Judgement Day
- Episode aired Jan 29, 2000
- TV-14
- 1h 39m
IMDb RATING
8.1/10
1.4K
YOUR RATING
When a local thief and womanizer is killed with a pitchfork, the residents of Midsomer Mallow fear for their chances in the Perfect Village Competition.When a local thief and womanizer is killed with a pitchfork, the residents of Midsomer Mallow fear for their chances in the Perfect Village Competition.When a local thief and womanizer is killed with a pitchfork, the residents of Midsomer Mallow fear for their chances in the Perfect Village Competition.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen the gardening expert is shown filming his TV show, the crew in the background are actually the real Midsomer Murders production crew, including the director hunching over his monitor.
- GoofsAbout 5 minutes in, they discover the fatally-stabbed Mrs. Foster slumped in her chair, but her chest movements from breathing are visible.
- Quotes
Samantha Johnstone: Oh, would you like to join me?
Joyce Barnaby: Oh yes, all right.
Samantha Johnstone: I'm so pleased to meet you. I don't know what's happened to the others.
[pause]
Samantha Johnstone: Barman, two large whiskeys, please. What are you going to have?
Featured review
A strong improvement and almost a Midsomer Murders classic
I love the Midsomer Murders show, I love the early, classic episodes of the Tom Barnaby era show, and I can't stop admiring such a wonderfully established and still up-to-date show. The first 3 seasons of the show were virtually flawless, without any low points (which distinguishes the show from many other series that are inconsistent and already offer the viewer bad episodes from the first seasons). "Judgment Day" is a great example of an early episode and almost a Midsomer Murders classic (in fact, I think it's one of the most referenced and popular episodes of the show). It's not as good as the early episodes of the classic "Death's Shadow", "Tainted Fruit", "Destroying Angel" and "Written Blood" (in fact, some of the best episodes of the early series), but it's up to the level of "Dead Man's Eleven", although it has a much simpler story, and in its season it's quite good, not as good as "Death of a Stranger", but a strong improvement over the not-so-bad one that has a lot of good things, but somewhat under-developed "Blue Herrings", which is not the low point of the show, however.
The story of "Judgment Day" is actually one of the darkest and most frightening in Midsomer Murders. Jeremy Silberston and Anthony Horowitz again show how well they work together, perhaps not the best sample ("The Killings at Badger's Drift", "Written in Blood" and "Death's Shadow" are more appropriate cases in this regard), but quite decent. The atmosphere, as always at the beginning of the show, is very classic and bright, and the music is perfect for the whole show and this episode in particular. The detective component is quite good and original in General, with a few interesting red herrings, although I really missed the greater coherence and sequence of murders (the problem with this episode, as well as episodes such as "Blood Wedding", "Master Class" and "Small Mersies"). My main complaint about the episode is that it lacks the magnificent tension and gloom that is inherent in truly great episodes of the show. I don't feel the same tension here as in "death's Shadow", "Death of a Stranger" or "Destroying Angel", which is a big drawback of the episode, unfortunately too big to be one of the high points of the show. The finale is chic, one of the most interesting, neat and heartfelt among the early episodes, John Nettles is great, and maybe he's the best here as Barnaby, but Timothy West does an incredible job and actually steals the show from the Nettles. The final decision, I repeat, is extremely smart and logical, in General in the best traditions of Midsomer Murders and looks very eccentric and suitable for such a story.
Overall, a good if not exactly great episode of the show, a strong improvement over the previous episode, and just a solid Midsomer Murders. 9/10
helpful•41
- znatokdetectiva
- Oct 21, 2020
Details
- Runtime1 hour 39 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 4:3
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