The Upper Class in Midsomer

Already watched: Pilot, S01, 09×02, 09×03. As well as information that I have already compiled.

Note: There isn’t much to discover just yet – essays will be published gradually from late May. Until autumn, think of this more as a gateway than a library.

•

 

Deeply rooted local gentry

  • Trace family in Badger‘s Drift: „since Norman times“ (Pilot: The Killings at Badger‘s Drift)
  • Hartley family, Barons of Bantling at Bantling Hall: „Cecil Hartley, 3rd Baron Bantling. Famous Catholic. involved in the Gunpowder Plot. George, 4th Baron Bantling. Betrayed the king at Marston Moor. Thomas Bantling. Fought in the American War for Independence. For the Americans. More bloodshed and treachery in the Bantling family than all Shakespeare‘s plays put together.“ (08×04: Bantling Boy)
  • William family in Midsomer Parva: „Sir Richard Guillaume. Well done. Guillaume, French for William. My late husband‘s direct ancestor and a fine fellow who‘s also quite ruthless. As one has to be with barbarians. His Sword of Guillaume, as his weapon became known, took many Anglo Saxon lives and came o symbolise everything that the English hated about the French.“ (13×02: The Sword of Guillaume)

 

Illegitimate children

  • By rape (08×04: Bantling Boy) -> Angela Hartley: „Oh, come on, Barnaby, you‘re a man of the world. Peter‘s mother Joana… nursed by husband (Colonel Hartley).“ – „Tom Barnaby: „We’re they lovers?“ – Angela Hartley: „Nine years ago, my husband raped Joana. Joana was Catholic. So were the Hartleys. Just as a divorce was out of the question for me, so was abortion for her. I paid her money. Every week. She kept quiet and she kept the child.“
  • By infertility (09×03: Vixen‘s Run) -> Lady Annabel: „Mr. Barnaby, please try not to be quite so middle class. Most of the better English families breed out now and then. Just as well. Without new blood, they’s all have been ga-ga generations ago.“
  • By infidelity (19×01: The Village That Rose from the Dead) -> „It can be a heady mix, civil disobedience and cider around the camp fire.“

 

Back to the overview

 

🤓 Read more about Midsomer Murders & History

The Chronology of Midsomer County by Year or by Episodes • Deep Dives into Midsomer & History • History of Midsomer Murders Film Locations

I would like to point out that this is an unofficial fan site. I am not connected to Bentley Productions, ITV or the actors.