The Flying Club is the fourth episode of the sixteenth series of the popular ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders and originally aired on 5th February 2014.
Synopsis[]
When the owner of Finchmere Airfield is dropped from a plane to meet a gruesome death, DCI Barnaby and DS Nelson find the exciting world of stunt pilots and military heroes hides many dark secrets. Are anti-aircraft campaigners behind Bernard King’s murder or does it link back to a tragic World War Two mission?
Plot[]
DCI Barnaby and DS Charlie Nelson investigate the murder of flying instructor Bernard King who, after being bludgeoned on the back of the head was dropped in the nearby lake from his own airplane. He worked at the nearby flying club run by Perry Darnley whose family has a long history of flying: his father won the DFC in World War II; his mother delivered airplanes from the factory to air bases as a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary; and his son Alex flies for the RAF. The murder weapon - a pipe wrench - is found in employee Duggie Wingate's toolbox but he claims to know nothing about it. Perry was restructuring the company and a number of people were going to lose their job. There is also Eddie Rayner whose daughter Jessie is working as the receptionist at the flying club and is engaged to Alex. The police have a second murder when Eddie is found dead, apparently run down by an airplane. Eddie's records of landings at night without lights suggests there was a smuggling operation at the airfield but the solution to the crime is much simpler than that.
Cast[]
- Neil Dudgeon as DCI John Barnaby
- Gwilym Lee as DS Charlie Nelson
- Tamzin Malleson as Kate Wilding
- Chris Nightingale as Bernard King
- Olly Rix as Alex Darnley (as Oliver Rix)
- Lex Shrapnel as Gavin Hopkirk
- Phil Cornwell as Eddie Rayner
- Scarlett Alice Johnson as Jessie Rayner
- Bernard Cribbins as Duggie Wingate
- Robert Bathurst as Perry Darnley
- Lucy Phelps as Sally Jackson
- Laila Rouass as Stephanie King
- Sara Stewart as Miranda Darnley
- June Whitfield as Molly Darnley
- Geoffrey Whitehead as Giles Wilding
- Jacqueline King as Laura Wilding
- Francesca Zoutewelle as Young Molly
- Stuart Bailey as Gentleman at the Flying Club (uncredited)
- Richard Banks as 1950s Retro Man (uncredited)
- Hannah Blamires as CID Officer (uncredited)
- Chris Cowlin as CID Officer (uncredited)
- Sian Doughty as Air Show Visitor (uncredited)
- John Duggan as Stallholder - Beer Tent (uncredited)
- Anthony Farrelly as Criminal Investigation Department Officer (uncredited)
- Susan Fordham as CID Officer (uncredited)
- David Golt as Airshow Spectator (uncredited)
- John W.G. Harley as Gentleman at the Flying Club (uncredited)
- Lee Nicholas Harris as Pilot Captain (uncredited)
- Barrie Martin as Gentleman at the Flying Club (uncredited)
- Martyn Mayger as Press Photographer (uncredited)
- Pete Meads as Flying Club Member (uncredited)
- John Neville as Stall Holder (uncredited)
- Andrew Parker as Flying club member (uncredited)
- Edward Scott-Clarke as Young Henry (uncredited)
- Vic Waghorn as Flying Club Member (uncredited)
- Anick Wiget as Airshow Spectator (uncredited)
- Chris Wilson as Police Officer (uncredited)
- Helen Evans as Policewoman (uncredited)
- Jacquelyn Watson McKie as Police Officer (uncredited)
Galleries[]
Body Count[]
Prior to the Episode
Took off into the storm and died in a plane accident in 1942. It was later revealed she did it to commit suicide after finding out that Henry and Molly were getting married.
Died of natural causes on the 16th of January 2002.
Died from an aneurism. ("Dead before she hits the floor" - Charlie Nelson)
In the Episode
As he saw the light in his plane turned on and went to investigate was hit on the head with a large pipe wrench. He was then put in the passenger seat, the plane took off and the body was thrown out into a lake.
While running to escape, was hit in the head by the wheel of a plane that chased him down.
Supporting Cast[]
Episode Images[]
Videos[]
Notes[]
- The following actors and actresses who appeared in this episode have also appeared in the following episodes
- Geoffrey Whitehead - Second Sight
- June Whitfield - Midsomer Rhapsody
- Sara Stewart - Death in Chorus
- Helen Evans - Murder of Innocence and The Sicilian Defence
- John Duggan - Written in the Stars, Let Us Prey and The Killings of Copenhagen
- Lee Nicholas Harris - The Sicilian Defence
- John W.G. Harley - Let Us Prey, The Ballad of Midsomer County and A Vintage Murder
- John Neville - Let Us Prey, The Dagger Club and Murder by Magic
- Andrew Parker - Let Us Prey, The Dagger Club and Habeas Corpus
- Barrie Martin - Wild Harvest
- Jacquelyn Watson McKie - Written in the Stars, A Vintage Murder, Habeas Corpus, A Dying Art and Till Death Do Us Part
- Vic Waghorn - The Dagger Club, Breaking the Chain and The Sting of Death
- The matter of how Eddie is killed by Stephanie is very similar to the iconic scene from Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest where a cropduster attempts to mow down Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) in a rural intersection.