Talk:List of Midsomer Murders episodes

Good Job

I have to congratulate you on creating this article, must have taken a while to compile this information.--Mickyfitz13 13:27, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, and it did take a while!--Berks105 16:47, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Order

The IP address User:213.40.110.117 suggested that the episodes should be in production order. I must state that they should not be. All episode lists, on Wikipedia and all other websites, book and everything, are always in broadcast order. When they were made is immaterial and to have them in production order (like they were before I redordered them) is most confusing to the ordinary person trying to read it. --Berks105 16:49, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

I personally can't really see the need for filming date at all, not on a list of episodes page. It certainly shouldn't be in filming order, that would be at odds with all other Wikipedia lists, IMDb, TV.com etc. --UpDown 09:31, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Surely in this case "Ghosts of Christmas Past" should be listed within Season 8 not seperately before it as it was aired after the first two season 8 episodes. --Warpfactor 11:56, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Thats difficult, because it was a christmas special, not an episode from the series. But I agree it does not look odd out of broadcast order. --UpDown 12:00, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

It does look really odd having it before series 8, episode guides should be in broadcast order. All other episode guides on the net place it as the 3rd episode of Series 8 such as the following

http://www.epguides.com/midsomermurders/

http://www.midsomermurders.net/episodes.php?id=menu

My suggestion would be either to include it as part of Series 8 (perhaps with a note saying it was a Christmas Special), or to split Series 8 into two, and place this episode between them. (Series 8, Xmas special, Series 8 continued).Paul 1978 17:49, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

Although not perfect, I prefer the way it is now. It should be marked out as a Christmas special, as this is what it is, it's not part of a series, no more than the pilot is. --UpDown 07:06, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't really care which order you put them in, just as long as you keep both timelines going!!! The production order is essential because the broadcast order is in someways confusing. Jones gets promoted to DS in "Last Year's Model", but if you go after the broadcast order he gets promoted, then he's back to DC in the next episode. Who ever that took away the production dates should reinstall them, even if the list in itself can be in broadcast order. The series are infact in production order! "Shot at Dawn" is a part of series 11, produced after "Blood Wedding". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.241.199.17 (talk) 19:43, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

I think it's brilliant to have both the broadcast date and the production date. As pointed out ITV sometimes make a real mess of the series by broadcasting them out of order showing Jones as a DS in one episode and then back to DC the next. Gail Stephens went from WPC to DC, but then in Talking to the Dead, broadcasted two years late, she was WPC again. I must however question the production date of Garden of Death. In an old version of this page, which I have saved, it said June/july 2000, which seems more likely. Renbergs (talk) 17:53, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

THEY ARE LISTED IN ORDER BY AIR DATE IN IMDB (WHICH IS THE WAY THEY AND EVERYONE ELSE LISTS TV SERIES) AND THAT'S THE ONLY WAY THE SEASONS MAKE SENSE DOPES. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.255.156.249 (talk) 18:55, 2 August 2012 (UTC)

Any given broadcast order is potentially arbitrary with respect to the internal timeline, especially on long-running series. Sometimes even the internal timeline is inconsistent because of overlapping writing and production schedules.

My preference is to order episodes as faithfully as possible to the internal timeline as portrayed within the stories/series by the writers. Then the listing order indicates a logical viewing order, so we know what order to view episodes in when the producers and marketeers and networks have done such a wonderful job of spoiling our viewing experience by scrambling the order.

The logical exception is when the internal time line is deliberately presented out of order by the writers for dramatic effect.

Please consider my suggestion when making further edits. Thx 68.183.238.154 (talk) 04:20, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

Airdates

Are you sure about 'They Seek Him Here's airdate as beingthe 7th of october, as it was just broadcast this sunday (26 August) in Australia. It seem s strange that it would be broadcast here first 4:38, 28 August 2007

It certainly has not yet be aired in the UK. I am surprised if it has been aired in Australia!?--UpDown 08:44, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

I don't know why, but we're certainly getting episodes ahead of the UK. "Death in a Choclate Box", the episode listed here as October 14th, is airing as I type. Gesso 11:55, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

I do find that very hard to believe. Anyway, this page should show first UK airdate regardless as its a UK programme. --UpDown 11:59, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

I've clarified it so the dates shown are visably "Original UK airdate". This is, I believe, the best solution. According to TV.com they also air earlier in Norway, so its far easier and more consistent to have the earlier UK airdate regardless.--UpDown 07:39, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Are you sure of the 2 June 2002 airdate for "Market for Murder"? I was looking through BARB archive for old viewership info and there's no Midsomer episode in ITV top 30 for the 27may-2june week. Howevere there's a 8.99 million viewers for a Midsomer Episode aired on June 16th and it looks too high for a repeat —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.2.142.167 (talk) 19:31, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

Series 4 or 5

Can anyone explain why Tainted Fruit is listed here as the last episode of series four when it has been realeased as the first episode of series 5 on DVD, I am from Australia so the DVD realeases might be different here. 4:04, 4 September 2006

There is always some confusion over series, with episodes often airing far apart. However, I suspect this is Series 4 due to the closeness in airdate with other episodes. --UpDown 08:00, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

Individual Articles for episodes?

Does anyone agree for having individual articles for MM episodes? Or am I being fussy? (Willieboyisaloser 17:09, 8 October 2007 (UTC)WillieboyisaloserWillieboyisaloser 17:09, 8 October 2007 (UTC))

I'm not fussed either way, but beware the Episode maniacs who go round redirecting any episode article that doesnt show "real world context". --UpDown 09:32, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm not really bothered either way, but my preference would be to see all the episodes on one page, with a short plot description of each story. I'm not sure what extra information would feature on a page for every story, a full cast list I suppose? Would there be enough information to justify an extra page for each episode? Paul 1978 10:58, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Paul 1978, I agree, but we could have an extra page which lists the episodes and the number of deaths in them [if we put it on the main page readers may be annoyed to have to read the "body count" which may spoilt it for them if they haven't seen the episode before]. (Willieboyisaloser 16:36, 9 October 2007 (UTC)WillieboyisaloserWillieboyisaloser 16:36, 9 October 2007 (UTC))

I'm not sure that the "body count" info is really needed, but even if it was, it could be included in the current episode list (I think for whodunnits the only thing to avoid in episode lists are the solution & the murderer). I'd certainly like to expand the current list to include a short plot description though Paul 1978 23:47, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

All for an episode-by-episode body count, especially in light of the popular noting of how many people get killed in Midsomer. A simple number wouldn't spoil the plot—there are always plenty of survivors, so a viewer wouldn't know who it was. --Piledhigheranddeeper (talk) 21:17, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

I think individual articles are a good idea, just like Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.--Johnbull 21:11, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Future scheduling

Could people please give references if they are going to add broadcast dates for the unaired programmes. There have been edits recently with people giving exact dates in January next year, which is ludicrous given the fact that television schedules in the UK aren't finalised that far in advance. Paul 1978 19:20, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Please advice, is it against the rules to write short episode summaries for episodes not aired in Britain but in other countries? Like "Days of Misrule" (66) and "Talking to the dead"(??)? Mh234 (talk) 21:54, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

I certainly don't think it against the rules, after all episode summaries are often written before a programme has aired (from info in TV guides etc). Personally I like to wait until the programme has aired, and in this case has aired in the UK as those are the airdates we use.--UpDown (talk) 07:15, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

Although if you do write them, please don't include who the murderer was etc, and this I think would be inappriopiate when they haven't aired in their home country.--UpDown (talk) 07:16, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

Help on episode articles

I have done a 'Death's Shadow' article but cannot get it up to the standard of the forerunner 'Electric Vendetta' article. Can anyone assist? (Willieboyisaloser 17:27, 7 November 2007 (UTC))

I am somewhat concerned by the creation of these episode pages. They contain little content, merely who died and information repeated from this page. The who died information is trivial. Please remember that episodes should conform to policy about being notable. If they are going to be such short stub then I will redirect to main page.--UpDown 08:06, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Other TV series have their own episode information pages like Prison Break. These WILL be expanded, but it is easier to give each ep a stub and then go back and expand. Better very little than none at all. NOTE: Over the episode summary [WHEN IT COMES] we can have a spoiler warning. (Willieboyisaloser 17:34, 8 November 2007 (UTC))

Sorry but that won't stand up. Many episode articles are now being redirected to episodes pages. Saying you'll expand them later doesn't work, if you have real world information then you can add this, otherwise I will redirect them. And spoiler warnings aren't necessary per a common consensus. --UpDown 07:57, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

To be honest I don't think there is really a need for separate episode articles. Having looked at Death's Shadow and Electric Vendetta it doesn't show much information and whilst the Death's Shadow article has loads of information, it's very much stuff for fanpages which WP is not.

Shows such as Buffy and Prison Break have separate ones is because they have story arcs spanning multiple episodes - seasons and have more real world info. That's my 2 pence anyway. :) carocat 23:26, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

I redid the Death's Shadow article, so it was easier to read, before realising it was pointless and superfluous. We should worry about the info on the episode list. I hope Willieboyisaloser does not complain. (GavinTheDetective 19:18, 12 November 2007 (UTC))

I thought "Days of Misrule" was Episode 65, and not 66 as listed here, and that Episode 66 is "Talking to the Dead" ?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hazelthecat (talk • contribs) 01:57, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Quite right. Thanks for pointing this out.--UpDown (talk) 07:16, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Episode Summary

Is there any reason the episode summary stops after series 3? If there isn't I'll add those in the next few weeks as I'm re watching all the episodes again at the moment. Cheers, carocat 23:16, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

There is no reason, its just no one has got round to doing them!--UpDown 08:07, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Nope, it's just what I'd got to before work got busy...feel free to do any that you can (I always struggle writing a synopsis anyway lol). I'm going to change the other tables to match, and leave the summaries empty so that people can add info as they wish Paul 1978 01:19, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Just finished episode summaries on series 4,5,8 and 9. Feel free to correct, add more info etc. When I get onto the reamining series the same applies. (Treedemfoir 15:56, 2 December 2007 (UTC))

Finished all episode articles up to death in a choccy box. Fell free to change, as b4. (Treedemfoir (talk) 16:34, 6 December 2007 (UTC))

To the person who just restored the article to how it originally was with the end of series 10, thanks. I made a right mess of it. Nevertheless, at some point we should put the newly announced episodes it airing order [perhaps just after they've aired] but beforehand we can have them in the orignal order. Thanks again. (Treedemfoir (talk) 18:50, 11 December 2007 (UTC))

The Series 22 episode summaries are overly long and the grammar is atrocious. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.198.44.80 (talk) 20:41, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

Days of Misrule

A new christmas episode is scheduled for the Xmas, shouldn't this be added? I think its already aired in Australia. (Aurumpotestasest (talk) 17:16, 21 September 2008 (UTC))

This page lists first UK airdate, otherwise it tends to get very confusing with airdates of different countries (and harder to verify). An upcoming episode can be added if the title and airdate can be referenced?--UpDown (talk) 07:00, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

This hadn't aired in Australia at the time you posted but did so last night (Oct 5) There was also an ad for next weeks episode which i believe will be the first episode of series 12 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 149.135.105.109 (talk) 05:21, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

episode articles

i'm making articles for the episodes. i think theyre notable enough. but should i make loads of them for all 65 episodes in one go, or work slowly on a few at a time. (Aurumpotestasest (talk) 19:02, 17 January 2009 (UTC))

To be honest, I don't believeing articles are necessary for episodes. There is not enough information, bar an extended plot. Please read WP:EPISODES, as they would need to feature real world information.--UpDown (talk) 19:06, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Episode: Talking to the Dead

It seems that this serie eleven episode is missing. It was on the air on August 3rd 2008. --Briotti (talk) 11:16, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Episode count

As of 10 February 2010, there will have been 72 episodes broadcast from thirteen series. Egbertnoah (talk) 02:49, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

The Axeman Cometh

Anyone noticed the obvious similarities between this episode and the Lewis episode "Counter Culture Blues?" Same personel, same settings, same story-plot, - but different murders and different solution in the end. So far I was not able to find anything about this, e.g. whether there is an original story written by the same person. 125.162.47.86 (talk) 01:33, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I noted this too. There is a referance to 'the Axeman Cometh' when Richie Maguire invokes those very words when Vernon Oxe arrives in Counter Culture. But both episodes were penned by different writers. (Aurumpotestasest (talk) 18:31, 6 June 2010 (UTC))

I think EVERYONE noticed this, and ALSO that:

"Counter Culture Blues" is several magnitudes of standard above "The Axeman Cometh".

How much I may like Midsomer Murders ... it shows the difference in quality with the BBC-series: Morse ... Lewis ... Endeavour ... Frost — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.65.113.206 (talk) 23:45, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Airdate error (??)

The listing of the "2010-episodes" shows that episode 74 ("The Made to Measure Murders") was aired on 12:th May 2010 -but the following episode 75 ("The sword of Guillaume") was aired as early as 10:th February 2010. There might be a reason, but it seems a bit odd to me. Otherwise a very good guide. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.249.33.33 (talk) 05:07, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

the airdates are correct. I think the problems arise from the fact that ITV showed episoded out of order of productions —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.2.200.119 (talk) 10:56, 28 August 2010 (UTC)

Midsomer Life

In the episode summary for "Midsomer Life" (Series 11) the article has the hotel as "Moorcroft" when it should be "Morecroft", as can be verified by the hotel sign in the beginning of the episode and other appearances of the name throughout. I'll edit accordingly. Cerdic (talk) 09:01, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Murderer

For some inexplicable reason the name of the murderer of many episodes has been added. This has no real purpose and seems rather malicious towards those who haven't seen an episode yet, which probably is often going to be the case. Is there overall agreement that these are removed? User:Allard placed 14 April 2012 19:47 CET

I agree, in fact I thought I posted a similar comment. They should be removed. I haven't seen a lot of the episodes yet, and it's frustrating to inadvertently see the murderer's name when I just wanted to read a short introduction or look up an actor's name while I watch. Tlqk56 (talk) 19:31, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

• I shall remove the murderer as the same editor has been doing it elsewhere and it was pointed out, in summaries spoilers are not necessary but can be included on an episode article if one is created. see Wikipedia:How_to_write_a_plot_summary#Spoilers REVUpminster (talk) 17:40, 15 June 2012 (UTC)

Suzi Quatro navbox

The Suzi Quatro navbox has twice been deleted from this article. The reasons given in the edit summaries were:

• "Hardly relevant to this page. Just follow the link to her name mentioned once in season 11"
• "Subject of navbox is of no importance to the topic. She has a small part on in one episode out of more than 90."

I agree that Quatro has a part in just one episode (but would not classify it as "small"). Even if it were a small part, I feel that the navbox should be in the article for the benefit of those Wikipedia readers who are mainly interested in Suzi Quatro (who is a bass guitar player) and would like to find out more about her other career on TV. I feel that they should be able navigate from the navbox in an article about (say) one of Quatro's albums to all articles about her notable TV appearances via navboxes in articles for the TV appearances.

Putting the navbox into this article seems to me to follow the relevant guidance (WP:NAVBOX and WP:NAV) because:

• Suzi Quatro, the subject of the template, is mentioned in this article and this is supported by a reliable source in the actual article.
• Quatro has an article herself.
• The navbox lists her TV work, as a sub-topic, in chronological order.

So I have reverted the deletion — Peter Loader (talk) 14:33, 1 July 2012 (UTC)

This should not need explaining. There have been over 90 episodes of MM. Each of these has at least three 'guest stars', often more. It is absurd to think that any one of these people should have a nav box attached to a subject in which they played such a minute part (overall). If anyone sees the episode in which she appears and, for some unfathomable reason, goes to the episode list (instead of directly to her article), they can easily get to where all the relevant information exists by the simple expedient of following the link. If we granted a nav box to every guest of every episode we would have hundreds of the things. Thus, removed again. PRL42 (talk) 16:03, 1 July 2012 (UTC)

Very well put. Absolutely agree. Stephen Kirrage ^{talk - contribs} 22:31, 1 July 2012 (UTC)

Viewers

Is there a site where i can see the viewers? On the current link (http://www.barb.co.uk/index/index) are not the views. --Henning111 (talk) 17:58, 26 December 2013 (UTC)

Episode order

Could we reach some sort of consensus for which order the episodes should be shown in? At the moment, it appears to be broadcast order as opposed to production order. The major problem with this is some of the earlier episodes were broadcast out of sequence and thus confuse the series' internal continuity. In particular, Beyond the Grave is in reality the final episode of series 2, not series 3, so is completely out of place in the list at present. I would like to see the list returned to production order for continuity's sake. L1v3rp00l (talk) 23:52, 24 February 2014 (UTC)

The start of the Episodes section should give the order of episodes in the tables and explain the subtleties involved. Series 9 is out of air date order, which confused me. Ralph Corderoy (talk) 10:24, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

Special? - I think not.

Re the description of The Christmas Haunting (ep.96) as a "Christmas special," I would argue that it is nothing of the kind. It is certainly set at Christmas and was timed to be broadcast on Christmas Eve, but it is an integral part of the 2013-14 series of 5 episodes, and begins the story arc which finishes with the birth of the Barnabys' baby. In any future re-runs, it will not be sensible to omit this episode on the basis that it is a seasonal stand-alone episode - surely a true test of 'special-ness'.

2 B Promoted (talk) 22:43, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Confusing side-by-side "#" columns

The leftmost "#" columns (just one such column in the pilot episode) may be confusing to some. The leftmost one should read something like "Overall Episode #", while the one next to it should read something like "Season Episode #". Granted, both are long for such small columns (i.e., not exceeding two digits), but, the labels would be far more obvious to all. Perhaps they could be done with a small font, or as superscripts, or similarly less verbose indicators. Skaizun (talk) 13:15, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

I agree it looks a bit odd, but it's very easy to see what's happening, and trying to make sensible column headers would inevitably look messy (or unnecessarily expand the table horizontally). PRL42 (talk) 09:19, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Joyce Barnaby

Joyce Barnaby joins a painting group, and discovers the body of a murder victim. Joyce Barnaby joins an amateur dramatics society, one of the cast is murdered. Joyce Barnaby volunteers renovating an old canal, a murder is uncovered. Joyce Barnaby is a judge in a perfect village competition, and a villager is murdered. Joyce Barnaby drags Tom to visit a memorial garden, someone is murdered. Tom and Joyce visit a rowing regatta, a member of the rowing club is murdered. Joyce Barnaby gets a job as an extra in a movie, the director is murdered. Joyce Barnaby swerves her car to miss a pedestrian, an unrelated person is murdered. Tom and Joyce go to a spa, someone is killed in a flotation chamber. Clearly Joyce Barnaby must be a serial killer. 211.31.207.5 (talk) 12:33, 31 March 2015 (UTC)

And Cully is skulking around in the background framing someone for each of the murders to protect her mother. Works for me. PRL42 (talk) 18:31, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

Asian character

The description in the main article of Series 18 says "The eighteenth series will ... have a first Asian character played by Manjinder Virk."

I thought the pharmacist father of the young female astronomer in Series 15 episode 3 "Written in the Stars" was a caricature of the "heavy Asian father" (Harry Dutta played by Ace Bhatti)? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Charmbrights (talk • contribs) 10:53, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

Audience figures reference

It seem ridiculous to clutter up the article with a useless reference and a much longer string telling everyone it's useless. Especially as it's relatively hard to read against the coloured background.

I've removed a couple of < ref><not specific> pairs, and will remove the rest later unless there are any objections. PRL42 (talk) 10:44, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

Now done. PRL42 (talk) 09:14, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Filming dates

Can someone reference these filming dates for each episode? I can't find anything on a quick Google search. Also, are these filming dates really relevant? ElectrodeandtheAnode (talk) 16:04, 29 July 2016 (UTC)

Series 4 or 5 Redux

It appears that the episode, "Tainted Fruit" IS the 6th episode of season 4 and not the first episode of season 5. The episode was first shown on September 23rd of 2001, which is a week after the 5th episode. Thus, there is no reason for placing it in a later season. I cant say this for a fact, since I didn't see the episode on its original run, but several sources confirm this:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118401/episodes?season=4

http://epguides.com/MidsomerMurders/

http://www.midsomermurders.org/mainepisodeguide.htm

http://www.tv.com/shows/midsomer-murders/tainted-fruit-108312/

The first episode of Season 5 is "Market for Murder," which aired on 16th June 2002:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118401/episodes?season=5&ref_=ttep_ep_sn_nx

http://www.tv.com/shows/midsomer-murders/market-for-murder-173944/

I would edit it, but I've never done tables before. If someone knows how to already ... If not, I'll take a stab at it. 01:42, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Season 20

Can someone please fill in this section about info on season 20? Or better, update the main article. Neither epguides.com nor imdb.com seem to have sufficient info about that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.189.78.248 (talk) 12:58, 2 January 2018 (UTC)

Series 21 and 22

"The Sting of Death" and "With Baited Breath" were broadcast in Feb 2020 (in the USA not on ITV but nonetheless were broadcast). Then later (in Oct 2020) ITV announced that filming had begun for Series 22 and it would contain 6 episodes. Therefore "The Sting of Death" and "With Baited Breath" must be in Series 21. IMDB supports this assertion.

The iTV website suggests otherwise. https://www.itv.com/hub/midsomer-murders/1a7317a0055 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Frade (talk • contribs) 07:39, 30 May 2021 (UTC)

References

Accuracy and standards of English

Is it too much to expect editors of this article to have watched the show and to produce summaries that reflect what actually happens, using coherent language?

As an example (one of many) the summary for "Murder on St Malley's Day" includes the statement:

a teacher is found murdered, and a missing student from a rival school is found dead in a creek.

None of this is true. The second victim is an eccentric villager who peddles conspiracy theories; and the third victim is found in a body of water that certainly isn't a creek, and is a diplomat, not a teacher. The standards of grammar, punctuation and coherent English also leave much to be desired throughout the article. I've been trying to fix things but it feels like I will end up rewriting almost everything in the article.Lord Mauleverer (talk) 12:02, 6 June 2022 (UTC)

Hear! Hear! 86.77.202.48 (talk) 10:36, 7 August 2023 (UTC)

Season 23 episode 1 air date is wrong

I myself have seen all the episodes listed here under seasons 23 and 24 via the ABC in Australia, which usually gets these things after they've already been released overseas. If I've already seen them all, how can the first one, season 23, episode 1, which the article says will be aired on 14th April 2024, not yet have been released in the UK? I cannot edit this article myself, because I do not know the original, correct air dates and am having difficulty finding them.Geoff Pointer (talk) 22:35, 5 April 2024 (UTC)