Product Details

• Actors: John Nettles, Jane Wymark, Jason Hughes
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: March 24, 2009
• Run Time: 400 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001JXPC3M
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,628 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

The cozy villages of Midsomer County reveal their most sinister secrets in these contemporary British television mysteries. Inspired by the novels of Caroline Graham, modern master of the English village mystery, the series stars John Nettles (Bergerac) as the unflappable Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby with Jason Hughes (This Life) as his earnest, efficient protégé, Detective Constable Ben Jones. Guest stars include Richard McCabe, Clare Holman, Peter Capaldi, Saskia Wickham, Dominic Jephcott, Siobhan Redmond, Juliet Aubrey, John Shrapnel, and Guy Henry.

THE MYSTERIES
Four Funerals and a Wedding--Every year, the Skimmington Fayre rekindles an age-old battle of the sexes in Broughton. But this year, the bodies really start to accumulate.
Country Matters--With the town of Elverton in an uproar over a new supermarket, a mysterious man turns up murdered on the store’s proposed site.
Death in Chorus--Approaching a big choral competition, the Midsomer Worthy amateur choir loses its tenor to murder.
Last Year’s Model--As Annie Woodrow goes on trial for murdering her best friend, DCI Barnaby begins to have second thoughts about her guilt.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE 50th episode production notes, text interviews with John Nettles and Jason Hughes, Caroline Graham biography, and cast filmographies.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Series Is Raising Murder To An Art, March 27, 2009

By 

Rick L. Parrish - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Midsomer Murders: Set 12 (DVD)

For all of us who wondered how Cabot Cove wound up with any citizens left after all those murders in Jessica's wake...take heart...the territory has been expanded into a whole British equivalent of a county (Midsomer) in the heart of Jolly Olde England, chock full of villages just simmering over with perfect villiany. This series is still going full steam in Britian. In fact a rerun of one on ITV recently out performed all original programming on the other channels. So it is just as appreciated in it's homeland as it is becoming in the colonies. It is the epitome of well thought out murder plots brimming over with those gloriously quaint characters one only encounters in England. Long time Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby (played by John Nettles) and his now third Deputy Inspector are forever unraveling unsavory goings on in towns as diverse as Carsten (evidently the urban center of the county) or villages like Midsomer Mallow where the citizens busy themselves about the business of building up petty hatreds and retributions galore. The pace is never too fast. The murder or murders are always diabolique or so interpersonally convoluted as to render you entranced at it's revelation. While lacking the bitter sophistication of Morse...or the witty repartee of Poirot in another era...these murder mysteries will bequile you with their scenery, their down to earth eccentrics, and even DCI Barnaby's happy home life (gone are the psychological demons attacking modern detectives and making them as miserable as the victims they encounter). None of that in Midsomer. You get the feeling Barnaby wouldn't trade his job for a promotion to London in a million years, he's content, but constantly amazed at the capacity for murder in his elysian fields. He has a loving wife and a grown daughter who keeps moving in and out of his life. The different villages are all interesting. Nobody does this murder business better than the British...period. It's just a lark on all counts. At my house the wife, the kids, and the grandkids know that on Sunday evening it's my Midsomer Murder night and woe to those who disturb me during those 100 minutes of mayhem.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder is as much a part of Midsomer County as good manners and trimmed hedges. Thank goodness for DCS Tom Barnaby, May 14, 2009

By 

C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Midsomer Murders: Set 12 (DVD)

Murders, and there are a lot of them, happen regularly in the villages of Midsomer County. The landscape is idyllically English, with ample greensward, manicured lawns, carefully trimmed hedges, cozy cottages and perfect gardens. The people of Midsomer County, ranging from working blokes to landed aristocrats, are for the most part well-mannered. Gossip is a cottage industry. If it weren't for all the corpses, the villages and towns of Midsomer County would be a fine place to live. As it is, they're a fine place to die.

Because of the corpses, we have Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Barnaby, unflappable, courteous, curious and relentless, with a sly, dry sense of humor that should make a smart murderer wary. DCS Barnaby is played by John Nettles, and it's hard to say who is the more authentic, the actor or the character. The one thing for sure is that it's a perfect fit. Nettles makes the series work. When he as Barnaby comes on the scene, we know we're in for an intelligent, very British, understated and amusing series of lethal riddles and satisfying solutions.

The four 100-minute mysteries in Set 12 are:

Four Funerals a Wedding is set in Broughton during the annual Skimmington Fayre. This festival commemorates the superiority of Broughton's women over the men. Only a chosen man who survives riding a course on a donkey while chosen women attempt to knock him off can change things. The man, of course, must ride backwards with a hood over his head. Needless the say, this time only the donkey finishes the ride.

Country Matters comes to Elverton when a supermarket is planned for the village. The construction site is easy to find. Just look for a corpse. And watch out for the lady in riding breeches carrying a whip.

Death in Chorus brings dueling church choirs to Midsomer Worthy during a crucial competition. Reputations are at stake, as well as artistic integrity and...well, let's just say one of the choirs will soon be in need of a new tenor.

Last Year's Model is something of a change for Barnaby. There's a murder, of course, and Barnaby caught the murderer. But during her trial Barnaby begins to have doubts and decides to take another look at the evidence. This turns into an engrossing mystery drama. Last Year's Model is a serious, taut look at a crime, with Barnaby racing against what could be an unjust verdict based on his own initial evidence.

The series features Jason Hughes as Detective Constable Ben Jones. He's the third of Barnaby's assistants and he's carving out his own place. Hughes makes Ben Jones intelligent and ambitious, and smart enough to know he has much to learn from Barnaby. He can be cautious around Barnaby and is always respectful, but he's also willing to speak his mind. Jane Wymark plays Joyce Barnaby, the Detective Chief Superintendent's wife and Laura Howard is Cully, their daughter.

Considering how long this show has been running, it has maintained a remarkably high level of twisty plots, solid writing and Midsomer ambience. Nettles, of course, makes the series. Midsomer Murders will most likely continue as long as he wants to play Barnaby.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the best, May 27, 2009

By 

Jean Marie "Crazy for Books" (Waukesha, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midsomer Murders: Set 12 (DVD)

I have purchased sets one thru twelve - so you must realize that my husband and I are crazy about this series -highly entertaining and really good mysteries - good television - so much fun...why can't we Americans produce shows like these - not all sex and "hollywood stereo-types" but real character actors - such good acting - such good plots - I'm waiting for #13 to come out - we share our collection with our family and they all love it - Bravo and well done, old chaps....