The Dark Rider

One of my favourite MM episodes with a twisted atmosphere, an eccentric cast of suspects and rather macabre murders. Add to that there's a headless horseman that adds to the eeriness to it. It's well-paced, has some good twists that I didn't see coming. I know a lot of people prefer John Nettles, but I prefer Neil Dudgen in the role of Barnaby, as he comes across intelligent, sympathetic, suitably dry and doesn't treat his assistants like lackeys.

Some bad writing & Characters here drags this otherwise fine episode down...some arrogant and awful people that just tend to make one be glad when this is over...but the worst thing is this: Barnaby's wife bellowing into the PA system during the re-enactment. Whoever shot this and blocked this out should be fired.

Written by one of MM's better scriptwriters, Michael Aitkins, "The Dark Rider," the opening of the 15th season, concerns a yearly re- enactment battle.

As the DeQuetteville family readies itself for the Civil war battle, Bentham De Qutteville falls from a roof after he spots a headless horseman. This follows the family legend that states this will happen during a Civil War reenactment. The headless horseman is the ghost of Sir Geoffrey De Quetteville, and his appearance means death to anyone who see him. Then Toby De Q's twin brother dies after seeing the horseman.

Barnaby is having a problem buying any of it - the horseman is on a gray horse, and no one seems to have one. But the death toll mounts.

Good episode, intriguing, and atmospheric. I'm still not nuts about John Barnaby. His wife was involved in the re-enactment, so it looks like they're trying to do what they did with Tom and Joyce, where she was often somehow involved with his case. Rather than doing that, they should have tried another direction - these two are not Tom and Joyce.

When I first saw this episode not sure what I thought maybe I was distracted. But I've just watched it now and realised what a great unpredictable mystery it is, the old headless horseman gets a great new workout. And in the mix is one of those episodes involving and old family in an ancient castle like mansion. Yes it's been done thousands of time and Midsomer continues the Agatha Christie tradition in the brilliant whodunnit till the final reveal!

Wonderful episode. Much more humor than previous John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) episodes. Still seem to be really scarce on the interaction between John Barnaby and DS Ben Jones (Jason Hughes) for some reason. Much more screen time for Sarah Barnaby (Fiona Dolman) which was a huge plus. Hope this trend will be continued for she is dynamic.

Terrific guest characters who deliver unique, full of depth portrayals. The stellar quality of this episode was a pleasant surprise after too many stinkers recently.