Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland, Griff Rhys Jones, Imogen Stubbs, Wendi Peters, Jacquetta May, Jack Fox, Bryan Dick, Nina Toussaint-White, Derek Griffiths, Renee Castle, Ben Starr, Aaron Anthony.

Perhaps in all the ways someone can die at the hands of a murderer, it may be surprising that the creative team and the multitude of writers of Midsomer Murders have never considered using bees as a means of delivering the final, fatal blow.

The dance to which these creatures is not an allusion of language as they waggle their venom in the direction of the intended victims, but it is one that pays homage and instruction to the profession and lore of apiculture, and as the mystery unfolds so to does the appreciation to the legends and myths of bees, and whilst the murder investigation is one of assured challenge, it is to what many might list as the distraction in the pot that sets up the mental framing and chase of the tale.

For those that find the theatre daunting, to be able to watch Imogen Stubbs in any television series is more than a blessing, it is a moment of joy, and in Julia Gilbert’s superbly entertaining screenplay of The Sting Of Death, the prestigious actor dominates the scenes, and alongside the excellent Griff Rhys Jones, Wendi Peters and Derek Griffiths, the episode captured the essence of the small village harbouring secrets, the intense rivalries and jealousies that are pronounced in larger town and cities, but are magnified, often more brutal when set down in a place of less than a couple of hundred people.

If anything, The Sting Of Death is worthy of the Queen of detective fiction, Dame Agatha Christie herself, as the plot unfolds and DCI John Barnaby, as ever played with a sense of immaculate poise by Neil Dudgeon, the truth behind the murders is one to make the viewer catch their breath. This is not a tale of greed or possession, but of anger and revenge, and it is in that emotional bag that the sense of conviction and empathy for the murderer can catch the unsuspecting armchair detective out.

“Bees swarm before death…” and in this case, death is perhaps viewed as sweet, rewarding, for the motive of the killer is one that can be seen as justified; extreme, violent, and concerning for certain, but arguably justified and rationalised.

Ian D. Hall