MIDSOMER MURDERS

Cozy English villages rife with deceit and death

- Pat H. Broeske

Quaint villages shadowed by secrets. A roster of eccentrics. Murders most bizarre. Not to mention all those teapots and pubs. During its 20-plus years on TV, Midsomer Murders has quietly staked out its own territory—think of it as Agatha Christie with a dash of Twin Peaks—and in doing so, it has quietly become a genre classic. Circumventing casting changes and controversy, the popular British series has attracted viewers the world over—in some 200 countries to date.

Not bad for a contemporary crime drama about cops without guns. (Unlike US police officers, the majority of UK police do not carry them.)

Inspired by the Inspector Barnaby books by Caroline Graham, the series is set in fictional Midsomer County, where veteran Detective Chief Investigator John Barnaby— who took over when his cousin, Tom Barnaby, retired—probes mysterious deaths that occur in the county’s quaint villages.

Of course, all is not what it seems within those villages. Which is why the media pokes fun at life in Midsomer. Per the British newspaper, The Telegraph, the county’s average life expectancy “can be compared unfavorably with Al Capone’s Chicago.”

Now in its 21st season—a feat paralleled in this country only by the turgid and hectoring Law & Order: Special Victims Unit—the UK series is now streaming on BritBox and Acorn TV. The new season debuted in December while several older seasons continue to be available on local PBS stations. And of course, the many seasons (excluding the latest) are available on DVD.