Midsomer Murders: The Complete Series Five and Six  review

Starring:  John Nettles, Daniel Casey, Hugh Bonneville, Leslie Phillips, Jane Wymark, Honor Blackman

Synopsis: Contains 10 episodes. From Series Five Tainted Fruit, Ring Out Your Dead, Murder on St Malley’s Day, Market for Murder, A Worm in the Bud. From Series 6 A Talent for Life, Death and Dreams, Painted in Blood, A Tale of Two Hamlets, Birds of Prey.

Review: John Nettles and Daniel Casey returns as Barnaby and Troy for series five and six of Midsomer Murders. Series five feels a little darker in tone compared to the previous entries and adds an eerie atmosphere to the episodes, the new tonal shift works well and definitely zests up the series.

The episodes are all well acted and Midsomer never fails to delivers beautiful scenery, the woodlands and the big huge manor houses are all stunning to look at and will have viewers wanting to live there…. until the next murder occurs.

The relationship between Barnaby and Troy is something that is subtly growing and constant viewers will see how Barnaby is starting to show more appreciation toward Troy and appreciates his input in solving cases.

This two series feature some notable guest stars, series five features actor Hugh Bonneville and series six feature Bond girl and Avengers star Honor Blackman. Midsomer Murders always brings a familiar face into the fold which credits this series as a great contender to other of the genre.

Some highlight episodes are Tainted Fruit which area Barnaby and Troy investigating the murder of a local woman, then start uncovering some hidden skeletons among the community. A Worm In The Bud has Barnaby and Troy investigating an apparent suicide only to realise the woman’s suicide note was emailed after she died. Painted in Blood has Barnaby’s wife Joyce discover the body of a local artist. A Talent For Life starts with two lovers, an older lady and younger man who are found murdered together. Barnaby is straight on the case to track down the killer, a task that proves to be harder than it seems, especially when infidelity and jealousy come to surface.

Series five and six still manage to deliver fresh episodes and keep viewers hooked. Nothing about the show has become tedious and it’s always great catching up with Barnaby and Troy.

Midsomer Murders DVDs out now courtesy of Acorn Media International, a division of AMC Networks Inc.