MIDSOMER MURDERS AT THE ARTS THEATRE

Daniel Lewis and Rupert Sadler

Against all the odds, this fascinating play manages to convince us we are in the centre of a shocking sequence of ever more bizarre murders. As Samuel Coleridge advised two hundred years ago, we ‘suspend our disbelief’ – and get to plunge into a matrix of unlikely events, gruesome deaths and often hilarious contradictions.

Badger’s Drift broke into the world of crime- busters when in 1997 Caroline Grahame’s script hit the television screen as the very first of Midsomer Murders. It was a phenomenal success. John Nettles , straight out of Bergerac, hesitated to take on the star role but with his ever puzzled and almost half-right half the time assistant Troy the series took the TV world by storm.

Now there is a new Inspector ( Chief ) in the intriguing persona of Daniel Lewis, yes, the very actor who grew up as Inspector Barnaby’s muddled sidekick Troy has a promotion. And he commands it with appealing understatement and mysterious charm. James Bradwell plays his new boss’s old role with boyish enthusiasm and a fun cynical assessment of everyone. Tonight’s stage version of the complex murderous goings on of village life in Badger’s Drift took its audience by storm.

Anyone who thought they remembered the original TV - particularly Badger’s Drift, had clearly decided to forget how truly grisly it fast becomes real life on stage.

Sweet natured ex-teacher Emily is found dead at home. Her lifelong friend  Lucy Bellringer – wonderfully taken by Julie Legrand -has her suspicions and in a touching scene persuades Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, that her friend’s death is no ordinary event. Thus begins the unravelling of some awful crimes - and the trick is, you don’t see them coming.

With semi miraculous skill so many roles double and triple – and each one brilliantly. Dennis Rainbird, a truly bizarre suspect is also Michael Lacy the robust heroic lead. Rupert Sadler takes on these hugely different characters, one with dash and panache the other creepy and worrying -and plays them both for all they are worth. And he isn’t alone. This cast is so full of talented players, the revelation of who played who was as a tricky to work out as the ever -changing whirligig of suspects.

This may be a fantasy village full of almost hilarious characters but such is the skill and style of the production , you are with them all until the final twist of the plot, the key to the mystery – and the end of a complex clever cunningly crafted drama.