# Midsomer Murders S01 E01 question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midsomer-murders-s01-e01-question/1018174>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\
**Created:** [May 9, 2025, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midsomer-murders-s01-e01-question/1018174 "2025-05-09T21:07:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midsomer-murders-s01-e01-question/1018174/1 "2025-05-09T21:07:00Z")

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I’ve started watching _ **MM** _ from its beginning in 1997. (Has it really been that long?!?) I finished the first episode, “The Killings at Badger’s Drift,” this afternoon.

I’m sure I missed some minor details, but one thing bugs me more than any other: What was the significance of the tea spread the undertaker and his mother served to Barnaby, Troy, and (later) Phyllis Cadell? Ms Cadell, who thought she was guilty of murdering her sister (but wasn’t), freaked out when she saw it.

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**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midsomer-murders-s01-e01-question/1018174/2 "2025-05-09T22:17:54Z")

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I don’t think she was freaked out by the tea itself, but just the situation.

I really liked that they brought those two characters back (well, the sister and nephew of those characters but same actors) in a later episode. They were so gloriously over the top. None of the many _many_ subsequent episodes had the same fizz. Maybe the one with Adrian Scarborough as the monomaniacal bell ringer.