Midsomer Murders: The Killings at Badger's Drift on tour - cosy crime on stage

★★★

I can't pretend to have watched any of Midsomer Murders.

Photo by Manuel Harlan

So, the Badger's Drift murders, which happened to be the first of 400-odd episodes that have since been aired on television and are now the first to have been adapted for the stage, were totally new. I was ready to crack the case.

The theatre is filled to the rafters with armchair detectives who, throughout, whisper their theories and relish in the camaraderie expected from the cosy crime franchise. Daniel Casey, best known for playing Sergeant Troy in the ITV series, has been promoted to Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and gets as close to an entry applause as you can get here in the UK. Playing his trusty, eager-to-please sidekick on stage is an excellent James Bradwell. When Lucy, a concerned friend of recently deceased pensioner Emily Simpson, is found dead in her house, busts into the station and demands an investigation, the trio discover more than they anticipated.

Guy Unsworth's theatrical adaptation follows the familiar formula of British whodunnits. The idyllic small village is riddled with secrets, affairs, wealth and rivalry - at ends with the picturesque Cotswolds-y setting. Badger's Drift is depicted using gorgeous miniature model village replicas (set design by David Woodhead) that bask in the warm lighting in an iron wrought window at the back of the stage. Set pieces roll in and out with the ease of a mid-July breeze, transporting audiences to lavish homes furnished with antiques, and occupants, Iris and Dennis Rainbird, who are curiosities themselves.

There's a true delight in the eccentricity long associated with Midsomer Murders. Alongside copious cups of tea and blooming hanging baskets filled with flowers, there are brutal murders and shocking revelations. This is mimicked in the script, which serves the bravado of middle-class British talk about opera and extra-marital affairs with a whiff of naughtiness, wordplay and innuendo delivered by a wealth of characters - some way more interesting than others.

The multi-rolling cast is all equally delightful, but it's Chandrika Chevli who gets the biggest applause of the night for her dual role as the leopard-print-clad shopaholic Barbara Lessiter and the gruff-voiced groundskeeper Dickie Whiteley, who, in one sequence, are being interrogated side-by-side. Also fantastic is Julie Legrand's Mrs Bellringer, who keeps the cops in check, and the flamboyance of Rupert Sadler's Dennis in contrast to the bored, tragic artist Michael Lacey.

Speaking of art - the theme extends to the painted panels on set - Unsworth has used artistic licence as a director to really draw in on creative storytelling. The breakthrough of the case is revealed in a particularly artsy sequence set to the opening theme tune, gnomes help to relay the key information as it is gathered, and a car radio gives more clues than expected. It is a shame, then, without the constraints of a television slot, that the show loses momentum and feels much too long for the climax delivered.

I shan't be rushing to binge all of Midsomer Murders, but from everything I know, and everything I observed from its hoards of fans, this is a faithful adaptation that will surely delight.