Midsomer Murders: Sauce for the Goose is set in the small Midsomer village of Little Upton where the Plummer & Sons factory make world famous food relish. Owned by Amelia Plummer (Annette Crosbie) & her three children Ralph (James Fleet), Anselm (Jasper Britton) & Caroline (Lizzy McInnery) the business is deep financial trouble, an offer from rival company Fieldway Foods is on the table but Amelia & Ralph refuse to sell. Then the naked body of Fieldway Foods executive Dexter Lockwood (Rod Hellett) is found in the factory plants bottle sterilizer & DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) is called in to start a murder investigation. As Barnaby investigates he discovers the Plummer's are at war with each other, someone is trying to frighten Amelia & a tragic event from the village's past may hold the motive & ultimately the key to the killers identity...
Episode 7 from season 8 this Midsomer Murders whodunit was directed by Renny Rye one has to say Sauce for the Goose is a good solid murder mystery that feels a little empty at times. The script by Andrew Payne has most of the usual Midsomer Murder ingredients like the dark & sinister past events, a murder, plenty of suspects, affairs, bad business dealings, intrigue, misguided love & is one of those episodes where the first twenty odd minutes or so is all exposition that sets up the character's, the location & the events surrounding the crime. Unlike some episodes of Midsomer Murders most if not all of the exposition is actually relevant rather than just padding, it does actually set the scene & situation very nicely. Then when the body is found there's a double mystery since not only is there a murder but no-one know's who the victim was which is a nice angle, unfortunately it doesn't last too long & once Barnaby discovers the identity of the corpse Sauce for the Goose really loses some direction, it almost grinds to a halt & the murder is seemingly forgotten about while there are endless scenes of the Plummer family arguing with each other which does get a little tedious & repetitive. Then Barnaby has one of those moments which everything suddenly becomes clear & the killer is revealed, I must admit the motives are quite good & aren't too predictable either. The plot is sensible & reasonably plausible & there's some entertainingly eccentric character's in here too. The ending is surprisingly sombre & downbeat, from the revelation that a dotty but nice old lady has Alzheimer's to the money grabbing couple who end up with everything. Sauce for the Goose is also one of the very few Midsomer Murders episode in which there is only one murder (although it's quite imaginative, I can't think of another person murdered by being crushed between two pallets of jars of food relish), at almost 100 odd minutes I am not sure there is enough going on to sustain ones interest & it does lose it's way a bit although overall it's still a good episode.
Unusually Sauce for the Goose there's a very modern contemporary location with the relish factory, in fact the real location was the Tiptree Jam factory in Essex. I quite liked the change of scenery & the clean modern automated interior of the factory contrasted well with the more familiar traditional English countryside locations. With only one murder there's not much violence, there's a nude corpse & that's about as graphic as it gets. The cinematography is great as is the acting.
Sauce for the Goose is a good Midsomer Murders episode, the lack of murders & a plot that stagnates during the middle third ultimately prevent it from being considered a classic but it's still a mighty fine whodunit, fans of the show should like it.
Episode 7 from season 8 this Midsomer Murders whodunit was directed by Renny Rye one has to say Sauce for the Goose is a good solid murder mystery that feels a little empty at times. The script by Andrew Payne has most of the usual Midsomer Murder ingredients like the dark & sinister past events, a murder, plenty of suspects, affairs, bad business dealings, intrigue, misguided love & is one of those episodes where the first twenty odd minutes or so is all exposition that sets up the character's, the location & the events surrounding the crime. Unlike some episodes of Midsomer Murders most if not all of the exposition is actually relevant rather than just padding, it does actually set the scene & situation very nicely. Then when the body is found there's a double mystery since not only is there a murder but no-one know's who the victim was which is a nice angle, unfortunately it doesn't last too long & once Barnaby discovers the identity of the corpse Sauce for the Goose really loses some direction, it almost grinds to a halt & the murder is seemingly forgotten about while there are endless scenes of the Plummer family arguing with each other which does get a little tedious & repetitive. Then Barnaby has one of those moments which everything suddenly becomes clear & the killer is revealed, I must admit the motives are quite good & aren't too predictable either. The plot is sensible & reasonably plausible & there's some entertainingly eccentric character's in here too. The ending is surprisingly sombre & downbeat, from the revelation that a dotty but nice old lady has Alzheimer's to the money grabbing couple who end up with everything. Sauce for the Goose is also one of the very few Midsomer Murders episode in which there is only one murder (although it's quite imaginative, I can't think of another person murdered by being crushed between two pallets of jars of food relish), at almost 100 odd minutes I am not sure there is enough going on to sustain ones interest & it does lose it's way a bit although overall it's still a good episode.
Unusually Sauce for the Goose there's a very modern contemporary location with the relish factory, in fact the real location was the Tiptree Jam factory in Essex. I quite liked the change of scenery & the clean modern automated interior of the factory contrasted well with the more familiar traditional English countryside locations. With only one murder there's not much violence, there's a nude corpse & that's about as graphic as it gets. The cinematography is great as is the acting.
Sauce for the Goose is a good Midsomer Murders episode, the lack of murders & a plot that stagnates during the middle third ultimately prevent it from being considered a classic but it's still a mighty fine whodunit, fans of the show should like it.