Chapters
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The Civil War, pt. 2
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: 11×02: Blood Wedding, and 15×01: The Dark Rider.)
•Continued from Civil War, pt. 1
But when the Parliamentarians failed to capitalise on the successful battles of Marston Moor and Aspern Tallow, Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Fairfax formed the New Model Army – a single professional standing army of fanatical Puritans who fought not for money but for their honour, their faith and their passion.
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Gilbert & Sullivan: Pirates of Penzance and Midsomer
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 22×05: For Death Prepare)
•The opening shot shows a house by a river. “Empson Playhouse” is written on the building. After three seconds, a man comes out of the front door with a poster in his hand. He hangs it on the wall of the house, next to the entrance. On the beige background, which appears to have yellowed, is a tall, black-haired pirate holding a sabre in his right hand. It says “The Midsomer Mummers – The Pirates of Penzance – Centenary Charity Concert – 5th – 8th May”.
The Midsomer Mummers’ theatre has been The Mill in Sonning, Berkshire, for a hundred years. Instead of “Empson Playhouse”, the building actually says simply “The Mill”. This is because the former mill is actually used for theatre performances.
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Treasures & Raiders in Midsomer County
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: 05×04: Murder on St Malley’s Day, 14×05: The Sleeper under the Hill, 18×05: Saints and Sinners, and a little bit 09×04: Down Among Dead Men)
•Three episodes of Midsomer Murders are about treasure and its theft. They come from three different eras: The Anglo-Saxon treasure of Gorse Meadow from the Battle of Hallows Beck between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings (14×05: The Sleeper under the Hill) and the Tudor hoard of Milson (18×05: Saints and Sinners) – both treasure heists taking place in Midsomer in the early 21st century.
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William Tyndale
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: 11×05: The Magician’s Nephew)
•Tom Barnaby, wearing a black coat and a burgundy shawl, enters a church in search of Aloysius Wilmington, and discovers him kneeling in front of the communion pew in the nave, sorting. Aloysius Wilmington is also wearing a burgundy scarf, but a light grey coat over it. When he notices Tom Barnaby, he sighs at the local rector, who doesn’t want to replace the poorly preserved Book of Common Prayer with the new ones he’s already bought for the parishes. The Book of Common Prayer is largely based on the work of William Tyndale, who was condemned as a heretic by the Anglican Church and murdered.
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A traitor from Midsomer in the American Independence War?
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 08×04: Bantling Boy)
•We enter Bantling Hall with Tom Barnaby and Angela Hartley, because among the large gentlemen in oil on canvas is Thomas Bantling. One of the men of whom the lady speaks only with contempt. He fought as an Englishman in the War of Independence, but not for his country, but for the colonies that later became the United States of America.
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Francis Galton
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes 13×05: Master Class, and a bit for 14×06: The Night of the Stag)
•The Fieldings’ manor, Devington Hall, is currently hosting auditions for Sir Michael Fielding’s Master Class. The manor is a 19th century country house, the grounds of which belonged to the Knights Templars several centuries earlier and has been built on since at least the 14th century. Its real name is St Katharine’s Convent and it is situated in the little hamlet of Parmoor, Buckinghamshire. A very detailed documentation of the house, which has been on the National Heritage List since 22 January 1986, can be found on the Buckinghamshire Gardens trust site.
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Not Dead But Sleepeth
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 13×04: The Silent Land)
•Joyce and Cully Barnaby attend a concert by a tenor singer and a pianist. While Joyce listens with enthusiasm and devotion to Ben John’s rendition of “Drink to me only with thine eyes”, Cully is visibly bored. Later, on the drive home to Causton, the two discuss the style of music, for Joyce has not had enough and listens to more singing on the car radio – much to the displeasure of Cully, who eventually falls asleep from boredom in the passenger seat as they pass the March Magna village sign.
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The Fisher King in Midsomer County
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: 03×03: Judgement Day & 07×03: The Fisher King)
•Near to the village Midsomer Priors, on the site of today’s Midsomer Barrow, in Celtic times, during the Iron Age, 3000 years ago, there was a local chieftain: the Fisher King. He was a wealthy man and died of the dolorous stroke, a symbolic death: he was stabbed in the thigh with a spear. (Note: Paul Heartley-Reade calls it the dolorous blow, but in the context of Arthurian legend it’s called a stroke).
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Midsomer and the Battle of the Somme
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 11×01: Shot at Dawn)
•The episode begins with a black and white picture. “France, July 1916.” is superimposed. Is it 1 July 1916 – the first day of the Battle of the Somme? The assumption is very obvious, but is not explicitly confirmed in the episode.
We watch soldiers walking forward, landmines explode, people are screaming. But there is a soldier limping in the opposite direction. It is Private Thomas Hicks. He escapes from the obviously life-threatening situation and wants to go back to the Royal Midsomer Yeomanry base. At the street he meets a car with three officers, including his friend Lieutenant Douglas Hammond. Thomas Hicks can only muffles in response to Douglas’ astonished question as to what he is doing here, and pulls behind him with his finger to the battlefield. Douglas Hammond pushes the still muffling Private into the car with light pressure.
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Ghost Villages in World War 2
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 19×01: The Village That Rose From the Dead)
•A curtain opens, revealing a room with nine people. All the people are dressed in 1940s style and are sitting at three tables. Only the older woman, Sylvia Lennard, who opened the curtain, is standing in front of them and is just finishing her presentation über ein living museum in Little Auburn.
Those present applaud. Roderick Craven, the landlord of Great Auburn and heir to Little Auburn, thanks her. 75 years ago, Little Auburn became a military base and fell into a ghost village after the war. The inhabitants founded Great Auburn not far away, but tomorrow the army will return the land to the Craven family. In return, the landlord wants to support a project – including his mother’s living museum.
