Midsomer Murders (TV Series) Dance with the Dead (2006) User Reviews

Lifestyles of the Missing

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 18 July 2015]

"Dance with the Dead" starts the tenth season of Midsomer Murders. It's a wild one, but I liked it.

A jogger discovers a dead body in a car at an old airfield. It seems to have been carbon monoxide poisoning but it's discovered to be murder. It's a young man. The young woman he was seeing, Laura, is nowhere to be found. Barnaby and Jones check out her two jobs, one in a bar and one at a kennel, but she hasn't shown up at either place.

Ditto for where she lives, a private home where the owner took her in as a boarder.

Laura does seem to be quite charismatic, though -- the bar owner is sure she's stealing from the cash register, but he hasn't fired her.

One element of the story is an elderly woman with dementia who is waiting for her brother at the airfield, bringing him food and clothes. He was killed in World War II. The World War II theme is carried through to a nostalgia evening attended by Barnaby, Joyce, Cully, and Jones.

After the young man's murder, there is another one, that of the jogger's randy husband. There is also an attempted murder.

The question is, where is Laura?

The denouement is very good but also sad, speaking to the loneliness and isolation people sometimes feel, and how people can be deceived because of their vulnerability.

Very absorbing. Cully seems to have a mild flirtation going on with Jones, as she had one going with Troy. Nothing seems to come of these, but it's an enjoyable aspect of the characters.

A dark and twisted story of love and wanting

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 30 May 2017]

A murder occurs at a disused air field, a site with a particular memory for an elderly lady.

No shortage of suspects in this one, some very good characters, particularly Rosemary, a story seldom told on a show such as this, a woman longing for the return of her husband, perhaps suffering from dementia, beautifully portrayed by Georgine Anderson, a part that could easily have been overplayed.

Very impressed here also by Nicola Redmond, a very talented actress, sadly not on our screens often enough. Lighter moments from both the quirky dance teacher and the creepy cameraman.

I'd say this is a lot darker in tone then the usual stories, but it's very engaging, and the way it's played out, rather believable too. I love the use of 1940's music, gives it a different feel. My one objection, is there a Policeman that Cully didn't flirt with?

Very enjoyable. 8/10

The mystery of Laura in Midsomer

[safenoe · 8/10 · 8 July 2016]

Sort of a la Twin Peaks...Who killed Laura Palmer, well not Laura Palmer exactly, but the central character in Dancing with the Dead was a young lady named Laura who's presence bookended another intriguing Midsomer Murders episode.

An underlying theme of Dancing with the Dead was the poignant dementia/delusions of Rosemary (Georgine Anderson) who was awaiting the return of her brother from a WW 2 mission. Very moving.

This episode was under the executive producership of Brian True-May. Curiously, this episode featured two black male actors in the WW 2 dance night, so maybe Mr True-May cast more black actors than we thought.

Felicity Dean, who played the niece of Rosemary, is absolutely stunning! Why isn't she a major star? She is beautiful.

The bisexual theme arose towards the end of the episode, with Laura being the one who drew affections from both sides. AC/DC.

The episode also featured the song "I'll be seeing you". I love this song because it brings back memories of the final episode of one of my favorite ever TV series, Parker Lewis. The finale played this song.

This episode also featured Cully, Barnaby's daughter before she gets married.

One drawback of Dancing with the Dead - the inordinate amount of time in the WW 2 dance night. It went way too long.

Still, a fine episode.

Not great, but enjoyable!

[harrykivi · 6/10 · 13 May 2021]

"Midsomer Murders" has been one of my favorite shows for years, and I've said it numerous times, but after John Nettles left, the show hasn't been the same. But to be honest, "Midsomer Murders" started to lose something in the last seasons with Nettles as well. Starting off with the tenth season, which is much more inconsistent than the previous seasons. "Dance with the Dead" is definitely not a bad episode, it has a lot to love, but is sadly not very good at all.

Let's start with the good, shall we?

. The production values are great as usual. The music fits the scenery and is always spot on. The direction is solid and so is the acting. John Nettles and Jason Hughes are wonderful together. The guest stars are passable too. I liked Nicola Redmond and Georgine Anderson the most.

. The story has intrigue, most of it in the first half, and creepy altones with an elderly photographer making pornographic pictures of a young woman. There is quirky humor in the episode, which is always welcome. The murderer's identity (Marissa) and the motives for the murders ( a lesbian affair) were surprising, and yes, the last fiteen minutes are violent and sombre indeed.

That being said.....

. I do agree that some characters are underdeveloped here. Especially Laura Sharp, the woman, who goes missing. I was supposed to care for Laura at times and I really didn't, because she was such an under-cooked character.

. There is an effort to pad out the 1940-s setting and it just doesn't work. I personally am very interested in 1940-1950- s and the music of that era, but I found the way, how the show tried to re-create it, dull and just unnecessary. The long dancing party sequence in the middle of "Dance with the Dead" did not add anything new to the narrative, felt as padding and because of it, the second half of the episode feels a bit tame.

Overall, it's a fine entry to the series.

6/10 HK.

Very enjoyable episode

[lewis-51 · 8/10 · 18 March 2024]

The scene opens with an apparent suicide of two young people huddled together in the back of an old car. Evidently the car exhaust is being piped into the interior and they are probably dead. Meanwhile, some beautiful romantic music is playing on a CD player in the car.

The car is so old that I at first thought this was a flashback to several decades ago. But no, turns out that a man and his son (the person in the backseat) were enthusiasts of WWII era vehicles. Very sad.

But wait -- the scene is discovered the next day, but only the young man is there. What happened to the young woman who was entwined is his embrace?

This was an enjoyable mystery, as there were a good number of characters and situations. We have a 45-or-so-year old couple who can no longer stand each other, a quirky dance teacher, a younger woman with a three-year old child, an odd middle aged postmaster, a woman who runs a kennel, and a 50-something photographer with lecherous interests.

I was able to guess the culprit, as a crucial clue was shown briefly fairly early on.

I also loved the WWII era vehicles, the elderly woman pining for her lost brother, and the 1940s dance theme. Well done!

I quite liked this one.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 25 May 2009]

Midsomer Murders: Dance with the Dead is set in the small Midosmer village of Morton Fendle as local resident Frances Kirby (Felicity Dean) notices something odd while out jogging at an abandoned World War II airfield called Cooper's Cross, she notices a period car in one of the hangers & is shocked to discover the dead body of a young man named Simon Bright (Edward Davenport) inside. DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) & DC Ben Jones (Jason Hughes) are called in, at first they suspect suicide but the presence of two champagne glasses suggests a second person & a large wound on the back of Simon's had suggests murder. Barnaby quickly finds out that Simon was seeing a young girl named Laura Sharpe (Liz Watts) & that she wasn't the most trustworthy of people & had a long line of lovers in the village. As Barnaby searches for Laura another local resident Tony Kirby (Danny Webb) also turns up murdered, as things get even more puzzling the key to solving the case & unmasking a killer lies with Laura, but will Barnaby ever find her alive?

Episode 1 from season 10 this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by Peter Smith & was a pretty good way to kick off the tenth season that on occasion did remind me of the glory days of past earlier seasons. For a start there's a murder right away so there's no waiting around being introduced to boring character's that end up going nowhere, then there's the fact that the initial murder has the added intrigue & mystery surrounding the disappearance of Laura & that is what the majority of the first half of Dance with the Dead deals with. It's quite a good plot as we learn more about both Simon & Laura & what could have happened, unfortunately by the half way point the episode loses a lot of momentum & it goes into a bit of a lull which is a shame. There's one particularly annoyingly pointless scene set at a World War II dance complete with horribly outdated songs, dancing & outfits which to my eyes didn't serve any sort of purpose whatsoever except to pass twenty odd minutes & throw in a bit of nostalgia. Then Dance with the Dead kicks on with another murder & a really over-the-top climax which reminded me of earlier seasons where the killers motives were often silly but always memorable & never dull. I must admit the killer was a complete surprise, as were their motives so I suppose the mystery elements are somewhat successful here but I could see the ending might be a little bit too silly for some, honestly the motives here involve undying love, lesbians, jealousy, affairs, phone messages, bitterness & a whacked out killer who likes to bury people in their garden. Overall I really liked Dance with the Dead for it's absurdity, it's murder/missing person mysteries & a suitably silly climax but I just wish the middle third had been a bit livelier & I really could have done without that sentimental dance sequence that felt like it went on forever complete with black and white film montage of World War II planes at the end. The character's are good but at almost two hours with plenty of exposition you need to sit down & concentrate while watching it as usual otherwise it may not make as much sense as it should.

As usual the production values are top notch but that bloody period World War II music that kept playing really irritated me. There are two murders here, neither are that graphic or memorable although a bit of blood is seen. The post office used for this episode was the same one used in Things That Go Bump in the Night (2004) from season eight & the other locations are just as pretty as ever to preserve the very individual look of the show. The acting is good from both regulars & guests.

Dance with the Dead is a pretty good way to start the tenth season, at times it reminded of the show's best episode with it outrageous ending & great mystery elements but all the World War II nostalgia is distracting & I did lose interest during the middle third a bit.

A very good episode of the series. Singing by Liza Pulman was tops

[tkjunkmail · 9/10 · 16 July 2021]

A very good episode of the series. Singing by Liza Pulman tops. Her singing made the episode for me. Listening to her sing was the best part of the show.

Decent if uneven

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 9 February 2017]

Not one of the best 'Midsomer Murders' episodes, but at the same time not among the worst. For a season opener though, "Dance with the Dead" was a little disappointing (especially when many of the earlier seasons had fantastic season openers).

"Dance with the Dead's" biggest problem is the pacing, which was problematic enough to detract more than one star from the rating. The pacing is rather rambling and some of the middle third does badly drag due to padding that doesn't add as much as it thought it did, with the overlong and pretty dull dance night scene being the biggest offender. That scene was also rather pointless and seemed only to be there to pad out the running time.

The World War 2 nostalgia is a little distracting and the mystery girl was not quite developed enough for my liking to make me care for her, some of what is said about her is on the slightly strained side.

However, the production values as always are top notch, with to die for scenery, the idyllic look of it contrasting very well with the story's grimness, and quaint and atmospheric photography. The music fits perfectly, with some lush jauntiness and sometimes an ominous quality, and the theme tune one of the most memorable and instantly recognisable of the genre.

Meanwhile, the script is smart and thought-provoking with some nice humour (that luckily wasn't overused or out of place in an episode with such a serious story), a grimness and with characters that are colourful and eccentric. The story is compelling enough, with an ending that's both wacky and poignant. The killer's identity and motive are both very surprising.

John Nettles and Jason Hughes are both superb, individually and together, and the supporting cast are without complaint.

All in all, a decent episode but could have been much better with tighter pacing and much less padding. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Sad, seedy, and slow

[skipperkd · 6/10 · 20 April 2017]

I don't care for episodes that truly bring out the seedy side of humanity, but this is a murder series, so I can accept it occasionally. This episode includes sexual manipulation, preying on the vulnerable — the lonely, the elderly, etc. The murderer gained my sympathy even as I felt repulsed. I was further saddened by the age of the murdered youth. Not children, but young adult. Then there was the dirty old man. Ugh. Just lots of ugliness.

The World War II fighter-pilot theme was a plus, even though the vintage dance did go on a bit too long, slowing the pace further. I enjoyed the soprano soloist in the red dress. Memorably poignant scenes with old Aunt Rosemary, still waiting for her brother to come home from war.

Suprising, but violent ending

[vitoscotti · 6/10 · 22 December 2019]

Episode had a nice flow. Very smooth, easy to follow. Liked the WW2 nostalgia and dancing. The ending was good, but the last 10 minutes are very violent. Vito S 12/22/19

A disappointing start of the season

[zaytoon48 · 5/10 · 26 April 2013]

I found this episode to be incredibly drawn out with largely uninteresting characters as suspects and a most disappointing conclusion. The mystery girl who seems to catch everyone's fancy is never entirely convincing, and the attempts to make her so are strained and rather quite boring. The Dance with the Dead lacks the energy and charisma that make Midsomer Murders so captivating. I found myself wondering midway through if it would EVER pick up the pace and show some promise, but sadly it did not. Tom Barnaby and Ben Jones manage to carry out their investigation but with some fairly gaping deficits in detective work, such as the early-on discovery that a photograph of the mystery girl was framed and placed prominently on her unrelated landlady's bedside table!!

Very Slow Moving and Padded

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 3 April 2016]

Generally, this had a good plot. Had there been some tightness to the story (perhaps told in one hour rather than an hour and a half) it would have worked better. In order to make this happen we had repetitive scenes and extended ones that did not move the story forward (e.g. All the singing at the dance club). It begins with what appears to be the deliberate asphyxiation by carbon monoxide of two young people. When a jogger finds the car, however, there is just the boy. The girl is nowhere to be found. This sends us on a merry chase. Where is the girl? Upon investigation, it is found the boy died of a blow to the head, not from the gas. It was murder. Now we have a parade of characters who knew the kids. A woman in an unhappy marriage. A pedophile photographer. The father of the boy, etc. Meanwhile, no one can figure out where the girl is. Barnaby figures there was a second figure in the car but has no leads. If this had just been a bit more compact and not so rambling, it would have been a much more interesting offering.

Could be worse, just

[atrickyone · 4/10 · 25 January 2020]

Hammond has a poor record as writer of these shows and this was no exception. No clues whatsoever to indicate the perpetrator except that they leave an object at the crime scene which clearly leads to them. In other words, zero entertaining police work. Amateurish scripting, no discernible motive, no evidence of guilt so the murderer just confesses. Easy peasy for the constabulary. Flat characters and pedestrian pacing, padded outrageously with wartime tunes at a local dance. I should know better by now: any episode scripted by Peter J Hammond I must avoid. Actually I think my 4/10 might be generous.