TV Review: Midsomer Murders

My mother is probably one of the most avid readers I know of the mystery genre. Every so often when we do a bit of spring (or weekend) cleaning there’s are dozens and dozens of mystery books lying around, from Rex Stout to Conan Doyle and sometimes a touch of Agatha Christie. Being a fan of this genre, she also flocks towards the television adaptations of the stories. She doesn’t mingle over the details or what parts of the story aren’t fitting to the book. She does, however, expect the characters are well acted and fit somewhat to the style of the way the author characterized them.

I’m not the reader my mother is, and I could never see, at a younger age, the attraction of these adaptations. For one, Americans expect excitement within every page of the script. That excitement usually consists of harassing suspects, lots of car chases, and murders with a beautiful woman somewhere in the mix. There can be variety in the manner in which they showcase these and other familiar extremes, but they never go completely without them. Change the language, lose the guns, subtract the violence, and you get Midsomer Murders.

John Nettles plays Tom Barnaby, a family man who works as a Detective Chief Inspector in the fictional English country of Midsomer in the town of Causton. He enjoys the quiet life he has with his wife Joyce (Jane Wymark) and his actress daughter (Laura Howard). He is often called to handle the murders within the Midsomer counties – including his own. Helping DCI Barnaby with all of this is a very young Detective Sergeant (he’s had three) who usually comes late in thought behind his older partner, but always comes in handy when least expected.

“Holmes and Watson,” you might say to yourself as you read this review. You could say the twosome is very much like that, but Barnaby doesn’t thrive on the mysteries that come his way. Most of the time they appear to interfere with his own family life, something Holmes never had. He’s also not quite as sure of his own intellect and sometimes is as dumbfounded as the DS he works with – and that would make them both like Watson in that case.

Article Author: Matthew Milam

Matthew Milam lives in Chicago, IL. You can reach me at mmilam@matthewmilam.com. You can also reach me on Twitter.

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