A woman is found dead in Setwale Wood, an apparent suicide, except that her suicide note is emailed after her body has already been sighted.A woman is found dead in Setwale Wood, an apparent suicide, except that her suicide note is emailed after her body has already been sighted.A woman is found dead in Setwale Wood, an apparent suicide, except that her suicide note is emailed after her body has already been sighted.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDCI Barnaby quotes the Hughes Mearns poem "Antigonish" to Sergeant Troy.
- GoofsWhen Barnaby and Troy are interviewing James Harrington in his kitchen, Troy is seen leaning against the Aga cooker and resting his hands on the surface. If it was a functioning Aga, the surface would have been to hot to comfortably lean against it for any length of time.
- Quotes
[leaving courthouse]
Sergeant Gavin Troy: Where do they get these judges from? The man burgled his way through every village in the county.
DCI Tom Barnaby: Look, we catch the criminals; we offer up the evidence. Not everyone likes what happens in court. Maybe the judge was right; give the boy one more chance. Oh, look. A squadron of pigs over Causton.
Season 4 became less consistent, with "The Electric Vendetta" being the show's first bad episode and "Who Killed Cock Robin?" only being a marginal improvement, while the rest were very good. Season 5 got off to a promising start with "Market for Murder", and that high standard is continued with "A Worm in the Bud".
"A Worm in the Bud" lulls in pacing in the middle with the-kids-playing-detectives not adding to the story as much as it could have done. Agreed also that the murders are on the bland side this time, in a show where they can be brutal and sometimes elaborate, and also on that it was an annoyance about not being given an explanation for why Susan wasn't killed straight after being made unconscious (if indicated in the episode, it was very vague to me).
However, as always, the production values are top notch, with to die for scenery, the idyllic look of it contrasting very well with the story's grimness, and quaint and atmospheric photography. The music fits perfectly, and the theme tune one of the most memorable and instantly recognisable of the genre.
Meanwhile, the script is smart, thought-provoking and suitably grim, the humour also being a breath of fresh air. Nothing felt inconsequential, everything had a point and it was intriguing and maintained attention throughout. The story is absorbing and rich in atmosphere, with some neat twists and turns, a very memorably tense climax and the murderer's identity being one that one doesn't see coming. The characters are suitably colourful and eccentric, though also not what they seem.
Acting is very good, superb in the case of John Nettles, and his chemistry with Daniel Casey (a great contrast as ever as Troy, and the two work brilliantly together), Jane Wymark (love their loving chemistry) and Barry Jackson always convincing and more. Gillian Barge and Wendy Craig give great support.
Overall, another strong episode if not quite on classic level. 8/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jan 10, 2017
Details
- Runtime1 hour 39 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 4:3