Harvest of Souls

The owner of an equestrian centre is trampled by one of his own horses, and for a moment it looks like one of those accidents that are simply accidents. Barnaby has seen too many of those by now. The accident, if it is an accident, arrives with an audience of people who have known each other for decades. What looks like bad luck turns out to be the lid on a feud that has been simmering for years, and the stableyard becomes the place where old scores come due.

The Wyhams and the Nevinses circle each other through the investigation: Harry Wyham and his daughter Amy, Sean and Dale Nevins with Butch, and Rod Barkham hovering at the edges. Everyone remembers the falling-out that started it all. Nobody wants to say it out loud. Barnaby and Charlie Nelson pick their way through the resentments, which run deeper than any riding accident, and the picture that emerges is of a family quarrel that outgrew its own origins.

The case unfolds at its own pace, and the answer has more to do with who kept quiet than with who was seen. That is often the way in these villages: the crime is old, and the killer is only the last person to act on it. Barnaby's interviews have the air of a referee at a family reunion, trying to keep two sides apart long enough to get the truth out of either. Meanwhile the horses keep being horses, indifferent to the drama around them, which is more than can be said for their owners.

Caleb Ranson and Caroline Graham wrote it, Nicholas Laughland directed. Neil Dudgeon and Gwilym Lee head the cast, Fiona Dolman and Manjinder Virk are along for the ride as Sarah and Dr Kam Karimore, and the Wyham and Nevins families are played by Andrew Alexander, Nikhita Essex, Sean Delaney, Rory Fleck Byrne, Michael Higgs and Sean Gleeson.

It is a dense episode in the best way, full of people who have known each other far too long. And if the horse gets the credit for the death, the villagers know better. In Midsomer, the animals are rarely the problem. The people are.