Death of a Stranger

The series of murders begins with a tramp found dead in the woods, and from there the case only gets stranger. Barnaby and Troy find themselves working through a case with an odd backdrop: taxidermy and hunting talk, with Oscar Wilde turning up in the conversation. Midsomer is never short of local colour, but this episode leans on it heavily. Hunting and taxidermy, those great country pastimes, both get dragged into the light, and a tramp in the woods is the kind of victim everyone walks past, which makes the investigation's course all the more interesting.

The investigation threads through the Fitzroy family and the Tranters, and the trail of bodies points somewhere the village does not want to look. Old habits and newer scandals sit side by side, and every witness seems caught between loyalty and the urge to protect themselves. The dead man in the woods is a stranger to the village, which is exactly why nobody wants to say much about him, and the case keeps coming back to the Fitzroys, whose lives sit somewhere between tradition and scandal. Barnaby's patient approach is the right one, and the case rewards it.

Peter Cregeen directed, with the script by Douglas Livingstone and Caroline Graham. John Nettles is Barnaby, Daniel Casey his Sergeant Troy, and Jane Wymark and Laura Howard are the Barnaby women. Richard Johnson's James Fitzroy and Jennifer Hilary's Sarah lead the local gentry, with Dominic Mafham and Diane Fletcher as Grahame and Marcia Tranter, Sarah Winman's Kate Tranter and James Bolam's Ron Pringle filling out the ensemble.

The episode makes good use of the countryside's weight, letting the hunting traditions and the collected specimens stand in for the community's stubbornness. Nobody here wants to change, least of all when it comes to protecting their own. The scenery earns its place in the plot, which is always the best kind of scenery. And a dead stranger in the woods turns out to be the least of the village's secrets.