An old pagan festival is revived in Midsomer Parva, with the burning effigy of a straw woman as its centrepiece. To the horror of the onlookers, the local curate, Alex Deakin, is found trapped within the effigy and burns to death. As the police investigate, a series of further deaths from apparent spontaneous human combustion follow. Barnaby and Scott soon suspect that someone is using the illusion of witchcraft to hide their true motives. When a young woman is dressed like a bride and drowned in a bath, it triggers a spate of ghoulish wedding-themed murders in Great Worthy. The case takes Barnaby and Jones to a donkey sanctuary, a heritage steam railway and a pub run by an ex-copper and former brothel madam. With the serial killer still at large, could history be repeating itself? In 1970, Roger Heldman apparently died in an accident during an archaeological dig at the Midsomer Barrow. Two important Celtic pieces, a spear head and a chalice, were discovered but subsequently disappeared. In the present day, Roger's son Gareth is killed with the spear, after having had altercations with several of the villagers. Later, at the climax of the summer solstice celebration, Gareth's half-brother, David Heartley-Reade, is killed while performing a pagan ceremony to save his failing marriage. Barnaby and Scott investigate rituals, plagiarism, lies, and a tangle of relationships. After reading a letter from his beloved fiancé Louise, telling him that she had ended up marrying another man, David set off killing all the young women who in his eyes had sinned by having affairs or marrying the wrong way. Firstly, he went for Dianne Price. As she was a student of his, she trusted him and let him into her house. He waited behind the bathroom door for her to come in, and strangled her with a ribbon because she had been sinning with a man in the village before marriage. He then stripped her, dressed her in a bridal gown made of a net curtain, and dumped her in the bath. The scene at the end, where John was shaking, was a decent touch because you can see someone "breaking" his pompous self. This killer (imho) got to him.

But no. We have Neil Dudgeon as John Barnaby, deadly serious, nasty to Jones, no chemistry with Jones, with a cute dog who as far as I'm concerned is the star of the show. I am unable to warm up to his wife or to him. He has no charm, no humor, no lightness. Note: the blood-red drips behind the letters of the title have returned, after having been changed to multi-color for two series. No. Shortly after a young woman takes a walk into woodland dressed in period attire from a Jane Austen event in the village, her body is found stabbed with a quill. It is discovered that she was a journalist curious about the village's new trial healthcare drone delivery programme. Barnaby and Winter find themselves with many suspects and motives and work out that the answer lies in the past. The script is a mess with weak dialogue and characters, who are not very interesting to be honest. Neil Dudgeon gives his worst performance as John Barnaby, he is not into the story and comes off arrogant towards his partner. Most of the subplots go nowhere and the violence in the story is quite to take at times. The solution (Mr. Orchard is the murderer) is very obvious and the motives for the murders are laughable at best. John Barnaby does not even figure out the killer's identity! Note: This episode was delayed until 2010: it finally aired on ITV one week before the episode, "The Made-to-Measure Murders" (Series 13, Episode 1).Peter and Caroline Cave are house-hunting in Midsomer Newton and view a tumbledown cottage in secluded woodland. The following morning they are both found dead in their car near the house. DCI Barnaby and Acting DC Ben Jones enter a world where crooked estate agents, property developers, and eccentric villagers all seem to be withholding information. It is not long before another villager is murdered. The detectives find out that a years-old armed robbery holds the key to the case.

When you have a show with such dastardly crimes that are often bloody, deal with dark secrets, etc., you have to have characters that can add attractiveness, some levity, some camaraderie, some warmth to the proceedings. The village doctor ( Ian McNeice) of Newton Magna involves the police after he accidentally hits a man in the road following a party. However, the injured man is nowhere to be found. The body of Robin Wooliscroft, who disappeared over a year before, is then found in a well, having been bludgeoned to death. DCI Barnaby and DS Troy come across suspicions and all the lies, disapproving families, resentments, and hidden secrets, before another victim ( Jane Lapotaire) is found and they get to the truth. And how come at the end the culprit was interviewed in his own house and not down the station? One suspects that it was to give Barnaby the chance to root through his belongings and so come up with an explanation for his crimes.The peace of Ferne Basset is shattered when the body of quiet animal lover Agnes Gray ( Denyse Alexander) is found floating in the nearby river. Soon afterwards her cousin, Esslyn Carmichael ( Nicholas Le Prevost), inadvertently cuts his own throat on stage during the final act of an amateur production of Amadeus. It turns out that the safety tape on the prop knife used by Esslyn on stage had been removed, making it lethal. As most of the other cast members of the Causton Amateur Dramatics Society loathed him, there are multiple motives and suspects for his murder. DCI Tom Barnaby needs to establish whether there is a connection behind the two deaths to solve the case. Angela Pleasence and Bernard Hepton also appear. In February 2009 it was announced that Nettles had decided to leave Midsomer Murders after the conclusion of series 13 in July 2010. When his last episode "Fit for Murder" aired on 2 February 2011, Nettles had appeared in 81 episodes. [2] [3] This has to be in the bottom five Brian True-May era episodes. Even though there have been many duffers since he departed it could still be one of the worst ever. Smart was born on 3 March 1977 in Birmingham, England [1] [2] and lived in Northfield until 1987. She was a pupil of St Paul's School for Girls in Birmingham. When Bernard King, the owner of Finchmere airfield, is dropped to his death from a plane, Barnaby and Nelson enter a world of stunt pilots and military heroes. Upon investigating, they discover many hidden secrets. Possible suspects include anti-aircraft campaigners and employees who might lose their jobs after an imminent restructuring of the flying club. A tragic mission in World War II seems to hold a clue.

Not really much on offer in terms of mystery, you kind of know who it is within the first ten minutes, as said person is made far too questionable, an effort made to capture the feeling of revulsion of the crimes of George Joseph Smith, The Brides in the Bath, but somehow it misses the mark.A new sculpture park opens in the village of Angel's Rise. On its opening night, Brandon Monkford is found murdered beside one of the centrepiece sculptures. It transpires that after Brandon’s wife Alexandra had started a relationship with Daniel Fargo, Brandon had cut Alexandra and their two children from his will, leaving the sculpture park instead to Tony Pitt. There is fury in the village when Tony reveals all of his plans for the sculpture park. Tony is the next murder victim and is discovered near the sculpture park. Further mystery ensues when it emerges that Lance Orden, the famous artist believed to have created the sculptures, had plagiarised his ideas.

And there you have it. The good parts: Sykes, the dog. I like Sarah. Jones always gets a plus for me. Ok, I am going to get to the point of this particular episode. There's spoilers in this so, let's get to it. Here I must say that in this episode, Midsomer Murders departs from its usual fun and somewhat parodic style, giving way to a dark and disturbing style, as previously in "The Straw Woman", "Left for Dead" and "Small Mersies", so those who expected to see a light Midsomer plot can leave the screens.Simon Bright is found dead in a vintage car at a disused airfield in Cooper's Cross. The previous evening, he had been on a romantic date with his girlfriend Laura Sharp, who is nowhere to be found. Barnaby and Jones, newly promoted to DS, need to work out whether it was a suicide pact gone wrong, or murder, and to find Laura. Their investigation reveals that the couple had met at Elaine Trim's dancing classes in Morton Fendle. The two attend a 1940s-style dance night at the village hall, before another man is found stabbed and more secrets come to light. The Wild West Society bring their show to Ford Florey, comprising a fairground, and several re-enactments of scenes from American frontier history. Amidst the sound of gunfire, the witch on the 'Dunk the Witch' stall is shot dead. Barnaby and Jones look at possible motives, which seem to revolve around the disputed ownership of an area of local land. The investigation encounters family rivalries and a recurring Wild West theme before the killer can be caught. Apley Court, in the village of Granville Norton, is home to historic beehives that produce a well top-of-the-range ‘Apley Gold’ honey. Master beekeeper Ambrose Deddington attributes his survival from a life-threatening cancer to a combination of Apley Gold and bee venom. When he is injured trying to prevent the theft of his beloved bees, Barnaby and Winter investigate. Later the local doctor, Serena Lowe, is found murdered, and stung to death. Barnaby and Winter discover that a previous event is the key to the case. When in its prime (a vast majority of Seasons 1-9), 'Midsomer Murders' was a great show and one that is watched and re-watched frequently. Seasons 10-13 became more uneven, with three of the show's worst episodes coming from Seasons 11 and 13, but there were a few solid episodes and "Blood Wedding" and especially "Master Class" were gems. The launch of the latest sparkling wine, which is produced by the Carnarvon Estate Winery in Midsomer Vinae, loses all its fizz when wine critic Nadia Simons gives it a very harsh review. Moments later, guests who had been sampling the vintage start collapsing. Owner William Carnarvon suspects the Farmers' Wives' Association of trying to destroy his business. Kate Wilding tells Barnaby and Nelson that the glasses had been laced with slug poison. There are many suspects and motives and the detectives set out to piece the puzzle together.