I visited England for the first time twenty five years ago, but I had already been in love with the country for a long time before that trip. British books and British television have been a part of my life for most of it.
Since I live in the midwest, I had to find my England wherever I could. I first discovered Midsomer Murders on the public tv stations when we had few choices. Midsomer Murders will always be a favorite. The series started filming in 1997 and they are on their twenty fifth season now. (I know the numbers don't add up, but they have skipped a few, here and there.)The shows take place in the fictitious county of Midsomer, and many of the Cotswold villages. The villages have different names, but are real places in one of the prettiest areas of England. There have been over 388 murders in the 136 episodes. Many have been done very creatively. And there has been very little blood. This series has some of the wittiest dialog and beautiful houses and scenery.
I have learned a lot of valuable life lessons from this series. First, and foremost is to never go into the woods alone. Also don't go into the woods at night. Also if you answer the door and say "Oh, it's you." then you are almost sure to expire in a most tragic and unpredictable manner. Never plan a village fete. Someone will not live through the festivities. Don't eat mushrooms, especially if they were a gift. Elderly ladies on bicycles can be very dangerous. Don't eat the bunny cakes. Tea cures everything. Watch out for the milkman and the postman, or even the doctor. Sometimes they have ulterior motives when they come to call. It isn't always murder. There is a lot of hanky panky going on in those quaint little villages.
Other British channels to watch are Acorn and Britbox. Now there are so many choices. Some of the programs go on for years. Heartbeat has 18 seasons and each one has over 20 episodes. The Royal was a spin-off and some of the characters overlapped, especially in the first few seasons. Both of these shows take place in the 1960's and there are many, many songs from that time as background. Heartbeat focuses on the police force in the little villages and The Royal is set in a hospital. The two things I learned from these shows was that everyone offered visitors a cuppa tea all through the day and if you visited someone in the hospital you brought grapes! Neither of these programs focused on murder, but be prepared because they often killed off the main characters just when I really started to like them. It is very emotional television. There were many tears.
These are just a few of the many, many entertaining British programs. I like the mysteries the most. All the people are well bred and polite. We see the same actors over and over again as different characters. That's part of the fun.
When John first realized I was hooked on English murder, I think he was just a little bit worried. But he started watching them with me, and now I think he is just as involved as I am. Or, he just likes the nightly ritual of laying on the couch while I sit there rubbing his head and drinking tea. Old people romance.
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