Alan Thorpe is a character appearing in the episode Midsomer Rhapsody of the ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders.
Alan had an affection for composing musician Joan Alder, but he ended up marrying her sister Melody. Joan was troubled by having to flee to South American with her love, John Farrow, then losing him when he was kidnapped by thugs. They both escaped separately back to Britain, John as a hermit under the alias "Hedge", Joan having died in a car accident induced by alcohol and drugs. Joan's estate went to her agent, Laura Crawford.
Alan wanted the estate for himself, so as Joan's items were being compiled, auctioned off, and immortalized into museums, Alan was concocting a scheme to try and be the sole heir and get everyone obstructing him out of the way. He made forgeries, appearing to be Joan's writing of musical manuscripts and transnational letters. He prepared to disseminate them to devalue her estate's heirs and cause chaos that would prevent the trail from leading back to him.
Alan swiped a historic manuscript where Joan and John wrote a composition together, then while he possessed it, formed a forgery complete with fictitious notations, in hopes he'd eventually set the pieces in place to claim the inheritance. He broke into the home of Arthur Leggott, Joan's music tutor, to place the forgery inside Joan's compositions for when they were to be auctioned. Arthur knew Hedge was John and wanted him to have the manuscript, so Alan worked fast. But Arthur, in his night wanders, went back to his house and came upon Alan, who bludgeoned to death with the flashlight. Alan ransacked the home to stage it only as a burglary and saved the manuscript for later.
When Harvey Crane won the papers at the auction, Alan slipped the forgery inside, eager to sell it to Owen Swinscoe, who was preserving Joan's history and turning her home into a museum. But John arrived with a love letter from Joan, which Alan knew Owen was to eventually compare to the forgery and find out the truth. After Owen hid the letter, then came out of the local pub and diner drinking, Alan jumped him while he was vomiting over the bridge and scuffled with him, demanding the letter. Owen refused, so Alan shoved him over the edge and left him to fall into the water and drown.
As Harvey knew too much, Alan left a forgery of a letter her mother Peggy burned detailing abuse Joan's second husband Michael Maybury put her through in Harvey's possession, knowing he'd use it for blackmail. After buying more items from Lee Smeeton from Joan's house, Harvey rode off on his motorcycle to try and get Michael to pay. Alan strung up a wire along the road to decapitate Marvin along the way, with Tom Barnaby and Dan Scott close behind. Scott ran into the wire trying to get to Marvin's headless corpse, revealing the cause of death. Michael, Alan having resented him marrying Joan, was left to be the prime suspect, but the investigators saw right through the ruse since they already caught onto the forgeries.
Barnaby read Melody's guest list for Peggy's wedding to Charlie Speight, and when he realized Alan wrote it, he knew he was the murderer. He and Scott broke into Alan's house to find the forging desk, and when Alan arrived after an observant neighbor called to report the commotion in his house during the wedding, Alan was arrested. The police tried to get a straight confession with the evidence, and after he started evading and denying, Alan merely boasted with conceit he was the greatest love of Joan since their school days, that they made their best music together before the men in her life took advantage of her, alleging his own entitlement to Joan's legacy. Barnaby didn't care and ordered him detained and charged, sliding discreetly into the after party to personally break the news to Melody.
Victims[]
- Arthur Leggott - Killed by a blow to the head from a torch.
- Owen Swinscoe - While throwing up on the edge of a bridge from being drunk was approached and thrown off into the river where he drowned.
- Harvey Crane - While riding his motorcycle at high speed, was beheaded by a wire that was strung across the road at the level of his neck.
- DS Dan Scott - Indirectly injured by the were strung across the road, when he ran into it to get to Harvey's headless corpse on his motorcycle.
- Michael Maybury - Attempted to frame for the murders, but was exonerated.