Midsomer Murders (TV Series) Dead in the Water (2004) User Reviews

A good mystery, the solution arrives late.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 20 October 2019]

I hadn't seen this one for over ten years, and had forgotten all about it.

It has the usual composition, glorious production values, a strong cast, and murder. I'm a fan of the Barnaby and Scott pairing, the pair are on great form, and there are some nice touches of humour.

Diana Quick is excellent, Adrian Lukis is very good, they all perform very well. Owain Yeoman also good as Henry. Having Steve Redgrave was a nice touch, but I'm glad the show didn't go down the road of getting celebrity'd up every week.

It's very watchable, it's a good episode, and a good mystery, you're left guessing til the end, it's not daft like some epiaodes, but has nothing to make it particularly unique or a stand out, it's just a good, solid mystery.. 7/10

Barnaby Enters the Water

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 15 March 2016]

I had a little trouble getting into this because of the pomposity of the characters in the little boating community. Apparently, these regattas are a big deal in the UK. After the body is found, however, and knowing the self exclaimed seriousness of the world these folks live in, I started to get into it. The murdered is a man who had significant connections to the other snobbish boaters. After his death, a red flag should go up, when the others are only upset because the regatta has been interrupted. They can't wait to get back in the water despite their "friend's" death. We have several plot elements. One is a group of conspirators who seem to be plotting something. We have a May/December relationship between a young athlete and his older coach. It serves up a nicely orchestrated mystery.

Kept guessing until the end

[safenoe · 7/10 · 4 March 2016]

I'm not a big fan of rowing but I love Midsomer Murders, so the episode was interesting and filled with much intrigue and mystery. It's wonderful to see Cully in the show and I really think she should have her own spin-off series called "Cully" where she becomes an amateur sleuth between acting auditions, with special guest appearances from her parents to help push the investigation along.

Diana Quick stars in this episode as Clare Bonavita and plays the role with relish. I originally though she was Rebecca Front as they do bear a resemblance. I then learned (thanks to Google!) that Diana was the long term partner of Bill Nighy.

Row Row Your Boat

[owent-22300 · 9/10 · 9 July 2015]

I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a Midsomer Murders episode so much. This has so many of the things that has made this series a lasting pleasure.

For starters there's the unusual, for an American, setting. It takes place in a town during Regatta week, i.e. a lot of guys rowing boats up and down a river in which a body just happens to be found. More than the usual unusual background for the story, the regatta is a crucial part of the plot and the characters' motivations.

Another thing is that most of the actors in this episode are unfamiliar to me, American again. They don't carry the baggage/expectations that more familiar actors would. I don't know what to expect when a character enters the story - is he going to be a major or minor character, is she normally a bad un' or a good one. It makes for pleasant uncertainty in the story which is packed with red herrings anyway. Hint: nobody tells whole truth.

There is even, unusually enough, a B-plot in the story, seeming to run alongside the A-plot of the murder mystery, but never fear everything will come together at the end.

Finally, there's the sly humor between Barnaby, his wife Joyce, their daughter, Callie, and even Barnaby's sergeant. It's sidesplitting at times.

So all in all, a grand time.

Irritating sinister noise in the background

[preppycuber · 8/10 · 1 January 2019]

I like general background noise, but the sinister sounding sort of screaming noise that you hear sometimes is irritating and cheap that I would not expect in a classy series like this.

Stunning Diana Quick is marvelous

[vitoscotti · 6/10 · 26 October 2019]

Yes, the plot is flimsy. Beautiful homes on the water. Diana Quick is stunning and is showcased. Barnaby & Scott gaining a terrific rapport. Will hate to see Scott go. He's getting better and better after a rough start. Each episode it's fun to see John Nettles new toupee. Looks for Henry's bad toupee. Water sports attract crowds like that in a small community? Fun watch all considered. Vito S 10-26-19

seemed long

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 24 May 2015]

You can always tell when a film isn't particularly well put together - it's endless.

The minutes flew like hours in "Dead in the Water," a Midsomer Murders mystery from 2004. Scott is still working with Barnaby.

While Barnaby is attending the big Midsomer Regatta with wife Joyce and daughter, Cully, a man named Guy Sweetman, the rowing club chairman, is found dead in the water. The autopsy report says he was hit and then deliberately drowned.

Sweetman had been involved with nearly every woman in the town, and he was also meeting with two other club members. At the last meeting before he was killed, there was a huge argument. After that, Sweetman disappeared until he was seen floating in the water.

Though the other men lie about the reason for the meetings, Barnaby gets to the bottom of it as he talks with many witnesses and suspects, and also stops a blackmailer.

Jealousy and greed play big roles in this mystery. Also, Joyce and Cully want to buy a boat, hoping their father will relax. Cully swears wherever they are, a murder happens.

The show moved slowly and it was hard to care about any of the characters except Barnaby and his family, and Scott. When all was revealed, I didn't care.

Good film but

[LordWimsey · 6/10 · 10 August 2020]

A good film, as actually all of the show are, though it is quite simple to guess who the murderer is. It only needed five minutes to know who. But still recommendable.

One of my least favourite Midsomer Murders.

[poolandrews · 4/10 · 8 September 2008]

Midsomer Murders: Dead in the Water starts one fine British afternoon as DCI Tom Barnaby (Johhn Nettles) on his day off has decided to go to the Midsomer Rowing Club Regatta with his wife Joyce (Jane Wymark) & daughter Cully (Laura Howard), however the afternoon is ruined when the dead body of Midsomer Rowing Club Chairman Guy Sweetman (Benedick Blythe) is pulled out of the river. What started off as an innocent afternoon out for Barnaby turns into a murder investigation when it seems Guy was deliberately drowned. As usual Barnaby has to sort out the affairs, blackmail & money trouble of the suspects to reveal a killer...

Episode 2 from season 8 this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by Renny Rye & one has to say that I think Dead in the Water is actually one of the most dull Midsomer Murders episodes from it's whole (so far) ten season run. The script by Douglas Watkinson starts off as a true mystery as a body is found in a river, the usual atmospheric Midsomer Murders murder sequence is notably absent & there's little indication who did it or why to start with. One problem is that the murder of Guy Sweetman is the only murder in the entire episode so it does drag at times & there's a little sub-plot that feels like it might have come from a Guy Ritchie gangster flick in which there's a jewellery store robbery. The killer & their motives are dull to say the least, the character's are standard murder suspects like the ex-girlfriend, the ex-girlfriends enraged husband, people he owes money to & people he has had arguments with, the whole plot & writing in Dead in the Water feels so lacklustre & routine & the show is so much better than that. Lots of exposition & a fairly forgettable resolution means I would rather watch just about any other Midsomer Murders episode other than this.

To add to the general dullness of Dead in the Water the makers decided to set it around the ever so exciting world of rowing. Just to make it clear I was being sarcastic when I said rowing was exciting. I can't think of a more listless sport really although having said that we British are pretty damned good at it, having just suffered the Olympics we took Gold again & our boys are pretty good at it overall although that's not saying much. This episode actually features two Olympic scouts looking around Midsomer Rowing Club for potential champions. I am sorry if you like rowing but I just think it's dull & unexciting & having it as a backdrop to a Midsomer Murders episode which is already well below par doesn't help. Only one murder in this & a simple case of drowning isn't the most imaginative murder ever, is it? Dead in the Water is actually set mostly in a town rather than a quaint little leafy village which gives it a different feel than usual. The acting is good & there's an amusing scene in which Barnaby watches some porn for work purposes & Joyce comes into the room & they both decide to have an early night!

Dead in the Water is a fairly dull couple of hours to be honest, I guess there's so many great episodes of this show that when a bad one comes along like this it does tend to stand out like a sore thumb. One of the few episodes I wouldn't like to watch again.

'Midsomer Murders' goes to the regatta

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 25 January 2017]

Despite being a big fan of 'Midsomer Murders' since forever, "Dead in the Water" didn't strike me as a favourite episode of mine and it still isn't. Not a terrible episode and the show has done worse, but somewhat dull and forgettable.

Starting with the good things, the production values are top notch, with to die for scenery (always wonderful to see Henley-on-Thames captured on screen, and the water is captured beautifully on camera and like its own character), the idyllic look of it contrasting very well with the story's darkness, and quaint and atmospheric photography. The music fits perfectly, and the theme tune one of the most memorable and instantly recognisable of the genre.

The highlight of the script is the humour, which is deliciously wry and hugely entertaining, and Barnaby, Scott, Joyce and Cully all have lovely moments.

John Nettles cannot be faulted as Barnaby, nor can John Hopkins and their spirited chemistry. Jane Wymark and Laura Howard give "Dead in the Water" charm and humour. The supporting cast are all fine, Diana Quick in particular, and the episode does a good job with the regatta atmosphere, being cheerful, exciting though sometimes snobby.

However, there have been more engaging cases than the one in "Dead in the Water". There are moments, with the episode starting well, but the pacing could have been much tighter, there could have been more twists and turns in the main mystery in an episode strangely lacking in them and the story less stretched-feeling, because it did feel like the writers tried to compensate for the decision to only having one murder by padding things out.

The identity of the murderer wasn't a huge shock, will admit actually to strongly suspecting them early on, and the motive was a bit dull. Also could have easily done without the theft subplot, that felt like inconsequential and muddled padding, didn't fit with the rest of the episode or the show in general, was very predictable and the way it was resolved felt like one big anti-climax in the story. Would have liked to have seen more colourful and eccentric characters, there's not an awful lot to the characters here, while much of the script is too by-the-numbers.

In conclusion, watchable but also underwhelming. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Very Poor

[Schweizer85 · 2/10 · 18 February 2021]

One of the weakest of the earlier series, certainly an anomaly of the time. Poorly written, extremely poorly acted by the whole cast apart from the regulars, a series of thoroughly dislikeable characters including a very spoilt young girl. There's no real plot to this one and the production values aren't at all up to their usual standard. Very low body count as well for Midsomer Murders. Some of the best plots of the whole series are the episodes starring Scott so it's a shame this one just doesn't match, very weak conclusion as well.

Pretty forgettable, to say the least.

[harrykivi · 5/10 · 19 April 2020]

The 8th season of "Midsomer Murders" didn't start as strongly as I would have wanted to. "Things That Go Bump in the Night" was decent, but a flawed episode. "Dead in the Water" is sadly even worse than the previous entry. It's not a bad episode, there are much worse "Midsomer Murders" than that, but in terms of the whole series, it is quite mediocre.

Let's start with good, shall we?

. The production values are usually wonderful. The music and gorgeous direction work for "Dead in the Water"'s favor. The boating sequences are especially well done!

. The cast is also enjoyable. Diana Quick and Adrian Lukis are good in particular.

. The script has some occasional sparks. Really liked the regatta setting, which is well drawn out. The dialogue is at times fun and humor mostly works. Agreed, every main character had a charming moment of their own.

But....

.After a fine set up, "Dead in the Water" unfortunately doesn't hold its premise and becomes a pretty mundane episode. The story feels padded and isn't as interesting as it should. The robbery plot is not intriguing and could have easily been cut out of the narrative.

. "Dead in the Water" also misses of neat twists and turns. The fact that Guy Sweetman's murder is the only one here, the episode feels kind of bloodless, to be honest.

. To conclude it all, the solution is not the greatest. The identity of the killer was not that surprising and motives lacklustre at best.

Overall, very forgettable, but not awful "Midsomer Murders".

5/10 HK