Seasons
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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)
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•Right at the beginning, we see a house on a river with the inscription ‘Empson Playhouse’. A man comes out of the front door with a poster in his hand and 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 film location for 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: Mord am 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)
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•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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A traitor from Midsomer in the American Independence War?
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 08×04: Bantling Boy)
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•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 King, but for the colonies that later became the United States of America.
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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)
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•The episode begins with a black and white picture. “France, July 1916.” is superimposed. It is 1 July 1916 – the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
We see soldiers marching forward. Landmines explode, people scream. But there is a soldier limping in the opposite direction. He is Private Thomas Hicks. He is fleeing from the obviously life-threatening situation and wants to return to the base of the Royal Midsomer Yeomanry. On the road, he meets a car with three officers, including his friend Lieutenant Douglas Hammond. When Douglas asks in astonishment what he is doing here, Thomas Hicks can only mumble an answer and drags himself along behind him to the battlefield. Douglas Hammond pushes the still mumbling private into the car with light pressure.
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The Fisher King in Midsomer County
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: 07×03: The Fisher King and a bit of 03×03: Judgement Day)
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•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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Not Dead But Sleepeth
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 13×04: The Silent Land)
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•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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Ghost Villages in World War 2
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 19×01: The Village That Rose From the Dead)
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•A curtain opens to reveal a room with nine people. All of them are dressed in 1940s style. Almost all of them are sitting at three tables, only the older woman who opened the curtain is standing in front of them, just finishing her presentation about a living museum in Little Auburn. It is Sylvia Lennard.
The audience applauds her. 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 disrepair after the war, becoming a ghost village. The residents 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. There are three groups with very different ideas, including Sylvia Lennard’s living museum.
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Domesday in Midsomer
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episode: 07×02: Bad Tidings)
•Sergeant Daniel Scott has just arrived at his new police station in Causton and is assigned to investigate a murder in Midsomer Mallow. Tom Barnaby and his new sergeant are walking across a meadow where a woman’s body has been found. Daniel Scott is struggling to walk on the uneven ground and in the tall grass. Meanwhile, Tom tells him that this place is called Chainey’s Field and has been common land for centuries – even in the Domesday Book.
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Francis Galton, founder of eugenics
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes 13×05: Master Class, and a bit for 14×06: The Night of the Stag)
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•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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At the Beginning of the Year in Englefield
Much like Englefield House and its 16th-century owners, not much is known about the history of the parish of Englefield, much of which lies within the Benyon family estate. Yes, two battles took place here – firstly a bloody battle in September 1643 during the Civil War, the site of which is now known as Deadman’s Lane. The other was in Anglo-Saxon times – the battle of Englefield – which I will come to in a moment.
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(Caution: Contains spoilers for Episodes: 14×05: The Sleeper Under the Hill)
Diesen Beitrag gibt es auch auf Deutsch.
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