My father and I are both great fans of Midsomer Murders. Okay the plots are ludicrous but both Inspector Barnaby's have been interesting characters and the new Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) has a terribly funny dog. Ok I know it is fairly sad to admit this and so perhaps I should out Adam Reynolds as being another closet Midsomer fan just for the sake of solidarity.
My Mrs and my step mother regard Midsomer as terrible. I am not sure what Mrs Reynolds thinks but the Mrs/Step mum point out that the plots are ludicrous and all too predictable and frankly not very interesting. I suppose they do have a point but there is a comfort in the familiarity of it all.
The Mrs/step mum have also criticised Midsomer as being a sort of John Major warm beer and cycling opast cricket pitches England where everyone is white, straight ( apart from the odd incredibly camp almost Dick Emery-esque gay character) and Tory voting. And I must admit that again they have had a point.
As a special post Birthday treat the Mrs agreed to watch episode one of the new series with me. Bloody hell. There were three leading Asian characters and an Afro-caribbean gent who was involved in a gay relationship with the undertaker. And as a bonus the vicar was an utterly mad lefty woman priest. It was almost as if the cast was selected using affirmative action quotas to ensure that Midsomer's population now reflects that of the Country as a whole, rather than life in the boonies where, in fact, the vast majority of folks really are white, straight, Tory voters.
It goes without saying that, in the new PC world of Midsomer, the killers were both white, heterosexual, males.
The Mrs says she is now warming to the show.I am not so sure. Midsomer is not yet quite as ludicrous as Ambridge from the Archers where, many years ago, more folk headed off to to the gay pride rally in London than attended the million strong Countryside March. I shall be watching episode two with interest...as will the Mrs.