally--I accidentally got hooked) on N*tfl*x and am now on season 12. My appreciation for this show has only grown; which leads me to substantially increase my rating from the first season or two. FYI: yes, while thankfully not too hard to understand here, there is closed-captioning.

Why I've grown to like this show so much: While the initial season or two were rife with annoying stereotypes, as the show matured, so did the characters. Barnaby, the lead, is a nice change from the sometimes deranged, immature and annoying detectives so popular on American television today. He's a laid back intelligent fellow, with a stable marriage and a lovely grown daughter with ambitions of her own. It's also a nice change for a detective show to not rely on any ongoing marital or family strife as a prop for ramping up tension and drama. Any marital spats here are realistically mild and short-lived (except for the first season or so, when Joyce (his charmingly age-appropriate wife) too often complains about his frequent and justified absences during "family" moments--that was irritating, as any cop's spouse--or doctor's spouse, or fireman's spouse, would know that is part of the job; especially in a rural district with low staff numbers. I realize I'm over thinking this, but I'm glad they dropped that trope relatively early, regardless). As of season 12 Joyce is secure in her relationship with Barnaby and a woman with an active life outside of her marriage. This is a healthy relationship with mutual support and affection. Such a nice change from the usual. His "sidekicks" have also matured and grown more believable.

Even better, the show has improved the mysteries and interjected a bit more dry and appropriate humor. The Barnaby of season 12 is a confident and relaxed, seasoned detective. Sure of himself and his team(unlike many shows of this ilk); willing to let others do the heavy lifting--far more realistic than an older lead detective charging off after a younger suspect--and even let someone else take the lead. By season 12 Barnaby is secure in his position and has nothing to prove to his superiors; he's good at his job without being a rigid moralistic crusader, and everyone knows it. Despite the fact that he despises office politics, he's an active part of a functioning team, and the other characters are also allowed to change, grow and mature, with character arcs that realistically portray their growing knowledge and confidence--and promotions.

Another thing I really like about the program (and for me a major point of appreciation for British programming in general) is that many of the characters are middle aged or elderly. The cast is composed of actors and actresses that look age-appropriate and like real people. These are not Hollywood plasticized, Botoxed and sanitized versions of the middle-aged or elderly. Victims and villains, and even those having romantic affairs look like ordinary people-in some cases very attractive ordinary people, but people with prominent laugh lines and even (gasp) gray hair. People with character. Senior citizens are actively having love affairs and sexual encounters and no one is acting shocked at their age (except perhaps a spouse or two, or maybe their grandchildren); and the writers don't treat it like a joke.

This show rarely makes any note about how old anyone is when they are getting up to whatever they are doing--except perhaps in admiration. What a breathe of fresh air! You do not have to suspend disbelief to accept that actor as the father of that middle aged child, or that one as the middle aged parent of that teenager, or that those people are actually married to each other and have been for 30 or 40 years, or that person was active in WWII, etc. Given some of the mysteries go back to something that happened decades or even generations before, casting age-appropriate actors matters a great deal, even if it didn't seem like an obvious thing to do anyway. (On a social level, it also demonstrates a much greater acceptance of aging and flaws in appearance. You can be attractive even with wrinkles and a saggy bum. An attitude we'd do well to emulate). Midsomer's murder demographic definitely skews older than we would assume from similar American programming. I like that very much.

Overall a very enjoyable program with interesting and believable characters (if you can get past the first season or so) and great actors. Usually not the most challenging of mysteries, but entertaining. The quality or challenge of those mysteries can vary. In general the audience is given the same knowledge as the Detectives, so in that regard there are few "cheats" (I can't stand mystery shows that cheat their audiences; leaving out crucial information that only the sleuth knows). Most of the time the Detectives spell out their logic (sometimes as the show progresses, but usually at the end) in figuring out the murderer's identity and/or the murderer's motive. Once we know the facts and follow the Detective's logic, it makes sense--if you haven't already solved the mystery on your own.

I really appreciate this show.No, it's not a really serious dramatic murder mystery but it's FUN to watch. I get all comfortable in my chair and it's like a mini vacation. I settle into my chair with a nice cup of tea and I'm transported to some English village, a manor, a farm, a pub and it's a slow unravelling. By the time the shows done, I have formed bonds with the locals of the episode. I mean does it get better than this? I don't want noise and car chases and all seriousness or over the top smut. This is wry and dry and just the ticket. It's light but the characters are wonderful and although the stories aren't going to make your eyes pop when the murderer is discovered, you don't care. It's the getting there that's such a good time. I will watch this over and over.

The cases of Chief Inspector Barnaby, a respectable middle-aged family man and a good old fashioned copper and his young sergeant Gavin Troy who is rather touchy and immature and is always jumping to conclusions during investigations. All of the duo's cases take place in the picturesque yet fictional county of Midsomer which must have the highest death rate anywhere in the world!

This highly popular detective series was first aired on 23 March 1997 when the pilot episode "The Killings At Badgers Drift" was transmitted. ITV announced it as a one off film but it was very successful with figures in the region of 13.5 million viewers, and the film won the Best Drama Award that year. The film was based on the 1987 novel by Caroline Graham which was regarded by the Crime Writers' Association as being one of the Top 100 crime novels of all time. The initial series which followed was based on Graham's other four Inspector Barnaby novels, these were "Written In Blood", "Death Of A Hollow Man", "Death In Disguise" and "Faithful Unto Death". Having filmed the majority of Graham's novels featuring Barnaby (A Place Of Safety & Ghost In The Machine have not been filmed as yet) the producers turned to other writers to provide new stories for the subsequent five series. These have included contributions from prolific and accomplished writers such as Anthony Horowitz ("Agatha Christie's Poirot"), Douglas Watkinson ("The Professionals", "Boon", "Emmerdale") and Christopher Russell ("The Bill", "Cadfael"). In the past six years since it made its debut on British television there has been nearly thirty episodes and there is no hint of the series finishing yet. The series is notable in that it has brought John Nettles back to prime time TV after the "Bergerac" series finished in 1993. In this series he played Sergeant Bergerac, a Jersey copper fighting alcoholism and has had uncomfortable relationships with several girlfriends, a role far removed from that of Inspector Barnaby.

The first episode of the seventh series entitled "The Green Man" was aired on 2 November 2003. Daniel Casey who plays Sergeant Troy has left the series. The character has been promoted to Inspector and is leaving Midsomer to take up a position in Newcastle. John Nettles will have a new sidekick in John Hopkins as Sergeant Scott who will be introduced when the remainder of the series is broadcast in January 2004.

"Midsomer Murders" is a wonderful series, although like many long running series, it has occasionally fallen below it's own standard in that the ideas for new plots sometimes becomes strained after so many episodes. The characters are rich and well realised by first class actors and it gets full mileage out of it's rural setting. Guest stars have included Alan Howard (the nephew of Leslie Howard) and Samantha Bond (Miss Moneypenny in all the James Bond films since "Goldeneye"). The quality of this series to my mind is that it should make it to the big screen someday. There would be no need to change anything as all the ingredients for a good cinema feature are there already. These days most of the quality stuff is on the small screen and a lot of mediocre stuff is lumbered on our picture houses.

It has been announced that John Nettles will be quitting the show after playing Inspector Barnaby for twelve-years since the show made its debut. However, he will still be seen in it until 2011 and it looks very much like the show will still continue very much in the manner of other TV shows such as Taggart and McCallam, which carried on without their title characters.