I really loved this episode, a departure from the usual Midsomer Murders.
A big rock concert is held in Badgers Drift. Among the performers is Hired Gun, Barnaby's favorite group from his youth, and considered influential. Cully and Joyce think he's been taken over by an alien.
These guys and gals are out of control. The lead singer, Mimi (Suzie Quatro), is a major drunk. Gary Cooper (Phil Davis), the group's leader, lives high but believes his business partner in the band, presumed dead, is actually alive and after him. Strange things happen at his house, none of them pleasant, having to do with eviscerated animals. The lead guitarist, Barnaby's idol Jack "Axeman" McKinney (John Cosmo) is a reformed alcoholic, a big, volatile, loud man.
There's a last minute change in the program, a song is changed, and Mimi takes over the mike, where she is basically fried when electrocuted. The coroner says he doesn't know how she walked on stage, her liver and kidneys were so destroyed beforehand. Turns out the wires were tampered with, and Gary, who was supposed to be on mike, is sure it's his unseen nemesis, Ginger Foxton (a guy).
There's a second attempted murder, and then a third one, and that hits its mark. What is the motive? Maybe it is revenge instigated by Foxton after all.
These actors took a page out of the Rolling Stones' playbook, with Cosmo perhaps modeling his character on Dave Crosby. They're all terrific - old and wiped out.
At one point, Barnaby and the Axeman rap together. The manager starts to date Cully, and when Jones finds out that his alibi is that he was with "a friend," Jones takes a look at Cully and panics at telling Barnaby the alibi. Barnaby didn't even want Cully to attend, let alone date anyone involved with the group.
I agree that the episode is padded with a couple of unnecessary subplots, and I didn't like the music either, but I still enjoyed the episode. The show's been on the air for 10 years at this point - gotta mix it up occasionally.
A big rock concert is held in Badgers Drift. Among the performers is Hired Gun, Barnaby's favorite group from his youth, and considered influential. Cully and Joyce think he's been taken over by an alien.
These guys and gals are out of control. The lead singer, Mimi (Suzie Quatro), is a major drunk. Gary Cooper (Phil Davis), the group's leader, lives high but believes his business partner in the band, presumed dead, is actually alive and after him. Strange things happen at his house, none of them pleasant, having to do with eviscerated animals. The lead guitarist, Barnaby's idol Jack "Axeman" McKinney (John Cosmo) is a reformed alcoholic, a big, volatile, loud man.
There's a last minute change in the program, a song is changed, and Mimi takes over the mike, where she is basically fried when electrocuted. The coroner says he doesn't know how she walked on stage, her liver and kidneys were so destroyed beforehand. Turns out the wires were tampered with, and Gary, who was supposed to be on mike, is sure it's his unseen nemesis, Ginger Foxton (a guy).
There's a second attempted murder, and then a third one, and that hits its mark. What is the motive? Maybe it is revenge instigated by Foxton after all.
These actors took a page out of the Rolling Stones' playbook, with Cosmo perhaps modeling his character on Dave Crosby. They're all terrific - old and wiped out.
At one point, Barnaby and the Axeman rap together. The manager starts to date Cully, and when Jones finds out that his alibi is that he was with "a friend," Jones takes a look at Cully and panics at telling Barnaby the alibi. Barnaby didn't even want Cully to attend, let alone date anyone involved with the group.
I agree that the episode is padded with a couple of unnecessary subplots, and I didn't like the music either, but I still enjoyed the episode. The show's been on the air for 10 years at this point - gotta mix it up occasionally.