The Killings of Copenhagen

The geography stretches for once. Eric Calder, a Midsomer businessman, dies in Copenhagen after opening one of his famous golden clusters, which turn out to be coated in strychnine. That leaves Barnaby and Nelson packing their bags and joining forces with two Danish detectives, VPK Birgitte Poulsen and KA Anna Degn, played by Ann Eleonora Jørgensen and Birgitte Hjort Sørensen.

There is something quietly funny about the sight of Midsomer's finest abroad, but the script, by Paul Logue with Caroline Graham, doesn't milk it. The case plays straight, and Alex Pillai directs the whole thing with the same seriousness he would give a murder in Causton. The Danish setting does the work instead of the jokes: canals and clean streets, a different kind of village where the secrets are just as old.

Armand Stone, played by Sanjeev Bhaskar, is the sort of well-connected figure who floats through these stories, and Thomas Madsen (Nicolaj Kopernikus) and Ingrid Madsen (Marie Askehave) round out the local side. Harry Calder, played by Jonathan Barnwell, keeps the family angle close. Back home, Fiona Dolman's Sarah and Tamzin Malleson's Kate Wilding remind everyone what Barnaby is missing while he is away.

The poisoning itself is a nasty, particular detail, and the episode is careful with it. Golden clusters sound like a wedding favour and turn out to be a delivery system. The two national forces have to agree on procedure, which is its own quiet comedy, and the episode has some fun with whose rules apply. There is no scenery-chewing and no tour guide material; the city is just where the crime happened.

But it is a good change of air, and proof that the engine runs fine even when the lanes are Danish ones. The familiar rhythm of the show survives the move, which is the real test.