Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (1997– )
The stories are set in modern-day England and revolve around Tom Barnaby’s (later, John Barnaby’s) efforts to solve numerous murders that take place in the idyllic, picturesque but deadly villages of the fictional county of Midsomer. The Barnabys have worked with several different sergeants throughout the run of the show: Sgt Gavin Troy (Daniel Casey), Sgt Dan Scott (John Hopkins), Sgt Ben Jones (Jason Hughes), Sgt Charlie Nelson (Gwilym Lee) and currently Sgt Jamie Winter (Nick Hendrix). —Wikipedia
When I want to watch something light, engaging, and beautiful to the eye, I put on Midsomer Murders. As a British cozy mystery buff, Murders never fails to fulfill.
Midsomer Murders began its long run in 1996 and is still going. That’s 19 seasons and 116 episodes, according to IMDb. It has endured several sergeants and even a switch-out of the main character when DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) was followed by his cousin, DCI John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) in the 14th season. Why such a long run for this cozy British mystery show? Probably just that.
From the beginning, Murders has remained true to the cozy, with no autopsy close-ups or gaping flesh wounds. The quintessential rural setting is gorgeous: haystack-dotted hillsides rife with corn flowers and blue bells; thatch-roofed cottages, climbing roses winding up the garden gate. Antique cars trundle down cobblestone roads to the country fair. Every scene, even the ones depicting murder so foul, has the quaintness of the olde English countryside, at least as imagined by us TV-watching city dwellers.
The characters are equally as colorful and quaint. The murders are clever and complex. The murderer may be the outlander or the girl next door. For 116 episodes, Murders has never let me down.
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