Creator
Brian True-May
Cast
John Nettles DCI Tom Barnaby
John Hopkins………Detective Sergeant Dan Scott
Jane Wymark Joyce Barnaby
Barry Jackson Dr. George Bullard
Laura Howard Cully Barnaby
Daniel Casey………Sergeant Gavin Troy
DVD Release Date: September 25, 2007
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 400 Minutes on 4 discs
The Show
Midsomer County is a lavish countryside area that looks as if it should be filled with happy villagers simply going about their lives. There are of course different classes of people with the rich occupying certain neighborhoods and the not-so-rich filling in the rest. That certainly doesn’t make it seem as if there is any kind of segregation to be found. Midsomer simply houses some of the most peaceful and simple looking scenes you could ever find, but looks can always be deceiving.
Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby knows that Midsomer has its hidden dark secrets and he aims to uncover them with the help of Detective Sergeant Dan Scott. Through the kind wishes for a good day and the serene surroundings, Barnaby and Scott are called in to solve some of the most heinous crimes that any big city could produce. Barnaby has a great life away from the force with his wife and daughter, but it is often interrupted by a strange robbery or gruesome murder. Together Barnaby and Scott take extreme measures and intense detective work to bring the villagers to justice and peace back to Midsomer.
Midsomer Murders is an excellent look into a series that essentially takes murder mystery films and calls them episodes. They are of the classic “whodunit” mold that makes them incredibly enjoyable, not only to watch but to try and figure out. The two detectives, Barnaby and Scott, are not like any other team or pairing I’ve seen before. There isn’t one stronger member of the team that is the highly intelligent one while the other putters around in the background. One of them isn’t some form of explosives expert while the other is a former celebrity or something. They are two common detectives that show some clues so those at home can play along.
Not to take away from the classic mystery feel of the show is the humor that is thrown in from time to time. I’m more then sure that I didn’t get every single little joke in the episodes, but then again I never have understood all British humor and inside jokes. Still, the random one-liners and different characters that come in out of nowhere make to lighten the mood a bit when things are getting a bit too serious. It is that combination along with the constant twists down different roads that makes Midsomer Murders so interesting. I hate to compare it to an animated show, but it reminded me a bit of the cartoon series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. There were always numerous suspects that seemed to be associated with the case, but then ended up only leading you in a different direction. Throw in some laughs along with a kooky crime and you’ve got yourself a solid dose of mysterious fun.
Episodes
Disc One:
Things That Go Bump In The Night: Undertaker Patrick Pennyman has been murdered leading Barnaby and Scott to a village called Fletcher’s Cross. It is in this village that a spiritualist church is being run by a medium named Rosetta Price. Price and her church have split the village in half as to which way their loyalties run. Soon though, others begin dying off and the duo must figure out the case before it really gets out of hand. Barnaby and Scott find a few links and soon begin piecing some very strange clues together.
Disc Two:
Dead In The Water: The annual Midsomer Regatta is underway and the Barnaby family looked to enjoy a fun-filled day together enjoying it. The fun doesn’t last long though as the body of rower Guy Sweetman is found floating in the river. Guy was known as a ladies man that cared about not many but himself. This angered many friends, fellow rowers, jealous husbands, and numerous others. Barnaby and Scott soon realize that the luxurious life of the rich isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. This is my favorite episode in the set as it shows a fun and dark side at the same time.
Disc Three:
Orchis Fatalis: One of the world’s rarest orchids has found its way into Midsomer Malham and that has lead to a number of things. Jealousy, compassion, awe, and even death are now facing many residents leading Barnaby and Scott to figure out what’s happening. The orchid, the Yellow Roth, is so rare that people have been known to spend hundreds of thousands to obtain it and now it seems even commit murder just to get their hands on it.
Disc Four:
Bantling Boy: The owner of the prized racehorse Bantling Boy has been beaten to death and left his horse to four people in Midsomer. One of them is his alcoholic son and horse trainer. Barnaby and Scott end up on the case as those who wish to obtain the horse start dying off one by one and they aim to figure out why.
The Video
The episodes are shown in 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen format and appears almost flawlessly. Having never seen the show during its television run, I don’t really have the ability to compare. But the quality in the DVD transfer is just evidently better then anything you would see in syndication.
The Audio
The episodes are heard in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Sound and come through perfectly. There isn’t much needed for this series as it is mostly dialogue riddled and not big on soundtrack or special effects.
Special Features
Filmographies – Author Caroline Graham and the cast get text bios written on them and their past works. Some nice reads here.
The Inside Pulse
Please don’t pay much attention to my overall score for the DVD set because with virtually no special features, my score had to be low. I mean the thing being reviewed here is the set itself, but pay closer attention to my score for the show itself. It is the episodes you’re going to want anyway, so special features are simply a red herring. Midsomer Murders is a great series that delivers some intense mystery action with a little bit of humor thrown in to break up all the seriousness. The characters of Scott and Barnaby play off of each other extremely well and deliver some hard-nosed detective work while still using their intuition to fill in the gaps. It is a great show with your longer then average episodes giving more then any normal crime drama will do. Do yourself a favor and check out this set or better yet, any of the previous eight. My plan is to catch up on all I’ve missed so far because these four episodes left me only wanting more.
Midsomer Murders: Set Nine |
|
