Midsomer Murders - General Discussion

[enoughcats]

We are watching Series 20 (new DVDs from our library) and about ten minutes in, I realized how much I'd missed the series. 

Maybe it's because it's been frigid cold and dreary here, the colors of Causton look even better this year. But even more, the houses, buildings, priories are breathtaking.  There's a half timbered house that is an estate.  Puppy dog is still there just enough.  We're making ourselves stretch out watching this, because we know binge watching is fun, but good things are even better savored slowly.  I really liked the supporting characters so far.  

[LennieBriscoe]

Haha,  you guys! Although I am a hard-core Anglophile (how did I miss this show's awesome quintessential English villages on my travels?!) as well as British murder mysteries aficionada, I somehow have ignored MM until this year!

So I am only on Season 4, alternating between my PBS programming and Amazon Prime. 

I'm hooked, and it will be a sad day for LennieBriscoe when Tom Barnaby departs the scene! John doesn't look to have the same snarky twinkle in his eye!

[msani19]

20 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Haha,  you guys! Although I am a hard-core Anglophile (how did I miss this show's awesome quintessential English villages on my travels?!) as well as British murder mysteries aficionada, I somehow have ignored MM until this year!

So I am only on Season 4, alternating between my PBS programming and Amazon Prime. 

I'm hooked, and it will be a sad day for LennieBriscoe when Tom Barnaby departs the scene! John doesn't look to have the same snarky twinkle in his eye!

Love your name Lennie Briscoe, one of the very BEST TV detectives! "Law and Order" was never quite the same without him. 

I'm one my first rewatch of the show. I added another subscription to my life, so I could watch via BritBox. I really liked Tom Barnaby the first time I watched, but I never noticed the subtle, confident sexiness of DCI Tom Barnaby! 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the episodes. It's always nice to hear what people watching for the first time think about the show and different episodes. 

[LennieBriscoe]

msan19, I adored Jerry Orbach as LB! Even more as a husband, when I learned that every single morning before filming,  he would leave a love poem for his wife! 

As for MM, I like best the episodes that relate somehow to whatever play Cully is in.  

[enoughcats]

Alas and alack, we have come to the end of Season 20's six episodes.  One I considered a miss, I'm not sure I remember it even though we watched it two days ago.  But two are absolute jewels.  Maybe the best I've seen in several years. 

Mr Ecats noticed something and verbalized it:" American TV shows don't have middle aged people.  Midsummer Murders and other British shows have people of all ages."  He is, of course, correct.  And the who did its are not predictable by age or social class or even assholeiness.  

It's been a while since we first found  Midsummer, but somehow I really enjoyed the writing on several of these episodes.  Cynical and snarky and the writers demand the viewers pay attention, and the writers reward attention with diaglogs that deliver. 

[dariafan]

What happened to Niko?

[LennieBriscoe]

enoughcats,  Mr. ecats is spot-on! It is THE reason I don't watch most American/Canadian shows (example: "Suits"). Or else the non-youthful are buffoons,  comic foils on sit-coms,  not true "real people" characters. 

I thought I was the only one..... 

[LennieBriscoe]

Just watched the episode, "Death in the Slow Lane," introducing John Barnaby,  and I take back my earlier opinion! I love the guy AND his awesome terrier Sykes! 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes_(dog)

But who didn't know as soon as we saw him that the villain would be David Warner?

That's the problem when mysteries hire famous actors!

Edited February 5, 2019 by LennieBriscoe

[dariafan]

2 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Just watched the episode, "Death in the Slow Lane," introducing John Barnaby,  and I take back my earlier opinion! I love the guy AND his awesome terrier Sykes! 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes_(dog)

But who didn't know as soon as we saw him that the villain would be David Warner?

That's the problem when mysteries hire famous actors!

Broke my heart.  Was hoping it was his “ daughter” when it was just the dj.  But finding that car, it had to be an older person 

[Tyro49]

Season 19 - I just knew when I saw the dog with a suspect that it would end up with Barnaby; glad to learn the real Sykes didn't die.

[msani19]

I was happy to see that they are currently filming season 21.

[EyewatchTV211]

I've only seen this show on PBS and have not sought it out other places (Netflix, library DVDs, etc.) to try to enjoy it slowly like some others here. It's nice when my DVR randomly shows a new episode and I get to be surprised with something new to watch, particularly when there's nothing else on TV. However, I have definitely missed a lot of episodes this way and watched several out of order. At some point I will have to try to go back and fill in, if I can even remember what I've seen.

Anyway, PBS just started the John Barnaby episodes. Like others, I have not liked the John and Ben interactions yet. It seems like they've had Ben regress in order to make John look even better. I remember Ben jumping to conclusions and making silly mistakes when he was first learning, but I thought he had definitely improved. Meanwhile, interesting storylines for the first two episodes. Death in the Slow Lane and Dark Secrets. The murderers in both are elderly men (though in the first, he was young when he first committed murder). And both episodes feature either actual incest or what would be incest if it wasn't for "Daddy" not actually being Daddy. Definitely an interesting start for John. 

[AuntiePam]

On 8/11/2014 at 8:03 AM, Biosynth said:

I'm hoping to catch "Written in Blood" again.  That one got to me!

I'm glad to see that it's okay to talk about the whole series in one thread, because I have a question the second episode.  I'm avoiding spoilers so maybe this has been discussed.

I liked most of this story except for the subplot of Clapper, the drama "teacher", and the blackmail, or whatever the hell it was.  Why did Edie sleep with him?  Was it all a prank, or payback because he was such a phony?  The students obviously knew he didn't have blackmail money, because they had already posted the pictures where everyone could see them.

So what the heck was that all about?  I'm watching via Amazon Prime and assume that I'm getting the entire episode, without cuts (which happens when British shows come to PBS).

What I like most, so far, is that Barnaby answers questions.  There's no snark or attempts at wit or putdowns -- he's very upfront.  I like Sgt. Troy, and the running joke of him stating the obvious to Barnaby. 

Love the characters -- not too many familiar faces yet, but I'm looking forward to Orlando Bloom.

[Thumper82003]

I’ve been a long time viewer of Midsommer Murders on PBS. So far I don’t like the John Barnaby episodes. Both the coroner and Ben are written as dumb and dummer to prop up John. They could have easily kept their characters with John, but they didn’t chose to write it as such.

[12catcrazy]

While I kinda/sorta enjoy watching this show, I liked the older shows better.  This one seems to be lacking the lightness or humor that those shows had, plus I don't like all this stuff about Jones and whether or not he has a love life - or to be vulgar about it - getting laid.   I don't care about that stuff and hate when crime shows start going "there" instead of just concentrating on the cases.  I do love Sykes though! 

[scorpio1031]

9 hours ago, 12catcrazy said:

While I kinda/sorta enjoy watching this show, I liked the older shows better.  This one seems to be lacking the lightness or humor that those shows had, plus I don't like all this stuff about Jones and whether or not he has a love life - or to be vulgar about it - getting laid.   I don't care about that stuff and hate when crime shows start going "there" instead of just concentrating on the cases.  I do love Sykes though! 

Not only that but we seem to be moving into sitcom territory with how Sarah has begun treating Barnaby.

[kassygreene]

2 hours ago, scorpio1031 said:

Not only that but we seem to be moving into sitcom territory with how Sarah has begun treating Barnaby.

Sarah is married to John.  Barnaby is married to Joyce.

Realizing this while really tired at 1:21 in the a m is immensely reassuring re: my aging cognition. 

[scorpio1031]

5 minutes ago, kassygreene said:

Sarah is married to John.  Barnaby is married to Joyce.

Realizing this while really tired at 1:21 in the a m is immensely reassuring re: my aging cognition. 

Sarah is married to John Barnaby.  Joyce is married to Tom Barnaby.

[Prevailing Wind]

I've been re-watching in sequence on Acorn. I've gotten up to 7.01 - The Green Man. It's the one where the hooligan teens kill the vixen. I don't wanna watch it, except it's also Troy's last case.

[scorpio1031]

5 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I've been re-watching in sequence on Acorn. I've gotten up to 7.01 - The Green Man. It's the one where the hooligan teens kill the vixen. I don't wanna watch it, except it's also Troy's last case.

I've only seen it the one time for the same reason.  I need to do a re-watch of all the eps.  I seem to stick to watching the same faves over and over.

[dariafan]

On 3/16/2019 at 9:43 PM, AuntiePam said:

I'm glad to see that it's okay to talk about the whole series in one thread, because I have a question the second episode.  I'm avoiding spoilers so maybe this has been discussed.

I liked most of this story except for the subplot of Clapper, the drama "teacher", and the blackmail, or whatever the hell it was.  Why did Edie sleep with him?  Was it all a prank, or payback because he was such a phony?  The students obviously knew he didn't have blackmail money, because they had already posted the pictures where everyone could see them.

So what the heck was that all about?  I'm watching via Amazon Prime and assume that I'm getting the entire episode, without cuts (which happens when British shows come to PBS).

What I like most, so far, is that Barnaby answers questions.  There's no snark or attempts at wit or putdowns -- he's very upfront.  I like Sgt. Troy, and the running joke of him stating the obvious to Barnaby. 

Love the characters -- not too many familiar faces yet, but I'm looking forward to Orlando Bloom.

Thank you !  I keep rewatching and I feel like I’m missing something 

On 4/24/2019 at 5:53 PM, Prevailing Wind said:

I've been re-watching in sequence on Acorn. I've gotten up to 7.01 - The Green Man. It's the one where the hooligan teens kill the vixen. I don't wanna watch it, except it's also Troy's last case.

Henry Cavill is mean to Filch, so I always skip it ....

[Prevailing Wind]

As I re-watch with the closed captioning on, it amuses me that whoever did the captioning doesn't know what a fox sounds like. Those atmospheric fox "barks" are labelled as bird screeches, owl hoots, animal screams, and even "woman screams."

[ouinason]

Wow, after watching 906 I'm concerned about the sexual habits of these people.  Kinky, cheating, weirdos.

[scorpio1031]

On 4/27/2019 at 11:04 PM, ouinason said:

Wow, after watching 906 I'm concerned about the sexual habits of these people.  Kinky, cheating, weirdos.

What ep was it......I want to say Dark Autumn, where Barnaby is just amazed at all the affairs going on?

[Prevailing Wind]

9.06 was "Country Matters" - the one with a bunch of people indulging people to act out their fantasies - the woman with the cooking school, the dominatrix riding instructor, those other people out in the woods being "damsels in distress"...

"Dark Autumn" was the one with the randy postman delivering more than mail to lots of ladies - that Nettles listed as one of his favorites.

I've discovered something about Tom that annoys me. I haven't noticed him say it to anyone else, but whenever he's saying g'bye to Joyce, either in person or on the phone, he says, "Bye-eee."

[zillabreeze]

Hey all!  I'm really late to this party.  Just found the series less than a year ago.  LOVE IT!  My PBS gets the episodes out of order, especially around pledge beg.

Can someone explain in a nutshell how/why the lead detective changed, both story & IRL.  I was so cozy with Nettles, then a few weeks pledge break and he's gone.  Seemed like I missed the transition.  Was there a contract dispute for the actor?  🤔.  Thanks!

[kassygreene]

The lead changed because the actor, John Nettles, decided after 81 episodes in 13 series, it was time for Tom Barnaby to retire.  There was a four episode overlap with John Barnaby, and if watched in order it isn't really jarring.  (We also got the addition of the fabulous Sykes the Dog, in that actor's final series role before his age-related retirement.)

I believe Acorn TV has all 20 series (and will get the new ones), while Netflix still has the first 19 series, if you have that.

[zillabreeze]

Thanks kassygreene!   Nope,  I didn't get the transition episodes, so it was odd.

When John started running his theories by Sykes, I knew I would be okay!

[welnoc]

I loved Tom and was a bit nervous when I heard he was leaving.

Then I found out he'd be replaced by Neil Dudgeon and I was so excited. I have loved him since the Mrs. Bradley series.

[LisaM]

New to Midsomer after having watched all of Vera. Now on the second episode of Season 2. Based on my small sample size so far, I've found that some of the episodes are quite good and others are so slow that I quit within the first 30 minutes. I love the eccentric townspeople. Not cracked about Troy. 

[dariafan]

8 hours ago, LisaM said:

New to Midsomer after having watched all of Vera. Now on the second episode of Season 2. Based on my small sample size so far, I've found that some of the episodes are quite good and others are so slow that I quit within the first 30 minutes. I love the eccentric townspeople. Not cracked about Troy. 

I dislike Troy   I have been ill the last few days and stated developing what I will say on my Midsomer Podcast and realized I really don’t like Cully.  It may have been the pain killers talking 

[dgpolo]

5 minutes ago, dariafan said:

I dislike Troy   I have been ill the last few days and stated developing what I will say on my Midsomer Podcast and realized I really don’t like Cully.  It may have been the pain killers talking 

I mostly liked Troy except when he exhibited homophobic tendencies. I mostly liked Cully but looking back I find she annoyed me a lot, especially when she got impatient with her father's job. I mean, she grew up with it right? and I thought she was really stupid in that whole episode with the reunion with her so-called 'friends'

[dariafan]

15 minutes ago, dgpolo said:

I mostly liked Troy except when he exhibited homophobic tendencies. I mostly liked Cully but looking back I find she annoyed me a lot, especially when she got impatient with her father's job. I mean, she grew up with it right? and I thought she was really stupid in that whole episode with the reunion with her so-called 'friends'

That’s where I get really into cully dislike was the reunion...

[Prevailing Wind]

Troy is MUCH worse in the books.  Still don't like him, although he's better than Scott. But nobody's as good as Ben Jones.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 5/1/2019 at 4:27 PM, dgpolo said:

I mostly liked Troy except when he exhibited homophobic tendencies.

I can't remember exactly what homophobic thing Troy said, but it was in one of the early seasons, and Barnaby's response was, "You are as politically correct as a Nuremberg rally."   I always thought this was part of why Barnaby tended to ride Troy a little hard, because he thought he needed to wake up, maybe even get woke.

[scorpio1031]

On 5/1/2019 at 1:44 PM, dariafan said:

That’s where I get really into cully dislike was the reunion...

Definitely!  Or the ep where Tom calls to ask when the "bin men" are coming and she seems to get frustrated with him.  Just ask your mother.  No need to get snotty🙄

[Prevailing Wind]

Don't forget her snit when Tom walked out on her big scene as Ophelia.  Jeez, Cully, he's done this all your adult life & probably earlier. You still don't realize the importance of his job?

[novhappy]

I never liked Cully. She seemed to always have a puss on and want to be the center of attention. And annoyed when she didn’t get it. And that episode with the reunion! She got more intolerable the older she got. 

[Prevailing Wind]

To me, it seemed she got more intolerable the longer her bangs got. She's getting married and says because of the veil, she can't see a bloody thing. No, dear. Trim your bangs. You can see MUCH better when they don't hang over your eyelashes.

(That's one good thing about wearing eyeglasses - when the bangs hit the top of the frame, it's time for a trim.)

She's probably a very nice person. I hope she's not as diva-ish in real life.

[scorpio1031]

1 hour ago, Prevailing Wind said:

To me, it seemed she got more intolerable the longer her bangs got. She's getting married and says because of the veil, she can't see a bloody thing. No, dear. Trim your bangs. You can see MUCH better when they don't hang over your eyelashes.

(That's one good thing about wearing eyeglasses - when the bangs hit the top of the frame, it's time for a trim.)

She's probably a very nice person. I hope she's not as diva-ish in real life.

Is that the episode where she called Jones to talk while he was working...….with her father?  I think she was having second thoughts about her upcoming wedding.

[Prevailing Wind]

3 hours ago, scorpio1031 said:

Is that the episode where she called Jones to talk while he was working...….with her father?  I think she was having second thoughts about her upcoming wedding.

Yes, that's the one. and then Tom chastises Ben for dating a potential suspect...he thought it was the housekeeper of the mansion on the phone, flirting.

I don't think it was second thoughts; it was being annoyed that Simon wanted a working honeymoon with the band in Dusseldorf and then SHE got a role in a play at the same time. I think she was embarrassed to have to tell Simon she wants to work instead of honeymoon.

[dariafan]

And having her moment in her bedroom , which was not her childhood bedroom   They had moved when Toms auntie was in that nursing home    And did Cully finish school, or drop out to follow her acting passion ?

[novhappy]

On 5/13/2019 at 12:01 PM, dariafan said:

And having her moment in her bedroom , which was not her childhood bedroom   They had moved when Toms auntie was in that nursing home    And did Cully finish school, or drop out to follow her acting passion ?

I always thought she dropped out to follow her passion. I.e work a bunch of part time jobs in Midsomer and grate on her parents. 

[peggy06]

There's a forum! I searched just on the offchance. After ignoring this show whenever I came across it on PBS, I've become addicted through watching it on Acorn. I don't know whether to hurry up and binge it before it leaves every platform, or try to stretch it out. It's the perfect cozy police show. I love the settings, the houses, the woods, the denizens of all the towns and villages, the village events. I love Tom  Barnaby and Troy. It's a show where I can be watch/listening while I do handwork or fold laundry or work on a jigsaw puzzle on my tablet. It's just creepy enough, i.e., there are often rather twisted motivations and sometimes a nod to superstition. It's like they made a Merrie England travelogue with crime added, for the benefit of Anglophiles everywhere.  

Sad to say, I just finished Troy's last episode, The Green Man. It was  just the type of episode I like, with the woodland scenes, the campfire, the night sounds of the forest, a pub named The Green Man. The mystery was nothing great (as so often), but having the side plot about past times helped to make up for that.  

I will hate to see Tom Barnaby exit, but I have a few good seasons before that happens. Can any UK posters confirm that the seasons were only 5 episodes each? 

I read through the whole forum when i found it, and already want to rewatch some episodes based on comments. One ep that has bothered me is the one with the psychiatrist who helps Tom and who has three kids.

Spoiler

It seemed so odd that she would have three children who were all disturbed to that extent. I kept expecting to hear that they were children whom she had adopted , given her medical specialty and where she was working.

Anybody else think this? Did I miss something?

[scorpio1031]

5 minutes ago, peggy06 said:

Can any UK posters confirm that the seasons were only 5 episodes each? 

Not a UK poster, but each season differs - Season 7 has 7 eps, Seasons 2 and 3 have 4 each.

6 minutes ago, peggy06 said:

One ep that has bothered me is the one with the psychiatrist who helps Tom and who has three kids.

9 minutes ago, peggy06 said:

Anybody else think this? Did I miss something?

No, all her kids.  That was a good episode and sad in so many ways.

10 minutes ago, peggy06 said:

It was  just the type of episode I like

Awwww!  That's the one with the fox, isn't it?

[Prevailing Wind]

I just finished re-watching all the Tom Barnaby episodes and then I just couldn't leave Ben Jones hanging with that smug John Barnaby, so I watched all of Ben's episodes. The more I watch John Barnaby, the more I can't stand him, so I'm done for now.

Acorn tells you how many episodes there are in a season - you get the horizontal line "Series 1 of 20" with thumbnails of each episode. When you click to open the first ep of the season/series, it'll tell you "1 of 8" or whatever the total was.

imdb.com doesn't give you the number, but it lists them all by season, like this for season 14... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118401/episodes?season=14&ref_=tt_eps_sn_14

And to emphasize how much I don't like Cully, whenever Laura Howard's name isn't in the opening title sequence, I cheer. (and scare the cats doing so.) Nothing against Ms. Howard; I just find Cully insipid because she's written that way.

[scorpio1031]

2 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I just finished re-watching all the Tom Barnaby episodes and then I just couldn't leave Ben Jones hanging with that smug John Barnaby, so I watched all of Ben's episodes. The more I watch John Barnaby, the more I can't stand him, so I'm done for now. 

Did you watch that one from Season 19 where Ben comes back?

I have mixed feelings for John B.  Maybe it's the way his character confronts the murderer and he goes off on a tangent instead of just arresting him.  But I notice I tend to re-watch the Tom B episodes more often than his.

[peggy06]

9 hours ago, scorpio1031 said:

Not a UK poster, but each season differs - Season 7 has 7 eps, Seasons 2 and 3 have 4 each.

No, all her kids.  That was a good episode and sad in so many ways.

Awwww!  That's the one with the fox, isn't it?

Yes it is.

[Prevailing Wind]

8 hours ago, scorpio1031 said:

Did you watch that one from Season 19 where Ben comes back?

Forgot about that one. I don't think I could take any more John B. and the revolving door of M.E.s, although I did like the latest, goofy old broad M.E. She reminded me of me. Hahahahaha. If ya gotta get old, you may as well have fun with it.

[MadameKillerB]

Really want a new season. But I'm rewatching old ones and I realize how much I miss Kam. But I also like Kate...might be an unpopular opinion.