Quad-City Times from Davenport, Iowa • 131

Tis the season for 'Midsomer Murders' on By Kate O'Hare TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES with his life, altogether." Barnaby doesn't need any dark corners in his life' he encounters enough of those in his work. In "The Killings at Badger's Drift," an elderly spinster (Renee Asherton) witnesses a shocking event while hunting for rare orchids in the forest, and winds up paying for her curiosity with her life. Urged on by the victim's lifelong friend (Rosalie Crutchley), Barnaby investigates what is first thought to be a death from natural causes, and stumbles across murders old and new, tied in a web of blackmail ensnaring the apparently idyllic English village. "Graham's books are very English," says Nettles. "It's like Agatha Christie on speed.

The style and plotting has to do with Agatha Christie, but the characterization is a bit rougher." Although the books are set in the present and the crimes carry more than a whiff of perversity, Graham's rural England with its thatched, rose-crowded cottages, nosy neighbors and winding lanes seems to come from another time. "The spirit is obviously of the '50s," says Nettles. "The stories happen in a world which is much younger than ours, much smaller too, less crowded, with much more room for individual crankiness and eccentricity. It's an escape from the modern world. That's partly the appeal of the books.

"The Midsomer Murders" represent ongoing commitment to the mystery genre. Along with PBS' long-running "Mystery!" series, the cablenet has become one of television's most reliable suppliers of murder and mayhem. "She's a very placid, mature lady," says actor John Nettles about British mystery writer Caroline Graham, "and you wouldn't think she could say to a goose. But underneath that placid exterior, there's an imagination which is lurid to say the least. She's very much like her characters, behind the lace curtains there's a potential psychopath lurking." On June 28 at 8 p.m., Network premieres the first of five 2-hour movies based on Graham's work.

Under the umbrella title of "Midsomer Murders," the first is "The Killings at Badger's the second, "Written in Blood," airs July 5 at the same time. The remaining three films air later in the 1998-99 season. Nettles, who is at work in Britain on a second set of "Midsomer Murders" (which may acquire), stars as Graham's sleuth, Chief Inspector Barnaby. Although happy in his marriage and family life, Barnaby is chiefly plagued by two things: his wife's inability to cook, and the bigoted attitudes of his younger partner, Sergeant Troy (Daniel Casey). But Barnaby seems to take all in his stride.

"Even his partner, yes, juvenile as he is," says Nettles, a member of Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company and the star of Britain's long-running police drama "Berg-erac." "Barnaby's a man very at ease with himself, it seems to me. unlike the dysfunctional detectives that usually occupy television. He's a happy man, middle-aged, happy with his wife, happy with his kid, happy 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 I 2:00 1 1 :35 Late 1 2:35 Paid 1 :05 Paid Off the Air Late Program- Program- a Show A ming ming WHBF (cc) 11:50 Late Night With 12:50 1:20 News 1:55 Conan O'Brien: John Later (R) (P.) Access Malkovich. (R) (cc) (cc) Holly- KWQC wood (cc) 12:05 Mar- 12:35 1:05 1:35 Paid 2:05 Inspi- rled A Murphy Empty Program- rations (cc) Brown A Nest ft ming WQAD l(cc) (cc) Hercules: The Leg- Xena: Warrior Star Trek: endary Journeys: Princess: A Day in the Wink of an CD Judgment Day. (R) A Life.

Ho-hum. (R) A Eye. KUB (cc) (cc) Charlie Rose A (cc) Saltlmbanco: Cirque Face of (0 du Soleil A Russia KilN Off the Air 83 WQPT Amer. Justice A jPoirot lLaw 11:30 Informational Programming AMB 11:00 Movie: "The iMovie: "The Five Pennies" AMC Heiress" (1959, Musical) 11:30 Mid. Love Comicview iJazz BET Arts for Change 1 :05 "Jesus Christ BRAV News: Williams Bus.

lEgual Paid CNBC N'Stand: Fortune Sports iMonev Showbiz CNN South iDailv Sinbad: Brain Butler COM Discover Mag. Lost Worlds Paid DSC TalkS'p IStand H. Stern H. Stern Paid Baseball SportsCenter Up Close Race- SpN (Live) 13 horse Beach Volleyball lAuto IrPM Auto ESPN2 Paid I Paid The 700 Club Paid FAM In Color lln Color Paid Paid Paid FX Intl. Builders '98 iHouse IWork Paid The American Revolution Weap.

HIST Ends of the Earth IVila Vila Paid LC Mystery Homicide: Street iPaid Paid LIFE Angry MTV Jams Countdown A Lunch MTy Viewers Jesse Prime Time Country Conversations With Off the Air NAgH A (cc) Burt A (cc) Dick Van I Bob Rhoda A Paid Pro- Brady NCK Dyke iNewhart A gram Bunch A Landmarks faith Field iNews Lifestyle ODSY 11:00 Movie Movie iMovie PLEX The Last MLS Soccer: Dallas Burn at Chicago Fire. gc Word (Tape) Movie: Came From Outer Space II" Paid Pro- SCR (1996) A (cc) lgram Public Affairs Public Affairs SPAN Boat iBoat llnslde the APBA Ship SPDV Movie: "Grace of My Heart" (cc) IMovie STRZ 11:15 Movie: "The Stone 1:20 "Night ol the Jug- -BS Killer" (1973) qler" 11:30 "Swing" IMovie 11:00 Movie: "Hoto- 1:15 Movie: "Uncommon -N- gram Man" Valor" 9B3) Flstone Daffv Jerry IScooby Rocky TOON Rltmo America r-HMIna (R) ISInTI UNI The Big Easy A (cc) Movie: "Kickboxer 4: The ugA Aporessor" (1994) A Behind Storytellers: Culture iBehlnd the Music: VH1 Music Iciub A Boy George A Simon Simon: Paid Pro- Paid Pro- Y'Beat WQN love, Christy gram gram Strppf" Movie: "Kidnapped" (cc) iFactorv IMovie DISN Movie 12:40 Movie: "Psycho" ENC 10:45 1:15 Movie: "Bloodmoon" HBO Movie: "Devil's Own" (cc) Movie MAX Situ. Intimate Obsession" Movie SHOW Movie 12-35 "Miami Himtte" Movie TMC 12:00 12:301 1:00 I 1:30 I 2:00 I 312 15th Bettendorf 1 606 Rockingham Rd Davenport 4322 4th Moline 4120 1 1th Rock Island I Brtwy Outlet 1 BRING IN THIS COUPON AND RECEIVE (1) Loaf of 1 lb. White Bread OR (3) Fruit PiesSnack Cakes 1 Coupon Per Customer Offer Expires 7-11-98 QCT Dave Sam's Auto Repair -1 rrs. combined experience ASE CERTIFIED FACTORY TRAINED PH: 386-7705 i A 1 Corner of 53rd Brady St.

Dave Bai Sam Chapman 7t30-5J0 gg win 7cm We're Proud to Help You Celebrate! $(nw America.