Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Midsomer Murders, Set 20 Blu-ray Movie Review

Farewell, Tom Barnaby; We Hardly Knew You

Reviewed by Michael Reuben June 30, 2012

With only the second set of Midsomer Murders to be released on Blu-ray, viewers must already bid farewell to Det. Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby of Causton CID (as in "Criminal Investigation Division"), because the actor who plays him, John Nettles, retired in 2010 after starring in the series since the original pilot in 1997. This leaves Acorn Media with 74 of DCI Barnaby's cases to bring to Blu-ray in the years ahead. Indeed, some of Acorn's recent Blu-rays (e.g., Poirot: Series 5) open with a promotion for Midsomer Murders: The Early Cases.

As discussed in more detail in the review of Set 19, both Barnaby and Midsomer County are the creation of author Caroline Graham. The locale's pastoral surface hides an ugly underside of passion, greed, jealousy and homicidal mania, all of which has kept DCI Barnaby and a succession of partners busy over the years. The four 90-minute episodes (two hours with commercials) comprising Set 20 were first broadcast from October 2010 through February 2011 and constitute the second half of the show's thirteenth season. The fifteenth season is currently being broadcast. (Acorn Media's different numbering for its sets is dictated by the sluggish pace at which All3Media International doles out the video rights.)

Master Class (disc 1)

At the Devington Manor Winter School, piano students from all over England compete for a coveted spot in the "master class" held by world-renowned musician Sir Michael Fielding (James Fox). DCI Barnaby's wife, Joyce (Jane Wymark), always a devoted patron of the arts, helps administer the competition, which is judged by Sir Michael's two daughters, Miriam and Constance (Sylvestra Le Touzel and Frances Barber). Miriam is by far the more vinegary of the two. Commenting on one applicant's performance, she says, "Very memorable"—then turns to her sister and whispers: "Like witnessing genocide."

The star of this year's competition is young Zoe Stock (Lydia Wilson), in whose playing the Fielding sisters instantly recognize the strains of genius. But competition among the applicants is fierce, so much so that one applicant who doesn't make the cut creates an embarrassing scene at the formal occasion that concludes the competition. From the moment Zoe emerges as a favorite of the Fielding sisters, strange events being to occur. Waking along a river on the manor grounds, Zoe sees a woman with a baby jump from a bridge and apparently drown. DCI Barnaby is called, but he and Det. Sergeant Ben Jones (Jason Hughes), assisted by a squad of officers, can find no trace of the woman or the child. Nevertheless, Barnaby is struck by the similarity between Zoe's report and a case he investigated as a junior officer eighteen years ago. He tells Jones to keep looking.

While visiting the local church of the Rev. Gregory (Clifford Rose) to try out its impressive pipe organ, Zoe is nearly killed by a load of roofing tiles that mysteriously fall just as she is exiting the building. She isn't so lucky when it comes to escaping the charms of a fellow competitor, Orlando Guest (Matthew James Thomas), who is romancing both Zoe and another female applicant, Francesca Sharpe (Katherine Press), in the hopes of distracting them both from giving their best performance. Meanwhile, Orlando's mother (Nadia Cameron-Blakey) has her sights set on Sir Michael himself (anything to help her son gain an advantage), while Francesca's father (Simon Sharpe) can't stop hovering to ensure that his daughter is getting every advantage.

As is so often the case in Midsomer Murders, the most high-minded pursuits are revealed to mask the basest of motives. And in this case it's much more than healthy competition and parental protectiveness being pushed to an extreme.


The Noble Art (disc 1)

The town of Midsomer Morchard turns out with pride when local boy John Kinsella (Henry Garrett) fights in Madison Square Garden for the World Middleweight Boxing Championship. A wealthy landowner and retired JP (Justice of the Peace), Gerald Farquaharson (Kevin McNally), throws a gala in the small hours of the morning, due to the time difference, so that local residents can watch the fight via live broadcast on a huge video screen. Tom and Joyce Barnaby attend, although Joyce is squeamish about physical combat. So is Gerald's daughter-in-law, Camilla (Daniela Denby-Ashe), to whom her husband, Gerald's son Sebastian (Matthew Douglas), is unaccountably harsh and unsympathetic. Remarkably, a similarly skittish reaction to the fight is exhibited by Grace Bishop (Camille Coduri), the wife of boxer Kinsella's manager, Frank (Glen Murphy). Frank is in New York with his fighter, but Grace has stayed behind in Morchard, and she winces with every blow his opponent scores on John Kinsella—not the reaction you'd expect from the wife of a fight manager, who should be used to this sort of thing.

Local boy Kinsella prevails, and the town erupts in celebration. Gerald Farquaharson, who is a fight enthusiast and a former amateur boxer, was already planning a public celebration featuring the unveiling of a boxing statue, followed by an outdoor recreation of a famous Victorian fight held in Morchard in the 19th Century, and he lines up Kinsella to portray one of the fighters. He also organizes a huge welcoming party for the returning hero, which is only mildly dampened by the fact that Kinsella is delayed in New York, along with his manager and trainer, Teddy Molloy (Phil Daniels), due to airline security issues.

But this is Midsomer County, and nothing is ever what it appears. At the party in Kinsella's honor, dark undercurrents emerge, as Gerald Farquaharson and his son, Sebastian, exchange harsh words that suggest serious family trouble. Joyce Barnaby notices something about Camilla Farquaharson that seems unrelated at the time, but will prove highly relevant later on. And the family lawyer, Mr. Braithwaite (Ken Bones) attends with his assistant, Iris Holman (Michelle Fairley); they exchange cryptic observations, and within the next twenty-four hours, Braithwaite will be consulted by several people connected to the party looking to explore their legal rights.

Just after the champ and his party finally arrive back from the States, bodies start to appear, bearing contusions unlike anything the coroner, Dr. Bullard (Barry Jackson), has ever seen. Barnaby and Jones dig up one seamy secret after another, but none of it makes sense until, one morning, sitting at the kitchen table with Joyce, Barnaby realizes he's been looking at the case all wrong.



Not in My Back Yard (disc 2)

Real estate brings out the worst in people. The village of Great Pelfe has been seething over the contemporary style of the mansion built by Norman and Eleanor Swanscombe (Peter Egan and Jill Baker) on land they purchased from local resident Fiona Conway (Linda Marlowe). Norman Swanscombe's mother was a native of Great Pelfe, but she moved away when she became pregnant with him out of wedlock, and he never knew his father—a fact that Maureen Stubbs (Joan Blackham), a pillar of the Midsomer Conservation Society, doesn't hesitate to throw in Norman's face. She's also quick to throw a drink in the face of his architect, Clifford Bunting (Alistair Petrie). Maureen Stubbs and her friend Angela Lawrence (Dorothy Atkinson) are the two loudest voices opposing Swanscombe House, and they're the chief suspects when it's vandalized repeatedly during construction, though no one can ever prove anything.

But Norman Swanscombe has even bigger plans. He's asked the Great Pelfe city council to approve a vast new housing development on an open tract of land at the edge of the village, and the council seems inclined to go along with Norman's plans. The council chair, a local veterinarian named James Otley (Dominic Mafham), favors the project; the town's chief housing official, Liz Gerrard (Amanda Drew), has signed off after exhaustively reviewing the plans; and Swanscombe's builder, Geoff Rogers (Hugo Speer), is keen to bid for the work. The Conservation Society, however, is ready to storm the battlements. Maureen Stubbs and Angela Lawrence are absolutely certain that the approval process is a "front" for commercial interests, whose real agenda is to turn the development into a shopping mall.

The Conservation Society, which also happens to include Joyce Barnaby among its members, finds an ally in Great Pelfe resident David Walsh (David Annen), a retired Army officer and something of a conspiracy nut. Maj. Walsh agrees to stand for city council in opposition to Norman Swanscombe, who is seeking the position in order to expedite the development. At about the same time, several people involved in the development are the victims of break-ins, and Maureen Stubbs suddenly announces she has proof that the project is a fraud—whereupon she immediately turns up dead.

In typical Midsomer Murders fashion, every time Barnaby and Jones think they've identified the killer, new developments require them to keep digging. Those developments include additional murder victims, all of whom are the very people Maureen Stubbs so bitterly opposed. As is so often the case in real estate transactions, the real movers and shakers aren't always the names listed on the papers.


Fit for Murder (disc 2)

With an upcoming birthday and a police physical to pass, Tom Barnaby doesn't seem himself. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that he's about to reach the age at which his father died. Joyce Barnaby decides that it would do her husband a world of good to devote a weekend to rest and relaxation at the Swavely Manor Spa Hotel. It turns out, though, that Swavely Manor is one spa where no one is likely to relax.

The spa is run by Luke and Phoebe Archbold (Jason Durr and Lesley Manville) on an estate inherited by Phoebe from her family. Phoebe grew up there with her closest friend in the world, Miranda Bedford (Geraldine James), who bought a house on the estate so that she and Phoebe could always remain close, but Luke came between them. It was he who persuaded Phoebe to transform the estate into a commercial establishment, investing all her money in the process, over Miranda's protest.

Miranda just wants peace and quiet so that she can continue to work on the literary masterwork over which she's been slaving for thirty years and which Luke claims doesn't exist. Lately he's commenced a series of dirty tricks to drive Miranda out of her house, including denying her access via the estate roadways. Miranda and her general helpmate, Carter Smith (Shaun Dingwall), who is rumored to be more than Miranda's employee, have retaliated in kind, most recently by loosing a herd of sheep on the spa premises. When spa guests like the Barnabys arrive, they're apt to be met by Miranda and Carter telling them to go elsewhere.

Rumor among the staff has it that Luke and Phoebe are almost broke. They certainly expend inordinate effort fawning over a rich client named Kitti Pottinger (Ronni Ancona), who regularly checks in with her boorish husband Kenny (Angus Barnett) to de-tox but is so little committed to the process that she brings along her own supply of booze and pills. No one is shocked when Kitti Pottinger turns up drowned in the spa's "flotation room" with a high blood alcohol content (no one, that is, except for the unfortunate patron who found her). Barnaby even lets Sgt. Jones take charge of the inquiry, after Jones notes that Barnaby is off duty. But Jones does such a good job sifting the evidence that he finds something suspicious, and Dr. Bullard, the savvy coroner who knows how Barnaby's mind works, observes: "Cheer up, Tom. Looks like you might have a murder after all!"

Barnaby can't cheer up, though, even as he concentrates on solving the case with Jones, which, of course, they do. Ironically enough, it's an encounter with a New Age masseuse called "Cloud" (Kimberley Nixon), who may or may not be a con artist, that sets Barnaby on the right track in his personal quest. The real breakthroughs come, as they so often do for this very private man, as he sits alone with his beloved Joyce. At a birthday party after the Barnabys have returned home from Swavely Manor, Tom Barnaby stuns friends and family by announcing his retirement. When an urgent call comes in for "Inspector Barnaby", he hands it to his cousin John (Neil Dudgeon), newly transferred from Brighton CID, who leaves with Sgt. Jones to show him the way.

Midsomer Murders, Set 20 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The video quality for Set 20 of Midsomer Murders is comparable to that of Set 19 and even improves on it slightly. The image on Acorn Media's 1080i, AVC-encoded Blu-rays showed the same superb levels of clarity, detail, depth of field, color and black levels, but with virtually no instances of aliasing or video noise. Whether this represents a difference in the source materials or greater care at the compression stage is impossible to tell, but the result was a pleasure to view. The English countryside looks peaceful and inviting in these episodes, a perfect counterpoint to the dastardly conduct occurring just outside the frame.

Midsomer Murders, Set 20 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with Set 19, the audio on this Blu-ray set is DTS-HD MA 2.0, but Acorn Media still has it mislabeled. Last time, the jacket said PCM 2.0; this time, both the jacket and the discs feature the Dolby Digital logo. Maybe on the third try, they'll get it right.

Midsomer Murders doesn't use elaborate sound design. The emphasis is on dialogue, and even music is used sparingly. The DTS lossless track conveys the dialogue clearly, and Jim Parker's signature theme continues to sound wonderful in all its incarnations, including the unmistakable theremin version that opens and closes every episode.

Midsomer Murders, Set 20 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Barnaby Through the Years Photo Gallery (HD, 1080i; various; 1:43): A selection of stills from earlier episodes.
• Saying Goodbye to Barnaby: Two pages of text listing favorite Barnaby episodes and moments submitted by Midsomer Murder fans.
• Bonus Trailers: At startup, disc 1 plays trailers for Acorn Media, Case Histories and Agatha Christie's Marple. These can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Midsomer Murders, Set 20 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hardcore fans of Midsomer Murders remain convinced that the series' best years were the earliest. Blu-ray enthusiasts will have to wait for Acorn Media to circle back to the show's beginnings for those early years to become available. In the meantime, this last set of DCI Tom Barnaby's cases are technically superior and entertaining viewing. Highly recommended.