Comment on the representation of Englishness in Midsomer Murders

Midsomer Murders is a unique TV drama as it uses Englishness to differentiate itself from other British crime dramas. The mise-en-scene is a large part of the programme, for creating specific shots of representations of England, such as establishing shots of thatched cottages, old women, and people riding bicycles.

The landscape setting is one of the most important parts of Midsomer Murders' representation of Englishness. There are always several shots of fields and quaint villages, that are very traditional and have little modernisation of the present day apart from cars and such. This image that the setting is presented is very stereotypical of England, and although we all know that villages are not really like that anymore, it is immediately apparent that it is definitely set in England. Props also play a big part in representation. Glimpses of 'English' things like land rovers, horses, cottages, post offices and old fashioned telephones create an immediate recognition of the location. The actual characters also add to the Englishness. Men in chequered shirts and hats driving land rovers; typically displayed as farmers, old women with wicker baskets riding bicycles added to the background scenes create a typical rural English village look. Almost all characters speak with a proper English accent, unless their character requires other. In fact, many rural areas tend to have a regional accent, rather than proper English, which is more associated with the upper class. However, people who are not English tend to stereotype English people as being posh and upper class, so this is in keeping with others' estimations of Englishness.

Camera angles are used mainly as establishing shots, especially during opening sequences. This is to emphasise the true Englishness of the location. Also, many of them are long shots or mid shots, to capture the Englishness in the background, instead of focusing on the characters' facial expressions less often. The creators of the programme seem to pay specific attention to things in the shot that represent Englishness, such as extra cottage views in the background of foreground action. 

Sound is another important part of representing Englishness. there is a lot of non-diegetic sound, upbeat, slightly classical music which mirrors the calmness and peacefulness of the village, and eerie tension-creating music, which sounds out of place with the calm music, so it suggests that there is something going on that is out of place. There are also several diegetic noises, such as birds, cars and leaves to emphasis ruralness.

All these things mentioned all play a role in keeping Midsomer Murders exclusively English. The locations in Midsomer are always typical of English ruralness, as are props and sounds. It uses people's ideas of what Englishness it and displays it in an exact way; not realistic, yet how we imagine rural countryside villages to be like in an ideal world. it is so different from other crime dramas because of the Englishness; other drama's of the same genre are mostly city-located, modern and rely on a gripping, and maybe more complex storyline, than Midsomer.