Four Funerals and a Wedding

The Marwood family has been fighting the battle of the sexes for ninety years, which in Midsomer Broughton means the feud has become a local institution with its own rules, and by the time this episode starts, its own casualties. When the conflict finally comes to a head, Barnaby and DC Ben Jones are left to count the bodies and find out who pushed a ninety-year-old quarrel past its breaking point. Neither side is about to admit fault, and the village has long since stopped expecting them to.

The investigation threads through the village's professional life, because everyone in Broughton seems to have taken sides generations ago. Henry Marwood and Roland Marwood carry the family standard, Doctor O'Dowd provides the medical view, and the clergy get involved in the way only Midsomer clergy can: Reverend Anthony Gant and Archdeacon Able each have opinions about the feud and the funerals it keeps producing. Dr George Bullard adds the forensic detail, while Joyce and Cully keep the domestic side in view. The feud has its own calendar of anniversaries and offences, and everyone in Broughton can recite them on request.

Elizabeth-Anne Wheal and Caroline Graham wrote the script, Sarah Hellings directed. John Nettles leads as Barnaby with Jason Hughes as Ben Jones, and the guest cast carries the feud convincingly: Dominic Jephcott as Henry Marwood, Joseph Kennedy as Roland Marwood, Struan Rodger as Doctor O'Dowd, Richard McCabe as Reverend Anthony Gant and Shaughan Seymour as Archdeacon Able, with Barry Jackson, Jane Wymark and Laura Howard in support.

But a ninety-year grudge is a marvellous thing for a murder mystery, because every motive in the village is old enough to have grandchildren. The episode lets the feud be funny where it can and deadly where it must, which is the balance the show has always been good at. The wedding of the title provides the hope, such as it is. The funerals take care of the rest.