Furious viewers of ITV's long-running detective series Midsomer Murders have declared they 'won't be watching again' after the season 23 finale, which aired on November 10, was branded 'horrendous' and a 'waste of time'. The episode, titled Dress To Kill, followed DCI John Barnaby and DS Jamie Winter investigating a murder linked to a charity drag event in the village of Elverton-cum-Latterly.
Fans took to social media to express their discontent, with one describing it as the 'worst, woke, box-ticking episode' they had ever watched. Another wrote: 'Please, please stop ruining perfectly good programmes... The latest episode was appalling, bad acting, poor writing and too much woke, irritating preaching.' A third added: 'I've watched every episode... most of them many times and this was the first one I've ever turned off.'
The episode's plot involved preparations for a drag show to support a terminally ill teenager, which clashed with a traditional dominoes contest. Critics accused the show of prioritising social messaging over quality storytelling. One viewer commented: 'Recorded and now deleted, won't be bothering. Final nail in this show's coffin.'
This backlash follows recent controversy over a trigger warning added to a 2004 episode, The Fisher King, which warned of 'several references to witchcraft'. Some fans found the warning misplaced given the show's history of graphic murders. Midsomer Murders has aired 23 seasons since its debut in 1997.
