Dead Letters (26 Feb. 2006)

Barnaby and Jones investigate a series of murders linked to the death of a beauty queen which occurred several years previously.

Director:

Renny Rye

Writers:

Peter Hammond (screenplay), Caroline Graham (characters)

Stars:

John Nettles, Jason Hughes, Jane Wymark

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
John Nettles	...	DCI Tom Barnaby
Jason Hughes	...	DC Ben Jones
Jane Wymark	...	Joyce Barnaby
Barry Jackson	...	Dr Bullard
Elizabeth Spriggs	...	Ursula Gooding
David Bamber	...	John Starkey
Claire Askam	...	Marion Slade
Tom Bennett	...	Rob Pride
Richard Cant	...	Alistair Gooding
Jenny Jackson	...	Vicki
Tom Georgeson	...	Ron Chalk
Tracy Brabin	...	Ruth Chalk
Simon Callow	...	Dr. Wellow
Caroline Goodall	...	Grace Starkey
Sophie Thompson	...	April Gooding

Storyline

Oak Apple Week is an autumn festival held every year in the picturesque village of Midsomer Barton. After the festival queen died tragically from food poisoning seven years earlier, that particular part of the celebration was discontinued. Shortly after the reinstitution of the contest, however, the dead girl's mother is found drowned in a shallow stream under suspicious circumstances. Barnaby and Jones are faced with many suspects, a plethora of unfaithful spouses, and more dead bodies.

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Plot Keywords:

midsomer | festival | celebration | autumn | beauty queen | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 February 2006 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bentley Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the last seconds of Dead Letters we see, on a book rack in the small lending library, a copy of Chromosome Wars by Jezebel Tripp, the author we met in Sins of Commission from season 7.

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Goofs

At the Oak Apple fairgrounds, the sign at the gypsy fortune-teller's booth reads "Katina". When she goes into the booth, the man next to the booth addresses her as "Katrina".

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Quotes

[first lines]
Voice: You know you've got to do it. She'd want that, wouldn't she? You know she would. So, now's the time, isn't it? You must do it now, for her sake. You know she's waiting for you. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting for you to join her. So don't keep her waiting too long. Waiting. Waiting for you to join her. Do it now. Do it now.

User Reviews

okay with one blatant miscast

In "Dead Letters," we're in Midsomer Barton, where the Oak Apple Week festival is going on. For the last seven years, there has been no Festival Queen, due to the fact that the last Queen died of food poisoning shortly after being crowned.

Now there will be a Festival Queen, but not before the dead girl's mother is found dead. Barnaby and Jones are called in to investigate, and it seems to mean that they will have to go back to the death of the woman's daughter. Especially when there are other murders.

Who is killing these people, why, and how are they connected? Barnaby and Jones have to deal with infidelity, a pedophile, the unpleasant head of the festival, and other unsavory people as they try to figure out what's going on and why.

The role of the doctor, played by Simon Callow, in my opinion is badly miscast. In the story, this man is a chick magnet for the whole village, including a married woman, a sexy female bartender, and a local spinster - that's just who he's been involved with currently. There have been others! The spinster's mother tells her that the doctor can have any woman he wants, why would he bother with her? I have a better question - why would she bother with him? And she has this mad crush on him. Paunchy, not all that pleasant, and looking older than his 57 years, I couldn't figure it out. All I can say is, pickings must be slim there.

Interesting mystery, but fewer than usual clues regarding the real murderer. The denouement was sort of -- wh-what?