The Many Murders of Midsomer & The Man Who Invented Christmas

Everyone loves a good murder mystery right? The thrill of the investigation, the suspense and the breathtaking shock you get when you finally realize who the murderer is (sometimes discovering it before the actual characters do) yeah murder mysteries are quite the ride and the genre has stood the test of time since it began to become popular in the early 19th century. (Which actually makes it quite a young genre in book standards)

Ever since the 20th century the Murder Mystery genre has translated itself into the TV Serial and Film industry. Most of it was based on already written books and stories which brings me to today’s blog. Speaking of that as of today i’ll be writing blogs for Monday and Thursday instead of Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This is happening because of some external conflicts that have made it so difficult to write three blogs a week to the point Friday’s blog was just a mere update which I'm still mad at myself for. I'm terribly sorry about this but this is going to be a better thing anyway i’ll have more time to flesh out each blog, three days to be exact.

Anyway today I’ll be talking about a TV show that my Mum and Dad started watching years ago and because of that I eventually got into it as well. I'm talking about Midsomer Murders which I have mentioned a few times here and there over the course of the past year.

This TV show began airing on March 23rd, 1997 and stars John Nettles as the shrewd, hardworking yet humble middle aged Chief Detective Inspector Tom Barnaby and Daniel Casey as the ambitious and much younger Detective Sergeant Gavin Troy as they solve crime in the fictional English county of Midsomer. There’s a load of villages and towns featured within this county such as Causton, where Tom and his wife Joyce live and others such as Badgers Drift and a load of towns with Midsomer in the name.

Each Episode follows a similar formula; a murder usually occurs towards the beginning of the Episode followed by Tom Barnaby getting involved with usually a couple of other murders occur before the crime is solved. Besides this formula each episode keeps things fresh with different personalities, plots and hijinks that occur throughout each episode. Unlike some Murder shows Midsomer Murders has a lighthearted touch and knows when to turn down the serious tons and have fun besides the constant murder happening around the ears of the town’s residents. (Actually even some of the murders can be comical at times.) Really it's a wonder how the population stays up with the amount of people who drop like flies in the various towns.

You know out of most Murder Mysteries this show really has some originality to it, or at least some refreshing takes on certain themes. I mean Tom Barnaby is actually a hard working family man who doesn't rush to conclusions (Although he usually figures out the murderer early on he just keeps quiet until all the evidence is gathered) compared to some protagonists who sometimes can be womanizers or Detectives who have been sent down a dark path of life. 

Speaking of family Tom and Joyce have a daughter by the name of Cully who plays a recurring role throughout the John Nettles episodes (I’ll get into that in a second) as she aspires towards a career in theatre and acting. Cully goes through some character development throughout the series which is pretty nice.

This show truly is about character and to fill the many roles comes many and I mean MANY guest appearances by famous theatre stars and on screen stars with some guests even going on to play bigger roles in the future. I could go on and on throughout the rest of the blog discussing the countless guests that show up on this show. To name a few (Mostly my favorite appearances) are Richard Briers, Olivia Colman, Peter Capaldi, Toby Jones, Ian McNeice, Kevin McNally, Robert Hardy, Henry Cavill (Hold on it gets crazier) and Orlando Bloom. 

Yes you read that right, Orlando Bloom. Orlando made a brief appearance in the episode “Judgment Day” as Peter Drinkwater. He was so young in this episode it's crazy to think he would go on to play as Legolas in Lord of the Rings a year later and then Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean shortly afterwards?

John Nettles isn’t such an unfamiliar face either and to my surprise I never realized he also played another detective by the name of Jim Bergerac in “Bergerac” which ran from 1981-1991. Anyone remember that show? Yeah that was John Nettles, apparently, awesome man.

Anyway this show really is the king of guest star appearances and as you watch each episode you’ll probably be pointing out the familiar faces, in more than one episode too because Midsomer Murders tends to reuse actors. You could probably play a game of some sort picking out the actors.

Still talking about actors a lot of changes occur throughout this series regarding the main characters, for one Gavin Troy doesn’t stick around forever and after Season 6 he’s replaced by the more sarcastic and cocky Sergeant Dan Scott (John Hopkins). 

This started a trend that the series tends to follow in which the Sergeant usually gets promoted and moves on leaving Tom with a new Sergeant every couple of seasons. 

After Scott, who doesn’t last for longer than 15 episodes, Jason Hughes steps up to the plate as DS Ben Jones, who’s in direct competition for my favorite Sergeant of the show with Gavin Troy. He’s not as clumsy or a terrible of a driver as Gavin (Thank goodness, I'm pretty sure Gavin put Inspector Barnaby's heart on overdrive on countless occasions) but he has just as much hot headed ambition with his own edge that makes him stand out. Ben Jones is also the longest running Sergeant and actually starts off as a temporary Detective Constable as a replacement for Daniel Scott but after a murder case he’s swiftly transferred and promoted to full Detective Constable. Ben Jones is also a lot less naïve than the previous sergeants and has a keen eye and mind when it comes to cases. (Troy usually comes to the wrong conclusion)

The sergeants aren’t the only characters who change; actually a massive casting change happened during the last few episodes of Season 13 which saw Tom Barnaby retire from crime solving. Yeah it was a pretty crazy change and they could've ended the show right then and there or had Ben Jones take over but apparently Tom Barnaby has a cousin by the name of John Barnaby (Yeah this show has it’s quirks) played by Neil Dudgeon and through a passing of the torch John takes over the role of Chief Inspector and brings his wife Sarah Barnaby (Fiona Dolman) and dog Sykes along for the ride.

Ben Jones hangs around for a little while but soon gets promoted and replaced by DS Charlie Nelson (Gwilym Lee) and then again by DS Jamie Winter (Nick Hendrix) who’s currently in the role as of today.

To be honest I’m not as keen on the Neil Dudgeon era compared to the John Nettles episodes I find John Barnaby a little too snarky and snooty for my liking but the episodes are still good with some thrilling murders, plus Sykes the dog is probably the coolest TV show dog of all time.

Anyway if you’re looking for a thrilling murder mystery that doesn’t bog you down with dark, serious themes and loves to have fun then this show will become addicting, you’ll probably rewatch it countless times. (Or maybe that’s just us.) The show’s still running strong with new Episodes filming as you read this so expect more to air next year on ITV for you British folks and I believe PBS for us over here. However if you want to wait a little while (A long while) you can watch the new series when it eventually makes it to Netflix. Good thing about that is the ENTIRE previous seasons are on Netflix for you to binge watch. To me it’s really one of the best murder mystery shows out there and it also has a shocking origin that stretches back to years before the show began airing.

I did not know about this until recently but Tom Barnaby, Gavin Troy and the county of Causton actually originate from a BOOK SERIES. This blew my mind when I recently discovered this but apparently these characters were originally imagined by Caroline Graham for the book “The Killings at Badger’s Drift” which was adapted for the first episode of the TV series. Caroline Graham wrote 6 other books featuring Inspector Barnaby and Sergeant Troy with the latest releasing in 2004. I had absolutely no idea that the origins of this show were from a book series and I kind of want to read these books but they seem quite hard to get over here in America. Caroline Graham herself actually adapted one of her books to a screenplay for the Episode “Death of a Hollow Man” and it seems all 7 of her books have been adapted into episodes at this point.

The book series is actually available on Amazon to my delight so you can check that out below.

Oh yeah while this show does have a thrilling soundtrack to compliment the murder scenes you'll notice the main theme song is played constantly throughout the show in various forms. (Even an orchestre ends up playing it during one of the episodes, which is hilarious) Another recurring sound is the sound of local Peacocks that pipe up during various episodes. That must've been a huge pain to film through I never knew how loud those birds can be. To my knowledge the show was filmed around Oxfordshire so those Peacocks are quite common there. (Correct me if I'm wrong I've never actually been to Oxford.)

I could keep on about this show all day, it’s one of my favorites but I don’t want to keep you all forever so I’ll end it there. Be sure to check out the official Midsomer Murders Facebook Page! They throw up some awesome trivia as well as some behind the scenes stuff and fan art so check them out here: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMidsomer/ Anyway I have one more motion picture to discuss, one that’s coming out for this Holiday season.

Everyone knows “A Christmas Carol” right? This Charles Dickens classic has been adapted countless times into so many different versions, some even featuring characters such as Mickey Mouse and The Muppets. It’s an absolute must read and watch during the Christmas holiday and really expresses the true spirit of Christmas. (We’re getting close to Christmas so expect a Jollier ZAK Entertainment)

As a writer myself I’ve always expressed an almost passionate interest in Charles Dickens’s work and more so how he came up with all those lovable characters. Well this Christmas season a movie will be releasing in theatres, a period drama movie based on the magical process of creating “A Christmas Carol” and the struggles Charles Dickens went through to create a successful story after previous failures.

The movie will be dubbed “The Man Who Invented Christmas” and star Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens. The characters of A Christmas Carol will come to life, at least to Charles’s eyes (I’m sort of relieved to think I’m not the only one who imagines his characters coming to life, I’m either not insane or a majority in insanity) as the movie goes through this point in his life and career.

Christopher Plummer will play Ebenezer Scrooge. I’m actually really happy about this casting, I never thought he would ever play the part but here we are.

Donald Sumpter will play Jacob Marley

Morfydd Clark will play Kate Dickens, Charles’s Wife.

Justin Edwards will play John Foster, a good friend of Charles Dickens and a English Biographer.

Professor Sprout… I mean Miriam Margolyes will play Mrs. Fisk

And Jonathan Pryce will play John Dickens, Charles’s father.

This cast is full of some awesome familiar faces and this movie looks like absolute magic. It’s not just some biography film or documentary this is looking to be just as much of a Christmas classic as the actual Christmas Carol story. This isn’t a big box production movie (Which probably means this will be so much better, big box productions seem to be lacking the movie magic lately) but it looks like an incredible movie you’ll be able to check out in theatres November 3^rd of this year and you can check out the trailer below.

So before I head out I have a traditional segment to kick off beforehand, the FREE Knitting Pattern feature! While we’re all on about Christmas why not get ready for Christmas with some winter themed knitting patterns? Today’s pattern is a very familiar pattern to me and possibly you guys if you’ve been sticking around the blog this past year. This is the “Basic Norwegian Star Hat” pattern by Cara Jo Miller!

Yeah remember this pattern? I never included it in a knitting pattern feature because I wasn’t doing these segments at the time. This pattern was featured by another means, by the means of me actually knitting it.

This was my very first beanie I ever knitted and it came out way larger than it should of done, but that was due to my gauge being off and using stretchy acrylic yarn.

You’ll need some worsted weight yarn in colors of choice, US 6 – 4.0 MM circular needles/possible DPNs for the top of the beanie and a darning needle for finishing it off.

This is a really awesome and beautiful beanie pattern and I really enjoyed knitting this as my first colorworks pattern despite how large it came out.

Here’s my beanie and Mum’s beanie that we both knitted using this pattern at the same time. You can use just about any colors on this hat.

If you are using Acrylic yarn like I did I would recommend using smaller needles, perhaps a US 5 or even a 4 as the Caron Simply Soft Solids yarn I used may stretch the size out a bit.

Anyway you can check out this awesome pattern here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/basic-norwegian-star-hat

Also why not check out the recap blog I wrote after finishing the blog here: https://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2016/11/completing-my-first-knitted-colorworks.html.

For now I’m heading out, hope you all enjoy the slightly new schedule format. I didn’t mean to spring this on you all during the 1 year anniversary but external commitments were making it not so enjoyable to write three blogs a week and truth is I was getting really bogged down before life happened. I feel like I can put more effort into two blogs a week rather than three.

Maybe I should just stop second guessing everything I write, it wouldn’t take me forever to write then.

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you on Thursday! (I almost typed Wednesday, this will take some getting used to.)

[Photo and Video Credits: All3Media, ITV, PBS, IMDB, Bleecker Street, Cara Jo Miller and ZAK Entertainment]