Midsomer Murders continues with John Nettles as DCI Tom Barnaby and Daniel Casey as Sgt Gavin Troy. They work out of the city of Causton in the fictional county of Midsomer. It's a pretty place with picturesque small towns and villages and farms and murder. The guys are always hopping about from one small town to another tiny village. There are unusual murders and odd characters with problems that supply the motive. It's up to the guys to root them out and it usually takes about 90 minutes. They don't do that many shows per season but the ones they do are usually pretty good. I like the characters and there's a bit of comedy tossed in. I watched the lot of these from the library. They have a good handful and most of them were sitting on the shelf. Hardly any of them have a waiting list, newer movies can have hundreds of people the first week sign up, some tv shows can have several dozen.
Usually I'm not so lazy but I've been working on the October TwinLUG contest entry and that's been taking up a bit of time I might have spent blogging. I usually like to write a bit about the shows I watch myself. I constantly use these blog posts as a memory enchancement. I sure I know I need it. So with that lazness set up the synopsis of each show comes from the Wikipedia. Someone does a god job of telling the basic story without divulging the murder's identity. There's a link for each movie in the title.
Garden of Death September 10 2000
The Inkpen family cause controversy in Midsomer as they are planning to turn their popular public memorial garden into a commercial teashop. A village meeting is held where Elspeth Inkpen announces to the shocked villagers that it is none of their business, and later that evening her daughter is murdered with a shovel. Twenty four hours later Elspeth is found dead in an apparent suicide. Barnaby and Troy's investigation takes them to a father and daughter who are mourning their missing wife/mother, and to a violent man with a shotgun. There are also the two remaining Inkpens - one is the snobbish grandmother and the other is the illegitimate daughter who was adopted for most of her life but returned to get to know her mother. One thing is certain-the village is full of greed.
Destroying Angel August 26 2001
Hotel Owner Karl Wainwright dies and splits his will between 4 beneficiaries. However, on the day of his funeral, a severed hand is found in the woods, belonging to Gregory Chambers, a beneficiary and a Punch-and-Judy showman. A murder investigation begins and DCI Barnaby and Sergeant Troy are called to the village. With the help of local Punch-and-Judy artists, they understand that at the summer fete show Gregory had always uncovered a piece of local controversy. Barnaby suspects he was killed to silence him from revealing this year's piece of information. However this theory is thrown out when the other beneficiaries receive death threats. And when they are murdered one by one Barnbay has to make a connection between the deaths and a dangerous mushroom called Destroying Angel.
This is one of several episodes that contain veiled tributes to classic mystery stories; the Amanita "Destroying Angel" mushroom is the same one used in Dorothy L. Sayers "The Documents in the Case".The Electric Vendetta September 2 2001
UFO mania hits Midsomer Padrva when a man's naked body is found electrocuted in a crop circle in Sir Harry Chatwyn's (John Woodvine) wheat field. Local ufologist Lloyd Kirby (Kenneth Colley) is certain it's alien activity and appreciates the boost the murder's publicity has given his lecture and tour business. Later that night the body of a local burglar is found with identical injuries in another circle.
Who Killed Cock Robin? September 9 2001
One night, a local doctor returns home in his car in a drunken state. However, as he swerves round a corner in the road his car hits an Irish horse whisperer who had just moved to the village. DCI Barnaby and Sergeant Troy arrive in the village but the body is nowhere to be found. Barnaby encounters an old adversary who had been imprisoned for a short while. His daughter is getting married to a local boy whose mother is missing. And when the best man's dad's body is found at the bottom of a well the investigation really heats up.
Dark Autumn September 16 2001
Postman Dave Cutler is on his morning rounds when 1950's dance music is heard across the village of Goodman's Land. Later that morning Dave is discovered murdered. DCI Barnaby and Sergeant Troy arrive in the sinister village to discover that Dave was a flirtatious man who had many of the village's women over his shoulder. He had upset many husbands in the process. Did one of these angry husbands murder him? However, later that night a woman is murdered in shrubbery near the village. Barnaby realises that most of the people in the village have adulterous relationships and that anyone could have a motive. But something is lurking in the autumn trees ready to murder and frighten.
You can see that there's a good selection of methods of being done in. The guys have their hand full with all the characters but they always get the villain of the piece. I'm enjoying these, nice light entertainment.
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