‘We’ll bump off anybody on Midsomer Murders’
GRATUITOUS violence against women in crime dramas has infuriated critics for years, with accusations that female corpses far outnumber the men.
Not so in Midsomer Murders, its star has claimed, after he insists it is an equal opportunities show.
Neil Dudgeon, who has played DCI John Barnaby for seven years, has dismissed the criticism levelled at “Scandi noir and its dark British equivalents”, insisting their preference for murdering women did not extend to Midsomer.
“We’ll bump off anybody on Midsomer Murders, we’re not at all choosy,” he told Radio Times. “We wouldn’t do anything bad to an animal, and certainly not to children, but otherwise, we’re very equal ops murderers.”
Asked whether television crime drama had changed much throughout his career, the 57-year-old actor said: “Today, you’ve got to have several murders and serial killers. When I was a boy, watching Z-cars and Softly, Softly, they might have a bit of burglary, or shoplifting.
“Now, if aliens [watched our] television, they’d think half the planet spends all its time trying to figure out how to kill the other half.”
Asked whether society was “scarred by all that killing” on screen, he added: “Nobody is watching Midsomer Murders and thinking, ‘Oh, that guy was on the roof of his castle when he saw a headless horseman and fell to his death from the roof… My God, that could have been me!’
“Or seeing people who are supposed to have been kidnapped by aliens and entombed in plastic shells with goo inside. No one thinks, ‘That could happen to me when I’m walking the dog!’”
Dramas including The Fall, The Bridge and The Night Manager have faced criticism for the level of violence against women shown on screen.
Midsomer Murders has faced no such problem, building a dedicated fan club over its 20 years and noted for its high death toll in the peaceful countryside.