Dance with the Dead

Series Ten, Episode One

Dance with the Dead

Airdate

12 November 2006

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Dance with the Dead is first episode of the tenth series of the popular ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders and was originally aired on 12th November 2006.

Synopsis

A disused airfield near Morton Fendle is the location for a romantic evening between young Simon Bright and his girlfriend Laura Sharp - absolutely nothing could ruin their date. The next morning, when Frances Kirby is out for her morning jog, she notices the vintage car they were in up at the airfield, containing Simon Bright's dead body, with Laura nowhere to be seen. Confused, DCI Barnaby and DS Jones can't work out whether it was a suicide pact or murder. Furthermore, they've got to find Miss Sharp and their investigation leads them to linking Simon and Laura with the villagers of Morton Fendle, who met at Elaine Trim's dancing classes. Eventually, the Barnaby family plus Jones make it to a 40s style dance night at the village hall before more villagers start turning up dead.

Plot

DCI Tom Barnaby and DS Ben Jones investigate the death of Simon Bright who is found dead inside an old World War II vintage Humber parked at an abandoned airfield. From all appearances, the death appears to be a suicide, but the pathologist determines that the man suffered a severe blow to the head and may in fact have been unconscious when he died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Simon Bright's girlfriend, Laura Sharp, is nowhere to be found, but the death of the aging village Lothario and the attempted murder of another of her friends narrows the list of possible murderers somewhat. Barnaby is convinced that one of Laura's ex-lovers is responsible but given her rather active life, the question becomes which one?