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Midsomer Murders has now reached 100 episodes and I have to admit that this was the first episode I have ever seen of it, but I wanted to see it because it features Borgen’s Katrine Fønsmark, aka Birgitte Hjort Sorensen, as one of the Danish policewomen called in to the investigation within.
The chairman of Calder’s Biscuits, Eric Calder (Marcus Hutton), ends up dead in his hotel room while on a business trip to Copenhagen. Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) and Nelson (Gwilym Lee) are assigned and find Calder had more than biscuits linking him to the Danish capital. The bodies begin to pile up and the Copenhagen cops are called in.
The Killings of Copenhagen is undemanding fluff and exactly what you’d expect for prime time ITV – they’re certainly not going to air Borgen on that channel, are they? That said, it’s good to introduced cast members from Nordic Noir to this audience, although I was disappointed that ‘Katrine’ and colleague turned up for five minutes at the beginning and then it was quite some time until they reappeared. Even then, they weren’t anywhere near as much involved in events as I was expecting, so that was a disappointment.
That said, it also features Julie Agnete Vang, another Borgen favourite, from season 3. She joined Birgitte’s break-off party, and after she appeared on TV1 for the first time, one of her colleagues commented: “Jesus, her tits fill the screen!”
Midsomer Murders is a big hit in Denmark which is what led to the cross-over for this milestone episode, but I lost track of which Brits were being bumped off as some of them had names that sounded like something from a Harry Potter film, and when the culprit was finally revealed, I just thought, “Really?”
The show is presented in the original 1.78 widescreen broadcast ratio and is as soft as the average DVD picture looks. It’s okay, but it’s nothing to write home about. I’m more used to Blu-rays these days, and it’s a shame Acorn Media haven’t splashed out this time since it was filmed in HD, and I’m also watching on a 50″ TV so that won’t help with the definition, either.
The sound is in standard Dolby Surround, but this is a cosy drama where dialogue and incidental music comprise of almost everything you’re going to get.
The extras are as follows:
- Series 16: Behind The Scenes (22:08): A look at aspects of series 16 including the introduction of Gwilym Lee as Barnaby’s new partner in solving crime, and the Christmas episode that year, with additional chat in the latter from Les Dennis and Mark Heap.
June Whitfield and Bernard Cribbins discuss The Flying Club episode, while this piece concludes with this DVD’s episode, including chat from Ann Eleonora Jorgensen and Birgitte Hjort Sorensen.
- Interview with Alex Pillai (16:24): The director talks about celebrating 100 episodes of Midsomer Murders.
- Picture gallery: A few pictures from the episode. In gallery form, surprisingly.
- Cast filmographies: For Neil Dudgeon, Gwilym Lee and Fiona Dolman (Sarah Barnaby). These only feature ‘Selected Works’ so it’s not a substitute for IMDB.
- Caroline Graham biography: A few paragraphs about the writer behind the Inspector Barnaby novels.
- Broadcast Dates: A full list for all 100 episodes.
The menu features a static shot of Barnaby and Nelson, with no music. There are subtitles in English, and when it comes to the chaptering, there’s clearly been cutbacks as you get just 7 over the 89-minute episode, the last one being saved for the end credits.
Midsomer Murders: The Killings of Copenhagen is released on DVD on April 7th.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
5 7 7 4 |
| OVERALL | 6 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 89 minutes
Studio: Acorn Media
Year: 2014
Released: April 7th 2014
Chapters: 7
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 1.78:1
Disc Format: DVD9
Director: Alex Pillai
Producer: Louise Sutton
Screenplay: Paul Logue (based on characters by Caroline Graham)
Music: Jim Parker
Cast:
DCI John Barnaby: Neil Dudgeon
DS Charlie Nelson: Gwilym Lee
Sarah Barnaby: Fiona Dolman
Kate Wilding: Tamzin Malleson
Armand Stone: Sanjeev Bhaskar
KA Anna Degn: Birgitte Hjort Sørensen
VPK Birgitte Poulsen: Ann Eleonora Jørgensen
Ingrid Madsen: Marie Askehave
Thomas Madsen: Nicolaj Kopernikus
Harry Calder: Jonathan Barnwell
Penelope Calder: Caroline Goodall
Julian Calder: Adrian Lukis
Summer Haleston: Poppy Drayton
Clara Trout: Joanna Scanlan
Eric Calder: Marcus Hutton
Atticus Bradley: Richard Cordery
Ernest Bradley: Nicholas Jones
Albert Toft: Thomas Thoroe
Sofie Bruun: Julie Agnete Vang
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.