BADGER’S Drift will get a bit of a break from homicide when the curtain comes down on Midsomer Murders at Bath on Saturday 14th June – but not for long. The success of this first staging of the popular TV series on its opening UK tour, which started in November 2025, means it has 14 more dates between April and July next year.
It’s not difficult to see why. John Nettles’ Insp Barnaby holds a cherished place in the hearts of millions of avid murder mystery fans. This theatre version is written and directed by Guy Unsworth and brilliantly designed by David Woodhead, and it stars the actor who played the unfortunate detective sergeant on TV, now promoted to the Barnaby role. And it takes the audience back to a gentler time, when bucolic summers and cream teas were the recognised settings for an unconscionable number of murders, always solved by a quirkily determined, but usually very nice, policeman.
The Bath audience was immediately entranced by the set, with its model houses with flickering lights at their windows and feeling of solidity … and menace. An old lady, bent with age, is delighted to discover a rare plant – but moments later her jubilation turns to dread, as she sees something she shouldn’t see, and hurries back to the safety of her idyllic cottage. And the next we know, she’s dead!
The complicated story, with its unexpected final twist, is a delight. The company takes its telling at a romping pace, aided by that set, which allows rapid scene-changes from above and from the sides, delivering and depositing characters with delight rather than fuss.
It would be wholly wrong to tell you any more of the story – apart from that you can expect more murders-most-foul – but you knew that.
Daniel Casey has stepped confidently into Barnaby’s shoes, and it is good to see James Bradwell, a BOVTS graduate, taking on the thankless but funny role of Det Sgt Troy. The rest of the cast, Nathalie Barclay, Chandrika Chevli, John Dougall, Julie Legrand, Rupert Sadler et all, take on a bewildering clever variety of roles, bringing the hamlet of Badger’s Drift to vivid life.
The show has a few more double-entendres than its small-screen predecessor, and it’s all done with an arch touch that verges on caricature. But as an entertaining way to spend an evening away from the horrors of the news and the multiple threats of deluge, heatstroke and football-fatigue, you probably can’t beat it.
GP-W