Midsomer Murders – A Dying Art

Finally, after three dodgy episodes, this series of Midsomer has finally turned out an enjoyable one that actually works as a mystery too – miracles do happen. ‘A Dying Art’ is certainly not the best episode of the show, with a puzzle that is probably a little too easy to crack, but it finally provides an episode in series 18 that is worth watching.

In the Midsomer village of Angel’s Rise, the opening of a new sculpture park is ruined when benefactor Brandon Monkford is found dead, placed on one of new pieces. Created by womanising artist Lance Auden (Ramon Tikaram), Barnaby soon learns that the sculpture park was contentious in the village, particularly as it threatens a climbing centre run by Monkford’s daughter Rachel (Cara Horgan). Suspects abound as Barnaby discovers an affair between Monkford’s wife Alexandra (Cherie Lunghi) and local art critic Daniel Fargo (David Bamber) – however, a surprising will reading soon threatens to turn the whole case on its head. As bodies start to pile up, can the detectives figure out who is committing these artistic murders?

This one really feels like the Midsomer of past

You may recognise some of the names in the summary, and that’s because ‘A Dying Art’ both has a strong guest cast and actually makes good use of them. Many of the faces have appeared before (I particularly enjoyed David Bamber as a smug art critic, even if it is essentially the same role as ‘The Black Book’ from the John Nettles era), but they actually feel like characters here – even some of the minor roles, like an aspiring artist played by Denis Lill, feel alive. During Neil Dudgeon’s tenure, the episodes of Midsomer have become markedly darker (which is not an issue in itself), but this one really feels like the Midsomer of past.

I’ll just highlight a few performances, but they’re all strong in ‘A Dying Art’. Tikaram oozes both charisma and smarm as Auden, channelling sympathy while being too unlikeable to be sympathetic – it’s a fine line, and he treads it perfectly. Midsomer is at its best when setting up characters that are fun, but that you want to be murdered, and that fits Auden to a tee. Saskia Reeves and Adrian Scarborough are also charming as a married couple that work for the Monkfords, and the climax of their story actually has some genuine emotion. Neil Dudgeon also got a bit of a fun B-plot, in which his wife asks him to speak at a school careers event, and he doesn’t have the slightest clue what to say.

Clearing a very low bar indeed, ‘A Dying Art’ is the best episode of this series

‘A Dying Art’ does have some weak points, although they are fortunately far fewer than the rest of this series. The identity of the murderer is fairly easy to guess – a side effect, it seems, of actually giving your characters some character. The motive may be entirely plausible, but the reason for setting up all of the deaths as art didn’t have that same authenticity to me. I approve of creativity, and this episode succeeds on that front in the deaths, but it was perhaps too creative for its own good – I had the feeling that the creativity stemmed from the screenwriter, rather than any narrative reason. And then, there’s the issue of Kam, whose personality continues to be that of a smug, condescending know-it-all who is brilliant at everything. The downside of more murders is that she turns up more.

Clearing a very low bar indeed, ‘A Dying Art’ is the best episode of this series, offering enjoyable characters and a fun (yet not too-challenging) mystery. Fans of Midsomer will be pleased with this episode and, if the rest of series 18 continues in this vein, it may go some way to repairing the damage.