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Fit For Life,

TX 2nd February 2011

Midsomer Murders: Bye bye DCI Barnaby

John Nettles will finally leave the role of the rural sleuth tonight after 14 years of fetes, local pubs and blood-spattered patios

Midsomer Murders Midsomer Murders: dastardly doings at a luxury spa.

A respectful silence will fall upon the nation's living rooms tonight as Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby leaves ITV1's ever-popular Midsomer Murders for the final time.

After nearly 14 years playing the affable rural sleuth in the fetes and fatalities pot-boiler, John Nettles will take one last look around Midsomer – from Elverton-cum-Latterly in the east, to Great Pelfe, with its overflowing graveyards and blood-spattered patios, in the west – and bid this most murderous of counties adieu, satisfied in a job well done. Apart from the hundreds of dead bodies. He'll be replaced by Neil Dudgeon as another Barnaby, his equally dependable cousin, just transferred to Causton CID. Handy.
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DCI Tom Barnaby is not your average TV copper though. He doesn't have a drink problem or a failing marriage. His lovely wife Joyce is mildly annoyed by his devotion to duty but otherwise smiles benevolently at his sporadic domestic presence and ploughs on with her community work. He even gets on with his entirely unrebellious daughter and spends social time with her down the pub or up the am-dram.

He's basically Jessica Fletcher and Miss Marple, together in a Burton suit. A thoroughly nice chap. When Nettles was Jersey-based detective Bergerac in the late 80s, he played it sexy, maverick and a bit dangerous. Bergerac had a trail of flighty exes and a horny frisson with the sexy lady criminals. Once in the autumn of his life, rather than insist on pushing his screen youth beyond the bounds of credibility, he took the role of Barnaby (who practically wears slippers to work) thus embracing his transition into well-preserved pensioner totty. Although one drawback of such a laid-back approach to crime-fighting is that it's always taken him ages to solve the puzzle.

I'll be sad to see him go. And not in an ironic way – a nice sit down in front of Middle Class Murders genuinely provides the kind of surge of wellbeing that usually comes from an expensive massage. Never has butchery been so relaxing. Every episode begins with a simple setup that lays out clearly who hates who and why. Someone will always be heard to utter, "One of these days, you're going to push me too far ..." or similar. And then low and behold, a stiff is produced and off we go.

For Barnaby's exit, dastardly doings ensue at the luxury spa retreat that he and his wife happen to be visiting. Think people in colour-coordinated leisure wear jogging past in the background, while bitter recriminations are played out in the fore. And as Neil Dudgeon is handed the truncheon he swings languidly into action with the immortal line, "Sorry to break up the party, but the vicar at Badger's Drift has been found hanging from a bell rope." We're in safe hands, people.

Hollywood Blvd. May 2010.

Hollywood, CA. May 2010.

There were a large number of cyclists that were riding down Hollywood, and they were yelling and blowing whistles. I imagine the crime may have been unlawful assembly, as there were obviously way too many to have just come together by chance.

The herd of cyclists began to thin as they rode past, and I saw a police officer on a fast sprint coming up behind one of them. He took the guy down from behind, and several other officers swarmed on him as he hit the ground hard. It is possible that this guy had done something out of my line of sight that justified such a violent arrest, but I do believe that these officers just wanted to make an example out of someone. My knowledge of what happened is limited by my experience. While the actions of the officers may have been justified, from my perspective, the police response was not proportional to the crime.

There may have been other crimes committed that I could not see, but it seems to me that they nothing more than a group of pranksters. If they had committed property damage I can understand the use of force in arresting them. If the officer who took down the first cyclist was in front of, instead of behind the moving bike, I do believe he would have surrendered peacefully. If he had continued to come at the officer, the best case scenario for him would probably be a baton or a flashlight smashed into his face. (This would have been justified.)


There were now several police, and a few bike stragglers were now riding into a police roadblock. The ones who were now cut off, accepted their situation, and surrendered peacefully.

On June 1st, I saw a story on the local ABC news that five officers were removed from active duty, pending an investigation into excessive use of force in this incident. Someone caught an officer kicking a cyclist as they rode by on his cell phone. Then the person with the cell phone was taken down and handcuffed, while his cellphone continued to capture audio. There were apparently at least three other accusations of police assaulting cyclists.

The chief of police made a statement saying that while this group of cyclists cause traffic problems that can be very stressful for his officers, they should be held to a higher standard. He also said it is thier job to deal with high stress situations in a professional manner.


These stragglers all accepted their fate without any resistance, other then that they were smiling and in a good mood. I think this pissed the police off even more. The officer in this photo was swearing at this guy and telling him to get the f-ck on the ground.

I suppose you can't really be polite and civil when you're arresting someone and having them get on their knees. That would probably show weakness.