James Bradwell (Troy) & Daniel Casey (Barnaby) in The Killings at Badger’s Drift, credit Manuel Harlan
I have to admit, I have never seen an episode of Midsomer Murders – not one – and there are many – 138 to be precise. I do know however that Midsomer is the most dangerous place to live in the UK!
The hugely popular murder mystery TV drama has been running since 1997 and this – The Killings at Badger’s Drift which was the very first pilot episode – has been turned into a stage production.
The story starts as Emily Simpson – an elderly local resident of the sleepy village of Badger’s Drift – stumbles upon something untoward during a walk in the woods. She returns home but is later discovered dead. What had she seen? And how did she die? It is soon confirmed as murder!
In steps DCI John Barnaby (Daniel Casey) and DS Gavin Troy (James Bradwell) to investigate. The pair have a great rapport reminiscent of Holmes and Watson. Daniel had played Gavin in the TV series from the beginning til 2008 so it must be fun for him to switch roles here.
We of course then get the full whodunnit treatment and it’s great fun guessing all the way through and desperately trying not to miss any clues.
The main attraction for me however was the ensemble cast who all play multiple characters. One in particular (Chandrika Chevli) plays two characters in the same scene! A brilliant feat. The cast are absolutely wonderful at multi-rolling and they all provide the many different characters required for the story. Just brilliant.
Considering the storyline is about murder the script is incredibly funny and there are many laugh out loud moments. It’s great fun throughout.
Brilliantly performed and staged. An absolute treat.
4 stars. Murderously entertaining.
In comes
