PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Father Brown Series 8

Father Brown Series 8 Written by Kit Lambert, David Semple, Dominique Moloney, Lol Fletcher. Dan Muirden, Rachel Smith and Tahsin Guner, directed by Paul Gibson, Dominic Keavey, Darcia Martin and Jennie Paddon.

Ten new episodes with Mark Williams as the crime solving RC priest. He's joined in his investigations by his parish secretary Mrs McCarthy and Bunty Windemere. Inspector Mallory doesn't care for the "padre's" help but Sergeant Goodfellow is much more appreciative of Father Brown.

There are a nice mix of stories and murders, plenty of interesting characters and nice scenery. They do a good job of setting the film in the early 50s with plenty of great clothes and cars. The murders were varied, even Bunty is arrested and tried, lucky for her the Father is on the case.

I wound up watching the whole lot in one day, they were good stories and quite entertaining. I've thought the series as a whole has been consistently worth seeing. I've got Series 9 lined up next. Looking forward to that.

Midsomer Murders Series 20

I got the DVDs of the 20th series of Midsomer Murders early enough today that I could watch the whole series in one big gulp. There's 6 episodes and they aired between May and July this year. The DVDs came out last month and I should have waited for another price drop but there you go.

Three main cast members return for the series. Neil Dudgeon is DCI John Barnaby, Nick Hendrix is DS Jamie Winter and Fiona Dollman is Sarah Barnaby. The Causton Police have anew medical examiner in Dr Fleur Perkins, played by Annette Badland. I'm liking her character, she's entertaining. Annette had a regular part in Bergerac in the 80s, John Nettles played Bergerac and later would play DCI Tom Barnaby in the first 13 series of Midsomer Murders.

The Ghost Of Causton Abbey mixes beer and murder. A man is boiled to death in a beer brewing vat. The brewery is set up in an old abbey that's said to be cursed. Just about any business in Midsomer seems cursed, especially if it gets featured on the series.

In Death Of The Small Coppers we visit the world of butterfly collectors. Doesn't it seem that joining in a club in Midsomer is well dangerous. That guy got stuck to the wall like the butterflies in his collection. Danish actress Ann Eleonora Jorgensen returns as Danish Police Inspector Brigitte Poulsen. She was on the show in 2014 in an episode in Series 16.

One of my favorite British comedians has a guest part in Drawing Dead. It's set in the world of comic book creators. Some might remember Bill in Spaced and Black Books.

The Lions Of Causton has John and Jamie investigating a murder at a Rugby club.

The Barnaby's can't seem to go out without running into a murder occasionally. In Till Death Do Us Part the murder is at the wedding of one of Sarah's old friends.

The last episode of the series is Send In The Clowns and it takes us to the world of the circus. Kevin Eldon plays a clown who's first to get murdered.

I enjoyed the episodes, I'll watch them again.

Midsomer Murders Series 19

I got the first 4 episodes of Series 19 from the library and YouTube provided the other two episodes in the series. The first four, packed into the Series 19 Part 1 DVD set, aired in December 2016 and January 2017. The other two episodes aired in August 2017 and probably will hit DVD in a few months.The show has been signed to do a 20th series next year.

There's a new sidekick for Neil Dudgeon. Neil plays DCI John Barnaby and Nick Hendrix plays DS Jamie Winter. Fiona Dolman plays John's wife Sarah. They have a little girl. The dog actor playing Sykes the dog retired and the Barnaby's have a new dog named Paddy.

The Village That Rose from the Dead is about a village that's been in the hands of the Army since WW2. It's finally being turned over to the local citizens and there are several redevelopment plans vying for the land. A guy is found crushed by a tank the day the village is being handed over. Comedian Hugh Dennis, as seen regularly on Mock The Week, plays a local who gets done in. It was a good episode and I like the new sidekick.

Crime and Punishment has a butcher turn up dead in his meat freezer. Barnaby and Jamie visit the isolated town of Bleakridge where the neighborhood watch patrol group is a problem.

Last Man Out sees the return of DI Ben Jones, he's undercover and out of the loop Jamie thinks he's a suspect in a murder.

Just a fun picture of the rozzers.

Red in Tooth & Claw brings murder to the summer pet show at Beauville Hall. Steve Pemberton guests as a bunny breeder who's rabbit vanishes.

Death by Persuasion brings murder to a Jane Austin dress up event but the reason has to do with something much more high tech.

The Curse of the Ninth is about a stolen Stradivarius violin. Plenty of high strung musicians means plenty of suspects.

Another good bunch of episodes. I've liked the series enough to keep on buying the sets as they get cheaper.

 

Midsomer Murders Series 18

Series 18 is the most current series of Midsomer Murders and they aired starting in January 2016. There were 6 movie length episodes.The 18th series brings the number of total episodes up to 110. That's like a 165 hours of programing. That's good bit, huh. The writing, acting and production values continue to be top notch.

Neil Dudgeon plays DCI John Barnaby, Gwilym Lee plays DS Charlie Nelson, Fiona Dolman plays Sarah Barnaby and Manjinder Virk plays the new pathologist Dr Kam Karimore.

Habeas Corpus has a body disappear out of this big old house. The detectives are driving that Volvo nowadays. John asks if it's body snatching or someone covering up a murder. John and Charlie look into that and root out the villains. There's the usual kind of Midsomer happens going on.

The Incident At Cooper Hill returns to the world of UFOs. There was a UFO episode several years early. People are being murdered by being dipped into some unknown goo and left in the woods in a rubbery cocoon. The local UFO crowd thinks it's a sure sign the aliens are here. The incident in the title also is a big ass lie.

Breaking The Chain has murder in the world of competitive bicycle racing. That's Charlie and Kam, they're just about to take part in a race when they get the call to check out the dead guy. There's tension in the village over the annual bike event. Some like it and some don't but that isn't the reason for the killings. There's secondary story confusing the murders.

A Dying Art takes place in the Sculpture Park on a big estate. The rich guy gets murdered on the day he opened his Sculpture Park. Some others soon follow, their bodies fouling the sculpture. Serious art criticism? Hardly, just another dumb ass murderer.

Saints And Sinners has guest star Julia Sawalha, whom I'd just been seeing in Jonathan Creek, as an archeologist. They've just found the bones of a local Saint. Problem is there are already set of bones in a church that are supposed to be the same Saint. The bodies start piling up.

Harvest Of Souls is set in and around the funfair at Whitcombe Mallet. The steam powered rides are from a real fair that operates in England. The local squire is murdered and the village has mixed reactions. The man was not too popular with the locals as he was evicting many of them so he could expand his horse stable business. Reason enough to kill him right there. There's others, mostly involving the rich family of the dead man. Not too surprising there.

The series continues to entertain me. I think there must be a few other people who are liking them since they are coming back for a 19th series in 2017. I did read that Gwilym Lee has left the series and there will be a new partner for DCI Barnaby. He was a good character, I'll miss him. I still miss Tom Barnaby but I have the DVDs to watch so there's that.

Midsomer Murders Series 17

I finally noticed that the library had series 17 of Midsomer Murders. I picked it up today and I watched all four episodes this afternoon. They aired in January and February of 2015.

Gwilym Lee plays Sergeant Charlie Nelson, Fiona Dolman plays Sarah Barnaby and Neal Dudgeon plays Chief Inspector John Barnaby. The Barnaby's have a new baby and the life style changes that it brings.There are plenty of good actors in the other parts, each episode is set in the different setting with different people. I find the stories interesting and complex enough to keep me watching. It's the last season for Tamzin Malleson who plays Dr Kate Wilding. She's the pathologist for the Causton Police Department.

The Dagger Club is set in the world of publishing. A dead writer's unpublished book surfaces and people are dying to read it. People start dying for real when the manuscript disappears. That lady on the floor above got murdered with a rigged roulette wheel. The murders tie in with the dead author's mystery novels. The scripts still have a nice mix of mystery and character development. The 92 minute running time gives the story a goodly amount of time to look at plenty of little bits and pieces.

Murder by Magic mixes Magic, Paganism and Christianity and that's a recipe for murder. I could do without all four personally but it makes for a good story.

The Ballad of Midsomer County is set during the Little Crosby Folk Festival. A tape of an unreleased album is the key to the death of 3 people. I had to fast froward through the folk songs.

A Vintage Murder has John and Charlie investigating a poisoning at a wine yard. It soon turns to murder. Mind you everything seems to turn to murder in Midsomer.

Another good bunch of episodes.

Midsomer Murders Series 16

The 3 DVDs for the 16th Series of Midsomer Murders showed up the other day at the library and I watched that right away. There are 5 episodes and they first started airing in December 2013. Neil Dudgeon is John Barnaby and Fiona Dolman is his wife Sarah Barnaby. She's expecting a baby. Jason Hughes, who played DS Ben Nelson, has left the series. He's been promoted and has moved to Brighton. His replacement is DS Charlie Nelson, who's played by Gwilym Lee. I was sad to see Ben to go and so was John Barnaby. They worked well together and he'll get his new DS in shape right quick.

The Christmas Haunting  December 24 2013  DS Nelson's first case is a stabbing, with a big ass sword, during a ghost hunting event at a supposed haunted house in Morton Shallows. Did the ghost do the dead man in? I don't think so. One of my favorite jokes by Jimmy Carr is ghost related.

How do you know if your house is haunted? It isn't.

That Neil and Fiona with Sykes the dog. Sykes is a bit upset that Fiona's pregnant and getting all sorts of attention. He's off his food and the couple are concerned. Don't worry, Fiona will sort that out. I liked the episode, it's set at Christmas and there's snow which is a nice addition to the already interesting locations.

Gwilym Lee was new to me, I hadn't seen any of the other productions he's been in. He does a great job. DS Charlie Nelson is clever but he's still got something to learn. He winds up taking a spare room with police pathologist Dr Kate Wilding, played by Tamzin Malleson, who troubles him with her poor housekeeping.

Let Us Prey  January 8 2014  There are a series of murders that mirror the tortures depicted in a recently discovered medieval fresco in a church in Midsomer St Claire. They have some whacky stuff going on in those towns. There's a couple more murders as the village is swept with rain and imminent flooding.

Wild Harvest  January 29 2014  There's murder in a fancy restaurant and it wasn't the prices of the entrees. Actually the first murder takes place in the woods, a man is tied to a tree and his chest smeared with truffle oil, then a wild boar comes along and eats him to death. Midsomer just doesn't seem like a good place to raise anything but corpses. The next murder is in the posh restaurant run by a high strung celebrity chef. Hayley Miles guest stars.

The Flying Club  February 5 2014  A dead body is dropped in a lake and the clues lead to a flying club. Bernard Cribbins guest stars.

The Killings of Copenhagen  February 12 2014  The 100th episode takes DCI Barnaby and DS Nelson to Copenhagen. An English man was poisoned with an empty tin of biscuits mailed to him from his own company. As the detectives dig deeper into his past the release the demons at the biscuit factory and one after another of the employees get offed. And it was all because of a little bit of misinformation in the hands of the murderer. It's kind of sad but Midsomer is filled with sad people.

Neil's holding a copy of the script to the 100th episode. As a special treat the production gets a boost from letting the Midsomer based detectives go to Copenhagen as part of their investigation. They pick some nice places to shoot in. Film, not bodies. There's two Danish actors guesting on the program. That's Ann Eleonora Jørgensen as VPK Birgitte Poulsen on the left and Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as KA Anna Degn on the right. They're the Danish detectives that are working on the case in Copenhagen. Both do a great job. It was a good story and there's the added bonus of having Sarah Barnaby have her baby at the end of the episode. You know who's going to win in a race between getting DCI Barnaby to the hospital on time to see his daughter being born and the baby. I'll give you a clue. Smiles all around.