Sauce for the Goose

A small, respected relish factory run by a large, dysfunctional family. A corporate giant circling with a cheque book. And, to set the whole thing off, a naked body in the warehouse. If that does not sound like a Midsomer plot, you have not been paying attention. The factory has been making the same jars of pickle for generations, and the family has been simmering for almost as long.

Barnaby and Scott walk into a family business where the family part is doing most of the damage. Amelia Plummer and Anselm Plummer head a household of rivalries, with Caroline Plummer in the mix and Mr Judd keeping the books and the secrets. Dexter Lockwood and Sam Hardwick represent the big company with the polite smiles, and everyone at the factory has a theory about who might have ended up dead among the jars. Dr George Bullard gets a look at the body and does not like what he sees, which is his way of telling us the case will take a while. Joyce is on hand to remind us that there is a world outside the factory gates.

Andrew Payne and Caroline Graham wrote the script, Renny Rye directed. John Nettles is Barnaby, John Hopkins is Scott, and the guests are a vintage crop: Annette Crosbie as Amelia Plummer, Jasper Britton as Anselm, Lizzy McInnerny as Caroline, John Quayle as Mr Judd, Rod Hallett as Dexter Lockwood and David Ross as Sam Hardwick, with Barry Jackson and Jane Wymark alongside.

There is something gloriously small-town about killing someone over a relish recipe, and the show knows it. The factory gives the mystery proper walls and proper rivalries, and the corporate takeover gives it a reason to hurry. For anyone who has ever worked for the family firm, the real horror is not the body in the warehouse. It is the boardroom.