Midsomer Murders - Destroying Angel [1997] [DVD]

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Solicitor James Jocelyne ( Timothy Bateson) appeared in "Written in Blood", "Death's Shadow", and "Orchis Fatalis". A builder comes to the police station and says Julia Gooders told him to unscrew the drinks cabinet from the wall. She said they were going to sell it at auction. Troy tells Barnaby that Julia went crazy overnight and has been sanctioned. Then Barnaby recalls when Evelyn told him how Clarice is a natural mimic. Troy comes in to tell Barnaby that they found the body. Weighed down and placed in a raft on the lake. Then an arrow is used to deflate the raft, which sinks. Destroying Angel" starts with the murder of Gregory Chambers. Gregory was out in the woods collecting mushrooms when he falls to the ground after being shot with an bow and arrow. Karl Wainwright, owner of the local hotel, dies at the same time, and his funeral is being held. Karl Wainwright leaves his hotel and modest capital to be shared between Suzanna Chambers, Gregory Chambers, Julia Goodard and Tristan Goodfellow. Now that Gregory is dead, his shares will be taken over by his wife Suzanna. A severed hand is found it the woods, and it is later identified as Gregory's.

Barnaby and Troy come by the Tyson home and find a bloody chair leg. Tyson walks into the kitchen with blood running down his head. The kitchen is destroyed. He tells them his daughter went wild. She broke the chair over his head. He tells them that Annie is "up the duff" with Gregory. Four months pregnant. But he didn't kill Gregory. Tyson tells Barnaby that he saw Colin Salter in the woods. Colin didn't like Gregory for collecting all them wild mushrooms. "Denuding the woods," Colin said. Barnaby and Troy go to Colin's house and he comes to the door naked wearing an apron. He asks them to make an appointment. Detective Constable Gail Stephens ( Kirsty Dillon) (series 10–13)—a colleague of Tom Barnaby and DS Jones, who often helps them in their cases, sometimes providing valuable insight. Gail was transferred to Midsomer from Binwell. Gail is cheery but emotional, breaking down in tears when, after initially serving as a uniformed woman police constable, she was appointed as a plain-clothed CID detective. Throughout Gail's appearances, it is implied that she is on the point of having an affair with Sgt Jones, but when it came to the crunch he decided that he did not want to get too heavily involved with a colleague, after which Gail effectively snubbed him. Strangely, Gail has not been seen since "Fit For Murder". Evelyn Pope is a character appearing in the episode Destroying Angel of the ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders. Deer in the Headlights: Kenneth Gooders sees his drink cabinet wobbling but instead of moving he is completely frozen and thus get crushed as a result.Kenneth shows Barnaby and Troy a room at the hotel to work in. Kenneth tells Barnaby the results of the will. "Mr. Wainwright was childless and wanted to pass the hotel onto the people who made it a success." Suzanna is the manager, Julia does the books, Tristan is the chef and Gregory helped out generally. Suzanna will inherit Gregory's share of the estate. Hotel owner Karl Wainwright has recently died, and his will divides his estate among four beneficiaries - staff members of the hotel, including the manager, cook, and accountant. However, on the day of his funeral, one of the beneficiaries—hotel manager and Punch-and-Judy showman, Gregory Chambers—goes missing. When a search for him is conducted, a severed hand is found in the woods; it proves to belong to him, which soon prompts a murder investigation. When DCI Barnaby and DS Troy investigate the matter in the village of Midsomer Magna, and determine what happened to Gregory, death threats are sent to the remaining beneficiaries, and soon enough, the hotel cook is fatally poisoned with a dangerous mushroom called Destroying Angel, while the accountant's husband is crushed under his own drinks cabinet. Barnaby soon begins to wonder if all the deaths are linked to the same killer, but when it turns out Gregory was in possession of an important document, he soon has to find out what it was, and who knew about it... Funeral: People arrive for a funeral. Suzanna Chambers views the drive from the Easterly Grange Hotel. Tristan Goodfellow walks up. Suzanna says "Inside," to him. She and Tristan view the coffin of Karl Wainwright and then start making out. The story, over the top and elaborate but appropriately and wonderfully so and with a high body count, is hugely compelling, and never simplistic and never losing any of the maturity of the previous episodes. There is a lot going on mostly without being cluttered or rushed, and that nothing is what it seems, or very few people are who they seem adds to the complexity, while there are no out of kilter scenes. The twists, red herrings and turns keep coming, and rarely in an obvious or press-the-rewind button. The characters are colourful. Serena Gordon appeared as Ginny Sharp in "Market for Murder" (2002) and later appeared as widowed Christina Finleyson in "Midsomer Life" (2008).

Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: Julia Gooders, who confesses to everything after all the other conspirators are dead. Barnaby went to confront Evelyn, knowing she was the mastermind because of her mimicry talents she passed onto Clarice. Clarice was distraught by her deception meant to protect Clarice from punishment, but Clarice hoped she'd understand one day. After Evelyn fully confessed, she succumbed to a bottle of pills she downed earlier to suicide herself with. She was delighted to hear Annie in the new will, and she exchanges goodbyes with Woody before she died. Clarice and Woody were distraught from Evelyn's suicide note to reassure her dear husband, but because she was dead and all the guilty parties of the other murders were killed as well, everyone was too scarred to believe in the rest of their lives.

Cast & Crew

I have one flaw with this episode. Even though the ending is very well acted and written- the solution to this murder mystery is a great one. The fact that we should care about Evelyn Pope as a murderess I just could not get behind. She has done the deed in such disturbing manner, which I can not sympathize with. David Whitely ( Christopher Villiers) appeared in "The Killings at Badger's Drift" and "Death's Shadow".

Jones is considerably less naive than Troy or Scott, possessing an insight into cases that neither would have. Jones was born in Wales and remarks about his love for Wales when he and Tom travel there in the episode "Death and Dust". He is a Welsh Baptist, as Barnaby calls him in "A Sacred Trust" (Series 14, Episode 7), to which Jones replies "What's wrong with that? Except the teetotalism."If you know me, you know that I’m a huge Midsomer Murders fan. Since 2015, I’ve been blogging every new episode in the show for this very paper, and I’m always keen to sing its praise. I do admit, however, that the show’s quality is incredibly variable, and that each episode of Midsomer may be a dud just as easily as a classic. This was less so in the series’ classic days, with many favourite episodes coming from the earlier series. And that’s where you’ll find an instalment that, to my mind, is the pinnacle of the show – series four’s ‘Destroying Angel’. Death 5: Evelyn dies in Woody's arms. Evelyn left Woody a letter. Clarice reads it to him. Evelyn wishes Woody to be as happy as he can be with the rest of the time he has left. Troy's relationship with Barnaby is warm, and the two make a formidable pair. Troy was promoted to Inspector and transferred to Northumbria in the first episode of the seventh series, called "The Green Man". [1] Troy makes one re-appearance in the first episode of Series 11, "Blood Wedding", to attend the wedding of Tom's daughter, Cully Barnaby (whom he once secretly kissed in the episode "Death And Dreams", which temporarily strained his relationship with Barnaby), where he met his second successor, Sgt Jones. [2] DS Dan Scott [ edit ]