Looking For Clues

We made back to the Hall in time to catch the late night Midsomer Murder, and I solved it within five minutes. It's entirely elementary: look for the most famous name on the cast list and there's your man, or occasional woman. Once I'd clocked Warren Clarke it was game over - and he looked suitably nefarious from the beginning.

Another name in the cast that rang some bells for me was one Patrick Ryecart, who once essayed a particularly disastrous Romeo in the BBC run through of the full Bard. In fact, that extremely ropey production, with an entirely hopeless Juliet who couldn't speak the verse, was number one in the series. His death scene was wonderfully melodramatic, in the comic sense of the word. He looked much the worse for wear in Midsomer, but the performance was a considerable improvement.