Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland, Ann Eleonora Jorgensen, Mark Benton, Peter Egan, Ellie Haddinton, Ray Fearon, Thusitha Jayasundera, Ella Kenion, John Light, Niamh McGrady, Chance Perdomo.
It never does a television series any harm to rejuvenate itself every now and then, it arguably suggests an element of self-awareness that it is willing to go through the process of reincarnation, like an insect that becomes sheltered in its cocoon, when it re-emerges out into the sunlight it can be seen to be more colourful, more illuminating than it had the chance to be before.
It takes bravery of spirit to undergo such a process and whilst the producers of Midsomer Murders will no doubt understand that the series may have been seen in some quarters as starting to lack certainty, that it was becoming more entwined within the arc of the soap opera rather than being heralded as a very good example of British crime drama within the setting of the countryside.
The chance to witness an episode, such as Death of the Small Coppers, that uses the call back technique is one that will thrill the armchair detective fan of the show; the carefully placed clues to mark the 20th series of Midsomer Murders, the sewing into the fabric of the event is one that certainly makes the watcher’s investigative and observation skills work overtime. It could be argued that by adding this extra element into the script and storyline it would detract from the real case laid out before the audience, and yet this small window of opportunity to see the wider county of Midsomer and the visual and audio memories of episodes past does add a feeling of sentiment, of cohesiveness that has become neglected in the years since John Nettles left the programme.
Perhaps the largest surprise reminder of what the show has brought to the viewer before though lays in the return of Ann Eleonora Jorgensen as the Danish detective Birgitte Poulsen, an actor of outstanding depth and who was part of the highly successful episode The Killings of Copenhagen. Alongside the intimacy of the setting and the reminders of previous titles, incidental music and characters, the episode revelled in the appearance of the actors Mark Benton, the ever-graceful Peter Egan and the skill of Chance Perdemo as the disturbed but academically gifted Leo Scott.
Death of the Small Coppers is a wonderful example of continuality, an episode of Midsomer Murders that was as fun as it was heartening.
Ian D. Hall