Saints and Sinners

What a good episode and great guest stars. Malcolm Sinclair was terrific as an obsessive reverend. Ruth Sheen a marvelous actress unfortunately had a minimal role..a waste of her great talent. Julia Sawalha another wonderful actress who doesn't seem to age much, every time I see her I think of Saffy from Absolutely Fabulous. Her role here was minimal as well. The constant bantering between Nelson and Karimore is fun and a nice aside to the grisly murders. I like Neil in this role, it didn't' tAke long for me to get over the departure of John Nettles...which surprises me. The only reason I gave it just 6 stars is because I knew from the beginning who the murderer was so the ending was not a surprise.

Midsomer Cicely is the scene of a great Archaeological dig, where it is believed that the bones of a Saint are discovered, naturally being Midsomer, a body turns up.

I was quite impressed with this one, it felt like a throwback to the past somehow, the storytelling, the killings, the format somehow, it all seemed to work quite well. The murder methods weren't as far fetched as usual, it was a sensible episode. Some of the clues were kept til the very end, which was a bit of a cheat, but intriguing.

I don't know how much I'm buying into the body language between and flirting between Nelson and Doctor Karrimore, they need to do something with Nelson, he's still feeling rather flat as a character, maybe a bit of romancing would help.

Julia Sawalha was great (she's not looking any older,) Ralf Little did a pretty good job, but Malcolm Sinclair was utterly brilliant as Reverend Corby, such a fun performance from him.

Pretty good on the whole, liked this one, 7/10

A Saint's bones are discovered during an archaeological dig, causing a stir in the village of Midsomer Cicely. However, when the dig's leader is murdered, DCI Barnaby and DS Nelson are presented with a complex investigation as they hunt for the perpetrator. As the duo unearth more evidence, they soon discover that it is not only skeletons that have been long buried in the hallowed ground.

Ok episode, not too standout, but it's interesting enough to keep you watching. There some nice inventive murders (crushed by a headstone, spear through the back). Dr Karrimore gets a little more scope.

This episode is of an example of how bad this series has become. The first murder is of a woman pushed into a shallow hole and a small load of dirt dropped in on her. It is not enough to even cover her. So what does she do when she sees the arm of the machinery slowly rotating to get another shovel load of dirt to drop on her? Does she simply sit up, step out and walk away from the hole? Of course not! She instead lies there while fully capable of getting out, watches what she is clearly about to happen and gives a moan of "Oh, no!" ... More dirt comes and she is a most compliant victim.

This is the routine for many of the murders on most of these episodes now. When there are multiple possible responses to a suspicious light, noise or situation like this, a most willing "victim" chooses, out of many more reasonable options, the one thing most likely to get him/her killed. I.e., the script seems more like a parody of a murder mystery rather than a real one.

Archaeological digs have been done numerous times on "Midsomer Murders". It's all good if it's a quality episode as this certainly was. Very complex plot with many twists and turns but not hard to follow. I enjoyed the numerous excellent supporting actors. Seems some were made purposely almost timid to throw the viewers off track. DS Charlie Nelson (Gwilym Lee) and Dr. Kam Karimore (Manjinder Virk) are developing a very interesting sometimes rocky sometimes not rivalry and friendship. The tennis competition was a nice touch. Having Kam involved in the climax in great peril made a strong ending even better. Wife Sarah Barnaby's (Fiona Dolman) role is declining is the only complaint about a stellar episode.