The Two Chief Inspector Barnabys: John Nettles as Tom Barnaby & Neil Dudgeon as John Barnaby. Nettles played Tom for 14 years, then Neil took over as his cousin.  “Midsomer Murders” started as a pilot on Great Britain’s ITV in 1997.

Midsomer is synonymous with
murder, thanks to the long-running British TV series, Midsomer Murders.  As an old friend
of mine once said about the equally fictional Cabot Cove of Murder, She Wrote: “I’d sure hate to
live there, people drop like flies!”

Binge too much and you’ll be haunted by this show’s eerie theme!

Midsomer
Murders is a top notch cross between the pastoral Agatha Christie whodunits
and modern day TV police procedurals. As of 2024, the show is in its 24 season. 

One of my mother’s
favorites, when she doesn’t have that other feel-good perennial on—Law and Order, I first binge-watched Midsomer Murders with her during the Covid
era. These movie-length whodunits, with their large casts, clever and convoluted
plot twists, and dramatic demises, all started to blur.

The cast of “Midsomer Murders” has evolved over the years. DCI Tom Barnaby’s  peeps are on the left and DCI John Barnaby’s are on the right!

So, last Thanksgiving,
when I bought my first TV in 18 years, I started watching this mystery suspense
series on YouTube and Tubi. Viewing at a more leisurely pace, I noted a number
of recurring themes. There are far more than ten, but here’s the top tropes
of Midsomer Murders that jump out at
and amuse me:

#10: While British
detectives are the heroes, they usually make a whipping boy out of their
sidekicks. Granted, the whippersnapper newbies often jump to conclusions or
deal poorly with suspects, but let’s just say their superior officers also
have superior attitudes!

John Nettles DCI Tom Barnaby can be a bit snippy, but Daniel Casey’s DS Troy can irritate! “Midsomer Murders” is in it’s 24th season.

#9: The situation that
jumpstarts the murders is often an event that put upon locals see as unwanted
change perpetrated by rich locals or crass outsiders.

#8: Another main
motive for a string of murders often involves secret parentage of now adult
characters, whose current actions may mess up the status quo for the killer!

Woe to the British aristocrat that’s dismissive of either Chief Inspector Barnaby! From the perennial Brit TV fave, “Midsomer Murders.”

#7: If a character is
an old male British blowhard, he’s either going to get murdered or is involved in
the murder.

#6: If that rich old
British dude has a wife, she’s usually far younger and far less classy!

#5: If I had a dollar
for every time the first murder happens with the killer creeping in the foliage
or peeking through the windows, I’d be a Midsomer millionaire.

#4: How many times
near the end of each episode does Chief Inspector Barnaby realize who or why
regarding the murders from an off-hand comment made by someone else? 

#3: Which in turn
makes Barnaby realize someone’s in imminent danger, with he and his officer
making a mad dash to catch the killer before it is too late.

#2: Like Law and Order, if you wanted to watch a
“Reader’s Digest” version of Midsomer
Murders, you could watch the first and last five minutes, and miss all the
middle courses of red herring!

#1: And here’s my
nearly fool-proof way of guessing a Midsomer murderer. It’s rarely the
nasty characters—they usually get satisfyingly knocked off. No, it’s usually a gentle
character, or a SEEMINGLY genteel type, who reveals their true colors in the
closing minutes. Usually, they are frustrated and pushed over the edge by plot points
that drive them to, murder they said! 

Don’t let “Midsomer Murders” meek & mousy types fool you! This one looks like  Bette Davis as the old maid from “Now, Voyager!” But she’s more like a Davis baddie!

Midsomer
Murders, now an institution, began as a pilot in 1997. There
have been two Chief Inspector Barnabys. John Nettles played Tom Barnaby for 81
episodes, until February 2011. Neil Dudgeon then took over as Tom’s cousin,
John, and has played the new Inspector Barnaby since. I much
prefer Nettles as Tom Barnaby, whose inspector can be a bit prickly, but has a
wry sense of humor, and is most subtle as the good detective. Dudgeon tries a
bit too hard with heavy-handed humor, for my taste. The regular supporting
cast, which has changed a bit over the years, has all been uniformly excellent,
even if you don’t always like their characters. And Inspector Tom’s wife and
daughter, Joyce and Cully, can at times make me wish he was a bachelor. I often
find two of the sergeants, Troy and Jones, a bit dense to find them enjoyable. I
also preferred the sergeants who didn’t stick around long, who also happened to
be the hunks, rather than the hicks.

“Midsomer Murders” needs to solve what ever happened to John Hopkins’ DS Dan Scott, who called in sick mid-case and never came back!

Aside from the always
solid leads, the characters that make the show sing are the weekly guest casts,
playing quirky characters that populate each Midsomer village, with the two Barnabys
to sort out who are the murderers. There’s always a great cast of British
actors who draw you right in. Some are actors familiar to American audiences,
like Hayley Mills, Imelda Staunton, Judy Parfitt, and Simon Callow. Especially
wonderful are the actors who play the guest villains. Rarely on a show have I
seen such a parade of brilliant baddies that you can’t wait to see get done in!

Toby Jones was once a “Midsomer Murders” regular!

Midsomer Murders has had some great guest stars, though it’s
not a Hollywood Squares parade of
familiar faces, like Murder, She Wrote.
One of my very favorite episodes was with a stellar Honor Blackman, who
appeared as the timeless femme fatale in “A Talent for Life,” at nearly age 80.

Honor Blackman was brilliant as a “Midsomer Murders” guest star in 2003.

The writing on Midsomer Murders has been consistently
strong. The show can alternate from slightly supernatural to black comedy to
straight up chills, and yet it never loses sight of its basic premise. Midsomer Murders has had a number of
classic episodes, but the ones that are the most memorable for me are the ones
that have a bittersweet quality, where the current day characters are haunted
by the past deaths of loved ones. Each episode of Midsomer Murders has so much going on that they can be enjoyed
repeatedly, which is exactly what I’m now doing!

“Midsomer Murders” current crime solvers: Neil Dudgeon as DCI John Barnaby & Nick Hendrix as DS Jamie Winter.

Midsomer Murders is based on the Chief Inspector Barnaby
series of books, by Caroline Graham. She became a success in middle-age, with
her first Barnaby book published in 1987. And Graham is still with us at age
92.

Speaking of detective
shows with twisty stories and terrific villains, here’s another show I enjoyed
during Covid lockdown, Columbo,
focusing on Jack Cassidy as a three-time guest star bad guy!

https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2022/03/jack-cassidys-killer-trio-from-columbo.html