by Ben Hogwood

Yesterday we heard of the sad news of the death of Jim Parker – who, as this wonderful Guardian obituary illustrates, was a composer of rare talent for the small screen.

One of Parker’s calling cards was the music to the much loved British TV mainstay Midsomer Murders. If you’ve watched any of the episodes you will be aware of the musical attention to detail in the scene setting, Parker providing a vivid guide to the action taking place on screen, and hamming up the drama as and when needed.

That’s before we get to the theme, of course, which has become one of the most distinctive on TV with its gurgling clarinet and spooky mellotron.