(Untitled)

[richenda]

Hurrah! I can now post in Rich T ext without having to open IE separately!
Double hurrah! It has stopped raining - for the first time since Friday afternoon (unlesss it stopped while I was asleep.)

There is washing on the line and I have swept vast quantities of leaves and other gunk out of the policies.

Most of Anglesey was recently told to boil

Comments

[saare_snowqueen]

ooxc is a wise person - unfortunately. Happy to read that sharedkitty is feeling better. Maybe you all needed some time to decompress. I lurve Midsomer.

[richenda]

One of yesterday's Midsomer episodes was particularly pleasing, because we both grew up near the Thames, in Berkshire and Oxfordshire.
I'm not sure where Midsomer is supposed to be - I know some of the scenes are Bucks as well as Oxfordshire.
Hurrah for Freeview that gives us these excellent repeats!

[todayiamadaisy]

At the risk of sounding stupid... is Midsomer not supposed to be in Somerset, regardless of where it's filmed? That's what I've always assumed, just from the name. I'll have to recalibrate my mental map if it's not!

[richenda]

Could be - but that regatta looked very much like a Thames event!
Which river would it be (supposed to be) in Somerset?

[richenda]

I wonder if the spelling of the word Midsomer has confused you? I found this:
http://www.itv.com/Drama/copsandcrime/midsomermurdersweekend/default.html

"I love it, so when I was offered the chance to interview Nettles, I took myself to Buckinghamshire, where most of the crimes are committed, and also followed a new Midsomer Murders Trail, devised by Buckinghamshire Tourism"

[richenda]

Now this is really exciting! The regatta was filmed at Maidenhead, where ooxc spent her childhood!

http://www.geocities.com/televisioncity/satellite/9476/maidenheadloc.htm

This doesn't dispute your point that it's "supposed" to be Somerset, but that did look a very typically Thames event

[todayiamadaisy]

I was coming to it as a foreigner with no idea of where it's filmed. So, yes, I was just going on the name, rather than any geographical clues.

All I can tell is that people in Morse stories travel to London as a day trip, but that doesn't seem possible from Midsomer as characters who go to London generally seem to stay overnight. Ergo, Midsomer is further away from London than Oxford is... but that doesn't give a clue about the direction that it's in.

On the other hand, I'm sure I remember reading one of the original Midsomer Murders novels, with Sgt Troy being described as (a) local and (b) having an Oxfordshire accent. But the Troy of the books is also married, red-headed and mean, which is a big change from TV Troy.

Basically, I don't know. I think Midsomer might be a state of mind. :-)

[richenda]

http://richenda.livejournal.com/89769.html?replyto=244393
repared to find myself wrong, but I don't think that the somer has anything to do with Somerset.
Day trips - this works for and against both ways. Oxford City can be a very different case from the rest of Oxfordshire, and you can certainly do a day trip from Bath or Bristol, provided you can get to the city!
Ooxc used to go to school by train from London, which went on to Bath or Bristol (she can't remember which) and that was in about 1959! So, even then, you could do the city to city journey in two hours, against one hour to Oxford.

[richenda]

You've got me onto a geekish search now!
Here's something!

"The first recorded use of the name and derivation of Somerset was AD 1015, Sumaersaeton, the land of dwellers (Saete) dependant on Sumerton (a summer-only settlement)."
So you could have something about "state of mind". How often de we see winter in Midsomer?

[richenda]

Here's a really funny take on Midsomer.
The Spread Eagle Hotel in Thame, Oxfordshire, was used in an episode called Midsomer Life
http://www.geocities.com/televisioncity/satellite/9476/thameloc4.htm
I noticed, for the first time, in last night's repeat of Down Among The Dead Men, that the pub owner was called Fothergill - the name of the real -life and eccentric proprietor of the Spread Eagle - and the actor strongly resembled the real-life Fothergill - but the Plough was very different from the Spread Eagle!

[todayiamadaisy]

Well, that's just messing with our heads. :-)

You mentioned earlier about how rarely we see winter in Midsomer... well, I'm watching a Christmas episode (Days of Misrule) as I'm typing this. Definitely set in winter, although not particularly wintry. Their seasons must go: 51 weeks of summer, one week of Christmas.

[richenda]

it also messed with my head that I was quite sure that the seaside scenes were filmed in Dorset - I was even sure that I'd walked one of the parths they walked - and they turned out to be in devon.
I've just found a "map of the fictitious county of Midsomer". Would you like a link?

[todayiamadaisy]

That would be lovely, thank you! Then I'll be able to follow the route from Causton to, ooh, Badger's Drift next time there's a murder. :-)

[richenda]

Here it is - you need to scroll down the page for the map

http://www.midsomermurders.net/about.php?id=menu

[todayiamadaisy]

Thank you! I didn't realise there were quite so many of those little villages (and every one a dangerous place).

[richenda]

This evening (Monday) John Nettles is on TV visiting some of the sets used for Midsomer - I haven't got a DVD, but do you know anyone who could record it for you?