Midsomer Murders

How does ‘Midsomer murders’ represent Englishness?

One way in which this television show represents Englishness is through sound. One of the ways in which this is done is by the opening scenes of an episode featuring lots of digetic sound – mainly birds and other wildlife, as well as natural soft sounds. This creates an idyllic setting which is also very natural, emphasising the peacefulness associated with traditional English stereotypes. Another way in which sound represents the traditional Englishness within this TV programme is through non-digetic sound. The opening soundtrack to most of the episodes is in a happy them, bordering on jolly – this once again conforms to the traditional stereotype of a typical Englishman being just this. Another way that the traditional Englishness has been represented within an extract in which we studied was the featured music from a classical song released in the first part of the 1990’s. What this then did was portray that Midsomers’ village to be featured either during this period, or that most of the inhabitants were, and hence show the type of music they would have listened to, and still do.  Dialogue also features here, with most of the accents of the characters being ‘proper English’ or posh – portraying the Englishness in the village.

Another way in which Midsomer Murders presents Englishness is through the use of the camera. There are lots of establishing shots, most of which pan over the village – this presents Englishness because in the shots there are always views of buildings that are associated with the English – for instance there are views of churches, horse carriages, WW2 aircraft hangars, country roads and old fashioned English houses. Long panning shots also show these features to effect during the show. There are many tilt shots used also, typified in one extract in which it shows a picnic with traditional English basket. Medium shots are also featured a fair amount, most often being used when viewers are looking at a characters body language – this shots show clearly the characters body language (this often being appropriate and robust – connotation with the English).

Editing has also been used, but with not as greater affects as the other two. The main ways in which editing has been used is by most of the edits being slow in transition. This helps to present the people in this village as calm, slow, but considered – much to the connotations of the stereotypical English person.

Mise en scene plays a huge impact for the presentation of Englishness in Midsomer Murders. Scenes in which Englishness is heavily featured in midsomers’ includes; shots of country roads, picnic baskets, land rovers, post offices, ‘best kept village’ scene, classic old cars and WW2 hangars. Characters costumes are often very English in appearance, with man wearing suits and women wearing dresses. The lighting is also important – there is no artificial light used, this helps to portray the naturalness of the characters. This also ties in with the make-up, with there being minimal to no make-up on characters. Both these features once again conform to the stereotype image of the natural English person. Acting styles also feature heavily within the extracts, with the acting being conservative and considered, as would the behaviour have been of an Englishman in this time, compared to the more rebellious, free-roaming nature of character sin more modern setting dramas.