Midsomer Murders: Set Nine
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Barry Jackson, Jane Wymark, Jason Hughes, John Nettles, Laura HowardBrand: Acorn
Writer: Caroline Graham
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-09-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Acorn Media
Movie Reviews of Midsomer Murders: Set Nine
Movie Review: DCS Barnaby returns refreshed to the well-groomed villages and corpses of Midsomer County
Summary: 5 Stars
These four programs, 100 minutes each, constitute the first half of Midsomer Murders eighth season. The murders, and there are a lot of them, happen in the villages of Midsomer County. The landscape is idyllically English, with ample greensward, manicured lawns, carefully trimmed hedges, cosy cottages and perfect gardens. The people of Midsomer County, ranging from working blokes to landed aristocrats, are for the most part well-mannered. Gossip is a cottage industry. If it weren't for all the corpses, the villages and towns of Midsomer County would be a fine place to live. As it is, they're a fine place to die. Because of the corpses, we have Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Barnaby, unflappable, courteous, curious, relentless, with a sly, dry sense of humor that should make a smart murderer wary. DCS Barnaby is played by John Nettles, and it's hard to say who is the more authentic, the actor or the character. The one thing for sure is that it is a perfect fit. Nettles makes the series work. When he as Barnaby comes on the scene, we know we're in for an intelligent, very British, understated and amusing series of lethal riddles and satisfying solutions. At least we were. The last three shows of Midsomer Murders seventh series showed the dreaded influence of American television crime series...the oh-too-serious psychological back-story, heavy-handed and actorly acting, the gratuitous use of sex for ratings, actors who were a bit green and unformed, and a detective sidekick, male or female, who was more luscious hunk than helper.
The weaknesses seem to have been rectified with the start of the eighth season. The mysteries are complicated but we are back to spending more time on clever clues and motivations than on inner angst. I still miss the appearance of some of Britain's fine character actors...they started being phased out several seasons ago...but the acting is back up to the skill level that had become shaky in the last season. Tom Barnaby's sergeant, Dan Scott (played by John Hopkins), is a handsome young man who is competent and conscientious. But now Scott is clearly Barnaby's detective helper and is not, at least in these four shows, used to imply a possible love interest with Barnaby's grown daughter or to mix it up in bed with a story character. Even Barnaby's daughter, Cully Barnaby (Laura Howard), has been toned down and reined in. She'd been getting on my nerves with that gloomy, dissatisfied cloud that followed her around in previous shows. It had reached the point where she even became involved in a couple of the mysteries. Now, along with Barnaby's wife Joyce (Jane Wymark), she's back to simply showing us the smart, loving family Barnaby comes home to when he's not capturing crazed prelates and mad orchid enthusiasts. This return to the roots of what made Midsomer Murders so satisfying and engaging I put to the reappearance of Betty Willingale. She was Midsomer Murders' first producer, then program consultant. After a couple of years away, she's now back as consulting producer. If she's the one responsible, I think it was just in time. Whatever the reason, Midsomer Murders with these four shows from the start of the eighth season gives us a refreshed series.
Things That Go Bump in the Night takes place in Fletcher's Cross. It combines spiritualism, gullibility, lust and slaughter. Not bad for a charming English village.
Dead Water finds Barnaby and Scott in the midst of the annual Midsomer Regatta. Here Midsomer County's well-to-do find themselves dropping like oars.
Orchis Fatalis gives us and Barnaby a chance to learn about the the passion for orchids among the residents of Midsomer Malham. It is a passion that leads to lethal consequences.
Bantling Boy takes place among the wealthy inhabitants of Bantling Hall, and a syndicate which owns a great racehorse named Bantling Boy. As members of the syndicate die, Barnaby must discover why the syndicate is made up of such an odd mix of Midsomer inhabitants.
The DVD transfer is pristine. England's hills, dales, villages and dead people never looked better.
Summary of Midsomer Murders: Set Nine
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