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At a music school, a gifted piano student, Zoe Stock, thinks that she sees a woman drown after leaving her baby on the bank. She jumps in but doesn't see the woman, and there's no baby. Barnaby & Jones are called in, and though there is no proof that anything happened, Barnaby vaguely remembers an actual, similar drowning that took place about 18 years earlier. Back then, the body was found by a Catholic priest, Father Gregory.

Zoe is competing to participate in a master class run by the world-famous Sir Michael Fielding (James Fox); the school is administered by his daughters Miriam and Constance (Sylvestra Le Touzel and Frances Barber). Only three students from the current crop will be chosen, and when they are, Zoe is one of the three, along with Orlando (Matthew James Thomas), and Francesca (Katharine Press). The winner of the Fielding Prize is assured an international career.

When an attempt is made on Zoe's life, Barnaby investigates further, and then the bodies start falling. Is it the rejected student, who is still hanging around, responsible? Or is it someone else? The denouement of this story is bizarre, and you'll be trying to figure it out through the film. A dark story and an excellent one, with some well-drawn characters and excellent performances.

Highly recommended.

Renowned pianist Sir Michael Fielding runs a school for talented young piano players. We meet four such, headlined by the very promising Zoe Stock. At least two parents are working behind the scenes to see that their child gets an unfair advantage in the competitions.

Against this basic backdrop we meet in addition a priest and nun who seem to know something no-one else does, the strange and intense daughters of Sir Michael, and a somewhat odd proprietor of a local bar. What does he know about the events of 18 years ago?

After an attempted murder fails, two of the characters really are murdered. What is going on? Zoe seems to be in the center of it.

This is a strange, and some would say, contrived, plot. While I was piecing together a lot of it, I certainly didn't anticipate the odd twist at the end. Is it too much, just too unlikely? You decide! In any event, definitely recommended. Don't miss it.

Talented piano student Zoe Stock has won a place at the Devington winter school taught by celebrated pianist Sir Michael Fielding. By the river in the grounds of the manor she sees a woman abandon a baby on the banks and jump in. Zoe tries to help but the current is too strong. The woman drowns and her body vanishes.

With no body and no baby, just gut instinct, DCI Barnaby is convinced Zoe saw something. His suspicions are confirmed when a hooded figure tries to kill Zoe at a nearby abbey. Soon after, Barnaby does have very real dead bodies as he struggles to solve what will become the most disturbing case of his career, and prevent others falling victim to the killer.

Well, what a story! I was beginning to think the series has lost it, but this sort of episode proves there's life in the old dog yet! All the producers need to do is hire the right script writers and the series can go on indefinitely! Unfortunately though, one brilliant episode once in a blue moon doesn't bode well for the series.

Master Class, by Nicholas Martin, is packed full of intrigue, twists and turns, subtle humour (not pantomime as has been the case recently) and a solution to the mystery that is genuinely horrific. Also, there are some brilliant actors in this one, who after reading the script must have really wanted to be a part of it. Lydia Wilson, who plays Zoe, i suspect is a name to watch out for. She's a star in the making.

Not only one of the best for years but one of the best ever.

Note to producers: Keep Nicholas Martin as a regular writer. He's a genius! And get rid of the dead wood!

A definite contender for one of Midsomer's top 5 stories. A few dogs had gone before and interest in the show was starting to falter, boy did they come up with the goods for this one, how could they fail with a family consisting of Sylvestra Le Touzel, James Fox and Frances Barber, they are all so good.

Zoe Stock (Lydia Wilson) a talented pianist at a masterclass school sees a woman fall in a river and drown, a deep, dark and intriguing story follows, with a lot of twists and turn. Plenty to retain the viewers interest, the ending is very dark and chilling.

Screenplay writer Nicholas Martin did an amazing job writing Masterclass, he then went on to pen possibly the worst ever episode, Night of the Stag, talk about from the sublime to the ridiculous.

I must point out that Joyce is particularly annoying here, and once again she has a new job at the place of a murder, she must have kept Job Centre Plus busy. Despite the minor flaws, this one ranks as a classic.

Never is boring throughout. Lydia Wilson as Zoe Stock is marvelous. Curious, who were Fielding's daughters and sons mother? Zoeys? Not one pianist in the cast? They never show a pianist face and fingers tinkling the ivories at the same time. I like Joyce is put into some episodes like this involved in a minor role tied in to the story. The more of her the better. Barnaby couldn't crack the original case as a young detective. Vito S 3-6-20

After so many recent disappointments, this was an outstanding mystery. I think that for once, Barnaby and his family aren't center stage. A strange series of events have taken place involving a piano school where the master can make or break a career. A pretty young woman is a classical virtuoso and is the favorite to take the prize. But there is something strange going on among the people that are intimately involved in the studio. This young woman is very fragile and her competitors begin to play mind games with her, including their parents. One day she sees (or thinks she sees) a woman with a baby drown. The police are brought in, but no body can be found. The conclusion to this episode is striking and well conceived. My faith is being restored.

As has been said by me a number of times, 'Midsomer Murders' is one of my most watched and most re-watched shows. It is nowhere near as good now and the Tom Barnaby-era wasn't alien to average or less episodes, but when it was on form or at its best boy was it good.

This review summary may sound ridiculously hyperbolic for a show that has been wildly hit and miss and mostly pretty stale since Season 10, but it is proof that once in a while a not-so-good period in a show's run can produce the odd gem. This is the case with "Master Class", not only is it easily the best episode of Season 13 (a season that saw embarrassments such as "The Made-to-Measure Murders" and especially "Blood on the Saddle") but to me it is also the best 'Midsomer Murders' episode since "The House in the Woods" way back from Season 9.

So many great things in "Master Class". First and foremost, the production values as always are just great, 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.

Writing provokes a lot of thought, and has a healthy balance of the humorous and the darkly twisted, contrary to a previous commentator calling it silly and ridiculous (adjectives to me best suited to the likes of "Blood on the Saddle" and "Shot at Dawn") "Master Class" was the closest the show has come in a while to have the maturity seen in "classic" (Seasons 1-7 mainly) 'Midsomer Murders'.

"Master Class" story is absorbing throughout and is one of the show's darkest, complex and full-of-twists-and-turns episodes in a long time without being simplistic or incoherent. Sure, there is padding, which tended to be a very bad thing in recent episodes, but because the characterisation and their conflicts and twists and turns are fascinating, serve a point and feel relevant and come together at the end this was a rare case of what could have been a big problem was not.

Characters are closer to the more colourful and eccentric characters of the classic era rather than the lifeless ones that too many of the recent episodes had and while the conclusion is somewhat bizarre (more often than not not a good adjective) it is strikingly twisty, with the motives more inspired than the dull, flimsy and old-hat motives of many recent episodes and almost a return to the wonderfully elaborate and twisted ones, and just about easy to understand, so long as the rest of the episode has fullest attention.

John Nettles and Jason Hughes are both superb, individually and together (their chemistry, and the chemistry with Daniel Casey and John Hopkins before Hughes, being a huge part of their episodes' charm). Lydia Wilson proved one to watch and James Fox sinks his teeth into his role.

In conclusion, masterly episode and one of the best of the show in some while. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This is really one of my favourite episodes of Midsomer Murders. Actually all Barnaby films are really good and I really enjoy this fantastic TV show. Above all I like the cases that are connected with the past. And this is such one.

The talented, successful young pianist Zoe takes part in a piano competition by the famous pianist Sir Michael. He is looking for young talents for his Master Class. But having won the competition and then being a part of Sir Michael's selection, she is suddenly confronted with her past - or what seems to be her past although she had nothing to do with the strange experiences before. Near Sir Michael's estate she sees a young woman running to a river where she drowns herself. However, Inspector Barnaby and his team don't find anything there...

This is really one of the mysterious cases that reminds me of the earlier episodes somehow. It is filled up with many occurrences; Barnaby soon finds out that something very bad happened about 20 years ago. And soon the first murders take place. It is almost shocking what is hidden behind all those murders and once again the TV show clarifies human abysses. I mean how could it have been done?

In conclusion, a very thrilling episode.

I do so hate it when the details aren't right. As a person with porphyria I can say that heme arginate wouldn't be stored in a bottle on a shelf, "ready to ingest" as it were. It's an intravenous medication. Always. It was never anything else. (Doc Martin got their facts wrong too.) Theologically, that was no Catholic church, and no religious sister would assist at communion, though I suppose Barnaby can be excused for not catching that one because she needed the DNA? Oh except even the most basic DNA test requires about a spoonful of saliva. How do I know? From my genetic testing to determine what type of porphyria I have. The implication yet again is that porphyria is a disease caused by inbreeding. In reality it's totally random.

Three strikes means "you're out" in American baseball, and as soon as I saw the pub owner wearing sunglasses indoors, I knew the entire plot. That's a symptom of untreated porphyria.

So very disappointing.

A very good murder mystery. The central theme of this episode is similar to the fist Midsomer Murder episode written but the author Caroline Graham. The tone is rather dark and this would rank as one of the 5 best stories in the series. Lydia Wilson is remarkable as Zoe and so is James Fox. Nettles and Jason Hughes has excelled themselves in this story. The series was going nowhere with some silly and ridiculous stories. I was about to give up however, this episode had tempted me to keep on going. Apart from this, I wanted to see John Barnaby in action as the new DCI in the series. I sincerely hope future episodes would be as good as this one.

Absolutely riveting. Genius, music and the perversions of musical genius that sometime obliterates everything. Everthing is sacrificed at the alter of music. My favorite Midsomer Murder episode.

Well, I'm off the Midsomer Habit.

Routine sloppy handling of evidence, eh. Routine illegal searches (which apparently never cost the Crown at trial), eh. Routine "the killer is a nutter!", eh. Routine "get there in the nick of time to thwart the last murder attempt", eh. Routine script writing dependent upon weird, impossible time compressions (going from Point A to Point B, interviewing someone and getting back again waaay too soon) (on site pathology staying from dawn to dusk or, gone in an hour or so, whatever), eh.

I can live with all that. It's just a TV show, after all. They're on a budget, they're on a deadline, they have to keep crankin' 'em out. Over all, not a bad example of the BBC detective genre. Entertaining enough.

All that, and I was still not off the Midsomer habit.

But one aspect Has been piling up.

The constant habit of every woman who finds a body has to scream has annoyed me from the first. (Men, pretty much never.) (Maybe 2 exceptions each in ~70 scripts.) Then several episodes ago the new DC walks away from a witness interview to cry about the school children who've lost their teacher. Except I don't recall any of the four other cops ever having to stop their job to cry. Barnaby tells the DC that's OK. Except Barnaby has usually mocked his junior officers when they have shown any revulsion to a gruesome murder. Oh. Did I mention this emotional reaction was on the part of the woman officer?

But, I'm still watching.

In this episode a strong willed (defies her parents, is focused on her career goal, etc.) woman, suddenly gives in to a man she HAS SEEN & KNOWS is faithless and untrustworthy and self-centered. Because, you know, he's a man. Handsome. And she wanted him before. So all she's learned about him cannot outweigh her need for him, the Handsome Man.

Then, the topper. Here in "Master Class", Barnaby tells - nay, Orders - his DC, "You look after her, Stevens, No one is to talk to her, no one. Alright?" That's pretty cut and dried, is it not? And the Detective Constable lets not one, but THREE people in to talk with the person of interest. Heck, the Detective Constable even BRINGS THE PERSON A MILE OR MORE AWAY FROM WHERE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO STAY TO SEE AND TALK TO SOMEONE. Oh, but this Detective Constable is a poor little, weak, sympathetic, wussy WOMAN Detective Constable. She can't really be expected to FOLLOW ORDERS like her male counterparts. I know this is so, because Barnaby never corrects, never reprimands, never penalizes her. Because, you know, she's just a woman. Of course she can't stop people from entering a room. Of course she will LEAVE THE PERSON ALONE with other folks because, safety and the investigation be da__ed, it's just Right to not interfere in someone else's business. Of course we can't expect her to act like a Real (read, male) Detective Constable.

I am so tired of this. The "allowances" for the fair sex. The scripts that use a woman's "weaknesses" as plot points. (I was a fan of Scott & Bailey until they kept kidnapping a cop and it was always a woman cop, all the way to the CHIEF DCI woman cop.) The routine "otherwise smart woman lets obviously lousy man woo her" bit.

That's it. I'm off the Midsomer habit.

In Midsomer Murders Series 13, Episode 5, "Master Class," the plot hinges on the dark past of a man with a sinister obsession with eugenics. The improbability of his affair with someone, whom he cruelly dismissed as "an idiot," feels highly improbable. His belief in superior genetics clashes with the notion that he would sleep with someone he deemed intellectually inferior. This inconsistency weakens the plausibility of the storyline, making it hard to reconcile his ideology with his actions, despite the episode's overall atmospheric tension.

Also the fact that a small baby, now grown up, could remember details of her abandonment is not just unlikely but impossible!