"Midsomer Murders" The Glitch (2009)

Director:

Richard Holthouse

Writers:

Michael Russell (screenplay)
Caroline Graham (characters)

TV Series:

"Midsomer Murders" (1997)

Original Air Date:

21 July 2009 (Season 12, Episode 4)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Midsomer's cycling club is amused by the Bucketman, who throws red paint over road hogs, all employees of the Soft Earth computer company...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Suspect | Police | Sergeant | Detective

Cast

John Nettles	...	DCI Tom Barnaby
Jason Hughes	...	DS Ben Jones
Jane Wymark	...	Joyce Barnaby
Laura Howard	...	Cully Barnaby
Barry Jackson	...	Dr Bullard
Kirsty Dillon	...	DC Gail Stephens
Shaughan Seymour	...	Norman Wayland-Smith
Philip Jackson	...	Daniel Snape
Josephine Taylor	...	Emily Harte
Nigel Whitmey	...	Clinton Finn
Lucy Brown	...	Helen Markham
Jim Norton	...	Edward Canning
David Haig	...	George Jeffers
James Musgrave	...	Tom Jeffers (as James Musgrove)
Joanna Roth	...	Melanie Jeffers

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Filming Locations:

Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Bentley Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: When the intruder is trying to type the password on the keyboard, the number of key-presses does not correspond to the number of characters that appear on the screen.

Average Midsomer Murders.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Midsomer Murders: The Glitch starts as rich American computer software company Soft Earth Systems boss Clinton Finn (Nigel Whitmey) is covered in red paint & glue by the mysterious 'Bucketman' who has a habit of coating Soft Earth Systems employees in the stuff & riding off on their bike. However Finn has bigger problems as hot shot scientist & Midsomer resident George Jeffers (David Haig) as he has found a fatal flaw in the air traffic control software system he invented which could cause lots of people to die if it was ever implemented & used, having invested millions of pounds & years of research into the project Finn needs to silence Jeffers. Then a primary school teacher named Emily Hart (Josephine Taylor) is knocked down & killed in a hit & run, DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) is convinced she was deliberately killed & feels that maybe Jeffers was the intended victim & there are no shortage of suspects as a lot of people stand to lose a lot if he goes public with the software glitch...

Episode 4 from season 10 this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by Richard Holthouse & to me was strictly average at best. Right, first off The Glitch is one of those episodes in which virtually nothing happens for thirty odd minutes as it takes that long for the first murder to occur. Sure there's character development & scene setting but it does get old quite quickly & a lot of it feels like padding. The actual murder mystery elements here in The Glitch are reasonable if a little forgettable, the motives revealed at the end are actually quite dull in what has to be the shortest confession scene in Midsomer Murders history as the killer simply admits to the murders & thirty seconds later case closed. There's a sub-plot about cycling which interested me as I actually ride a bike to work on the weekend (no bus service that early on Saturday or Sunday here) & I have to admit to absolutely hating it! I don't care how healthy it is or any of that rubbish, it's boring, it is not fun, it takes a lot of effort & after cycling to work & doing some serious graft I have the unpleasant task of cycling home & once I get there I am to cream crackered to do anything. I hate bikes, I hate cycling & all the members of that cycling club in The Glitch are mad. The killer is unexpected but does feel like an afterthought as they barely feature in the episode until that point, lots of exposition & a forgettable plot that feels rather mundane means The Glitch really isn't more than average Midsomer Murders.

Here in this episode Barnaby gets to tear up some country lanes as he takes a ride in a rally car at the end in the episodes best moment. There are two murders here with neither being that imaginative. Looking as nice as ever Wellington College in Berkshire was used as the location for St. Frideswide's. British actor & his trademark moustache David Haig appears while the writers seem to keep insisting on writing almost random parts for that Gail Stevens who is now a detective in The Glitch & not a WPC as the IMDb suggests.

The Glitch is an OK Midsomer Murders but with some uninspired kills & a forgettable plot it's no more than average.