Inspector Barnaby Volume 20 - DVD

Content: Time to say goodbye! After 14 years and a total of 81 episodes, DCI Tom Barnaby aka John Nettles is now taking a well-deserved retirement. Even though the series continues with Neil Dudgeon as Barnaby's cousin John, this farewell is a very crucial and wistful break for fans. But it's now made a little sweeter on the series' twentieth DVD box set with five new episodes. Alongside his loyal colleague DC Ben Jones (Jason Hughes), Tom Barnaby gets to show once again what has made the series so popular with viewers.

Once again, it's murder, intrigue and mystery in the county of Midsomer. Those hoping for big changes after 14 years are sure to be disappointed. Also these five episodes from the 13th season use the proven mixture of suspense, British humor and quirky characters. Admittedly, especially the last episode with John Nettles is perhaps a little too ordinary. For the farewell of this cult figure, one would have liked something special. And yet: when Tom Barnaby holds his farewell speech and hands over the helm to his cousin, then a little goosebumps can not be prevented.

There is no question that not only the scripts, but just John Nettles was instrumental in the long-lasting success of the series. But after all these years, a little breath of fresh air will certainly do the series some good. Moreover, DC Ben Jones is also now such a strong and popular character that his presence will be enough to make fans feel at home in their Midsomer even during the period when they have to get used to Neil Dudgeon.

The twentieth DVD is absolutely recommended for fans not only because of the cases, which are again very entertaining and peppered with many small absurdities. The box also marks a small but striking turning point in the history of the successful series, which, at least in England, continues successfully with John Barnaby. So take a proper farewell to Tom Barnaby and his wife Joyce and look forward to many more exciting and amusing stories from Midsomer. Because murder knows no retirement!

And that's what the final episodes with John Nettles are all about:

DVD 1: Ghost Walk

Joyce Barnaby is quite sure she hit someone in the dark at night. Anyway, was it Gerald Ebbs? The head of the local library is found dead in the cemetery the next morning. Gerald was obsessed with the cemetery, where many patients of the mental hospital that closed 100 years ago lie. At the florist Adam Peach, Gerald had often bought flowers for the grave of Caroline Roberts. The depressed young woman had thrown herself to her death in the clinic's stairwell in 1870. The ruins of the clinic come in handy for the busy charlatan Jeff Bowmaker for his "ghost walks", on which he entertains sensationalist villagers with horror stories at night for a fee. He owes a few tips to the beautiful local historian Faith Kent, one of his mistresses. She warns him off her jealous husband Ian on the evening of a ghost tour of the ruins, which Joyce also attends. Drunk, he has beaten Faith and threatened to kill Jeff. But it's someone else who is murdered at the witching hour. And Barnaby finally gets the crucial clue to who is murdering in March Magna and why. . (Text: ZDF)

DVD 2: Murder by Master Hand <x><BR</x>

Starring pianist Sir Michael Fielding is enthralled by an exceptional talent in his class, young Zoe Stock. His daughters Miriam and Constance, who run his elite school, spoil Zoe. But they can't protect her from being seduced and betrayed by her classmate Orlando Guest. Guest is eventually found hanged in the woods. Another experience proves to be a hallucination: Zoe sees a young woman with her newborn drowning in the nearby river, but Barnaby finds no body. Zoe's alarmed parents rent a room in the village pub. Inexplicably, the brakes on their car fail and they are critically injured. A photograph in the village pub eventually puts Barnaby on the trail of a young mother, Crazy Molly. She drowned in the river 20 years ago. But how does Zoe know about this? Neither Sir Michael, nor his daughters, nor Reverend Gregory, who found the drowned woman at the time, supposedly remember any details. Then the Reverend is murdered while praying in his church. Everything points to a mystery surrounding Zoe's birth. (Text: ZDF)

DVD 3: Below the belt

A celebration is underway at the manor house of Midsomer Morchard. A son of the village, John Kinsella, has just become the middleweight boxing champion of the world in New York. The Barnabys are personally invited by mansion owner Gerald Farquaharson. Tom witnesses Gerald missing two brass knuckles from his collection. Also, Tom wonders about a tender phone call from Grace Bishop - ostensibly to her husband Frank, John's promoter - but actually to her lover Teddy Molloy. Joyce discovers that Iris, the fiancée of Gerald's uncharming son Sebastian, is pregnant and unhappy and very much in love with her boss, solicitor Giles Braithwaite. Tom and Joyce suspect how many old enmities are simmering between those present. Conflicts erupt openly when sports jester Gerald has a historical boxing match from 1860 re-enacted in which a son of Midsomer also defeated an American. The performers are John and Ken Tuohy. Ken, furious with jealousy over his fiancée Libby's affair with John, thrashes John so brutally that the fight is stopped. Worse, lawyer Giles Braithwaite and promoter Frank Bishop are found dead in quick succession, both with marks of brass knuckles on their skulls. (Text: ZDF)

DVD 4: A Shame on the Village

Heavily wealthy Norman Swanscombe wants to get himself elected mayor and build a new district of commercial and social housing. His party at his ultra-modern mansion is sensitively disrupted by Maureen Stubbs. Swanscombe really wants to spoil the idyll with a cheap department store with thousands of parking spaces. That night Maureen is stabbed to death with a broken bottle. David Walsh, Swanscombe's opponent, believes Maureen had evidence of a conspiracy by Swanscombe, town planner Liz Gerrard, architect Clifford Bunting and developer Geoff Rogers. But when Bunting's neck is broken in the electric patio door at the Swanscombe mansion and Rogers is poisoned and cast in concrete in his convertible, Barnaby and Jones must search for other motives for murder. They come across plenty of affairs, addictions and blackmail. (Text: ZDF)

DVD 5: Healthy but Dead

Mumbling, Barnaby lets Joyce talk him into a spa holiday at Swavely Manor. No sooner does he relax than Joyce discovers a dead body in the salt bath beside him. The dead woman is the rich Kitty Pottinger, here for the second time on alcohol withdrawal and the last hope of the operating couple Phoebe and Luke Archbold. For Swavely is on the verge of financial collapse. The spa's Barnaby entrusts Jones with investigating the whereabouts of Kitty's vulgar husband Kenny. When Luke is found crushed by one of his fitness machines, Jones is rock-solidly convinced that the scrappy Carter is the culprit. There was hatred at first sight between Carter, the boyfriend of Phoebe's literarily ambitious sister Miranda Bedford, and the ambitious Luke. The two sisters dispute the rights to the property and make each other's lives miserable. Barnaby doesn't trust the all-too-obvious circumstantial evidence and isn't quite on the case. Cloud, the therapist, reads his aura and tells him on the top of his head that he's afraid of his upcoming birthday. She's right. On the same birthday, his father died at the time. (Text: ZDF)

Picture + Sound: Here everything remains the same: Sharpness, coloring and contrast matching are in the brighter scenes at a good TV level, only in darker moments there are minor blurring and slight image noise. The stereo sound is absolutely convincing with the powerful and well intelligible mixed dialogues and the well-matched music. Good!

Extras: As a farewell, there is an interview with Barry Jackson aka Dr. Bullard on DVD 4 (approx. 12:03 min.) and with Tom Barnaby himself on the fifth disc (approx. 10:50 min.). In the short conversation John Nettles tells among other things why he decided to retire the popular Inspector and what plans he has for the future. A nice encore for fans.

Conclusion:Goodbye, Tom Barnaby! The twentieth DVD box set of Inspector Barnaby brings not only five new cases of the popular investigator, but also his well-deserved retirement after 81 episodes. Although this doesn't mean the end of the series, as Barnaby's cousin John aka Neil Dudgeon takes the helm, it's still a significant break for fans and one that is definitely a little wistful. But until the time comes, the viewer is still offered five episodes with the usual mix of crime, British humor and genuine Midsomer flair. And as a farewell, there are even two interviews worth seeing as a bonus. If there was always a recommendable for the previous boxes, this twentieth box is really an absolute must for fans!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp