It has been a great week for Midsomer Murders fans; on Monday (10th October) there was the publication of a new TV Times interview with Neil Dudgeon and on Wednesday there was the broadcast of a brand-new episode.
Neil, who plays Inspector Barnaby in Midsomer, told the TV Times that he is a fan of Fulham football club, would love to act in a period drama and celebrated getting the role of Barnaby by having a pie and chips with a friend in Glasgow.
The actor also revealed that his careers advisor at school never thought that he would succeed as an actor.
Last night, Neil again proved his careers advisor wrong by turning in a masterly performance in the new Midsomer Murders episode, The Night of the Stag.
There were many other highlights in the new episode. Below are a few of them.
Best location: Neil Dudgeon said in his TV Times interview that Midsomer is the perfect place to relocate to as “the countryside is beautiful, you will love the people and the village greens are perfect”.
How right he is. Didn’t Upton Fruit Farm in South Oxfordshire look beautiful throughout the episode?
Most half-hearted man-hunt in Midsomer Murders history: the one featuring the ever-professional Barnaby and Jones both enjoying the delights of Midsomer May Fair with a stack of ‘missing man’ leaflets in one hand and a pint of local beer in the other.
Most interesting revelation about Midsomer: Last episode we learned that Midsomer has a well-established druids’ circle and last night we discovered that the area boasts a Temperance Group; a collection of puritanical people who gate-crashed the fair and were not impressed by the sight of merry locals drinking and participating in a Horn Dance.
Best murder: The VAT man found floating in a vat of beer (food and drink in South Oxfordshire have an excellent reputation, and in real life the ales are prized - and, as yet, there have been no floating tax inspectors found).
Best line of dialogue: “Better an empty house than a bad tenant” – new police pathologist Kate Wilding telling Barnaby to try and vomit again after he fell ill drinking a pint of local brew poured from a vat featuring the remains of the murdered taxman.
Best guest appearance: It has to be Dalziel and Pascoe actor Warren Clarke – I can’t wait to see which stars the Midsomer Murders casting director will find for the next episode!