Is That Blood in the Victoria Sponge? Guest Review by Doctor Terror
Midsomer Murders - The Killings at Badger's Drift (on national tour)
Many of you will know that Patrick Wymark 's daughter Jane plays Joyce Barnaby, wife of John Nettles' inspector in the TV series Midsomer Murders. The character is absent from this stage adaptation of the very first episode of the wildly popular show, with Guy Unsworth taking over from Anthony Horowitz in styling Caroline Graham's novel for a new medium.
Now, I was thinking the same as you: they'll never pull this off - the television programme relies heavily on the sweeping scenery of Buckinghamshire to draw you in; that'll never work on a stage. Well, it does - and how! The ever-changing set is a joy to behold as is the sheer versatility of the cast playing multiple roles. In one occasion, two suspects facing opposite directions are interviewed, the action cross-cutting between them with impossibly short blackouts. The trick is then gleefully revealed: both are played by the same person wearing a costume split in half vertically, just as Tommy Cooper used to do in the seventies.
Daniel Casey, who played Sgt Troy in the telly episode, gets a promotion here to Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and, having clearly spent a lot of time in John Nettles' company, is able to mimic every tic, mannerism and vocalisation. The audience occasionally gasped at the accuracy of the impersonation.
Is it parody? Yes. Is it a faithful recreation of the original whodunnit? Also yes. Don't be fobbed off with inferior fare like The Thursday fucking Murder Club. This is the real deal.comedy series.