Midsomer Murders: 12 Hidden Details Only True Fans Noticed

Summary

• Midsomer Murders has gained a massive following over its 20-year run due to its over-the-top murders, snappy banter, and idyllic English village setting.
• The show incorporates Easter eggs in episodes, including crossword puzzle clues that reference previous episodes, delighting dedicated fans.
• The production team uses a lot of close-up shots during outdoor scenes to hide the effects of rain and muddy boots, reducing the need for VFX work.

The British series Midsomer Murders was first broadcast in 1998, and the Inspecteur Barnaby reviews have helped it develop a massive following. Fast-forward to today, the series has gained popularity across the globe on popular streaming sites. Surviving for over twenty years is quite an accomplishment in TV land. What makes the show so special? There are the over-the-top (almost comic) murders, the snappy banter between Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and his sidekick Sergeant, and an idyllic English village setting in fictional Midsomer County.

Despite the cozy mystery element of Midsomer Murders, most episodes have multiple murders. The series is based on the characters in Caroline Graham’s Midsomer Murders books and the show’s tone is very much tongue-in-cheek, with a light humorous edge. Though there are less than a dozen novels in the original series, the 140+ episodes of Midsomer Murders have allowed for some great fleshing out of recurring characters, fascinating mysteries, and of course, intricately placed details for fans to notice.

12 Crossword Clues In Death Of The Small Coppers

The 20th-anniversary special of Midsomer Murders laid out a lot of Easter eggs for eagle-eyed fans of the series to catch. Several of them came in details in crossword puzzles worked on during the episode.

One crossword clue, for example, read “A village whose black and white inhabitants migrate,” and the answer is “Badgers Drift,” which is also the very first episode of the show. Another crossword clue in the episode is “Fast choir ails the poisonous flower,” and a character writes in the answer as “Orchis Fatalis,” which is another episode title from the show’s run. All in all, the episode featured four different crossword puzzle clues that called back to earlier episodes of the show.

11 Why Midsomer Murders Features So Many Close-ups

Fans who have been watching the show for years might not notice that Midsomer Murders features a lot of close-ups when groups of characters are in conversation outside instead of using wider angles to get everyone in the shot. There’s a reason for that, and it isn’t because actors are filming at different times. Instead, it has to do with the weather.

There are a lot of rainy and cold days when filming Midsomer Murders, especially since each episode can take over a month to film. In order to keep the effects of the rain, like muddy boots, hidden from the eyes of viewers when an episode doesn’t feature rain, the production team uses a lot of closeup shots so that they don’t have to worry about cleaning up the effects of rain puddles. Rumor has it the cast members will even place ice cubes in their mouths before outdoor takes to lower the temperature so that their breath won’t appear on camera. That helps cut down on VFX work.

10 The Show Was Supposed To Be Called Barnaby

There have been two DCI Barnabys in the history of the show. John Nettles played Tom from Episode 1 until he and Tom both retired in 2011. Some speculated that his retirement would come at the expense of his wife, Joyce Barnaby’s death, but that didn’t happen. In that year, Neil Dudgeon became DCI John Barnaby, who is, not coincidentally, Tom’s cousin.

Before screenwriter Anthony Horowitz suggested they call it Midsomer Murders, producers had gone with the working title, Barnaby. In fact, to this day, in some jurisdictions, the show is called Barnaby. Variations of that title, like Inspecteur Barnaby, are also used in some regions. So, the plot line had to provide another DCI Barnaby to take up the job of running down homicidal maniacs in the countryside. Hence, enter John Barnaby.

9 The Killings At Badger’s Drift – Series 1

As one of the best episodes in Midsomer Murders, “The Killings at Badger’s Drift” was the very first installment of Midsomer Murders. It gave the television world Iris and Dennis Rainbird, an odious blackmailing mother and her creepy undertaker son.

In the episode, they are both brutally murdered because they have discovered the incestuous secret of a brother and his sister. In Graham’s book, only the mother is murdered. Some scenes in the television episode refer only to the mother’s murder and not the son’s, probably indicating that the show originally followed the book’s plot line before deciding two brutal murders were better than one.

8 Blood Wedding – Series 11

Tom Barnaby is happily married to housewife Joyce, played by Jane Wymark. They have a daughter named Cully, who, by the way, was conceived on their honeymoon in Cully, Switzerland. In an episode called “Blood Wedding,“ first aired in 2008, Tom is called in to deal with the death of a bridesmaid at a posh wedding, while simultaneously dealing with Cully’s pending nuptials.

True fans will know that the congregation at the wedding was made up of 34 members of the British press pretending to be wedding guests as well as one of the executive producers, his wife, and children. It was the journalistic equivalent of a field trip. After Cully’s wedding, her husband Simon disappeared from the show. Viewers never got the answer in this great mystery crime drama.

7 The Theme Music Mystery

Die-hard fans will know that the haunting waltz tempo Midsomer Murders theme music is played on a Theremin. Sitcom fans will also know Sheldon Cooper plays the instrument in The Big Bang Theory, though it’s not a widely played instrument. It’s an electronic metal instrument with two antennas invented by Russian physicist Leon Theremin in the early 20th century.

So, why is the theremin a big deal? It’s an instrument that isn’t touched, rather it’s “played” by moving one’s hands around it and above it to control sound and volume. The sound is sent to an amplifier. What does it sound like? Probably the best description is that it resembles a human’s low whistle. It’s an eerie kind of sound on purpose, perfect for a show like Midsomer Murders that kills multiple people in every episode.

6 Death Of The Small Coppers – The Pitchfork

Midsomer Murders has cast a lot of budding A-list actors, including a very young Orlando Bloom. In 2000, Series 3, Bloom was a womanizing thief in “Judgement Day.” In typical Midsomer Murders fashion, he was dispatched from this life by being skewered on a pitchfork, one of the most outrageous murders on Midsomer Murders.

In the 20th anniversary special “Death of the Small Coppers”, there is an Easter egg real fans will have spotted. In the foreground of one shot, there is a pitchfork innocently leaning up against a caravan in a nod to Bloom’s episode. In fact, appropriately, the episode has twenty Easter eggs scattered throughout.

5 The Only Murderless Episode

Believe it or not, but some fans were up in arms when in 2016, Series 18 kicked off with “Habeas Corpus.” What was the problem? There weren’t any murders. John Barnaby’s Sergeant Nelson (Gwilym Lee) took to social media to apologize to fans for the glaring omission.

It was also the episode that introduced the new (humorless) medical examiner Kam Karimore (Majinder Virk). There have been around 330 murders since the show began over twenty years ago. On average, there are around two or three per episode. Drama, serial killing, and great scenery make up every episode, so the lack of one of those things was a surprise Midsomer Murders is truly an iconic British murder mystery to watch.

4 Death Of The Small Coppers – Series 20

British actor Henry Cavill, who later went on to fame as Superman, made his television debut as a fairly minor character in 2003’s Green Man episode. In that episode, a body from the 1960s is found in a collapsed tunnel. The episode also features the Green Man Pub, complete with echoes of eco-friendly pursuits. So, when Midsomer Murders did the 20th anniversary Easter egg special, they decided to have a cyclist ride by a sign for none other than the Green Man Public House. It’s a long way from 2003 to 2016 and Henry Cavil playing Superman.

3 Garden Of Death – Series 4

Whilst there are some actors fans had no idea were on Midsomer Murders, long before he played DCI John Barnaby with his school teacher wife Sarah, Sykes the wonder dog, and baby Betty, Neil Dudgeon appeared in Series 4’s “Garden of Death.” He was Daniel Bolt, a slightly seedy, lecherous gardener who was not only carrying on with his lady boss but who also had a brief flirtation with Tom Barnaby’s wife, Joyce. Bolt even tried something with the boss’s daughter, after the lady was poisoned with lethal pesto.

The future Inspecteur Barnaby Neil Dudgeon has joked that Bolt was only a cousin of his to explain the resemblance. His experience isn’t that unique though. There are several local actors who have played multiple roles in the show’s long run because of reused filming locations. The practice isn’t exclusive to Midsomer Murders either. Shows like Law & Order have seen up-and-coming actors play multiple roles over the course of a decade.

2 The Case Of The In-Joke

Midsomer Murders is full of inside jokes. Tom Barnaby’s wife Joyce is a very bad cook. When Tom is asked if he remembers when she took a Cordon Bleu cooking class, he mumbles “vividly”. Tom’s first sidekick Troy (Daniel Casey) was a careless, almost reckless driver. When Tom tells him he was on the wrong side of the road, he replies “only for a second, sir.”

Another sidekick, Jones (Jason Hughes) is about as politically incorrect as is possible. Dedicated fans can tell stories of Troy almost running into a truck full of pine straw or Joyce’s failed attempt at making jam. The running jokes are an endearing, light-handed comic touch. It’s one of the reasons the show is so popular and provides consistency in the series that fans love.

1 Death Of The Small Coppers – Series 20

When Midsomer Murders did the 20th-anniversary episode “Death of the Small Coppers” (coppers being butterflies), they couldn’t resist putting in an Easter egg that referred to 2015’s “A Vintage Murder”. That episode is set in Midsomer Vinae Winery where a vintage launch party is totally wrecked when the Midsomer Vinae is laced with slug poison.

It’s got some great murders in it. An odious, drunken wine critic dies of carbon monoxide poisoning and a love-sick hotel owner expires when he is pushed out of a window. In the anniversary episode, there is a chalkboard sign offering Midsomer Vinae at around $50, a truly exorbitant price. The joke for fans was that it wasn’t very good wine, and not worth that price. It’s hidden details like that one that makes Midsomer Murders such a fun watch for those who have enjoyed the series since the start.