Red In Tooth and Claw

The local pet show is the friendliest event on the calendar, and then someone ruins it in the most theatrical way available: a body found covered in live rabbits. It is the sort of crime scene that makes a case instantly memorable and the investigation immediately difficult, because nobody at a pet show ever believes they are suspects.

Barnaby and Jamie Winter have to decide whether the killing is a rivalry that got out of hand or something with deeper roots. The world of competitive animal showing turns out to be small and competitive, full of long memories. Jayesh Varma, Ailsa Benson, Seb Huntington, Cleo Langton, Errol Judd, Delphi Hartley and Belinda Tressel all have their reasons, and the rabbits, unhelpfully, are not talking. The show takes its time with each of them, letting the suspicion move around the ring like a prize rosette.

The episode leans into the absurdity of its own setup without ever becoming a joke. The pet show remains a pet show, all rosettes and nervous owners, while the police treat the tableau with the seriousness it demands. Sarah Barnaby is involved with the event, which gives the case a domestic angle as well as a professional one, and the interviews keep coming back to feuds that have been breeding as long as the rabbits.

Lisa Holdsworth and Caroline Graham wrote it, Steve Hughes directed. Neil Dudgeon and Nick Hendrix lead, Fiona Dolman's Sarah has her own stake in the event, and the guest list runs from Sara Crowe, Maxim De Villiers and Susan Hampshire to Stirling Gallacher, Sean Gallagher, Navinder Bhatti and Vanessa Hehir. Susan Hampshire, at it since the sixties, brings a stately presence that only adds to the discomfort.

It is a gruesome premise played with a straight face, and it works, because the show never winks at the audience. And it proves once again that in Midsomer the friendliest gatherings hide the sharpest teeth.