Customer Reviews

Midsomer Murders: Set 16

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The third and final 2010 US release of Midsomer Murders, contains four episodes:
Ep 63 Midsomer Life broadcast Jul 13, 2008
Ep 64 The Magician's Nephew b. Jul 27, 2008
Ep.65 Days of Misrule b. Dec 24, 2008 Christmas Special
Ep.66 Talking to the Dead b. Aug 05, 2008
(episode numbers may be off by one, as the original broadcast dates vary depending on source)

After close to 200 murders, I thought all possible ways of "dispatch" have been explored. Not so. The inventive MM writers manage to surprise again, as they introduce South American poison-dart frogs as a new murder weapon (in The Magician's Nephew)!

But, on to the good stuff:
As most are aware by now, John Nettles (66) is leaving the show in August this year. His last appearance will be in ep.82. His replacement has finally been revealed! The episode airing tonight on British TV (ep.75 The Sword of Guillaume) will see a new character introduced: John Barnaby, Tom Barnaby's nephew, will arrive in Midsomer, to help with a case while Tom is away. He will eventually take over as DCI, when Tom retires. The character is played by Neil Dudgeon (49), a hard working British TV actor, with a few screen films behind his belt; you may have seen him as Joshua in the 2008 comedy The Son of Rambow. So, there you have it! Only time will tell how the replacement works out. Most comments, regarding the actor's potential to succeed in Midsomer, have so far been positive. Taking into consideration the speed of Acorn releases in the US, we will have to wait till 2013 before we can judge for ourselves...

PS: For those new to this British masterpiece, Midsomer Murders is a long running "who done it", based on the novels of Caroline Graham, starring John Nettles (of the Bergerac fame) as the unflappable Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby. The series is set in the fictional Misomer County, which comprises of many cozy, rural villages, where wealthy and poor alike seem to do each other in at an average rate of three to four bodies per episode. The series has a worldwide following, not in the least due to the creative and macabre ways in which the MM victims are typically dispatched.

Midsomer Murders is worth a DVD release wait & entertaining enough for every mystery lover. A British murder series at it's finest. Nothing to match it on USA TV. This series is perfection in its genre. A less-than 2-year wait from original airing to DVD is fine when it is this caliber of material. Look how long US TV greats like "Roots", "Dr. Quinn" and others took to get into homes. For obtaining DVD rights for an across the ocean series, and adding SUBTITLES, one might give Acorn Media a pat on the back for boldly-quick.

Regardless, this series is worth the purchase. This set from Amazon is about half-price of other movies when considering individual episodes comparable to other feature-length mystery films. Packaged groups of the series "Midsomer Murders-The Early Cases Collection" and "Midsomer Murders-Barnaby's Casebook" cost only about $6 per episode. That's a value to me, coming out as fast as reported possible, and being the excellent mystery series that can't be figured out till the very end of each episode. The collections are an inexpensive way to get caught initiated into Midsomer crime if you are new to this world-acclaimed series.

DCI Barnaby (John Nettles) has taken on the fictional Midsomer County murder abundance, often multiple like war or massacre, since 1997. Killing chaos is the norm in Midsomer County but the visual sensuality of the setting offsets the blood and murder combos. Fantastic English village/country better than many travel DVDs.

Some comedy exists in every episode through expressions, statements, and unusual additions to crime scenes. It's a trademark of the show, as much as the murders piling up on one another.

No foul language issues, but plenty of good family murder mystery--the murder is almost never seen, just the moments up to the kill, and then of course the body. How many ways can a person be murdered? Midsomer keeps finding new ones. Part of the humor, actually, is the excessive number of murders in a lovely rural/village setting that could count dastardly deaths per sq. ft.

You'll want to set yourself down in a town green, at a location like Badger's Wood, and sip tea in quality china, just waiting on a few body parts to drop from the sky. This series was based on books by novelist Caroline Graham, but have gone beyond those books. You'll fall in love with the regular characters.

The series is supposed to end on British TV soon, but HOW will it ever end? Barnaby discovering his own murder, and will he be killed twice, or more? Then who will find justice for him? Barnaby always gets HIS man. Will there be any comedy in the final episode. The series end in itself will be bloody sad.

I have never written a review before but wanted to weigh in on this one. I have to agree with all the reviews I have read. This series is without a doubt, the best I have ever seen. No one does a mystery like the Enlish. I was so unhappy when A&E stopped airing the series but I have bought all the DVDs for the series so I can enjoy the show time and time again. I only wish it did not take so long to get the latest series into DVD form here in the States. However long it takes I will continue to add to my collection of Midsomer Murders. I will be very interesting in the new DCI, I hope the series continues and most importantly the quality.

I love Midsommer Murders. It is a shame that A&E stopped showing them so that I have to resort to purchasing, but oh well. If you like the English Countryside and quirky characters along with a good mystery you will like these!

Midsomer Murders Set 16 was so worth the wait!! I think it was the best season yet. All four entries were superb. It was difficult to decide which I liked best. I would say it would be easier to say which I liked least which would have to be the first story, Midsomer Life. It was a good introduction to the four; however, since each one gets just a little crazier.

The Christmas episode was delightful and my favorite; for those of us faced with late life employment and youthful supervisors with little or no experience but with all sorts of "fresh ideas" that reinvent the wheel and bury one in paper work, it created great resonance. Its resolution was delightful. All I could say was "Yes!!!" At least the poor naive fool was well intended; an earlier one was rather nasty and I kept hoping someone would bump him off--they tried but Barnaby saved him!

"The Magician's Nephew" was well plotted and though the outcome was not entirely unsuspected, was quite clever. I certainly didn't have it until about mid-film. The mysterious ambiances and the odd relationships really made the thing. Certainly the visiting cast were wonderful. Here the importance of venue and the cooperation of "audience" in "mysticism" was oh so obvious in this one--as indeed the next--especially at the end.

The last entry--and my second favorite--is "Talking to the Dead." While it ranks my "second," I have to admit it was the most complex and content rich. It alone would be worth the price of the set. Here again the mis en scène of spiritualism, with its carefully engineered emotional components and the mental cooperation of the audience, was made very clear as it was in the "Magician's Nephew." Once its credulousness was exposed to it, the audience disappeared. One cannot help but believe, however, that each person will merely have labeled this particular practitioner of the "spiritual arts" as a charlatan rather than all such people as such. We all like to believe in magic. The confrontation of Christian and Pagan power sources was particularly amusing, since each claimed the other a fraud and each challenged the other for power over the "flock." In the end their interactions made it obvious that each needed the other to justify his own existence! The iron maiden scene where Sergeant Jones gets trapped inside was wonderful, especially after watching the mechanism work. I appreciated the bright mind that came up with this literary device. While amusing the viewer, it also alerted him to the sound and its significance when it occurred nearer the end of the episode, and with great effect too. It was at once grisly and yet fascinating and reminded me of one of the Hamish Macbeth series--one of Season Three as I recall,Hamish MacBeth: Series 1-3 Collection--when something equally grisly occurred to another character who, along with the audience, also understood what was about to happen to him. I kept expecting the Hamish Macbeth victim to escape in the nick of time which made it an even more startling finale. Here as soon as one heard the sound one knew there was no hope.

I enjoyed the interactions of Inspector Barnaby with his family. For a while I felt that both Joyce and Cully were getting a little tired of their roles, but that is definitely not the case here. Both are as energetic and delightful as they were early in the series. One again feels that they have lives outside of the mystery, and that they are a real resource to Barnaby; his personal source of strength and renewal after his ventures into the world of madness called Midsomer! Though they only pop up once in a while through each episode, they're appearance is always welcome and highly anticipated. Though I know their function in the mechanics of these works is to lend a background of sanity against which the craziness of Midsomer can be contrasted, I still love them. This series even more than past episodes really made it clear how much Barnaby does too. The warmth and love and the funny little family events bring charm to the stories--and cast in very high relief the wackiness of the rest of Midsomer!

Totally memorable series, wonderful entries, can't wait for more.

I have faithfully collected all Midsomer Murders and greatly enjoyed most of the episodes, with the exception of a very few silly bloopers. Set 16 is disappointing, although it is, once more, mildly pleasant to follow Barnaby and Jones in their exploits. The scripts in this installment are needlessly convoluted, often outright bizarre and utterly unbelievable. "Midsomer Life" is poorly written, the other three have elements of the supernatural which fail to convince not only Barnaby, but also the intelligent viewer. Gothic settings abound, and when you see Barnaby and Jones, at night and alone, stumbling around in the woods like the Keystone Cops, you realize that the humor is not all intentional. This is plain old stupid. So are the Halloween and Christmas backdrops, not to mention witchcraft and the pagan cult. As we don't get all the British episodes in Acorn's US packaging, I suspect that these four were especially chosen for the American market - presumably the lowest common denominator. Unless you are addicted to the series, skip this one.

I have all Midsomer Murders series up to date. It just doesn't get better than this - BBC, Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, Poirot, Midsomer Murders. Watchable over and over again, for pure solid entertainment. You become involved with the Barnaby family - Joyce and Cully. You train along with Tom's DS's (Gavin, Scott, Ben Jones), it's just pure fun. Each and every episode is unique. I will keep watching and collecting as long as BBC is filming and releasing .............

I have been a great fan of Midsomer Murders, and with all of its cast. The cast are just great even the ones who are no longer on the show. I miss Gavin (character ) but those that have replaced him are just as great. Joyce and Cully (mother and daughter) are excellent. And Tom (DCI)I wish he really wait to retire at least wait until he becomes a grandfather. We will be waiting, I can sit down with my grandchildren and watch the show without telling them to leave the room or fast forwarding to keep them from hearing foul language. I have purchase every DVD and have no complaint.
I can continue to watch you all until I am 66 or more.

I love this British village murder mystery series now in its 10th year and still going strong. By now, it seems pretty obvious to me that a majority of the population in the immediate seemingly bucolic environs are indeed sociopaths, miscreants, or psychopathic killers. Inspired by the novels of Caroline Graham, the series stars John Nettles (Bergerac) as the levelheaded Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, with Jason Hughes as his earnest, efficient protégé, Detective Sergeant Ben Jones.
For some reason, the DVD sets are broken up from their original seasonal broadcasts.

For me, combining sets 15 and 16 makes a more perfect season of MidSomer Murders.

The mysteries in set 15: "Blood Wedding" -- Cully's wedding day is fast approaching, but a series of bizarre murders at an upper-class wedding leave Barnaby distracted.
"Shot at Dawn" -- A long-standing family feud erupts into violence after a disgraced soldier's name is placed on a World War I memorial.
"Left for Dead" -- Barnaby discovers a potential link between a double murder and a decades-old disappearance in the sleepy town of Dunstan.

The mysteries in set 16:
"MidSomer Life" -- After the unpopular editor of a local magazine is found dead, Barnaby stumbles upon a nest of bribery, adultery, and secrets kept too long.
"The Magician's Nephew" -- Barnaby must determine if witchcraft is to blame when several members of a pagan cult are killed in an unusual manner.
"Days of Misrule" -- Christmas comes early for Barnaby and Jones when a suspicious explosion frees them from a dreaded team-building exercise.
"Talking to the Dead" --Two couples go missing from the sleepy village of Monks Barton; the locals blame ghosts, but Barnaby suspects a more earthly culprit.

I love watching Midsomer Murders.I love the English Countryside, love looking at the cottages and homes, and the beautiful flower gardens. I am never disappointed in any story. I love John Nettles, he plays DCI Inspector Barnaby Jones so well. I love that the show uses a lot of the older actors who are just great. As soon as my dvd starts to play, I am immediately transported to the Midsomer villages and am totally absorbed in what is taking place. I wish one of our tv stations would carry this show. I just can't get enough of it.
Joan Ilgen