Midsomer Murders (1997-2018)

Not to be confused with that weird cult of killer nature loving Swedish hippies movie, the fictional English town of Midsomer is the setting for Midsomer Murders (1997) the long running British TV drama. Based on the Chief Inspector Barnaby books, the show has been on ITV longer than Gen Zers have been alive! 24 solid seasons and counting! Still airing today, for some reason, this town has a lot of murders, and it’s up to Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) and later (after Nettles left the show) his nephew John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) to solve the various cases. Hallmarks of the show include a wildly high body count per episode, absurd deaths like drowning in a bowl of hard-boiled eggs or getting smeared with truffle oil so a wild boar will kill you, and the Scooby Doo style justifications behind so many of the murders. Also, some racial issues and comments about diversity that got some of the people behind the camera in major trouble. Speaking of trouble, why are there so many people being slaughtered in such a quaint country village? No good reason, but if you're a movie fan you'll see why so many early reviews of Hot Fuzz (2007) cited the show as a very probably source of inspiration. While this program isn’t known for nudity, there is some hotness! In fact, one high profile piece of man meat that made an appearance, before he sailed off with the other cutie pie-rates to the Caribbean, is the sexy swashbuckler Orlando Bloom! A very young Orlando gave us a glimpse of the future and of his sweet seat in the episode “Judgment Day”.  As he gets out of bed, the top of his posterior peeks out above the rising boxer shorts that quickly cover his pretty pearl. That ass ain't mid! Jason Hughes never hit that level of mainstream fame, which is really a shame since his ass looked pretty great when he showed it showering. And while we don't get any buns, we do see Ramon Tikaram in his boxers, though it's not as good as his work in Kama Sutra-A Tale of Love (1996). It's all homicide and hot guy backside on Midsomer Murders!