Midsomer Murders (TV Series) Saints and Sinners (2016) User Reviews

A bit more old school.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 13 February 2016]

Midsomer Cicely is the scene of a great Archaeological dig, where it is believed that the bones of a Saint are discovered, naturally being Midsomer, a body turns up.

I was quite impressed with this one, it felt like a throwback to the past somehow, the storytelling, the killings, the format somehow, it all seemed to work quite well. The murder methods weren't as far fetched as usual, it was a sensible episode. Some of the clues were kept til the very end, which was a bit of a cheat, but intriguing.

I don't know how much I'm buying into the body language between and flirting between Nelson and Doctor Karrimore, they need to do something with Nelson, he's still feeling rather flat as a character, maybe a bit of romancing would help.

Julia Sawalha was great (she's not looking any older,) Ralf Little did a pretty good job, but Malcolm Sinclair was utterly brilliant as Reverend Corby, such a fun performance from him.

Pretty good on the whole, liked this one, 7/10

Bring back Sykes and real balls

[pensman · 7/10 · 9 July 2016]

This should be a perfect entry as it echoes the best of the idea of Midsomer Murders: the small Midsomer town of Cicely is trying to protect its heritage against selfish outsiders. And a number of the cast members have been here before: Renny Rye the director has done 23 episodes; Malcolm Sinclair, who plays the vicar, is now in his third episode; and for Gabrielle Lloyd, Hannah Dewsbrough here, is also in her third episode.

Zoe Dyer (Kim Vithana) is just about to make herself famous with the find of her life, the remains of St Cicely Milson; but the local vicar, Rev Peter Corby (Malcolm Sinclair) has the remains in a glass coffin in the local church. There can't be two St. Cicelys, can there?

And Dyer has made a number of enemies and not just the locals: she is divorcing her husband Alex Dyer which will leave him penniless; she has cut her researcher, Christopher Corby, out of the possible book; and she is having an affair with one of her assistants, Dexter Ingram, who she is about to fire; plus she was dropping her assistant, Penny Henderson, from the project. So there are a lot of candidates who didn't mind having her buried alive; just as long as no one took the remains of St. Cicely.

Hannah Dewsbrough, the local landowner, is angry because not only are the archaeologists all over the place; some of the locals have been selling the right for "metal detectorists" to wander about looking for the Cicely family hidden treasure. Then the vicar and Valerie Horton are having a falling out with the vicar's assistant, Rev. Bartholomew Hines, who is pushing to perhaps cancel St. Cicely Day, a big money maker for the town and church.

The plot thickens as someone kills Alex Dyer by pushing a large headstone over and crushing him. And Barnaby's wife mentions that when she attended a lecture of Zoe's that she was a bit disconcerted that Zoe wasn't as familiar with "her" own work as she should have been. And Jared Horton, the local publican of the Rose and Chalice, is in some sort of plot with Noah Sawney and Rhiannon Sawney. Then both, Christopher Corby and Rev Peter Corby, are at each other's throats over which brother has the real remains of St. Cicely.

And Barnaby just can seem to figure out who did it. But DS Charlie Nelson discovers that the church of St. Cicely has been the site of a previous break in some years earlier when the previous vicar had been attacked an the alter silver had been stolen. Suddenly it seems one of the missing candlesticks has turned up in the basement of the pub with a note for Jared Horton stating, I know what you did. And the Rev. Hines has been having a secret affair with Rhiannon Sawney, who says when you love someone you will do anything for them. If her husband Noah Sawney really doesn't know; he won't be happy when he learns the truth. And Rhiannon Sawney won't be happy to find out what Rev. Hines really loves: himself.

With the brutal death of Christopher Corby, we lose another suspect. And Barnaby is off on another false arrest with pulling in Noah Sawney and Jared Horton, who are guilty of crime but not the ones Barnaby needs to solve: murder.

Unfortunately, the real identities and facts are kept away from the viewers until the end; thus this is the second episode in Series 18 that is a cheat. And Barnaby's talk with the killer at the end as they are about to kill Dr. Kam Karimore rings hollow: after all, they have already killed three people so what's one more.

Still the best of the season's offerings thus far.

And Barnaby's wife will be crushed when her "matchmaking" skills suffer a loss with the upcoming departure of DS Charlie Nelson who won't be "teaming up" with the pathologist Dr. Kam Karimore.

Murder at an archaeological dig

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 11 February 2016]

This instalment is set in Midsomer Cicely; a village named after a woman who was martyred five hundred years ago. A group of archaeologists believe that they have found her remains in a field outside the village… this upsets many villagers as they believe her bones were found by the vicar a few years previously and now reside in the church crypt. Zoe Dyer, the leader of the dig gets into a verbal spat with some villagers in the pub then she is found dead at the dig site. Barnaby and Nelson are called in and they have no shortage of suspects; other members of the dig who may have felt Zoe was taking all of the credit; villagers who were offended by her dig and nighthawks… illegal metal-detectorists who have been looking for treasure that is believed to be buried with Cicely. As the case progresses more secrets emerge; affairs, a link to a robbery in which the previous vicar was seriously assaulted… there are also two more murders.

This was another enjoyable episode although the actual motive for the murders isn't mentioned until fairly late in the story when we learn that two characters aren't the people they claim to be. As is usually the case those with the most obvious motives turn out to be unconnected with the killing and in two cases end up dead… similarly viewers who subscribe to the theory that the killer is always the nice person with no obvious motive played by a familiar actor are likely to guess who the killer will be before the first murder! The murders are entertaining without being particularly far-fetched. As well as the solving of the murders it was fun seeing various other secrets exposed… it seemed that just about everybody was involved in something unseemly. Away from Midsomer Cicely Nelson is spending rather a lot of time with pathologist Dr Kam Karimore; it can't be long before they are a couple. Overall a fun episode although it was a pity that there weren't any real clues about the identity of the killer till quite late on.

second verse, same as the first

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 12 October 2016]

Though I did like this Midsomer Murders, "Saints and Sinners" episode, it was somewhat disturbing to see someone receive a note saying "I Saw What You Did" when someone about two episodes ago had received one also.

Secondly, again, something is happening that the villagers don't want.

In this case, it is an archaeological dig to find the remains of St. Cicely Milson. When the head of the dig, Zoe Dyer, is murdered, it is thought that others were after treasure and that she interrupted them.

The villagers insist that the saint's relics are at the church run by Peter Corby. Peter's brother, however, Christopher (Aiden Gillett) believes that is not true is part of the dig. He and Zoe's husband don't get along.

After Zoe, there are two more victims. As is often the case with Midsomer Murders, the answer lies in the distant past and someone not being honest about their true identity.

It's hard to tell the saints from the sinners.

It was fun to see "Absolutely Fabulous'" Julia Sawalha as Penny Henderson as well as Aiden Gillett of "The House of Elliott" fame. It occurs to me that I must have watched "The House of Elliott" an awfully long time ago because Gillett was quite young in it. A sobering thought.

This episode was more like the older episodes with John Nettles, but there were also similarities to some of the newer ones, which I mentioned above. When you watch them like I do, things like that are easy to pick up. This is an old show: the writers need to be careful not to repeat themselves.

Milson Schmilsson

[vitoscotti · 10/10 · 15 January 2023]

Archaeological digs have been done numerous times on "Midsomer Murders". It's all good if it's a quality episode as this certainly was. Very complex plot with many twists and turns but not hard to follow. I enjoyed the numerous excellent supporting actors. Seems some were made purposely almost timid to throw the viewers off track. DS Charlie Nelson (Gwilym Lee) and Dr. Kam Karimore (Manjinder Virk) are developing a very interesting sometimes rocky sometimes not rivalry and friendship. The tennis competition was a nice touch. Having Kam involved in the climax in great peril made a strong ending even better. Wife Sarah Barnaby's (Fiona Dolman) role is declining is the only complaint about a stellar episode.

I Knew Whodunit!,

[susanhudek53 · 6/10 · 5 May 2018]

What a good episode and great guest stars. Malcolm Sinclair was terrific as an obsessive reverend. Ruth Sheen a marvelous actress unfortunately had a minimal role..a waste of her great talent. Julia Sawalha another wonderful actress who doesn't seem to age much, every time I see her I think of Saffy from Absolutely Fabulous. Her role here was minimal as well. The constant bantering between Nelson and Karimore is fun and a nice aside to the grisly murders. I like Neil in this role, it didn't' tAke long for me to get over the departure of John Nettles...which surprises me. The only reason I gave it just 6 stars is because I knew from the beginning who the murderer was so the ending was not a surprise.

A better episode

[wjspears · 8/10 · 5 May 2022]

I would agree with other reviewers that this 18th season has not been the best of the series. But I thought that this was considerably more interesting than the consensus here.

The claim that the victims could have simply climbed out of the way of the dirt, or the heavy grave stone, shows a lack of knowledge about what anesthetic does to an individual. More unrealistic is when so many shows have someone chloroformed, and then being able to stagger away minutes later.

The only part of the criticism that might have had some validity, was that the victims woke up, and watched their demise. That might have been a bit of dramatic license on the producers part.

That aside, I found this to be an intriguing and enjoyable episode, with some interesting ideas, such as that archeology sites might attract undesirables looking to loot while the dig was going on.

The list of suspects was long and well played. The possible motives were almost as long, and equally engaging, I thought. While the first two murders were inventive, I found the third to be particularly well filmed and memorable, in a macabre sort of way.

I did find the side story about Kam and her tennis game to be a wee bit Neanderthal.

Kam turns off her current visiting boyfriend by beating him in straight sets at tennis. So he leaves with a bruised ego.

Kam then plays Nelson for her second time--the first time beating him handily. This time--with a clear implication that Kam is holding back-- Nelson wins and is beaming with pride and graciousness. Meanwhile, John and Sarah Barnaby watch from the sidelines, nodding approvingly.

Average at best to be honest!

[harrykivi · 5/10 · 3 December 2019]

After a solid episode in this season, I was expecting bit more from the last two episodes and well...I kind of got it, but not really. "Saints and Sinners" is okay, though very flawed episode.

Let the positives speak first:

. It's safe to say: the production values are great as always. Renny Ryes direction is again very good and the music's beautiful.

. At times "Saints and Sinners" is entertaining and interesting. Some lovely humour's to be found as well. Also the characters have some flesh and bones to them...

. The first thirty minutes of this episode have an old "Midsomer murders" vibe to it, which was quite impressive.

. The cast is good too. Julia Sawalha (who doesn't seem to age at all) and Malcolm Sinclair being excellent as usual.

But....

. The story is pretty weak here with many subplots( affairs) and cliches that have been used for too long in this show.

. I'd say just right after the second murder "Saints and Sinners" loses most of its charm, vibe. That's because the ideas for this episode are quickly fading away.

. There are parts of the story that feel rushed: especially the solution, which felt quick with far too much information thrown at us at the last minute.

Overall, very average episode

5/10 HK

Weak

[skipperkd · 3/10 · 22 August 2021]

Two sets of bones. One of them belongs to Saint Cecily, supposedly. The other skeleton? Whose bones ? Why did the police not question this at all? Who did the parishioners dig up??

Also, false identities. More than one, but we find out about the most important one only in the last ten minutes. Cheat.

Also, I'm growing quite weary of Barnaby displaying his AMAZING psychology skills by talking hardened killers out of murder or suicide after they've already killed NUMEROUS times.

Just as I'm not impressed with all the episodes with idiots who just freeze while someone kills them. Drops a gravestone on them. Drops soil on them. Etc.

Finally, I found no humor in this episode. No light. No redeeming characters anywhere - apart from the regulars: Barnaby's family, Kam, Charlie.

Even the pastor and the vicar were crap.

At the archaeological dig with 'Midsomer Murders'

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 21 May 2017]

When in its prime (a vast majority of Seasons 1-9), 'Midsomer Murders' was a great show and one that is watched and re-watched frequently. Seasons 10-13 became more uneven, with three of the show's worst episodes coming from Seasons 11 and 13, but there were a few solid episodes and "Blood Wedding" and especially "Master Class" were gems.

After John Nettles retired and Neil Dudgeon and the new character of John Barnaby took over, 'Midsomer Murders' just hasn't been the same on the most part. Season 14 was a disappointment outside of "The Oblong Murders" and "A Sacred Trust", with "Echoes of the Dead" and "The Night of the Stag" being show low-points. Season 15 was inconsistent, being a case of starting promisingly and then took a three-episodes-in-a-row strange turn with "Written in the Stars" before finishing on a good note. Season 16 was mostly good, especially "Wild Harvest", with the only disappointment being "Let Us Prey". Season 17 was a mixed, with the first two episodes being watchable but uneven and the other two, particularly "A Vintage Murder", faring better.

Most of Season 18, from personal opinion, was rather unimpressive (apart from the surprisingly good "A Dying Art"), and this is including "Saints and Sinners", to me one of the season's weaker episodes. Usually am on the same page when it comes to the general consensus of individual 'Midsomer Murders' episodes, but there have been exceptions and sad to say "Saints and Sinners" is one of them.

It is certainly not without merits, even the worst 'Midsomer Murders' episodes have redeeming qualities (though embarrassments like "Blood on the Saddle", "Night of the Stag", "Echoes of the Dead" and "Second Sight" came very close to not).

Production values cannot be faulted as usual. It's beautifully and atmospherically shot with suitably picturesque scenery. The music fits perfectly, with some lush jauntiness and sometimes an ominous quality, and the haunting theme tune is one of the most memorable and instantly recognisable of the genre. The murders are pretty fun and the characters are not too pantomimic or bland in general. The story has its intriguing elements.

Cast is very good, Neil Dudgeon doesn't look stiff or sleepwalk through Barnaby and Gwilym Lee continues to have a likable charisma. The supporting cast are very strong, Julia Sawallha and Malcolm Sinclair being the standouts.

However Still not a fan of Kam at all, she has little personality and continues to be a condescending know-it-all and not exactly professional. Nelson is despite the likable presence of Lee has bland material this time round and takes too much of a back-seat.

"Saints and Sinners" story is let down by two things. It does have some real credibility-straining stretches, particularly with the whole stuff about the "protestant martyr". The ending was a let-down, the late reveal of the killer and their motives didn't work and instead felt rushed as a result as cramming in too much information in a short time, confused and like an afterthought. It's pretty bland at times, with an over-familiarity of some of the situations and twists, some of which having been done before in earlier episodes and done with much more spark. Clues are very little and begs one to wonder how it's figured out and tied together.

Scripting has been better balanced before, one misses the gentle humour of 'Midsomer Murders' in its prime and wishes that it wouldn't take itself too seriously so often.

All in all, okay episode but lacking. 5/10 Bethany Cox

A once fine series now on the level of Ed Wood's "Plan B From Outer Space"

[dkeever-42973 · 1/10 · 26 April 2021]

This episode is of an example of how bad this series has become. The first murder is of a woman pushed into a shallow hole and a small load of dirt dropped in on her. It is not enough to even cover her. So what does she do when she sees the arm of the machinery slowly rotating to get another shovel load of dirt to drop on her? Does she simply sit up, step out and walk away from the hole? Of course not! She instead lies there while fully capable of getting out, watches what she is clearly about to happen and gives a moan of "Oh, no!" ... More dirt comes and she is a most compliant victim.

This is the routine for many of the murders on most of these episodes now. When there are multiple possible responses to a suspicious light, noise or situation like this, a most willing "victim" chooses, out of many more reasonable options, the one thing most likely to get him/her killed. I.e., the script seems more like a parody of a murder mystery rather than a real one.

Saints and sinners

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 27 July 2022]

A Saint's bones are discovered during an archaeological dig, causing a stir in the village of Midsomer Cicely. However, when the dig's leader is murdered, DCI Barnaby and DS Nelson are presented with a complex investigation as they hunt for the perpetrator. As the duo unearth more evidence, they soon discover that it is not only skeletons that have been long buried in the hallowed ground.

Ok episode, not too standout, but it's interesting enough to keep you watching. There some nice inventive murders (crushed by a headstone, spear through the back). Dr Karrimore gets a little more scope.