"Hey, that's Pussy Galore," exclaimed Mr. Ginley last night. "I sure hope she's not going to murder James Bond."
We were watching a 2005 episode of Midsomer Murders entitled A Talent for Life. Sure enough, the victim-to-be was portrayed by Honor Blackman, who was the character with the smirk-inducing name in Goldfinger. In the 1960s Ms. Blackman was also Cathy Gale in The Avengers (no connection to the Marvel comic book characters). She was 94 when she passed away in April of this year.
But there I go, digressing.
Our interest in Midsomer Murders is relatively recent, and we have a lot of catching up to do. We are on the sixth set, and there are a gajillion episodes to watch. Each opens with a murder in a quaint village located in the fictional British county of Midsomer. It's up to Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby* and his young assistant, Sergeant Troy, to solve the murder.
Seldom, however, is the story limited to just one unnatural death. There are usually two or three that follow the initial killing. While I always thought it would be nice to live in the English countryside, I must say this series has put me off a bit. Considering the murder rate per capita, these sleepy little hamlets are in reality a hotbed of premature deaths. One never knows if the dotty old lady next door is going to take offense at some minor criticism and slip a little arsenic in your tea or a stiletto between your shoulder blades.
At any rate, mysteries are one of the few genres Mr. and I share. I keep my finger on the "pause" button so we can inspect some clue or other. And at times, we will pause and make an observation about who the killer could be. (More often than not, we're on the wrong track, but that's okay.)
For whatever reason, the majority of mystery series we've glommed onto were filmed across the pond, some in French or Italian with subtitles. But most are British. There is the added joy (for me) of listening to their accents. The historical settings are cool. And the countryside is lovely. Just the thing for an Anglophile like me.
Thankfully, there are two libraries near us that stock the entire series, so hopefully, we'll be able to view the whole shebang without a hitch.
If I can't make it to the English countryside, I can at least visit vicariously through British mysteries.
It's a whole lot safer, too, I'm sure.
*Fun fact: In real life, Ms. Blackman had a son named "Barnaby."
Too funny as the Mister and I are also watching this series as a Saturday or Sunday night thing to do together. Sergeant Troy sadly leaves and now we are dealing with Sergeant Scott. I understand eventually we will lose Barnaby too but for now we are enjoying the series with him in it. I am not sure which set we are on at this point but I do find them highly enjoyable and Tim does enjoy seeing the houses and cars they use. Sometimes we do actually guess the right killer but they certainly have no compunction about eliminating characters at will each week. Happy watching to you!
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