Some fourteen years after Midsomer Murders (henceforth referred to as MM) arrived on British TV I have, for my sins, finally and forever become a fan of this great show. Starring the ever brilliant John Nettles (Sgt Jim Bergerac in the eighties) as Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, ably assisted by Sergeant Gavin Troy (Daniel Casey) at least that's where I'm up to at the time of writing. I love this portrayal of an older, more experienced policeman than the shoot em up squads we seem to get from all over the place. Barnaby's gentle voiced policeman is much more effective at getting at the truth than the shout and scream at 'em brigade.
It's all the present husband's fault; he decided one Wednesday night to go an a sponsored sulk and took himself off into the night 'for a drive' so I, took myself to the living room with a large glass of a very expensive red wine and flicked on the telly. MM was just about to come on and, having dismissed the show for many years I thought I'd watch it as there was nothing else on. Cringeworthy to all the die-hard fans out there I know, but hooked I was from the moment the eerie theme tune started. The theme for those like me, who didn't know what the music is played on, it's called a Theremin. A device which is played without being touched! The device has two antennae which protrude from the top, one controls pitch and the other controls volume. It's quite an achievement to be able to play it and the person who did the theme for MM is obviously well practised in the art of playing this spooky sounding piece of kit.
My Wednesday night episode was The Maid in Splendour, guest starring William Gaunt, yes, him off The Champions if you're young enough to remember them and remember them I do, fondly. I met William Gaunt once in a charity shop in Chester, as you do. He was opening the shop as he was appearing in a play at The Gateway Theatre in the city and I happened to be in town that day. He was lovely, I asked him to sign one of my Champions photos and he groaned and said it was such a long time ago. I said I know, I was young back then too. Shop opened and people had photos taken and autographs signed and then he was off, blending effortlessly into the crowd on his way back to the theatre.
Loved the episode and now love the series. Collecting them regularly in the boxed sets which look like books and have ten DVDs in them. Great idea as they don't take up too much space. As I was busy collecting these I wondered what Bergerac was like way back then because I was too busy in the eighties to be watching telly. In 1981 I had just been married for the first time and was living in deepest darkest north Wales in a tiny village you couldn't pronounce so I won't write it down, took me ages to learn it and I'm a scouser! Farm life meant being busy after my regular job in the daytime, and at weekends too - lambing, shearing, dipping, baling hay and driving tractors across fields; obviously to get the hay, not just for the hell of it ... although I dunno. Bliss at the time, it really was. Anyway, in 1987 I was divorced and started off on another chapter. Thus telly then started to play a big part in my lif but Bergerac had all but finished by then, so I must be the only one who never watched it. Buying these discs now too, only to find that one some of them the manufacturers have included the daytime edits and so the episodes are cut to bits (Granada TV eanyone?) and I'll have to go buy the boxed set of the whole thing when I have a spare £50+ knocking around. Just loving watching all this stuff now, Jersey in the eighties is probably a totally different place now but it's good to see it as it was back then. Perhaps the boxed set will be a bit better to see, the single sets are so dark it's hopeless.
DCI Tom Barnaby (and his family) are the creations of the amazingly talented writer Caroline Graham, her plots and twists, turns and anything else she can get into them is wonderful to read. So glad that ITV decided to make some of the stories into MM otherwise DCI Barnaby would still be ensconced in the pages of her exquisitely written novels. Incidentally, the series is internationally known as 'Inspector Barnaby' so when John Nettles retired from the role they had to keep the main character's name the same. When Neil Dudgeon took over the role as Tom Barnaby's cousin John everything seemed to be ok, except I've just seen another early episode (Garden of Death) with Mr Dudgeon in MM as a very, well, erm, randy gardener to put it mildly. He did reprise his role as DCI John Barnaby in The Sword of Guillaume, an episode set in Brighton where Tom asks for help in sorting out a problem which began in Causton. The interaction between the two characters was wonderful. My only hope now is that the show does not fail after the departure of John Nettles as his character retires but feel this will be it's final outing and that ITV won't renew it's contract after 2012. If last night's episode The Oblong Murders was anything to go by, MM is careering off down the very slow action only route and not investing in the wonderfully written screenplays which were the benchmark of the John Nettles era MM. It's all about the writing and if that goes, well then so does the show. I actually walked away from MM last night, that's how poor I found this episode. Also, dropped like the proverbial last night is the news that we've lost another main character in the shape of George Bullard, the erstwhile police pathologist, (ably played by Barry Jackson) who is off retiring to Ireland. In MM prior to this, George did not have a sister that we knew about, yet they suddenly introduce her and whare is George's GP wife all of a sudden? Desperation on the part of the writer? Awful, and asking the viewer to invest their time in such nonsense is not acceptable ITV.
I've also asked ITV why they are mucking about with the new show as it started off ok on Wednesday nights and then it's kinda been dropped like the proverbial, they said it was 'never intended to be shown every week but when there was a gap in the schedule'- eh? No, sorry, if you want a show to be succesful, especially when the star has just left it, you need to keep it on air to give it a chance. They said it will be back 'towards the end of the month.' Which month I hear you ask - well, take your pick I'd guess. When I asked why they were treating it so badly, almost like they want it to fail they said: 'Well, we have commissioned it until 2012' well, there we are, that's all right then! It's failing all right guys, with hopeless storylines like this to come it's such a sad end for such a great show, but this happens all too often when the lead actor leaves.
I'm probably like all the die-hards out there who wish Mr Nettles hadn't left but I'm sure, once ITV have stopped buggering about with the schedules that it may have a decent enough chance to keep going and I wish it would pick itself up, dust itself off and keep going if nothing more than for the sake of the now 2 stars of the show Jason Hughes and Neil Dudgeon, both trying very hard to make it work but if last nights very poor excuse for an episode is anything to go by they will struggle.
Bah Humbug ITV, and it isn't even Christmas yet.
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