Shot at Dawn

As has been said by me a number of times, 'Midsomer Murders' is one of my most watched and most re-watched shows. It is nowhere near as good now and the Tom Barnaby-era wasn't alien to average or less episodes, but when it was on form or at its best boy was it good.

"Shot at Dawn" was a pretty poor start to Season 11, and is down there as one of my least favourite Tom Barnaby-era episodes (in a list that comprises of the likes of "Second Sight", "The Electric Vendetta", "the Straw Woman" and from memory "Blood on the Saddle") and perhaps one of my least favourite 'Midsomer Murders' episodes ever. It is an episode that starts off with a great opening sequence but falls rapidly downhill.

There are a few positives for "Shot at Dawn". The production values are without fault, the idyllic look of it contrasting very well with the story's grimness, and quaint and atmospheric photography. The music fits perfectly, with some lush jauntiness and sometimes an ominous quality, and the theme tune one of the most memorable and instantly recognisable of the genre.

Donald Sinden, George Cole and Samantha Bond do what they can with weak material, Bond for example having some very stilted and clumsy "humorous and cutting" lines, and John Nettles and Jason Hughes also try very hard to enliven proceedings. As aforementioned, the opening scene is harrowing and poignant and it was a shame that the rest felt like a completely separate episode.

Was really disappointed in how Barnaby and Jones were written and how their chemistry never got the chance to shine. Barnaby is out of character and Jones is woefully underused, and because of the material being so lacking their chemistry (a huge part of 'Midsomer Murders' charm) barely comes through.

That's not all. The script, which usually is of very good quality with previous 'Midsomer Murders' episodes, is sluggish and clumsy, and the characters are lifeless, usually in the show the characters are colourful and eccentric and that was not the case here. After such a promising start, the story rapidly descends into tired predictability, scenes and subplots that are not that interesting and some add little, leaden pacing with an exposition-heavy first forty minutes that feels like an eternity and far too much sheer ridiculousness (including the pub fight and a serious contender for the most outrageous attempted murder in 'Midsomer Murders' history). The final solution, identity of the killer and the motives were not a surprise at all, among the show's most obvious.

On the whole, pretty poor and hugely disappointing. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I enjoyed the setup of this episode where a man who is stunned in battle and walks away is charged with treason and executed in ranks. This execution has led to a modern day Hatfield and McCoy situation. Evidence has been gathered showing that the "traitor" was charged unfairly and suffered the ultimate. He is now being added to the war memorial. As it is with these feuds, people who really have no memory of the cause continue the feud. This is an interesting setup with some incredibly unbelievable events taking place in modern times. Barnaby and Jones come on the scene when a surly old general in a wheelchair is shot in the head. There are forces at work attempting to put an end to this fighting, but it goes. Internal battling and challenges to the situation continue to break people up. What is ultimately the method used for murder is preposterous. If one turns his back on the reality of the thing, one might enjoy it a bit. Otherwise, it is so far fetched that it goes right over the top. While it's not horrible, it is seriously lacking.

I have to agree with one of the posters here, this story is probably a retread from another series. What the reviewer said makes sense. I interviewed Peter Falk once and told him that one of his episodes had been done previously on Macmillan and Wife, and sent him the tape to prove it. It's not uncommon

The basis for this plot is a 90-year feud between the Hammonds and the Hicks families. Tommy Hicks was executed for cowardice by one Lt. Duggie Hammond, which began the near-century-long fight.

The Hicks family is new money and constantly lord it over the old money Hammonds. The Hammonds are a mess. Actually, so is the Hicks family. Colonel Henry Hammonds has a son, Johnny, who is gay and married to Arabella, who is out having an affair with one of the Hicks.

Arabella and Johnny have two children, one of whom, Kate, is a lesbian, and the other daughter, Sophie, is going to marry yet another member of the Hicks family.

Henry is killed with a 1916 pistol, owned by Duggie, the man who shot Tommy Hicks 90 years ago. Then there is another murder.

Barnaby and Jones walk into this maelstrom. But there's another murder and an old secret awaiting them.

This episode is somewhat overdone with strange gadgets, murdering hay balers, a baguette fight in a pub - it's all silly. Barnaby is out of character, I think because it's a recycle from another show, and Jones is hardly in it.

It was kind of blah.

Personally, I've always preferred the first two eras of the series, namely the Troy era and the Scott era. The era of Jones in a duet with Tom Barnaby was ambiguous. Jason Hughes is a great actor, he perfectly plays all the scenes, from the comical to the tense, but you can't help noticing that the quality has greatly decreased. Season 9 turned out to be quite mediocre and was the first season that did not include a single episode on the top ten.10. The tenth season was a remarkable improvement. The eleventh is an ambiguous season, with three solid episodes of the show, one just good, two weak and this non-successful episode. There's a lot of good stuff here - a baguette fight, a pretty memorable killer, a tearful ending, a tie-in, mayor Hicks, and a couple of funny dialogues. However, "Shot at Dawn" does a few things that should have been abandoned at the discussion stage, namely the overly banal ending, virtually all flat, cardboard characters, a boring plot, a lot of sexual themes, and the disgusting Arabella Hammond. I mean, you know, I really want to love this movie, but it's too boring, even sleepy to watch, and there are too many sickening moments. Subtotal. an ambiguous episode. 7/10

I enjoyed this MM a bunch. the murders were maybe a tad more ridiculous than usual, but that's well within the spirit of "English murder mystery killings" as John Nettles whimsically explained them. I was a journalist on the crime beat, and most murderers are as dim as they are unscrupulous. There's usually even less planning than there is remorse. It's all impulse. So the imaginative doing-aways in MM is what makes them sparkle. This episode benefits from a rare nude scene by a comely lass under 60 and a spirited English Music Hall song done quite well by Charlie Covell. I thought she was singing Gilbert & Sullivan at first, but it wasn't, it's The Galloping Major, 1906, and you can catch several versions on YouTube. You can just imagine someone singing it in Charlie Chaplin's tour with the Fred Karno troupe.