Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders is a British crime drama television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the Chief Inspector Barnaby book series created by Caroline Graham, and broadcasts on the ITV Network since its premiere on 23 March 1997. The series focuses on various murder cases that take place within small country villages across the fictional English county of Midsomer, and the efforts of the senior police detective and his partner within the fictional Midsomer Constabulary to solve the crime by determining who the culprit is and the motive for their actions. It differs from other detective dramas in featuring a mixture of lighthearted whimsy and dark humour, as well as a notable soundtrack with a title theme that includes a theremin.
Midsomer Murders
Chief Inspector Barnaby
by Caroline Graham
United Kingdom
English
24
142 (list of episodes)
- Brian True-May (1–89)
- Jo Wright (90–115)
- Jonathan Fisher (from 116)
- Michele Buck (from 116)
- Colin Munn
- Graham Frake
Derek Bain
89–102 minutes
23 March 1997 –
present
The programme has featured two lead stars—from its premiere in 1997, John Nettles as Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Tom Barnaby, until his retirement from the drama in February 2011; then Neil Dudgeon as DCI John Barnaby, Tom's younger cousin, since March 2011. Both main stars have featured a list of supporting actors who worked alongside them, including Jane Wymark, Barry Jackson, Daniel Casey, John Hopkins, Jason Hughes, and Gwilym Lee, with Nick Hendrix as the current co-star working with Dudgeon. Midsomer Murders remains a popular feature in British television schedules and has been broadcast internationally in over 200 countries and territories.
Summary[edit]
Midsomer Murders is a detective drama[1] set in modern-day England. The stories revolve around the efforts of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, and later his successor, cousin John Barnaby, to solve numerous murders that take place in the picturesque but deadly villages of the fictional county of Midsomer. The Barnabys have worked with several different sergeants throughout the run of the show: Detective Sergeant (DS) Gavin Troy (Daniel Casey), DS Dan Scott (John Hopkins), DS Ben Jones (Jason Hughes), DS Charlie Nelson (Gwilym Lee) and DS Jamie Winter (Nick Hendrix).
Controversy[edit]
In March 2011, the series' producer, Brian True-May, was suspended by All3Media after telling the TV listings magazine Radio Times that the programme did not have any non-white characters because the series was "the last bastion of Englishness and I want to keep it that way". When challenged about the term "Englishness" and whether that would exclude ethnic minorities, True-May responded: "Well, it should do, and maybe I'm not politically correct." He later went on to say that he wanted to make a programme "that appeals to a certain audience, which seems to succeed." True-May's comments were investigated by the production company.[33] He was reinstated, having apologised "if his remarks gave unintended offence to any viewers", but subsequently stepped down as producer. ITV said it was "shocked and appalled" at True-May's comments, which were "absolutely not shared by anyone at ITV".[34][35]
True-May's replacement, Jo Wright, confirmed that she was committed to on-screen diversity when she took over the helm of the show, saying: "I feel strongly that a range of ethnic groups should be represented on screen. And that will be reflected in some of the episodes in the new series with key guest casting. I will cast the series in the same way as I always do, by starting with the best script. And a good script will include a variety of different characters."[36] In series 15, Asian actors played central characters in the show for the first time, in the episode "Written in the Stars".[37] Black characters also began to appear starting in that series. Beginning with series 18, the show gained an Asian member for its main cast: pathologist Kam Karimore, played by Manjinder Virk.[38] However, she left the show at the end of series 19.
Broadcast[edit]
In 2004, Midsomer Murders was among the three most-sold British TV shows worldwide, whether as TV programming or DVD.[39] As of 2016, Midsomer Murders had been sold to more than 200 countries around the world.[2]
In Australia, first-run episodes and repeats are screened on national free-to-air network ABC with repeats also shown on the Nine Network channel, 9Gem. The series was originally only aired on the Nine Network. Repeat screenings are also aired on the subscription channels UKTV and 13th Street. A measure of the success of the series in Australia is that repeats of the series still rate highly and often feature in the nation's top twenty shows in national surveys.[40][41]
In Canada, the series is broadcast on TVOntario and Book Television in Ontario, on Knowledge in British Columbia, and via American PBS channels available throughout southern parts of Canada. As of May 2019, the first thirteen series are currently available in Canada on Amazon Prime Video, while only series 21 is available on Britbox. The first nineteen series are also available on streaming service/app Tubi and Acorn.
In Ireland, the series is aired on Virgin Media Three every Monday night at 8pm. It is one of the channel's highest-rated shows.
In New Zealand, the series was broadcast on TVNZ 1 and it was broadcast for a number of years on the free-to-air channel Prime.
In the United States, the series was first aired by A&E, which broadcast ‘The Killings at Badger's Drift’ on 28 June 1998 and followed with the next four episodes over the 1998–99 series.[18] The show remained on A&E for many years until it was syndicated by American Public Television for broadcast on public television stations. All 23 series are currently available on the streaming service Acorn TV. The show is also broadcast in the USA on the Ion Mystery Network, and it has a dedicated channel on the streaming service Pluto TV.
The Paramount Channel broadcasts episode reruns daily.
Soundtracks[edit]
Composed by Jim Parker, the main theme is a moderate-tempo waltz, performed (primarily though not exclusively) on an unusual electronic musical instrument, the theremin, which has a sound not unlike a low whistle or a human voice. The theremin part was played by Celia Sheen (1940–2011). From the 14th series onwards the soundtrack was altered so that during the closing titles a standardised version of the theme is played on a solo violin in place of the theremin. Occasionally a version with a longer introduction opens the show, using a flute rather than a theremin as the lead instrument.
The closing theme for ‘The Scarecrow Murders’, shown on 29 May 2022 to celebrate 25 years, was a more jovial clarinet version.
Multiple soundtrack CDs have been released so far, containing versions of the theme and musical cues from various series.
All 140 episodes have been released in the US (Region 1) and in the UK (Region 2) including three Christmas specials, by Acorn Media. The first 18 series and "Part 1" of series 19 of Midsomer Murders have been released in Australia[42] and New Zealand (Region 4).
Note that episodes 1 to 100 were originally released as 25 DVD "sets", which were not in chronological order and are now discontinued. They have been re-released in 2015 as chronological "series" 1 to 16 in redesigned packages. To confuse fans further, Costco Warehouses sold 5 abbreviated (region 1) sets with one less disc, but used the same "set" numberings even though they did not match the retail "sets".
Blue-ray discs were released for "Sets" 17 through 25 and "Series" 16 through 24, picking up where the "sets" left off but not re-issuing the "sets" in resigned packages like the DVDs did.
In January 2006, Midsomer Murders started a DVD and Magazine Collection, available at newsagents in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK.
Acorn Media had released DVD chronological order collections of Midsomer Murders in North America which are:
Below table are the release dates for complete series sets in both Australia Region 4 and United Kingdom Region 2.