Toby tells Barnaby and Jones that his relationship with Julian was all good. He would be the next in line to inherit. Toby admits that he is uncomfortable with being called a sir and running the place. He is a bit... socially... clumsy. Toby mentions that The Fleetwoods have been in a family feud with the DeQuettevilles for "yonks"- a long time. As the near series begins it is time for more murder and mayhem is the most dangerous corner of rural England. The episode opens with an elderly man going onto the roof of his house to fix the flag; he is startled by what appears to be a headless horseman on a grey horse and falls to his death. This isn't any old house it the hall belonging to the DeQuetteville family and one of their ancestors, Geoffrey DeQuetteville, lost his head in the Civil War; could his ghost have returned… or was the horseman all too human? It doesn't take long before there is another death and this one is clearly murder. As is usually the case in Midsomer there are plenty of suspects including just about every member of the DeQuetteville family and their neighbours, whose family, the Fleetwoods, clashed with the DeQuettevilles centuries ago at the battle of Naseby. We don't just have ancient bad blood between the families; there is also a bet on how a forthcoming battle re-enactment will go. Police arrive at the hall looking for Simon. They eventually find him in the priest's hole with his hands tied and duct tape over his mouth. Simon grabs a knife and puts it to Barnaby's throat. Barnaby talks him down. Barnaby asks Simon if he saw who put him in the priest's hole. At the Barnaby home, Sarah is furious about the re-enactment fiasco. All her staff know what a farce it turned into. Barnaby soothes her. Barnaby is trying to figure a way into Simon's head. He hasn't said a word for five years. His psychiatrists have described his refusal to speak as idiopathic. Which means - They haven't got a clue.

Jones and Barnaby discuss the case. Barnaby thinks someone he knew and trusted called Ludo outside. Then rushed up to the roof and dumped the gargoyle on his head. Or, he got his accomplice to do the gargoyle bit. Barnaby and Jones drive up. Jones asks Barnaby. "You like horses, sir?" Barnaby says, "No. Nasty brutish creatures. They always tread on me. Modest little place," referring to the mansion. Jones says, "An Englishman's castle is his home." Diana DeQuetteville greets the officers. In the library, Barnaby asks how everyone is doing. Izzy says, "Everyone's fine. Just get on with it." Barnaby says, "Lady Isabel, would you mind sitting down and shutting up just for once?" Barnaby asks, "So you're still feeling a bit upset, are you, Betty?" Betty says, "Obviously. Who wouldn't be?" Barnaby says, "Just as well you have Toby. And Toby, you have Betty. At last, someone who would accept you for what you were." Toby says, "She... She never said I was silly or anything." Diana tries to leave, but Barnaby tells her to stay. Barnaby is having a problem buying any of it - the horseman is on a gray horse, and no one seems to have one. But the death toll mounts.At night, Simon comes running up and pets a horse. The sound of a horse galloping in the distance can be heard. Cue eerie music.... Series fifteen truly did open up in style, the usual idyllic locations, a story which couldn't be more imaginative and Middle England if it tried, The Houses used are incredible, the battle scenes and costumes look fantastic, and the killings are wonderfully Gothic and macabre. On the grounds of Quitewell hall, workers are putting up a sound system and testing out the cannon. Up on the hill nearby, at a modern style home, Harry Fleetwood watches Quitewell Hall scratches his arms. Sasha Fleetwood brings him a pill. Harry says, "Every damn year, every damn month they do something. Deliberately corrupt history. I've got to do something. It was Naseby. They never got over Naseby. Toby and Betty take a stroll outside. Toby worries that Betty will leave him. They hug and over her shoulder Toby sees the headless horseman.

In the lab, Kate says, "Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. See, he was born with an extra connection in the heart that allows the electrical signals to bypass the atria-ventricular node and move from the atria to the ventricles faster than usual. It eventually disrupts the co-ordinating movement of the electrical signals through the heart, leading to cardiac arrest." Jones says, "So it was an accident, then." Barnaby says, "Jones, a headless horseman was also present. Probably frightened him off the roof. Accident? I don't think so." Jones tells Kate, "He hates accidents. Makes him feel superfluous." Barnaby says to Simon, "I'm just a policeman, but in my line of work I tend to come into people's lives when they are at their most vulnerable and confused. Sort of where you are now. So I want to help you as much as I can. But mainly, I need to apprehend a murderer. I don't know what you know. I don't know what's in your head. I don't know what you've done. Have you done something I should know about, Simon?" Written by one of MM's better scriptwriters, Michael Aitkins, "The Dark Rider," the opening of the 15th season, concerns a yearly re- enactment battle. At Midsomer Constabulary, Jones reports that there's no grey horse in the DeQuetteville stable. And no-one really stands to benefit from Bentham's death. He was the younger brother so he didn't have much of his own. A high-level source, Jones' gran, says the whole family are total nut-jobs owing to hundreds of years of inbreeding with their cousins. Betty is the first time they married out of their class for ages. Also, the DeQ's have been having an ongoing row with their neighbours, the Fleetwoods, who they fought in a battle during the Civil War 1642-1651. The Fleetwoods say their lives are being ruined by the noise from Quitewell. The DeQ's say 'Tough.' The Fleetwoods say 'We'll sue.'

See also

As Sasha is driving off, she sees Toby. Julian was driving into town and he dumped him. Sasha gives him a lift. At Quitewell Hall, Betty asks what the Fleetwoods wanted. Toby tells her about the wager. The Dark Rider is the first episode of the fifteenth series of Midsomer Murders and originally aired 1st February 2012. In the library of the mansion, the family are seated together- Izzy next to Ludo; Julian with an arm around Diana. Toby walks in and joins Betty. Izzy is saying to the police, "I'm sorry if we sound callous, but we didn't like Bentham." Ludo joins in, "Total misery." Izzy says, "Spat at the visitors. Smelled of boiled cabbage. And his death hasn't really increased his charm at all." Jones asks Toby what happened last night. Toby says, "I was taking the dog out for a walk. Slash. And... I heard these cries. I came running round the corner. And there was poor Uncle Ben. You know, awful." Jones says, "You saw a grey horse riding away." Toby says, "I did, yeah." Barnaby says, "And you say the rider had no head." Other family members smirk, murmur. Toby says, "Er... Well, yeah. He was a bit... headless." Jones says, "And as your uncle died, he said the name Geoffrey." Julian looks at Toby and warningly says, "Toby!" Toby says, "I might have misheard that. He was on the ground. You know... I don't know really." Barnaby continues, "And Geoffrey... Is there a Geoffrey in the family?" Ludo lies and says, "I can't think of a Geoffrey. Can you, Izzy? No. There's a Rupert in Norfolk. Mind you, he's pretty dead as well. Isn't he, Betty?" Inside the house, the family sits around the dining room table. Jones tells Barnaby that they have looked at dozens of video phone cameras. They're pointing at the main entrance. The family's nowhere to be seen. Barnaby tells Jones to get the Fleetwoods' statements. He then asks Simon if they can have a chat.

At Quitewell Hall, Ludo tells Barnaby that he saw the headless horseman last night. Ludo says, "It's the ghost of Geoffrey. I'm a goner!" Barnaby says, "Sir Ludovic, if his horse was real, there's a good chance the rider was real too." Ludo says, "No, no, it's Geoffrey. And he's coming for me!" Barnaby tells him to stay inside today with the battle on. Elsewhere on the estate, Toby is working to straighten out the tire on the wagon. Julian stomps up and tells Toby that the police are there and want to talk to everyone. He tells Toby to "Keep your trap shut about the family business, all right?" Toby says, "What family business?" Julian leans over and pats Toby on the cheek and says, "Exactly. And leave the idiot here," referring to Simon. Ludo tells Izzy he is staying inside the hall and skipping the battle. In the meadow, the reenactors are preparing for the battle. Izzy gives a speech to the Cavaliers. Up at the Treadwell home, Harry is nervous due to the cannons blasting. A group of men come marching in, dressed in costume with guns and flags. Horns are blowing. Inside the dining room, Ludo sees a shadow above.When in its prime (a vast majority of Seasons 1-9), 'Midsomer Murders' was a great show and one that is watched and re-watched frequently. Seasons 10-13 became more uneven, with three of the show's worst episodes coming from Seasons 11 and 13, but there were a few solid episodes and "Blood Wedding" and especially "Master Class" were gems.

DCI Barnaby and DS Jones investigate the death of Bentham DeQuetteville, who fell from the roof of the family manor house after seeing a headless horseman in the courtyard. His last word to his nephew Toby DeQuetteville - who also saw the headless horseman - was simply 'Geoffrey'. Several members of the family are quite open about their dislike of the dead man but are less open about the family legend that says the headless horseman is their 17th century ancestor, Geoffrey DeQuetteville, whose appearance always portends a death in the family. Toby's mentally disturbed son Simon DeQuetteville has always claimed that the headless horseman had appeared prior to his mother's death. The DeQuettevilles have had a centuries old row with their neighbors, the Fleetwoods, but two other members of the DeQuetteville family will die before Barnaby figures out just what is going on. That night at the hall, Ludo walks through the dining room. He shuts the shutters over the windows. He sees a headless horseman pointing at him and is terrified. Otherwise, for a John Barnaby-era episode "The Dark Rider" was very satisfying. As always, the production values cannot be faulted as usual, it's beautifully and atmospherically shot with suitably picturesque scenery. The music fits perfectly, with some lush jauntiness and sometimes an ominous quality, and the haunting theme tune is one of the most memorable and instantly recognisable of the genre. It's a dark and stormy night at Quitewell Hall, which is the size of a castle. Bentham DeQuetteville hears a noise and goes on the roof. The flag has come down and he tries to get it loose from the stone it's wrapped around. Then he sees the headless horseman pointing at him. He cries out and falls to the ground clutching the flag.The following actors and actresses who appeared in this episode have also appeared in the following episodes Bound and Gagged: The killer attempts to remove someone who is afraid of the dark from the line of succession by leaving them bound and gagged inside a priest hole, driving them into a permanent state of trauma. The next morning, Diana arrives at the Fleetwood house. She flirts with Harry. Diana says that the re-enactment is going ahead. She tells Harry she could bring him a lot more than Long Meadow. She says, "What if you owned both estates?" Harry says, "And how would I achieve that?" Diana says, "The usual way. Marriage. To the right... person." At the Barnaby home, Sarah Barnaby explains the situation at the DeQuettevilles: The Roundheads won at Naseby in the civil war. But the DeQuettevilles, who were Royalists, Cavaliers, have never really liked that result. So when they do their battle re-enactment, they fix it so that the Cavaliers win. As the new secretary of the Historical Society, Sarah is gaining the respect of her staff and making sure the re-enactment is accurate. Barnaby tells her he is dealing with a weird death up there and doesn't like her being up there. Sarah tells him that they are bound to cross paths sometimes and to live with it. The police hustle around the building to where Ludo is lying crushed by the gargoyle. Barnaby is really angry, "You had to watch one elderly man. ( My question is, why wasn't a police officer stationed inside by Ludo's side?). I want full reports by 10AM!" Kate examines the body. She surmises that Ludo "wouldn't have known what had hit him. Actually, he may have done. It hit him full in the face, so presumably, he was looking up at the time." Jones says, "So why didn't he get out of the way?" ( MY QUESTION AS WELL!). Barnaby asks, "What sort of effort would it take to dislodge a gargoyle?" Kate says, "It depends how secure it was in the first place."