Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Midsomer Murders, Set 24 Blu-ray Movie Review

Exeunt Jones

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 21, 2014

As noted in the review of Acorn Media's Set 23 of Midsomer Murders, the series' fifteenth season was the last for co-star Jason Hughes, whose character, Det. Sgt. Ben Jones had provided much-needed continuity when Midsomer's reliable lead investigator, DCI Tom Barnaby (Tom Nettles), was replaced by his cousin, John (Neil Dudgeon), two seasons earlier. Hughes' skill as the underdog straight man to both Barnabys wasn't always appreciated, but it was an essential ingredient to Midsomer's droll humor.

Unlike Tom Barnaby, Sgt. Jones did not receive an elaborate sendoff with his successor introduced in a previous investigation and an entire episode devoted to his decision to move on. Indeed, Jones leaves more abruptly than the elderly coroner, Dr. Bullard, who simply announced his retirement at the end of episode 4 in the season after Tom Barnaby's departure (although the press had already alerted fans in the U.K. to the impending change). Episodes featuring Jones's successor have aired across the pond, but we have yet to see them here.

In these remaining three episodes of season (or "series") fifteen, Midsomer County continues to hum with villainy behind its neatly trimmed hedges and quaintly pastoral cottage doors. One day, perhaps, John Barnaby will retire like his cousin and use his psychology degree to author a treatise on the homicidal mania that rural England seems to engender in people who, on the surface, seem ever so decent, mild and polite.

Written in the Stars (disc 1) Sept. 25, 2012

(Note: Although this episode is designated as number four in the season, it was broadcast out of order, ahead of "Death and the Divas", which is listed as episode 3 and was included in Acorn's Set 23.)

The members of the Midsomer Stanton Astronomical Historical Society gather on Moonstone Ridge to observe a total eclipse of the sun. When full daylight returns, the chair of the society, Jeremy Harper (Tim Wallers), lies dead on the ground, struck on the head by a rock that analysis reveals to be a chunk of meterorite. The rock bears traces of a red fiber that becomes the signature for a string of killings.

Moonstone Ridge has a sinister reputation, at least according to "Mystic Mags" Dormer (Maureen Lipman), an astrologist who writes for the local tabloid. The dead man's sister-in-law died there years ago, under mysterious circumstances, and Mystic Mags claims that she had predicted Jeremy's death after a "reading" with his wife (now widow), Catrina (Clare Calbraith). Atop Moonstone Ridge sits an ancient observatory from the 1930s, which belongs to the University of Midsomer. A UFO fanatic named Peter Groves (Jay Taylor) saw Jeremy arguing with the director of the university's Stanton Observatory, Lawrence Janson (Harry Hadden-Paton), just before the eclipse. Janson, it seems, wanted to demolish the old structure and expand the university's facilities onto Moonstone Ridge, aided by funding from a solar power company—a plan that Jeremy adamantly opposed. Janson, in turn, finds his scientific reputation at risk from the Ph.D. thesis being written by Jeremy's niece, Gagan Dutta (Soraya Radford), under the supervision of Prof. Adrian Sharp (Barnaby Kay). Gagan is challenging theories about the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle on which Janson made his reputation in quantum physics, and Janson can't risk any loss in stature at a time when he's negotiating for major grants.

As bodies continue to fall, all of them killed with something space-related, Barnaby begins to question the theatrical nature of the killer's methods. Is it a cover for something else? As the title suggests, the answer is "written in the stars", but only if one knows where to look.


The Sicilian Defense (disc 1) Jan. 9, 2013

The town of Bishopwood holds an annual chess tournament at which two of the principal contenders are the reviled Edward Stannington (Nicholas Rowe, who once starred in Young Sherlock Holmes), president of the local chess club, and Alan Robson (Cal Macaninch), a millionaire from sales of a popular computer chess program. At this year's event, however, a child prodigy, Jamie Carr (John Bell), has emerged to challenge the adults, urged relentlessly forward by his ambitious mother, Olivia (Julie Cox).

But the big news for Barnaby and Jones is the sudden awakening of Harriet Farmer (Jo Woodcock), daughter of the tournament's referee, David Farmer (Richard Lumsden). Harriet has been in a coma for almost a year, ever since she was found unconscious in the forest where she had gone to elope with her boyfriend, Finn Robson (Royce Pierreson, in flashbacks), son of the chess software magnate. No one has seen Finn since that night. Any hope that Barnaby and Jones might have had for answers from the newly conscious Harriet are dashed when she can recall nothing. Her attending physician, Dr. Laura Parr (Julie Graham, Bonekickers), who has grown close to Finn's grieving mother, Wendy Robson (Rowena King), cannot say when, or if, Harriet will recover from her amnesia.

As if the mystery of Finn Robson's disappearance weren't enough, a murderer begins eliminating chess participants, and Barnaby can't help but notice that the murders began as soon as Wendy awoke. The killer leaves a calling card on each victim in the form of a chess notation recording part of a game that opened with the Sicilian Defense. But what is the connection to Harriet? Barnaby's inquiries lead to a discovery that, even by the twisted standards of Midsomer Murders, is unusually dark.


Schooled in Murder (disc 2) Jan. 30, 2013

The town of Midsomer Pastures is world renowned for an award-winning artisanal cheese called "Midsomer Blue". The town is also home to an exclusive prep school run by its own Iron Lady, one Sylvia Mountford (Maggie Steed), who has been headmistress for so many years that many of the parents on her current Parents' Council are former students, including her chief ally on the council, Beatrix Ordish (Lucy Liemann). Consistent with the town's dairy fixation, Beatrix is married to a member of the government cheese board, Oliver Ordish (Richard Dillane).

During a routine meeting of Ms. Mountford's Parents' Council, an irate parent, Debbie Moffett (Martine McCutcheon, Love Actually), storms into the room and causes a scene, making veiled threats to both the headmistress and her former schoolmate, Beatrix. After leaving the school, Debbie receives a phone call summoning her to the Midsomer Blue curing facility, where she is ambushed and bashed to death with a giant round of the town's famous delicacy.

The investigation by Barnaby and Jones turns up a ripe collection of suspects, and everyone is somehow connected to the dairy industry. The guru of Midsomer Blue, Jim Caxton (Con O'Neill), cares only about his molds and the aging of his product. His widowed sister-in-law, Helen (Kate Ashfield, Shaun of the Dead), is an independent dairy farmer infuriated by the predatory pricing of a massive corporate competitor, Conglomerate Uni-Dairy, that is driving them all out of business. The current owner of the Midsomer Blue facility, Hayley Brantner (Hattie Moran), is a frustrated writer who only moved back to Midsomer Pastures when she inherited the property upon her father's death; she hates the town, but her husband, a former rugby player named Gregory (Patrick Robinson), thinks that he can turn Midsomer Blue into a profitable brand, if only the locals will accept modern methods of production.

Like the victim and Beatrix Ordish, Hayley and Helen are both graduates of Ms. Mountford's academy. Indeed, Ms. Mountford seems to be the only person in Midsomer Pastures without some sort of involvement in the cheese and dairy industry—except for the mysterious young man (Jesse Fox) who keeps popping out of the woods at odd moments, almost like a ghost. Who exactly is he? As the killer racks up more victims, each crime scene is left with a cheese-related signature, but Barnaby can't help but wonder whether something else is at stake besides the future of the region's signature comestible.

An unrelated subplot concerns the celebration by John and Mary (Fiona Dolman) Barnaby of their fifteenth wedding anniversary (surely not an arbitrary choice of number on the part of the writers, given that the episode concludes Midsomer Murders' fifteenth season). They invite Sgt. Jones and coroner Kate Wilding (Tamzin Malleson) for a simple dinner at home, but complications arise due to Sykes the terrier, who gets more screen time in this episode than he's seen since the Barnabys first arrived in Midsomer County. In perhaps the cruelest trick that any DCI has ever played on his sergeant, throughout Jones's final investigation he is routinely upstaged by the boss's dog.

Midsomer Murders, Set 24 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As it did with the three episodes of Set 23 of Midsomer Murders, Acorn Media has placed the first two episodes on a BD-50 and the third on a BD-25, both encoded at 1080p with the AVC codec. The results are of comparable excellence, and one can only hope that Acorn continues this practice of giving these episodes sufficient room to breathe, rather than squashing three hours of Midsomer Murders onto a BD-25, as it did with the early Blu-ray sets. The show's characteristic blend of English rustic and cutting-edge modern (which I have previously described as "quaint farms and antique stables with an iPhone in every pocket") is presented with the clarity, detail and depth of field typical of the best contemporary British TV. Colors are vivid but not oversaturated, so that the bucolic countryside always looks its best and the clothing is tastefully understated. Only the characters are over-the-top. Banding, aliasing, video noise, compression errors and other artifacts were nowhere to be seen. Along with Set 23, these are the best-looking entries in the series to date.

Midsomer Murders, Set 24 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Provided in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0, the sound design for Midsomer Murders continues to be basic and functional, with emphasis on dialogue and sparing use of music. The Blu-ray's track conveys the dialogue clearly, and Jim Parker's signature theme is as essential to the series as the English countryside. The show's producers continue to experiment with versions other than Parker's original theremin performance, but the theme remains instantly recognizable.

Midsomer Murders, Set 24 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra included with this set of Midsomer Murders is a few screens of text on disc 2 giving the history of Sykes the dog, whose name really is "Sykes". A genuine screen star who was rescued from the pound, Sykes has become the most popular member of the show's cast. Seriously, though, if one is going to create an extra focused on Sykes, shouldn't there at least be a highlight reel? Or outtakes?

As is customary with Acorn's releases, the first disc plays trailers at startup, in this instance for Acorn Media, Les Petits Meurtres D'Agatha Christie and Poirot: Series 13.

Midsomer Murders, Set 24 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fans of Midsomer Murders continue to wonder when the first twelve seasons will make their appearance on Blu-ray, but it's beginning to look like that day may never come. The Blu-ray releases commenced with season 13, because that is also when the show switched from film to HD video. Blu-ray presentations of previous seasons would require new transfers that would no doubt involve substantial investment in restoration. Still, we can dream. Going forward, let's hope that Acorn does not split season 17 into two Blu-ray sets, because, with only five episodes to the season, one of the "sets" would be a single disc with two episodes. It's bad enough to be deprived of Midsomer's classics on Blu-ray, but to have the newest installments dribbled out slowly adds insult to injury. Meanwhile, the three episodes in Set 24 are highly recommended.