Midsomer Murders: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

[[File:midsomermurders_621.jpg|frame|John Nettles as Inspector Barnaby and Jason Hughes as DS Jones.]]

'''Eastwood:''' Dunno, [[Strictly Formula|they all blur together]] after a while. It's a new one, Troy isn't in it.|'''[[Exterminatus Now]], also [[Truth in Television|living rooms across the UK]]'''}}

 

 

Has a bad case of [[Never One Murder]] (and a murder rate that ITV actually started making fun of in their adverts for this), with the killer frequently [[Beneath Suspicion]] until five minutes from the end of each two-hour film. Many episodes featured a [[Special Guest]] who [[Narrowed It Down to the Guy I Recognize|turned out to be the murderer]].

{{tropelist}}

* [[Actor Allusion]] : In ''Vixen's Run'', {{spoiler|the plot kicks off when elderly Sir Freddy Butler dies at dinner. Despite there being traces of strychnine in his system, the coroner rules natural causes as strychnine is an ingredient in heart medication and Sir Freddy was rather old, fat and drunk. Several other members of his family are killed over the course of the episode by Sir Freddy's first wife Lady Annabel, played by [[I, Claudius|Sian Philips]]. When she's taken away by Barnaby in the police car at the end she says}}

* [[Asshole Victim]]

* [[Attack of the Town Festival]] : ''The Straw Woman'' had a village deciding to go ahead with a festival despite the vicar being burnt to death. The replacement vicar was then also murdered.

* [[Bad Habits]]: Jones disguises himself as a nun to trap a muderer in "A Sacred Trust".

* [[Beneath Suspicion]]

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]] : One way to guess correctly who the murderer is with depressing frequency is to pick the one who is the only likable one of the lot.

* [[Conspiracy Theorist]] : Dudley Carew in "Murder on St. Malley's Day".

** {{spoiler|[[Properly Paranoid]]}}

** Although Badger's Drift is a very common locale where (judging by rough guess) everyone in the town has died or been a murderer. Including the priest. It's also one of the few non-Midsomer titled locales and is close to many of the others (you see signs pointing to Badger's Drift often). So it does fit the "deadliest village in Britain" tag.

* [[Cowboy Episode]]: "Blood on the Saddle"

* [[Dead Man's Chest]]: A dismembered body is placed in a wicker hamper and left in a railway station in "Echoes of the Dead".

* [[Enfant Terrible]]: At ''least'' two episodes have had children as the murderer (though one just masterminded the whole thing).

* [[Everybody Has Lots of Sex]]: Illicit affairs probably make up half the secrets Barnaby uncovers.

* [[Evil Brit]] : Pretty much everybody but the recurring characters is a lying, perverted, murdering hypocrite.

* [[A Fete Worse Than Death]] : In the episode "The Straw Woman"

* [[Gaslighting]] : "Beyond the Grave".

* [[Girl-On-Girl Is Hot]] : Actually averted with Troy, who's a bit of a homophobe and never considers lesbians as arousing.

* [[Grievous Bottley Harm]] : In "Not In My Back Yard", the first [[Victim of the Week]] is done in with a broken bottle.

* [[Irish Priest]]: Father Behan in "A Sacred Trust". {{spoiler|Being Catholic, however, does not spare him from the same fate as so many of his [[The Vicar|Anglican counterparts]].}}

* [[Jack the Ripoff]]: In the episode "Echoes of the Dead", Barnaby recognises the murders as recreations of famous murders of the early 20th century, except for the last one, which he's not able to place. When the murderer is caught, Barnaby asks about it, and the murderer shrugs and says, "I was in a hurry and I couldn't think of anything".

* [[Long Runners]] : Fifteen years and counting.

* [[Mistaken for Servant]]: Troy does this to a local lord in "Market for Murder".

* [[Murder Simulators]] : Discussed and played {{spoiler|literally}} in ''Bantling Boy''.

* [[Naked Apron]] : "Destroying Angel". Barnaby arrives to question a middle-aged, male suspect only to find him doing a spot of baking wearing nothing but an apron.

* [[Never Mess with Granny]] : {{spoiler|Especially if she was a secret war hero.}}

* [[Never One Murder]] : {{spoiler|Subverted in "Painted in Blood," when there really was only one murder.}}

** And again in "The Magician's Nephew".

* [[Obfuscating Disability]]

* [[Old-Fashioned Copper]] : Inspector Barnaby and pretty much any other standard police detective in Midsomer county. Goes hand in hand with the very British attitude of [[Doesn't Like Guns]].

* [[Overtook the Series]] : Originally based on four (now seven) books by Caroline Graham.

* [[Pizza Boy Special Delivery]] : Fiona Conway does this (literally with the pizza boy) in "Not In My Back Yard".

* [[Pursued Protagonist]]: "The Night of the Stag" opens with the first [[Victim of the Week]] being chased through an orchard at night.

** Similarly, Sergeant Scott goes on a [[Long Bus Trip]] - Barnaby mentions that he "called in sick" but the character is never heard from again.

* [[Real After All]] : At least two episodes featuring somebody taking advantage of or inventing a place's haunted reputation have ended with indications that the place really is haunted.

* [[Reassigned to Antarctica]]: Sergeant Scott bemoans his transfer to Midsomer has ended him up in "the Sticks".

* [[Self-Referential Humor]]: At one moment, the brass band from the episode "Things that go bump in the night" plays the series' main theme.

* [[Serious Business]]: Some of the murders have unbelievably ridiculous motives (except for the murderers). One woman ends up killing three people because her driving drunk would bar her from joining the village social club for life.

* [[Stepford Smiler]] : Chief Superintendent John Cotton, coupled with [[Beware the Nice Ones]]. Or vice versa.

* [[Stopped Clock]]: Abused in at least one episode [[Never Suicide|to make a murder look like a suicide]].

* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] : When John Nettles left the series, DCI Tom Barnaby retired, to be replaced by the younger and more energetic DCI ''John'' Barnaby. Apparently he's a cousin, and they did hang a [[Lampshade]] on it in the episode where John Barnaby was introduced, but really, it's like they're not even trying.

* [[Theme Naming]] : Most of the villages are "Midsomer *blank*".

* [[Tyrant Takes the Helm]] : Inspector Martin Spellman in "Picture of Innocence".

* [[Unwilling Suspension]]: Happens to John Barnaby in "Death in the Slow Lane".

* [[The West Country]]: Where Midsomer district is supposedly located.

* [[What a Drag]]: One victim in "Blood on the Saddle" is killed by being lassoed and dragged along behind a horse.

* [[You Do Not Have to Say Anything]]

* [[You Look Familiar]] : The actor who plays John Barnaby first appeared on the series a decade earlier as a murder suspect.

[[Category:British Series]]

[[Category:The Nineties]]