User Reviews

Several mysteries converged into one here. Firstly, the police are on the lookout for Bucketman, a mysterious figure who pours buckets of red paint and glue on flashy cars at night, then cycles away uncaught. Secondly, who is the murderer of course - one of the victims of Emily Harte played by the beautiful Josie Taylor. Also who is breaking into the office of a Midsomer University scientist who is the brains behind an air control system? Also who wants him dead, and why?

One of the Midsomer tropes was the victim who makes a phone call to a mysterious figure along the lines of "I need to see you before I call the police" and guess what, a few seconds later he's dead (in this case crushed by a car). If I had a dollar for every time someone did that in Midsomer...

I enjoyed the University choir's rendition of "A bicycle built for two" - this should on any Midsomer Murders soundtrack. The choir had some very gorgeous singers (front row of course) but it's a shame they weren't credited.

Clinton Finn, the CEO of the corporation that's invested millions in the air traffic control system, is an American. However his accent sounded like a British actor portraying an American. Clinton was played by Nigel Whitmey (who is married to the daughter of acting legend John Thaw) who was born in Canada but moved to the UK later on in life. No disrespect to Nigel, but I'm surprised he had difficulty pulling off a convincing US accent. Maybe it's because of his Canadian roots but still to many people Americans and Canadians sound alike.

The ending, when the culprit was caught raised subtle and sinister university class issues that have broader societal and racial implications. The culprit had low self-esteem because of his previous occupation as a university college porter which he felt was at odds with his son's aspirations to be vice-chancellor. It just happens Warren "Dalziel and Pascoe" Carke played an arrogant porter in the Lewis episode "Dark Matters" where he took the names of people entering the College grounds, recording it in his notebook. In fact only recently there was controversy in Christ Church College at Oxford University where a porter demanded to see the ID of a black student and his ethnic minority guests, even though white college students weren't asked of their IDs. I guess that even though some porters (as depicted in Midsomer) have social chips on their shoulders and an inferiority complex, they won't hesitate to look for another racial class to display superiority within College grounds. But once you leave the College grounds, the inferiority complex remains. Kind of reminds me of bus drivers who attempt to display racial superiority whilst stuck to their sweaty and smelly driver's seat.

There was a strong cyclist theme here, the theme of car drivers vs. cyclists, and the tension here. Surprisingly there was no theme of cyclists vs. pedestrians, especially as innocent pedestrians often have to endure the "ding! ding! ding!" of impatient cyclists ringing their bell out of rude habit - get out of my way now as though they are off to an important meeting or a heart transplant operation!!!

It might be worthwhile if the Midsomer writers had an episode with hoverboards (was it the exploding hoverboard that killed Miss Jones or were there more sinister motives?) or hot air balloons (why did Mr Gaterby fall to his death 100 metres from the air? Or was it more than a heart attack?)

It was funny seeing Barnaby driving a rally car to pursue the murderer. He does so in the middle of a bicycle run, so the cyclists have to swerve to avoid Barnaby.

I liked this episode for the characters in it.

George Jeffers (David Haig) was enjoyably eccentric as a sort of "head in the clouds" genius/professor--a decent fellow who seems to incur the wrath of everyone and the murderous intent of one person in particular.

Clinton Finn (Nigel Whitmey), the wealthy corporate manager, was sufficiently slimy. I assumed that he was going to get "knocked off" right away, and was surprised that he lasted to the end of the episode!

And Melanie Jeffers (Joanna Roth), George Jeffers ex-wife, and Tom Jeffers (James Musgrave) Melanie and George's teenage son. Both were sufficiently complex, that I never knew quite what to make of them.

I'm not sure that the story itself held together all that well.

The theoretical science stuff is above my pay grade, but it sounded sketchy--first in the theory. Next with the qualms that Jeffers now had with his theory. And finally with the university science department being so adamant on sabotaging Jeffers efforts to put a hold on the program.

The blending of theoretical science with bike racing was odd but fun. I do have to wonder though, how a retired fellow was able to be minutes ahead of everybody to a shortcut in the race route.

Midsomer Murders: The Glitch starts as rich American computer software company Soft Earth Systems boss Clinton Finn (Nigel Whitmey) is covered in red paint & glue by the mysterious 'Bucketman' who has a habit of coating Soft Earth Systems employees in the stuff & riding off on their bike. However Finn has bigger problems as hot shot scientist & Midsomer resident George Jeffers (David Haig) as he has found a fatal flaw in the air traffic control software system he invented which could cause lots of people to die if it was ever implemented & used, having invested millions of pounds & years of research into the project Finn needs to silence Jeffers. Then a primary school teacher named Emily Hart (Josephine Taylor) is knocked down & killed in a hit & run, DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) is convinced she was deliberately killed & feels that maybe Jeffers was the intended victim & there are no shortage of suspects as a lot of people stand to lose a lot if he goes public with the software glitch...

Episode 4 from season 10 this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by Richard Holthouse & to me was strictly average at best. Right, first off The Glitch is one of those episodes in which virtually nothing happens for thirty odd minutes as it takes that long for the first murder to occur. Sure there's character development & scene setting but it does get old quite quickly & a lot of it feels like padding. The actual murder mystery elements here in The Glitch are reasonable if a little forgettable, the motives revealed at the end are actually quite dull in what has to be the shortest confession scene in Midsomer Murders history as the killer simply admits to the murders & thirty seconds later case closed. There's a sub-plot about cycling which interested me as I actually ride a bike to work on the weekend (no bus service that early on Saturday or Sunday here) & I have to admit to absolutely hating it! I don't care how healthy it is or any of that rubbish, it's boring, it is not fun, it takes a lot of effort & after cycling to work & doing some serious graft I have the unpleasant task of cycling home & once I get there I am to cream crackered to do anything. I hate bikes, I hate cycling & all the members of that cycling club in The Glitch are mad. The killer is unexpected but does feel like an afterthought as they barely feature in the episode until that point, lots of exposition & a forgettable plot that feels rather mundane means The Glitch really isn't more than average Midsomer Murders.

Here in this episode Barnaby gets to tear up some country lanes as he takes a ride in a rally car at the end in the episodes best moment. There are two murders here with neither being that imaginative. Looking as nice as ever Wellington College in Berkshire was used as the location for St. Frideswide's. British actor & his trademark moustache David Haig appears while the writers seem to keep insisting on writing almost random parts for that Gail Stevens who is now a detective in The Glitch & not a WPC as the IMDb suggests.

The Glitch is an OK Midsomer Murders but with some uninspired kills & a forgettable plot it's no more than average.

Interesting ideas, and as ever, the scenery was magnificent. But, this episode is lacking somewhat and both murders are ludicrous. I thought the bucket man stuff was far more interesting than the actual murder case. Clinton Finn was too obvious a suspect and it's a pity that slimy weasel wasn't bumped off. I found his accent a bit suspect. The killer's motives are a bit underwhelming and I agree with others that the denouement was a bit rushed.

It's quite obvious that all of the staff at the tech firm drive like maniacs and as Jones is supposed to have been investigating the bucket man case for a number of weeks, how come he or nobody else seems to have noticed this and they haven't been done for dangerous driving? And speaking of dangerous driving, would a police officer really endanger lives as recklessly as Barnaby did towards the end?

For the first murder it seems strange how Barnaby jumps to the conclusion that Jeffers was the intended target. This seems to be based mainly on the fact that the victim was riding Jeffers' bike. Would someone in a car really be able to distinguish one bike from another in the middle of the night in unlit woods? And what was the killer doing there anyhow? Just hanging about in the hope that Jeffers might go for a midnight bike ride?

The second murder was equally ludicrous. The killer just happened to be there as the phone call was made. Why? Also, why did Snape call Jeffers before calling the police? What had Jeffers got to do with the car? It didn't make sense.

David Haig gave a great performance, the best thing in the episode.

As said before, the 12th season of "Midsomer Murders" is not one of the best of the series. The first three episode of the season are fine, but "The Glitch" is easily one of the weakest of the season. It's not awful, just very average.

Let's start with the good, shall we?

. The production values of the episode are great as usual. The direction's solid and the music fits the scenery. The acting's good too. The leads are always wonderful, but out of the enjoyable guest stars David Haig and Nigel Whitney fare the best.

. There is some intrigue here and there. "The Glitch" contains few interesting twists, the bucket-man subplot is entertaining and the ending has excitement in it.

But....

. The story lacks really lacks of compelling characters, which makes the episode quite boring at times. The solution ( Edward being the killer) was disappointing at best, because the motives for the murders are very lacklustre. There could have much more twists and turns in the narrative as well.

Overall, an okay episode.

5/10 HK.