Hölle der Gewalt (1983)

Hölle der Gewalt: Directed by Frank Shields. With Kerry Mack, Ralph Schicha, Gabriella Barraket, Judy Nunn. Horrific true tale set in late-1970s Australia and later West Germany about an abused wife who learns in horror that her sadistic German-born husband is actually a fanatical neo-Nazi.

“The cases of Chief Inspector Barnaby, a respectable middle-aged family man and a good old fashioned copper and his young sergeant Gavin Troy who is rather touchy and immature and is always jumping to conclusions during investigations. All of the duou0026#39;s cases take place in the picturesque yet fictional county of Midsomer which must have the highest death rate anywhere in the world!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis highly popular detective series was first aired on 23 March 1997 when the pilot episode u0026quot;The Killings At Badgers Driftu0026quot; was transmitted. ITV announced it as a one off film but it was very successful with figures in the region of 13.5 million viewers, and the film won the Best Drama Award that year. The film was based on the 1987 novel by Caroline Graham which was regarded by the Crime Writersu0026#39; Association as being one of the Top 100 crime novels of all time. The initial series which followed was based on Grahamu0026#39;s other four Inspector Barnaby novels, these were u0026quot;Written In Bloodu0026quot;, u0026quot;Death Of A Hollow Manu0026quot;, u0026quot;Death In Disguiseu0026quot; and u0026quot;Faithful Unto Deathu0026quot;. Having filmed the majority of Grahamu0026#39;s novels featuring Barnaby (A Place Of Safety u0026amp; Ghost In The Machine have not been filmed as yet) the producers turned to other writers to provide new stories for the subsequent five series. These have included contributions from prolific and accomplished writers such as Anthony Horowitz (u0026quot;Agatha Christieu0026#39;s Poirotu0026quot;), Douglas Watkinson (u0026quot;The Professionalsu0026quot;, u0026quot;Boonu0026quot;, u0026quot;Emmerdaleu0026quot;) and Christopher Russell (u0026quot;The Billu0026quot;, u0026quot;Cadfaelu0026quot;). In the past six years since it made its debut on British television there has been nearly thirty episodes and there is no hint of the series finishing yet. The series is notable in that it has brought John Nettles back to prime time TV after the u0026quot;Bergeracu0026quot; series finished in 1993. In this series he played Sergeant Bergerac, a Jersey copper fighting alcoholism and has had uncomfortable relationships with several girlfriends, a role far removed from that of Inspector Barnaby.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe first episode of the seventh series entitled u0026quot;The Green Manu0026quot; was aired on 2 November 2003. Daniel Casey who plays Sergeant Troy has left the series. The character has been promoted to Inspector and is leaving Midsomer to take up a position in Newcastle. John Nettles will have a new sidekick in John Hopkins as Sergeant Scott who will be introduced when the remainder of the series is broadcast in January 2004.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Midsomer Murdersu0026quot; is a wonderful series, although like many long running series, it has occasionally fallen below itu0026#39;s own standard in that the ideas for new plots sometimes becomes strained after so many episodes. The characters are rich and well realised by first class actors and it gets full mileage out of itu0026#39;s rural setting. Guest stars have included Alan Howard (the nephew of Leslie Howard) and Samantha Bond (Miss Moneypenny in all the James Bond films since u0026quot;Goldeneyeu0026quot;). The quality of this series to my mind is that it should make it to the big screen someday. There would be no need to change anything as all the ingredients for a good cinema feature are there already. These days most of the quality stuff is on the small screen and a lot of mediocre stuff is lumbered on our picture houses.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt has been announced that John Nettles will be quitting the show after playing Inspector Barnaby for twelve-years since the show made its debut. However, he will still be seen in it until 2011 and it looks very much like the show will still continue very much in the manner of other TV shows such as Taggart and McCallam, which carried on without their title characters.”