British favorite "Midsomer Murders" still entertains after 24 seasons

One of my absolute favorites OP. Just finished yet another rewatch starting with Season 1 Murder at Badgers Drift.

I prefer original Barnaby and DC Jones but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying new Barnaby and whatever side kick is working with him.

Favorite episode? Nope. Love them all!

It was the cheese that done him in.

Oh, God. I saw the photo and thought it was coming to an end. I just about had a heart attack.

25 years...

Midsomer County has a penchant for murders! Throughout the span of 136 episodes, there have been more than 388 murders, 423 deaths in total and an additional 250 attempted murders or suicides.

A regulah Cabot Cove, r5.

Love it, but "Silent Witness" has been running even longer. It's currently on Season 28 and it began in 1996.

I occasionally watch an episode or 2. They are comfort food. I think I've watched all the Brit crime/murder dramas unless someone has any new or obscure ones to recommend.

Not crime/murder, but I watched the first episode of Nolly and Helena is wonderful.

Whatz a Nolly?

r10...

Here wiki page is edited by someone with a lot of time on her hands …

Sounds a bit run of the mill, over the hill, tv celebrity fare.

I was unaware of her, r12, but she really was quite accomplished before she got on Crossroads.

Nick Hendricks is hot AF

Nick Hendricks is adorable. Loved his few shirtless scenes, especially the one wearing someone else's too-big pajama bottoms! John Hopkins was a short-lived hottie, too!

Nice. Cute.

Loved it when they brought the two actors back who played the creepy Rainbirds from the very first episode in Season 9, Ep. 2, Dead Letters. Another terrific episode. Here's a clip, where Barnaby gets a jolt seeing another Rainbird!

They never let the sidekick have a love life.

And thanks to British diversity standards, I never realized that so many blacks, gays and lesbians lived in rural communities. I always thought they gravitated towards the big cities.

You can't watch a single episode of Vera, set in the middle of nowhere in northern England, without at least one mixed-race couple. Only a few gays here and there.

And there's another episode with Nick in just a very low slung towel.

Longtime fan! For me, a day without a Midsomer episode is like a day without checking in on DL.

Denny Rainbird actually called Winter "cuntstable" in that beloved premier installment. Listen carefully; so glad the censors did not.

R18: Producer Brian True-May long balked at racial inclusion, eventually the powers that be escorted him to the county border and began casting actors of color.

^the county line

...I just caught the episode with Nick in his towel, perked me right up!

I'd like to see "more" of Nick

I like that a few seasons ago, they added Annette Badland as Fleur. She gave the show a shot in the arm. The new Barnaby was never sexy like hot daddy John Nettles. So Fleur is an appreciated addition.

Fleur is a pisser! Love her. I recall the then heavyset young actress playing a secretary on an earlier police drama; the show's name escapes me.

Of course it was Troy, not Winter, misnamed at my R21, above.

Jones was the hottest sidekick.

[quote] I recall the then heavyset young actress playing a secretary on an earlier police drama; the show's name escapes me.

Bergerac starring hot daddy John Nettles.

Annette has been around for years. She played the weird neighbor in Little Voice.

A young Annette Badland was in an early (1985) "Marple."

Annette was also a recurring character on "Ted Lasso."

[quote]Nick Hendricks is hot AF

[quote]Nick Hendricks is adorable.

H-E-N-D-R-I-X

More Nick

So...pale.

OP, I was just thinking of you this weekend, b/c I hadn't seen a post or thread from you in a while! Good to know you're still here. 🎟

The very first episode tricked me completely, I was not expecting that.

Reply 33, Thank you! Had a little mishap involving an icy porch. On the mend, slowly! Rick

Here's a favorite (of many) of mine, "A Talent For Life." Honor Blackman is terrific as the bitchy Auntie Mame type that not everybody loves!

There was one sidekick that didn’t last very long. I wonder if John Nettles had him booted.

Was that Scott, R37, who told Cully straightaway he had no intention of staying long in Midsommer?

Speaking of whom, I was never fond of Cully. Sykes and Paddy were more endearing "little ones." Betty seems special.

R19…I agree with the first part of your first sentence. I cannot watch a single episode of Vera. Unrelentingly bleak. And I can’t stand Brenda Blethyn. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, it’s a fine show.

Sian Phillips in "Vixen's Run" (2006)

Her character is channeling SP's tour de force performance as Livia (the poisoner) in "I Claudius".

Her last scene with Barnaby - she casually asks him about one of the other deaths and Barnaby reminds her that THAT death had not been murder. SP's relaxed response triggers the viewer to wonder of that had been a murdered victim as well.

I love Brenda Blethyn and I watched Vera but I could never understand the dialogue because of the accents.

r41 That's why we have closed-captioning, pet.

The Rainbirds were delightfully creepy.

R42

ISWYDT

Some seasons he would have a really hot partner. Who is he partnered with these days?

He's still with the aforementioned Nick Hendrix.

Sian Phillips is still with us and turns 91 May 14. Have to say I didn't recognize her at first on Midsomer Murders as she's had a lot of cosmetic surgery along the way...

[quote] The new Barnaby was never sexy like hot daddy John Nettles

I think I am the only one who fancied Neil Dudgeon, back in the day.

Neil turned up as a different character during the Nettles years.

[quote]Neil turned up as a different character during the Nettles years.

He played the village pump in that episode.

It’s the same thing over and over again except now it’s diversified with Indians, Africans and Chinese people with British accents married to (or having affairs with) British white people

“It was MY FAMILY who had the right to this castle hotel/pub/antique shop/musical score/country house/ woods/bestselling book/ real estate parcel. Not the batty old woman who thinks she’s a folk healer! Not the classic car collector! Not the choirmaster! Not the chief bell ringer! Not the New Age pagan priestess! Not the Commander!”

“And how was I to know he was really my brother who disappeared 31 years ago when I was just a toddler, who was presumed dead in the car accident/ burned in the terrible house fire/drowned in the river after falling off the bridge? And that my mother was really the lady of the manor, not the laundry girl who brought me up?”