Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Fiona Dolman, Gwilym Lee, Tazmin Malleson, Les Dennis, Emily Joyce, Perdita Avery, Elizabeth Berrington, Nadia Cameron-Blakey, Pamela Betsy Cooper, Paul Blair, Anthony Farrelly, Mark Heap, James Murray, Nikesh Patel, Jonah Russell, Hannah Tointon, Susie Trayling.

It is a good job that the county of Midsomer is a fictional region. Not because of the many murders, ever intriguing, ever inventive. It is the abundance of the Detective Sergeants that pass through the doors of the Police Station in Causton that make the programme, though entertaining and almost compulsive viewing, a baffling place in which regular continuality strikes real terror in the community.

With the departure of D.S. Jones, it is now up D.S. Nelson, portrayed by Gwilym Lee, to fill the space that was held with high esteem by D.S. Troy, played by the excellent Daniel Casey, still one of the best characters to have passed through the narrow, winding roads that lead to all sorts of murderous intent in the long history of the programme.

This was no quiet introduction to life in Midsomer for the new Detective though as yet another murderous spree is taking place in the heart of the community. This time the drama unfolds amongst the dead, the spirits of the past who hiding secrets…or so it seems!

There is something strangely comforting about Midsomer Murders, whether either Barnaby boys are in charge of the investigation; it is the restoration of order…for at least another week in the dark heart of the British community and in The Christmas Haunting that community is perhaps a little bit more dysfunctional than normal. The spirits may be investigated but it is the support cast that make the festive offering a little more enjoyable. With the incomparable Les Dennis involved and the addition of James Murray and the ever reliable Emily Joyce in the episode, there really wasn’t a lot that could go wrong with the popular show.

However it is the home life between John and Sarah Barnaby, played with some great dedication by the superb Fiona Dolman that makes the show eminently watchable. In the short time that the pair have been in the show, since they replaced the outgoing legendary John Nettles, Jane Wymark and the exceptional Laura Howard, they have become a very fitting addition to the sparseness of Mid-week television and the decision to give them effectively a Christmas episode should not be looked down upon by detractors.

Perhaps the one case unlikely to be cracked in Midsomer, aside from the lack of a Manchester City shirt worn by the excellent Neil Dudgeon, something he seems to have at least worn once in more than one show over the years, is what drives the people of Midsomer to commit more heinous acts than in almost any other British police drama, long may that question go unanswered.

Ian D. Hall