I cannot tell you how long I’ve wanted to discuss Midsomer Murders in some format. As a child I can vividly remember watching snippets of episodes here and there and it’s definitely one of those shows with scenes that are firmly imprinted on my memory. I don’t think there’s another detective show like it, it is entirely its own thing. I recently endeavored to watch every single episode of the Tom Barnaby era of Midsomer Murders, partly because ITV2’s sporadic airings simply aren’t enough and because I wanted to write about a show that had such a lasting impression on me growing up. Now, I should state right off the bat here that I’m only discussing the Tom Barnaby episodes, not the John Barnaby ones. I know that may be somewhat controversial but the John Nettles era was the one I grew up with, John Barnaby means nothing to me and it seems everyone agrees that the show takes a gradual decline after Nettles departure. With that in mind, lets talk about one of the best British detective shows of all time, Midsomer Murders.
Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby (Jon Nettles) works to solve a litany of murders in the picturesque but bloody county of Midsomer. Assisting Barnaby in this are a series of Sergeants; Gavin Troy (Daniel Casey, S1E1-S7E1), Dan Scott (John Hopkins, S7E2-S8E8), and Ben Jones (Jason Hughes, S9E1-S13E8), with additional help from WPC Gail Stephens (Kirsty Dillon, S10E5-S13E8), and Dr George Bullard (Barry Jackson, S1E1-S13E8). Barnaby’s dedication to his job and frequent call outs are often to the chagrin of wife, Joyce (Jane Wymark) and daughter Cully (Laura Howard).
Midsomer Murders has sort of become something of a joke in the British consciousness, hasn’t it? I mean, most people think of it as that show where people get murdered in villages and everyone is fucking but that really doesn’t do it justice; Midsomer Murders has a lot going for it. I think one of the pillars on which a detective show rests is the quality of the lead detective. Tom Barnaby is a great lead. He’s warm and decent and a genuinely good police officer. He picks up on Troy’s bigotry in earlier seasons and on Scott’s morally grey techniques in later seasons. Barnaby is willing to break the rules when he thinks it’s necessary and empathizes with people in ways other officers don’t. Barnaby is the perfect police officer.
The secondary characters are, for the most part, just as strong. Troy, Scott, and Jones are all markedly different characters. Troy begins the show as slightly dim and incompetent but grows into a capable officer in his own right and leaves Midsomer in a genuinely emotional scene. Scott is just passing through, Midsomer is just a road bump on a bigger and more exiting career, and he’s very much a London cop. Jones has a lot of similarities with Troy in that he’s a novice who Barnaby trains but he’s far more of an equal to Barnaby than Troy is. Barnaby’s relationships with all three is great, though he gels less with Scott in part, I assume, due to the fact he likes to be able to play the teacher for his underlings and there’s not a great deal he can teach Scott. Another mild nitpick is that Scott just disappears after less than two seasons while Troy and Jones get nice little moments with Barnaby. I’d have liked to see Scott move onto bigger and brighter things and for he and Barnaby to part as equals.
Joyce is a joy, largely because of the impression she gives us. There are lots of jokes about her being a serial killer given how often she finds dead bodies but I quickly came to see her as a perpetually bored housewife, desperately looking for something, anything, to fill the void of her life, hence all the hobbies. It’s especially funny to me that the first time Joyce sees a murder she’s traumatized for the entire episode but by the last episode all she does after finding a body is take a bath; she’s used to it at this point. Some of the most fun I had watching Midsomer Murders was laughing at my own stupid jokes about Joyce pottering around the house and day drinking just to keep the tedium of her life at bay. Even without the jokes though, Joyce is a warm and funny character and her relationship with Barnaby is really enjoyable and the chemistry between the two is great; it feels like a proper marriage.
Cully’s great too, though the fact she doesn’t appear to have any friends and spends lots of time hanging out with her parents is a bit worrying, with the only time she socializes with people her own age (former schoolfriends no less) they try to drown her for fun. My main issue with Cully is that after she gets married it doesn’t seem like the show knows what to do with her. For the first few seasons we followed Cully as she tried to break into acting and eventually found some success but once she gets married there’s just nothing else, she just pops up every now and then and we never see her husband, Simon (Sam Hazeldine), after the wedding. I wish there’d been another chapter to the character’s life after the wedding. Children is the obvious answer but Cully always talked about a career in acting rather than children. It just feels like the character is entirely pointless for those latter seasons.
It’s not just the main cast that excel though, Midsomer Murders has some wonderful guest stars. One of the things I love about Midsomer Murders is that it gives roles to excellent actors with a background in tv and theatre that many viewers may not have heard of. John Nettles is very vocal about liking this because it gave him the opportunity to work along so many of his idols. The show benefits immensely from the talent of these guest stars, many of whom turn in some of the most memorable performances in the show’s history, and given that actors tend to make reappearances as other characters in other episodes it’s always fun to spot them. Plus, a lot of actors who pop up in Midsomer Murders have been staples of British television and theatre for decades so 90% of the time you will know them from somewhere else.
I’ve talked before about just how great the Midsomer Murders theme is and how much it sums up the tone of the show but to leave it there would do the show a disservice. Midsomer Murders does the balance between horror and comedy as well as any other show I’ve ever seen and the juxtaposition between the green and pleasant land of the English countryside with the brutal and deplorable behavior of many of its inhabitants works perfectly. It’s that tone that’s the real selling point of the show, and though it’s often ridiculous it usually works.
With all the praise I’ve loaded on Midsomer Murders it should be said that episodes are a mixed bag, with most of the best ones in the first few seasons. It’s always the case that some episodes are better than others and at times I found myself just wanting to get through one to get to the other, but for the most part there’s a broad consistency in quality. Later series lag somewhat though, and by series eleven it’s clear the best is over but still, there are one or two memorable episodes even then. The show makes up for the weaker episodes by referencing itself regularly. In earlier seasons, characters might appear twice or there’d be reference to events of a previous episode and certainly I wish this had carried on. Later seasons will include references but not in the same way. Jezebel Tripp, an author featured heavily in one episode, has her books displayed in the library in a later episode, and the estate agent, Miss Beauvoisin, appears in four early episodes but her ‘for sale’ signs appear in multiple episodes throughout the show. Despite a final series that doesn’t really match previous heights, the final episode of Tom Barnaby’s run is pretty solid and shows the respect and affection the entire team had for the character and for the show.
Midsomer Murders is often maligned as a joke but most of the episodes hit the mark perfectly, the cast is great, the characters are memorable, and the theme tune is among the best in tv history. Definitely worth a watch.
9/10
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