Midsomer Murders - The Maid In Splendour [DVD]

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Midsomer Murders - The Maid In Splendour [DVD]

Midsomer Murders - The Maid In Splendour [DVD]

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Price: £9.9
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Description

Bannerman ran a bar named "The Maid in Splendour", a community staple in Midsomer Worthy. His wife, Susan Bannerman died before the events of the namesake episode, leaving him with his son Stephen Bannerman. Bannerman had a long affair with Audrey Monday, a family friend who was also married and had a daughter, Bella Monday. Bannerman had lied he'd leave Susan for Audrey, but he never kept the promise, which broke Audrey's heart and stopped the affairs. She and Bella, however, remained close and even worked at the bar, which Stephen grew to possess ownership of with his wife Lorna Bannerman, as Michael's heart was in decline. Bannerman eventually lost it, and when Audrey herself found out about the affair and had her disapproval and jealousy, she played on Bannerman's anger to stoke his rage for her purposes. She gave Bannerman the old shotgun without a renewed permit that belonged to her late husband. She then told Bannerman about the affair, over which he flew into a rage and briefly trashed his office. Bannerman went to the cottage one night in hopes of shooting Stephen to stop the affair then and there, armed with the shotgun. However, he saw Bella present and relented, hesitant when she knew he was watching them. He stealthily crept away and returned home.

Production values are top notch, with to die for scenery, the idyllic look of it contrasting very well with the story's occasional grimness, and quaint and atmospheric photography. The music fits perfectly, and the theme tune one of the most memorable and instantly recognisable of the genre. Meanwhile, the script is smart and thought-provoking. The story is a vast majority of the time compelling, with many twists, turns and red herrings, a real ominous feel and the odd colourful eccentricity, never feeling simplistic or convoluted. The characters are fun. The seventh season of "Midsomer murders" started well with "The Green man" and "Bad Tidings", but after them, two decent episodes "The Fisher King", "Sins of Commission" came about. "The Maid in Splendor" is a solid one in the long-running series, though could have been lot better.

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There are certain surprises here, which are not that surprising. For one: it wasn't very hard to figure out why Jamie died. But this isn't the main issue. The plot and ending is so 'spit your tea out' that it's scarcely believable. Sorry for spoilers - but for the old man to declare his love for Bella is just plain odd. At no point has there ever been chemistry or anything to suggest to the viewer this could be a reality. And for the old man to unload his 12 gauge into his SON from point blank range is just pure sociopathic! I mean, think about that! A quiet village. An ex publican who is mourning his lost wife who died 2 years ago (the opening scene shows him staring adoringly at a photo of his wife) shoots his only son with a shotgun just because he is going to sell the pub, and who is having an affair with Bella. This is all after the old codger has mistakingly shot one of his young employees (and he's able to act completely like nothing happened).

and illogical. The ending that is. Something can only be considered a "plot twist", if it was somehow a part of the plot to begin with. However, this old guy (Michael Bannerman) all of a sudden, out of the blue, declaring his undying love for a girl young enough to be his grandfather isn't a plot twist, it's just creepy and bad writing. It makes no sense, based upon his interactions with her earlier on in the episode. He's supposedly so besotted with her that he'd kill his own son for having been romantically involved with her, (a son who incidentally appears to be far too old for her also), yet until the end he had treated her so casually, almost distantly, like a niece he was maybe kind of fond of, or such. Not only that but then he seems so surprised that his now widowed daughter-in-law is turfing him out now that his son isn't around anymore. Well, duh!Of the seventh season up to this point, the best episode from personal opinion is "The Green Man", while "Bad Tidings" was very good, "The Fisher King" was decent if cluttered and over-complicated at times and "Sins of Commission" was mostly fine apart from the contrived last 15 minutes with a rather lazy motive for the murders. William Gaunt Michael Bannerman is a character appearing in the episode The Maid in Splendour of the ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders. This one looks as nice as ever with plenty of rural English locations for those of you who like that sort of thing, The George Hotel in Dorchester in Oxfordshire was used for The Maid in Splendour pub if that sort of fact interests you. Both murders are the same as people are shot with twelve-bore shotguns, there's a bit of blood but nothing too graphic. The production values are high & the acting is very good as usual.



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