Escape this winter into Midsommer

A trip down childhood tv memory lane filled with a bloody Country Life crossed with Ok magazine worthy cover headlines, a wonderful mongrel of a well acted drama - England at its best!

Find all the seasons of Midsomer Murders on Itvx

The clocks changed this week and as a tonic to this, we have started to watch Midsomer Murders, the old golden oldies of the long running series that can all be found on itv x. These episodes contain a fabulous cast of familiar faces, indeed some the greatest and the good have graced the plots over the years. These are very nostalgic for me of times when my little brother would hid behind the sofa when the music of a murder being committed would score itself as the scene unfolded. Midsomer portrays British life as hungered for on the pages of country life with the added bonus of seeing characters as their most juicy and worst, warts and all rather than sugar sweet and having them stand by a pond or holding a horse! Here are my favourite episodes and cast mentions. I don’t go beyond the Tom and Troy years much Starring - John Nettles and Daniel Casey.

Birds of Prey - season 6- Lady Edmonton is stern ‘I have absolutely no interested in my husbands business affairs’ ‘Well not only can my birds not talk but none of them to my knowledge hold a driving licence’ She melts however, at the love of her pet falcons that she flies on the lawn whist Lord Edmonton is suffering from alzheimer’s upstairs, planning his grand project that has involved, a lot of (by now disgruntled) investors that the Major George Hamilton is trying to manage. Meanwhile two dears in the village are being bullied by their illegal egg collecting, bird watching tenant who is an awful cuckoo in their little nest. This episode involves an especially fabulous scene of a blazed bonfire and an emerging African mask. starring Rosalind knight and Kate Buffery . ‘They didn’t have pork Jane!’

Sauce for the Goose - season 8 - scenes of a forklift in a family owned factory making relish full of jam jars reveals a dead body - starring Annette Crosbie who keeps seeing a man hanging from a tree…

Painted in Blood - season 6 - quite hilarious- an independent village bank is caught up with a gangster who comes to collect a lot of money from its underground vault whilst his wife and girlfriend cat fight almost in the village street above with watercolour challenge like scenes thrown in for god measure too. ‘He was just using you Linda to get at the money, just you wait and see’ Starring Barbara Durkin , Denise Black and Leslie Phillips.

A talent for life - season 6 - A demure antiques dealer befriends a characterful glamourous fag hag who lives in a decent manor house, taking spins in the vintage jaguar and fishing with a hamper of champagne in the boot but their is something fishy happening along the river with weighted fly fishing baits. ‘But that wasn’t the motive, and that is what you inspectors care about don’t you’ Starring Honor Blackman.

Vixens Run - season 9 - The death of three-times married aristocrat Sir Freddy Butler brings Barnaby and admitted by this season sergeant Jones to the privileged surroundings of Haddington Hall. It looks like Freddy suffered a heart attack but their is much to discover involving the old upper-class requirement and often coverup of enlisting help of a bit of common to ensure a successful breeding. Starring Dame Sian Phillips. ‘Ruthless creatures you know the vixen abandons her young as soon as she can couldn’t care less if they live or die.’

Orchid Fatalis - season 8 - All is not well with the members of the Midsomer Malham Orchid Society. DCI Barnaby and DS Scottfind themselves investigating the murder of a member of the Society and as it turns out, someone who was selling very rare orchids for huge sums of money. Starring Harriet Walter.