In pretty much every episode of “Midsomer Murder” with an outdoor night time scene, sooner or later you hear a cry. A sort of loudish “YAWWK.” At first I thought it might be the death cry of some animal, but sometimes you’ll hear it repeatedly, just a couple minutes apart, and I don’t think there would be that many animals getting offed that quickly. So, maybe some bird?
Anybody know?
I believe it’s a fox.
This old blog talks of the gratuitous use of fox and owl sound effects
I am not sure I agree. I live in a town, but I have a family of foxes living in my back garden, and quite often hear fox cries at night.
On the other hand, fox calls don’t really say “rural” any more in Britain. There may be more urban ones now.
Foxes, eh? Thanks!
Off to google for an audio sample, just to make sure…
Shoot, too late to edit, but I found a video called ‘Cry of the Red Fox’ and that is absolutely it.
Thanks again for solving that little mystery. It nagged at me for at least two seconds every time I heard it. 
London set soap Eastenders also uses that same wretched fox sound any time people venture into any sort of woodland at night. It’s very irritating. If they want eerie I don’t know why they don’t use tom cat calls and the sound of catfights.
It’s night in Midsomer county in the UK, and evil is afoot (this happens often there, surprisingly). Suddenly the quiet night is rent by the shriek of some nocturnal denizen of the woods…piercing, frightening, and reminiscent of a fisher cat here in the US (except I don’t think they have those in the UK). What could it be? Some kind of owl? A velociraptor?
It starts in earnest around 00:50 here…but honestly, pick any episode and you might hear it. What the hell is that?
My god, it was so strange I didn’t thinkto look. Mods, please delete this thread!
A fox. I have only heard them on TV programmes such as MM, but they are pretty unmistakable.
No need to delete, I think. Other people might have the same question.
Threads merged.