"Midsomer Murders"
Shot at Dawn (2008)

Director:

Richard Holthouse

Writers:

Michael Aitkens (screenplay)
Caroline Graham (characters)

TV Series:

"Midsomer Murders" (1997)

Original Air Date:

1 January 2008 (Season 11, Episode 1)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

A 90 years long feud between two families, the Hicks and the Hammonds, appears to have escalated to murder.

Plot Keywords:

Sergeant | England | Murder | Police | Rural

Cast

John Nettles	...	DCI Tom Barnaby
Jason Hughes	...	DS Ben Jones
Jane Wymark	...	Joyce Barnaby
Barry Jackson	...	Dr Bullard
Donald Sinden	...	Colonel Henry Hammond
Malcolm Sinclair	...	Johnny Hammond
Samantha Bond	...	Arabella Hammond
Charlotte Lucas	...	Sophie Hammond
Charlie Covell	...	Kate Hammond
George Cole	...	Lionel Hicks
Brian Capron	...	David Hicks
Gemma Craven	...	Judy Hicks
Grant Ibbs	...	Danny Hicks
Tom Harper	...	Will Hicks
Lloyd Hutchinson	...	Mickey Ryan

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Company:

Bentley Productions

One of the poorest Midsomer Murders episodes I've seen.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Midsomer Murders: Shot at Dawn is set in the small village of Midsomer Parva where a 90 plus year old feud between the upper-class Hammond family & the common Hicks family has persisted through several generations. After a World War I battle re-enactment several village lads play a joke on the bitter, grumpy, bullying stiff-upper-lipped ex-soldier Colonel Henry Hammond (Donald Sinden). Mickey (Lloyd Hutchinson) & three of his mates stage a mock execution to scare Henry, afterwards they run off of leave henry stranded in his wheelchair at which point someone else decides to use the practical joke to their own advantage & shoots Henry through the head. DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) & Sgt. Ben Jones (Jason Hughes) are on the case, is it a case of the Hicks gaining revenge? Or is there more to it as even the local Mayor David Hicks (Brian Capron) becomes implicated...

Episode 2 from season 11 (even though they are not being shown in the correct order here in the UK anymore so I'm not sure why the IMDb thinks this is episode 2 when episode 1 Blood Wedding (2007) hasn't even aired) this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by Richard Holthouse & one has to say Shot at Dawn is the poorest Midsomer Murders episode I have seen in a long time & is not a good way to kick off a new season & indeed a new year (it aired on 1st January) of Midsomer Murders. The script by Michael Aitkens is really sluggish & slow, it's forty minutes before Henry is killed. That's forty minutes of really dull, bland & boring exposition most of which amounts to absolutely zero. Then there's the poor character's whom are very forgettable, everyone seems to be having an affair while everyone just seems to hate everyone else. The actual murder mystery plot feels very tired, I mean two feuding families & one of their number gets killed off? Sounds familiar right? It's just all so lacklustre & the plot revolves around the petty bickering & affairs between the Hammonds & the Hicks rather than a good solid murder mystery which surely should be it's priority, right? Most of it feel like padding as much of the exposition really does amount to nothing in the end & making the only likable character in the whole program the killer doesn't exactly help the ending either. I'm not happy about some of the silly comedy moments that are starting to creep into Midsomer Murders either, the silly scene in the pub as the two wheelchair bound men have a jousting contest with long sticks of bread is just embarrassing & not something that I think belongs in a serious crime drama. Then there's the scene when the killer uses a remote controlled combine harvester to try & kill someone! I'm not being funny but to rig a combine harvester up to be able to operate it by remote control including the steering would take £1000's of sophisticated electronics, motors & god know's what else. I don't think I've ever seen another Midsomer Murders where Barnaby's sidekick is given so little to do, in fact the Sgt. Jones character could have not been there at all & Barnaby wouldn't have missed him.

Even though the story sucks here it's still a wonderfully made production, it's well made as usual with nice cinematography & a selection of picturesque English Countryside locations. Is Shot at Dawn the first Midsomer Murders episode to feature full frontal explicit female nudity? Maybe it's the first one to feature a Hollywood style exploding car? There are only two murders in this one including someone getting repeatedly shot. The acting is good except the comedy relief fat wife of the Mayor who is awful while respected actor's like Donald Sinden & George Cole deserve better than this second rate script.

Shot at Dawn is a poor way to start season eleven, I'm sorry but I just thought it was one of the poorest episodes of Midsomer Murders I can ever remember seeing. It's slow, often too silly & large amounts of it are pointless. A big disappointment & hopefully not typical of how season eleven will be.