Midsonian

Earlier in the year (see, for example, 20th February) we built the Morsoleum and it has done good service since. But it is now, after heavy use, in need of a break and we have started work on the Midsonian, with the start being triggered by a chance purchase of series 1-4 of Midsomer Murders from a nearly-new-to-us charity shop. Comprising no less than 2 boxed sets and not forgetting the pilot episode.

We watched the pilot episode last night, which we are fairly sure we have seen before as all the occasionals were familiar, but of the plot of which we could remember nothing. Which does not say much, as we have difficulty these days remembering enough of the plot to understand what is going on during a viewing, never mind about between viewings.

Interesting not least for a take on how the show has moved on since inception.

In the pilot episode, we got some water colour vignettes of village life during the opening credits, a reasonably regular ploy at the time, now vanished.

The music was recognisably what we get now, but rather lighter, a bit more jolly. Someone clearly decided that portentous and pretentious was more the thing.

Towards the end, taking a leaf from the Morsoleum, we get some recognisable glimpses of Cambridge. Maybe someone decided that this was all a bit too derivative as we didn't get another glimpse as the show rolled on.

The sergeant is shown as very young and crass, both qualities rather rapidly watered down. Quite right too, rather irritating. Quite enough young and crass in the real world.

The chief inspector talked rather a lot about his pilot case with his family, also rather rapidly watered down, on the advice of the police procedural advisor.

The number of directors grows from three to four between series 1 and series 2 while the number of writers grows from three to eight. The show is gathering weight and speed.

Last but not least, I had known that Mrs. Nettles was a casting director by profession, but I had not known that she was casting director for this.

I was left wondering how much film was made before what became the pilot episode. Were there several pre-pilot episodes or is that all too expensive? On what basis does someone commit the considerable funds needed to produce a screenable pilot? Is there a university of the fourth age course on soap making which would throw light on these interesting matters? Judging by the amount of soapy material in Wikipedia, I am clearly not the only one to find them interesting.

PS: 1: not altogether clear how many books there are. Amazon seems to run to about half a dozen. Order of magnitude less than the 100 or more episodes which have been screened.

PS 2: I read this morning in Osbert (vide supra) about a collector who took his books very seriously, boxed sets not having been invented at the time. In the case of an important book, he would have one copy for show in his library, one copy for use in his study and a third copy to lend to his friends. At the time of his death, I think some time in the eighteenth century, he was said to own some 150,000 books scattered over 8 houses (in more than one country) and sundry lock-ups.