Midsomer Murders – The Curse of the Ninth

It’s time for a bit of music in ‘The Curse of the Ninth’, the concluding episode of Midsomer’s series 19, but do we wrap up on a high note? There are good elements, such as a consistently strong voice cast, but we suffer from a script that doesn’t feel finished and even more prominence given to the show’s weakest recurring actor.

After a long competition, Jacob Wheeler wins the Thassington classical music prize, awarded by esteemed composer Michael Falconer (James Fleet). Shortly after, Wheeler is found strangled with a violin string, with a valuable loan Stradivarius stolen from him. Barnaby and Winter learn that many people in the village, including local publican Audrey Glenhill (Maggie O’Neill) and her musician lover Vernon de Harthog (Simon Callow), feel the prize ought to have been awarded to the supremely talented Zac Sowande (Matthew Jacobs Morgan) – but is the battle over a bit of money really the motive for the murder? Could it be linked to superstition surrounding Falconer’s latest symphony, or does a shocking secret from Wheeler’s past hold the truth?

Midsomer has offered us a couple of musical episodes in the past, and they’re normally fairly strong instalments. ‘The Curse of the Ninth’, named after a real-life superstition in which composers die after writing a ninth symphony (or before completing the tenth), is a good example, even if it suffers from a little too much going on. As a result, it feels a little bit rushed towards the ending, particularly as we don’t really learn the motive until very close to the big reveal. However, we do have a grisly murder along the way, and a really poignant conclusion, that works despite the lack of emotional groundwork.

Some great performances don’t save an episode that packs in too much

The episode had a typically strong supporting cast, as is Midsomer’s way, with some standouts. Callow appears in his second Midsomer and is delightfully over-the-top as a drunken viola player – it’s somewhat of a shame that his part is somewhat minimal. Callow (also in his second Midsomer) plays to just the right side of unlikeable as a domineering composer who is exceptionally hard on his son. I also found Flora Spencer-Longhurst really good as Natalie, Jacob’s sister and fellow musician, and Colin Michael Carmichael shines as a creepy music shop owner.

‘The Curse of the Ninth’s weakest element is something that has been plaguing the series for a while now – the Kam subplots, especially when Winter’s arrival necessitated a forced history. Hendrix has taken a while to find his feet but, like the other main characters, he shares no chemistry with Virk (whose acting still leaves a lot to be desired). It appears that Kam is leaving the show, hopefully for good, but that means we were subjected to a whole subplot in which Winter hoped to be romantic with her, but she knew she was leaving. It was an episode that could’ve done with a bit more time to expand its main plot, and this would have been exactly what to lose.

We conclude this nineteenth series of Midsomer with an average episode, that highlights both the strengths (guest casts; inventive murders) and weaknesses (an iffy main cast). On the back of a similarly weak episode in ‘Death by Persuasion’, ‘The Curse of the Ninth’ ends a promising series on a bit of a low note. Some great performances don’t save an episode that packs in too much, and really could have benefitted from a bit of a polish. But it demonstrates that there’s still life in Midsomer, and there’s no reason that the twentieth series can’t be the show’s best yet.