The Glitch

An air traffic control computer system, built on the theories of an eccentric college professor, is denounced by the very scientist who helped create it, and the backers' money starts to drain away. The denunciation is public, the panic is immediate, and the violence follows the money downhill. The system was meant to be a triumph; now it is a liability. The financial crisis reaches Midsomer, and before long it has produced a body, because that is how these things go. It is one of the show's more modern premises, a murder that arrives by way of bank statements rather than a blunt instrument.

Barnaby and DS Ben Jones pick through the wreckage. Shaughan Seymour's Norman Wayland-Smith and Philip Jackson's Daniel Snape are the business brains, with Josie Taylor's Emily Harte and Nigel Whitmey's Clinton Finn filling out the boardroom, and Laura Howard's Cully putting in an appearance. Barry Jackson's Dr Bullard has the medical angle, Kirsty Dillon's DC Gail Stephens helps with the paperwork, and Jane Wymark's Joyce anchors the domestic scenes. But the professor's theory, once praised, is now the thing everybody wants to disown. The suspects are the sort who measure risk in spreadsheets, which makes a change from the usual Midsomer crop.

Michael Russell and Caroline Graham wrote it, Richard Holthouse directed. The episode does a decent job of making the financial side legible, which is more than most thrillers manage, and the technical setting gives the mystery something new to work with. The technical talk stays just technical enough to feel real, and no more.

The big idea here is that a theory can be dangerous. Let it fail loudly enough and people die, even in a quiet corner of the county. It is a reminder that the troubles are rarely local in origin, even when they end locally. Barnaby keeps his eye on the people rather than the markets, and the episode does the same.