Midsomer Murders series 11 – More murder, Lies and betrayal

Starring: John Nettles & Jason Hughes

Midsomer’s dynamic duo are back!

It is typically the opening episode of Midsomer Murders which hooks the audience, but this time it’s the second episode featuring Barnaby’s daughter’s wedding that steals the show. Daniel Casey’s cameo as Troy in the wedding episode aptly titled Blood Wedding was an instant hit. We should not forget that George Cole (that’s right, Arthur Daley himself) appeared in the first episode as a guest star. 

Highlights

A third episode of the eleventh series is titled Blood Wedding, which sees Cully’s wedding fall apart as caterers fail, her honeymoon gets delayed, and Barnaby forgets to pick up the order of service booklets from the local printing service What more could go wrong? Well, In another wedding service, the bride’s maid of honor is murdered, and the wealthy, arrogant family is not concerned with the police or their rules. Skeletons don’t take long to emerge from their closets.

The third episode of the series, Left for Dead, is much darker than previous episodes and borders on B-horror movie territory. This episode of Midsomer Murders is a great example of how these tools are used to create a strong horror episode: the atmosphere, the music, and the shock twist ending. A series like Midsomer could have been revamped and made more daring if all episodes were as dark as this one. 

Christmas comes to Midsomer in Days of Misrule. DC Cotton has Barnaby and Jones on a training course under his orders, something Barnaby doesn’t particularly enjoy, but the episode’s highlight comes when Jones tells Cotton in what way Barnaby feels. The murder in this episode is of a local businessman’s son, Jamie Parkes, who is hated by a large number of people. When Barnaby arrests the ‘murderer’, you can’t help but feel a little for him because he did the village a favour by ridding it of such a dangerous individual. There are also some good ol’ traditional christmas carols to keep the spirit of Christmas alive throughout the episode. 

Verdict

Midsomer’s eleventh series, particularly Left for Dead, is well worth watching. As the series progresses, it becomes evident that John Nettles is looking fatigued and maybe losing interest in the show. Perhaps this is the start of phasing out Barnaby and allowing Jones to take centre stage as Jones features more prominently in episodes? 

Series 11 of Midsomer Murders is still going strong this far into the series, and episodes like Left for Dead will encourage you to keep watching.

Check out the review for the previous Midsomer Murders series HERE