The Straw Woman

A priest burned to death inside the effigy of a straw woman, and then more people bursting into flames as if the whole county had been hexed. "The Straw Woman" pushes Midsomer as close to the supernatural as the show ever comfortably gets, and the village responds the way it always does: with rumours, suspicion, and a growing list of people who would rather the fire spread somewhere else. The show has done stranger things, but rarely with this much fire.

The case lands with Barnaby and Sergeant Scott, and the character list alone is enough to raise an eyebrow. Agnes Waterhouse, played by Maggie O'Neill, carries the name of the first woman executed for witchcraft in England, which tells you where the script's head is at. Keith Barron's Alan Clifford, Kelly Hunter's Kate Malpas, Susannah Wise's Liz Francis and Richenda Carey's Margaret Hopkins fill out a village that is one part community and two parts tinderbox. Maggie O'Neill plays the part with a calm that lets the name on the door do the work. Dr Bullard is kept busy, and Joyce and Cully provide the familiar grounding while the flames do their worst.

Jeff Dodds and Caroline Graham wrote it, Sarah Hellings directed, and the episode keeps its feet on the ground even as the plot threatens to float away on smoke. The witchcraft is never quite believed, but it is never quite dismissed either, which is exactly the note the show wants to hit.

It is a gruesome premise delivered with a straight face, and the series does it well. The burning question is never whether the village believes in magic, but who is desperate enough to use fire as an alibi. Midsomer at boiling point, and it is quite a sight. And the straw woman goes up at the end of it, and so does the mystery, leaving only the usual wreckage and one very tired detective.