Midsomer Murders

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, DS Dan Scott, DS Ben Jones, DS Charlie Nelson and DS Jamie Winter.

Filming of Midsomer Murders began in autumn 1996, and the first episode, "The Killings at Badger's Drift", was broadcast in the United Kingdom on 23 March 1997. This inaugural episode was the highest-rated single drama programme of 1997, watched by 13.5 million viewers.[2] Throughout its run, the feature-length drama has attracted many well-known accomplished actors from the stage and screen in guest-starring roles.

Anthony Horowitz and the original producers, Betty Willingale and Brian True-May, created the series. Horowitz adapted the majority of the early episodes from the original works by Caroline Graham. Current writers include Helen Jenkins, Jeff Povey, Nicholas Hicks-Beach, Julia Gilbert and Chris Murray.

Actor John Nettles originated the role of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby. Nettles' character retired at the end of 2010, after the 13th series of eight episodes; his last episode was "Fit for Murder". Neil Dudgeon replaced him in the 14th series, playing Tom Barnaby's cousin, DCI John Barnaby,[3] who was first seen in a series 13 episode, "The Sword of Guillaume".[4] Dudgeon made his first appearance in Midsomer Murders in the episode "The Garden of Death", in which he played the role of a tongue-in-cheek gardener, Daniel Bolt, rather interested in sex.[5]

Series 20 began in the UK on ITV on 10 March 2019, with episode 1, "The Ghosts of Causton Abbey".[6] In the US, the entire six-episode series was immediately released on the streaming services Acorn TV and BritBox,[7] and became available on Netflix after the UK broadcast schedule had finished. The show was removed from Netflix in October 2019; only the first 19 seasons had been shown on the service. Series 20 onward have never been shown on Netflix in US or Canada.[8][9] As of January, 2021, Episodes 1-20 can be seen in the US on IMDb TV and Tubi TV.

The show's official social media confirmed that production of series 21 began in March 2019.[10] As with series 20, series 21 is to be initially released in the USA. It is to premiere on Acorn TV and BritBox on 1 December 2019, before airing in the UK in January 2020.[11]

As of October 2020, filming had begun on series 22 after being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.[12]

The pilot episode of Midsomer Murders was shown on 23 March 1997. As of 4 February 2020, 124 episodes had been broadcast in the UK, comprising 21 series.

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 a "bastion of Englishness". 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.[27] He was reinstated, having apologised "if his remarks gave unintended offence to any viewers", but subsequently stepped down as producer.[28][29]

The following year in series 15, Asian actors played central characters in the show for the first time, in the episode "Written in the Stars".[30] Beginning with series 18, the show gained an Asian member for its main cast: pathologist Kam Karimore, played by Manjinder Virk.[31]

As of 2016, Midsomer Murders had been sold to more than 200 countries around the world.[2] In 2004, it was among the three most-sold British TV shows worldwide, whether as TV Programming or DVD.[32]

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.[33][34]

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 seasons are currently available in Canada on Prime Video, while all seasons are available on Britbox. The first 19 seasons are also available on streaming service/app Tubi.

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 until it's been 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.[17] The show remained on A&E for many years until it was syndicated by American Public Television for broadcast on public television stations. As of December 2017, episodes through series 19 are available for streaming through Netflix, and all series are available from the ITV/BBC collaboration streaming service Britbox.

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.

Multiple soundtrack CDs have been released so far, containing versions of the theme and musical cues from various series.

All 114 episodes that have aired so far have been released in the UK (Region 2) including three Christmas specials. The first 18 series and "Part 1" of series 19 of Midsomer Murders have been released in Australia[35] and New Zealand (Region 4). Note that episodes 1 to 100 were originally released as 25 "sets", which are now discontinued, and have been rereleased as "series" 1 to 16 in redesigned packages.

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 UK has released 24 DVD sets of Midsomer Murders in North America as well as several collections, which are:

• The Early Cases 10 disc collection of 18 episodes includes the pilot episode and those of series one, two, three, and four (except the last episode), as well as a bonus disc featuring a behind-the-scenes documentary.
• Acorn's "Barnaby's Casebook" 10 disc collection has 17 episodes, including the last episode of series four, followed by those of series five, six, and seven.
• Acorn's "Village Case Files" 8 disc collection includes the 16 episodes of series eight, and nine; and a 4 minute bonus clip from series one.
• Acorn's "Mayhem & Mystery" 15 disc collection includes the 17 episodes of series ten and eleven.
• Acorn's "Tom Barnaby's Last Cases" 15 disc collection includes the 17 episodes of series twelve and thirteen.

Below table are release dates for complete seasons sets in both Australia Region 4 and United Kingdom Region 2.

• Graham, Caroline (1987). The Killings at Badger's Drift. ISBN 978-0-917561-41-2.
• Graham, Caroline (1989). Death of a Hollow Man. ISBN 978-0-7126-2911-9.
• Graham, Caroline (1993). Death in Disguise. ISBN 978-0-7472-0608-8.
• Graham, Caroline (1994). Written in Blood. ISBN 978-0-7472-4664-0.
• Graham, Caroline (1996). Faithful unto Death. ISBN 978-0-7472-1665-0.
• Graham, Caroline (1999). A Place of Safety. ISBN 978-0-312-24419-4.
• Graham, Caroline (2004). A Ghost in the Machine. ISBN 978-0-7553-0772-2.
• Evans, Jeff (2003). Midsomer Murders: The Making of An English Crime Classic. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-8768-8.

• Midsomer Murders at itv.com
• Midsomer Murders at IMDb
• Midsomer Murders at epguides.com
• Midsomer Murders at TV.com
• "UK Publisher for Midsomer Murders DVDs". Acorn DVD.