Midsomer Murders: Ring Out Your Dead is set in the Midsomer village of Midsomer Wellow where six locals are preparing for the annual Midsomer bell-ringing contest headed up by Peter Fogden (Adrian Scarborough) who is desperate to win, it seems at any cost. The ringers meet to practise except one, a womaniser named Greg Tutt (Dugald Bruce Lockhart) who hasn't turned up, as one of the bell-ringers Emma Tysoe (Lyndsey Marshal) prepares her bell drops of blood fall from the ceiling & Greg's dead body is discovered upstairs amongst the bells. It turns out Greg was shot through the heart & so DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) & Sgt. Gavin Troy (Daniel Casey) have a murder on their hands, they are stumped & don't know where to start. Then when Emma is shot dead on her wedding day one murder becomes two & the race is on to unmask the killer before they strike again...
Episode 3 from season 5 this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by Sarah Hellings & in my opinion has that certain magic & charm that made the first few seasons so successful & has been noticeably absent of late. The script by Christopher Russell is well paced & features three murders & a death of natural causes although it takes about 15 minutes to get to the first kill. I thought this one had some nice red herrings like large amounts of money won gambling, affairs, secret love letters, the whole village seem to be gun enthusiasts & there's a decent amount of plausible suspects as well who could have done it, I also like Midsomer Murders episodes where the motive for murder is dark, sinister & something a little different which is the case with Ring Out Your Dead. I mean the motive here is a little silly & I don't think many will be able to second guess them but in an odd way it all comes together nicely at the end & just feels both satisfying & right if you know what I mean although I don't understand why the killer only wounded Liam at the end & not kill him outright when their intention has been murder all along. There's some nice humour here to, Troy poking fun at Barnaby for his wife's interest in bell-ringing & a funny moment where Liam tells Emma their wedding is off to which she replies 'but my mom's cooked all the food'! It's nice to know she's got her priorities straight! As usual Ring Out Your Dead is an exposition heavy 100 odd minutes mystery drama so you really need to pay attention or you won't get it.
The locations are as nice as ever, the real life Church used in this episode was located in Watlington in Oxfordshire, Bray Church in Berkshire was used for the interior bell-ringing scenes & the actual bells themselves were at Monks Risborough Church in Buckinghamshire while Northstoke in Oxfordshire was used as the location for Midsomer Wellow. I must say one thing that really irritated me about Ring Out Your Dead was the constant sound of bells ringing, I know they were essential to the plot but the noise of them just grated on my nerves so much! It's no wonder people generally don't like them. There are four deaths in this with three being cold blooded murder, there's nothing graphic in this episode apart from some blood splatter. The acting is strong as usual.
Ring Out Your Dead is a deservedly well liked Midsomer Murders mystery, I liked it & consider it to be amongst the show's finest. A must for fans of the series & armchair sleuth's everywhere.
Episode 3 from season 5 this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by Sarah Hellings & in my opinion has that certain magic & charm that made the first few seasons so successful & has been noticeably absent of late. The script by Christopher Russell is well paced & features three murders & a death of natural causes although it takes about 15 minutes to get to the first kill. I thought this one had some nice red herrings like large amounts of money won gambling, affairs, secret love letters, the whole village seem to be gun enthusiasts & there's a decent amount of plausible suspects as well who could have done it, I also like Midsomer Murders episodes where the motive for murder is dark, sinister & something a little different which is the case with Ring Out Your Dead. I mean the motive here is a little silly & I don't think many will be able to second guess them but in an odd way it all comes together nicely at the end & just feels both satisfying & right if you know what I mean although I don't understand why the killer only wounded Liam at the end & not kill him outright when their intention has been murder all along. There's some nice humour here to, Troy poking fun at Barnaby for his wife's interest in bell-ringing & a funny moment where Liam tells Emma their wedding is off to which she replies 'but my mom's cooked all the food'! It's nice to know she's got her priorities straight! As usual Ring Out Your Dead is an exposition heavy 100 odd minutes mystery drama so you really need to pay attention or you won't get it.
The locations are as nice as ever, the real life Church used in this episode was located in Watlington in Oxfordshire, Bray Church in Berkshire was used for the interior bell-ringing scenes & the actual bells themselves were at Monks Risborough Church in Buckinghamshire while Northstoke in Oxfordshire was used as the location for Midsomer Wellow. I must say one thing that really irritated me about Ring Out Your Dead was the constant sound of bells ringing, I know they were essential to the plot but the noise of them just grated on my nerves so much! It's no wonder people generally don't like them. There are four deaths in this with three being cold blooded murder, there's nothing graphic in this episode apart from some blood splatter. The acting is strong as usual.
Ring Out Your Dead is a deservedly well liked Midsomer Murders mystery, I liked it & consider it to be amongst the show's finest. A must for fans of the series & armchair sleuth's everywhere.