L'ispettore Barnaby

I really appreciate this show.No, it's not a really serious dramatic murder mystery but it's FUN to watch. I get all comfortable in my chair and it's like a mini vacation. I settle into my chair with a nice cup of tea and I'm transported to some English village, a manor, a farm, a pub and it's a slow unravelling. By the time the shows done, I have formed bonds with the locals of the episode. I mean does it get better than this? I don't want noise and car chases and all seriousness or over the top smut. This is wry and dry and just the ticket. It's light but the characters are wonderful and although the stories aren't going to make your eyes pop when the murderer is discovered, you don't care. It's the getting there that's such a good time. I will watch this over and over.

Despite being set in beautiful English countryside the Midsomer villages are dangerous places to live, it seems that behind every perfectly trimmed hedge a potential murderer is lurking. It is rare that an episode features a single murder, usually there are two or three. Given the high murder rate one would expect that the local constabulary would have a large murder unit but in fact all murders are investigated by DCI Tom Barnaby and his sergeant.

It is a mistake to join any club, society or organisation in the Midsomers as they are nearly all hotbeds of jealousy, rivalry and backstabbing and those that aren't will somehow offend other villagers. These feelings inevitably lead to murder, usually in a fairly imaginative way. Unusually for a TV detective Barnaby is happily married with a grown up daughter. It is surprising that wife Joyce and Daughter Cully have survived as they often found themselves in the groups where the other members were dropping like flies.

While there are plenty of murders it is never overly gory so it is suitable for all but the most squeamish. The cast do a great job, as well as the regulars you can expect to see several well known British actors appearing as suspects and victims. Don't expect it to be too serious though and don't expect it to accurately portray police procedure... Barnaby rarely wastes time with trivial things like search warrants or telling a suspect their rights before questioning them.

Midsommer Murders is the very definition of a guilty pleasure: it delivers a thoroughly and sustainably enjoyable and rewarding viewing experience when it shouldn't; the production value, is there, of course, as is the top notch acting and confident, if simple, directing. It is in the stories, plots and characters that the show is comically simplistic, outdated and unrealistic. And yet, it does not bother you. Contemporary rural England seems to have been frozen in time - the villages might as well be the setting for a Hercule Poirot/Sherlock Holmes murder mystery - all these butlers and manors and decadent heirs and disenfranchised servants and hunting parties and minor nobles..and still, one plays along, you suspend everything you know England is, for the illusion and the stereotype that is presented to you. And even though the crimes can be appalling and the motives quite dark and daring ( the show had episodes dealing with incest, madness and extremely violent deaths), what you are left with is a type of nostalgia and dreamlike impression, a lingering memory of country pubs and inns and stone bridges and a luscious green countryside.

The series is set in idyllic English countryside with beautiful villages and archetypical inhabitants. It's fun to watch as Barnaby and Troy are amusing, the stories are fairly good and they are a pleasant break from the hard and gripping detective shows that leave a nasty taste in the mouth. The stories are not demanding, police procedure is appalling, we all know England is not like this, but if you want an enjoyable show with a detective story, I recommend it.

This shows tongue is so far into its cheek it's a wonder there's not been a serious rupture!

From the outset back in 1997 there has never been a moment that we were meant to take too seriously - but we do! Every time a new feature length episode is announced we sit, gripped, for 2hrs stifling chuckles not because it's "so bad it's good" but because it's "so good it's wicked!".

It has inspired letters to The Times newspaper ("Joyce Barnaby - Britain's most elusive serial killer?") and made those of us that live in chocolate box villages feel like locking our back doors at night (just in case).

"Midsomer Murders" is a gleeful repost to the plethora of "gritty" and "realistic" crime shows. Long may the death toll rise....