Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Gwilym Lee, Fiona Dolman, Tazmin Malleson, Rebecca Front, Michael Jayston, Roy Hudd, Andrea Lowe, Vincent Regan, William Postlethwaite, Patricia Brake, William Beck, Paul Copley, Gerald Horan.

In Midsomer, the trouble an old church relic can cause is enough to drive a whole village to thoughts of murder. In the latest episode of Midsomer Murders, Let Us Prey Detective Chief Inspector John Barnaby is not only coming to terms with impending fatherhood but also trying to capture the murderer who is using the finding of an old forgotten fresco in the village church, a disturbing piece which portrays gruesome ways of killing humans, as inspiration.

With Detective Sargent Charlie Nelson, Gwilym Lee in his second appearance as the new junior of the team, still feeling his way in the programme, there is a feel of more homeliness than was felt in the previous series of the detective drama. The playful warmth between Neil Dudgeon and Fiona Dolman is almost as exemplary as you could want, a real sense of the policeman actually having a life outside the world of murder.

In an series in which the ways of doing away with somebody has somehow managed to stay novel and fresh, the one off members of the cast can sometimes take a back seat to the ways of detection but in this particular episode, the sight of Michael Jayston and Rebecca Front as two members of the cloth with very different ways of looking after their flock going head to head over the sale of the church house was not only fascinating but a joy. In particular to see the very fine acting of Michael Jayston have centre stage, to see the malevolence in the eyes of someone an audience would expect nothing but gentleness, was quite eerie. It was a thrill to behold. With both of these two great character actors dominating the screen whenever they were called upon should serve as notice that never should a person’s age or gender ever hinder them from good and intelligent roles.

Added to this general feeling of acting contentment was the appearance of William Postlethwaite, the son of the legendary British actor Pete Postlethwaite, as Noah Evans, was just a moment in which to savour. He may be a young actor but you can see the passion in the performance and the glee that he has so obviously inherited from his much beloved late father.

Midsomer Murders never seems to let you down and even when the weather outside is enough to have you scurrying indoors and with copious amounts of tea to keep you company, it still, after all these years, is in fine rude health, even if half the residents of the fictional county have met an untimely and pretty gruesome end.

Ian D. Hall