All posts filed under: Epochs

Midsomer Connections: Episodes & Epochs

Published by Petra Tabarelli

The chart shows it clearly: the 20th century is very strongly represented in Midsomer Murders, especially the period after the Second World War. Tudor, Stuart, Georgian are equally represented, as are Victorian and Modern 1. It is much more often mentioned that a tradition or estate has existed since Henry VIII than since the Domesday Book. And the period before the Tudors, especially before the Battle of Hastings, is very under-represented. (Under “Medieval” I include everything between William I and the Wars of the Roses, i.e. Normans and Plantagenets). That’s not so surprising, because Midsomer is actually typically Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, where most of the film locations are. It’s precisely here and in rural surroundings because small hamlets are usually synonymous with idyll, peace, order, even sleepiness, and in such an atmosphere very bizarre murders have a very strong effect. Midsomer Murders is almost a parody of cosy crimes (sometimes pokes fun at its own type) and the really extreme, exaggerated types of murder make us laugh rather than feel horror.   An archetypal English …

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Deeds Not Words

Published by Petra Tabarelli

• (Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: S09E05: Four Funerals and a Wedding) Diesen Beitrag gibt es auch auf Deutsch. •   Joyce’s mother, Muriel, is a guest at the Barnaby home. Much to the chagrin of Tom Barnaby, who, while not getting along badly with his mother-in-law, does not appear to have a warm relationship with her either. Nevertheless, he gets the conversation going at home after work. Cully wants to go to Broughton for the Skimmington Fayre. Her parents are less than enthusiastic, but her grandmother is more so.

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The Bell Ringers from Midsomer Wellow

Published by Petra Tabarelli

• (Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: S05E03: Ring out your Dead) Diesen Beitrag gibt es auch auf Deutschauch auf Deutsch. •   Tom and Joyce Barnaby are sitting at the table in the kitchen, and Tom is looking through numerous papers, most of which are in front of him. In 1860, the vicar of Midsomer Wellow was thrown down a well and died. Before that, there had been real trouble with the local bell-ringers because he had tried to force them to attend services and had had their beer barrel removed from the ringing room. Although the case was obvious, the evidence was lacking and the witnesses remained silent.

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The Sword Of Guillaume

Published by Petra Tabarelli

• (Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 13×02: The Sword of Guillaume) Diesen Beitrag gibt es auch auf Deutsch. •   To begin with, there is a disappointment: The Sword of Guillaume mentioned in the episode is as fictitious as Sir Richard Guillaume himself. And there is no connection between the Battle of Hastings and Brighton. I could end this article with that, but the Battle of Hastings was real, and there are small, subtle mentions and connections to Midsomer. And so there is this article.

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Public Footpaths

Published by Petra Tabarelli

• (Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: S02E03: Dead Man’s Eleven, S09E02: Dead Letters, S13E02: The Sword of Guillaume, and S14E04: The Oblong Murders) Diesen Beitrag gibt es auch auf Deutsch. •   The Barnaby family are looking for a new place to live in Fletcher’s Cross and have a bite to eat in the Queen’s Arms, outside, in the garden. As they leave the pub, they are approached by Zelda Frasier. She is collecting signatures for the petition of the Fletcher’s Cross Ramblers Association, who are fighting for the right of way through Robert Cavendish’s estate. It’s a public footpath, but the landlord has blocked off part of it without permission.

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Witch-Hunting in Midsomer County

Published by Petra Tabarelli

• (Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: S05E02: A Worm in a Bud, and S07E06: The Straw Woman) Diesen Beitrag gibt es auch auf Deutsch. • Witch-hunting is not a medieval invention. It was not until the early modern period, i.e. the 15th and 16th centuries, that the persecution and condemnation of women who did not conform to the ideal of womanhood began: A God-fearing person, submissive to all men and authorities.

Doom Paintings

Published by Petra Tabarelli

• (Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: S16E02: Let us prey) Diesen Beitrag gibt es auch auf Deutsch. •   Towards the end of the 11th century, people began to worry – again, it must be said – that the world was coming to an end and that the Last Judgement was imminent. Scholars kept calculating new dates based on possible coded references in the Bible and other Christian writings. (Nothing unfamiliar to us when we think of the hullabaloo surrounding 21 December 2012. But fear of God was more widespread then).

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Sports History in Midsomer, pt. 2: Other Sports

Published by Petra Tabarelli

As well as playing a lot of cricket, Midsomer has been very successful in chess, Formula 1 and boxing. The famous boxing match of 1860 is a topic for another time: here we look at chess and F1 first.   • (Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: S06E01: A Talent of Life, S08E02: Dead in the Water, S14E01: Death in the slow lane, S15E05: The Sicilian Defence, and a little bit of S05E03: Ring Out Your Dead and S19E03: Last Man Out) Diesen Beitrag gibt es auch auf Deutsch. •   In 1893 there was a world champion from Bishopwood in Midsomer County: Reverend Stannington.

Saint Frideswide

Published by Petra Tabarelli

• (Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: S12E04: The Glitch) Diesen Beitrag gibt es auch auf Deutsch. •   The Midsomer Cycling Club from Aspern Tallow – adults and young people – often go cycling, today along the old pilgrim route to an old church ruin. On the top of a hill they take a short rest. Down in the valley, the destination is already in sight: The Abbey of St Frideswide in the Valley of Midsomer Sanctae. While some of the children continued to cycle at a fast pace, the adults stopped to chat. George Jeffers interrupts their conversation to look down at the ruins of the church.