Midsomer Mallow hopes to win the Perfect Village competition on what is ominously called Judgement Day, but the village representatives are worried about their chances when a local young burglar and gigolo (Orlando Bloom) is found stabbed to death with a pitchfork. Barnaby and Troy are on the case. Meanwhile, Joyce ends up in Mallow, too, when she wins a contest to be one of the judges for the competition. Cully also has business there: interviewing a famous retired actor for her book about the theater.
"Judgement Day" is a top-notch episode with all the puzzle pieces of the plot fitting together neatly at the end. The prologue takes us to 1955, where we meet a little girl, her parents, the housekeeper and a stuffed toy with a bloody knife. Then the story proper starts and once again we meet a village full of interesting people with dirty little secrets - some more likable and more forgivable than others. As in all the best whodunits, the secrets seem inevitable and perfectly in character, even though we usually can't guess them in advance and don't really know our characters until their secrets are revealed.