Misomer Murders - My Favourite Episodes - Series Eight

There are spoilers below - beware!

It is a close call between Things That Go Bump in the Night and Midsomer Rhapsody, as they are both episodes I enjoy watching, but for different reasons. 

Things That Go Bump in the Night is a macabrely fun episode. The plot is rather outlandish, as are the murderers. That makes the episode sound awful, and if it weren't for the skill of the performers playing these two twisted individuals, it would be a terrible episode. 

There are also further developments in the professional relationship between Barnaby and Scott. Scott is starting to settle down into life in the country. He's lost a lot of that abrasiveness and chip-on-the-shoulder attitude that he had at the start of his tenure. Barnaby is starting to see the good in Scott, even if some of his methods are dubious. 

Midsomer Rhapsody is a much calmer and more realistic episode. We have June Whitfield and David Burke to keep our feet on the ground. 

June Whitfield is best known for the sitcoms Terry and June and Absolutely Fabulous. She plays a woman still grieving the loss of her famous composer daughter with great sensitivity and humanity. She balances this well with her character's more pompous and stubborn side. John Nettles and June Whitfield work well off each other in their scenes. 

David Burke is best known for being the first Watson to Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes in the Granada series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. David plays the presumed dead first and only love of said dead daughter. The pathos that David gives his character is realistic.

Lost love, greed and jealousy are the backbones of the plot as Barnaby and Scott deal with the murders of a retired music teacher, a museum worker and a dealer. We are back to a single killer, and I must admit, I thought the motive was rather woolly. 


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