Death by Persuasion (Midsomer Murders, Season 19, Episode 5)

I'm always pleased to see any film or television production make an effort to get the historical dancing right, but it's a big surprise when it more-or-less happens in a television series, which one doesn't necessarily expect to have the budget for a dance historian as choreographer and the proper music, or anyone on staff who even knows they need such.  I plowed reluctantly through a ninety-minute episode of a television show that, on the whole, I had no interest whatsoever in only to experience the delightful surprise of just under seven minutes of historically correct music and dancing that ranged from "acceptable kludge for television" to "wow, they got it RIGHT!"

That, as they say, was unexpected.  

Spoiler: I think I spotted Ellis Rogers, who literally wrote the book on quadrilles, in the background of a couple of scenes.  His involvement would explain a lot.  Unfortunately, the credits for the episode list Jim Parker for the music (which he may have played, conducted, or arranged, but certainly didn't compose) and no one at all for dance or choreography.  Edited 2/28/20 to add: Meryl Thomson of Green Ginger confirmed in the comments below that some of their recordings of Duval's Lancers were used in this episode.

Backing things up a bit: Midsomer Murders is a long-running British television series that has nothing to do with midsummer and everything to do with detectives hunting murderers in the fictional county of "Midsomer".  There's ample information about it online if anyone is curious.  I'm going to focus on the dance-relevant bits.  

The episode "Death by Persuasion" (Season 19, Episode 5, premiered August 20th, 2017, in Australia and May 13, 2018, in the UK) takes place at a Regency role-playing weekend which is quite reminiscent of similar events I've attended.  A reporter who is attending is murdered, there are connections to local drama and years-old romantic entanglements, and at the end everything is more-or-less resolved in the usual way of detective shows.  

The filming was done at least partly at Chatworth House, the seat of the Duke of Devonshire.  That is a most suitable backdrop and well worth looking at in its own right.  But what makes the episode worth discussing here is that at about the halfway point, the Regency role-players hold a ball.  We don't get many glimpses of it, only pieces of two quadrille figures, but the music (for the dancing and in the background of the entire ball sequence) is very familiar: four of the figures of Duval's Lancers.  As the guests arrive, "Les Graces" can be heard in the background for almost two minutes, then again for about ten or twelve seconds a bit later.  

Soon after, we are treated to "La Lodoiska", and we actually get to see some dancing.  Unfortunately, it's the principal actors, not any better-trained extras, and the figures were clearly selected to allow the actors to do their dialogue without undue huffing and puffing or having to think about their feet.  So we get vis-à-vis pairs going forward and back and doing two-hand turns with steps varying from "reasonable attempt" down to just-walking.  Those figures don't go with this particular music but at least are inoffensive as period quadrille figures.  And having had to train actors to simulate period steps myself, well, it's not something one expects to go terribly well in the limited time they usually allow.  Points for effort here, though!

After that bit of dancing ends, "Take your places....!" can be heard in the background, and a few seconds later we get the "La Dorset" music.  The scene shifts from the ballroom to a spooky corridor, and they do a rather good job of making "La Dorset" sound creepy. 

A few seconds after that tune fades out, "La Native" starts.  And I burst out laughing the minute I heard it, because the scene features a young couple embracing, and all I could hear in my head were the old lyrics to the tune, starting with "Would you have a young virgin of fifteen years?"  I'd love to think that was deliberate.

The scene then shifts back to the ballroom and, amazingly, we get a real quadrille figure, and it's actually one proper to "La Native": the ladies form a right-hand moulinet in the center and give left hands to their partners, who turn to face the same direction, and they all promenade round in grand moulinet formation.  The dancers are even attempting steps, or at least bouncing a bit rather than just walking.  Sadly, this fairly impressive effort is interrupted by gunshots, and the ball is cut short in favor of another 45 minutes of murder plot.

Screenshot of dancers doing part of "La Native"

I find it highly ironic that a television series portraying modern Regency role-players did better at the dancing than most full-scale film productions that are actually set in Regency era, but I'm certainly not going to complain, even though it was arguably more accurate to the Regency era than to a Regency role-playing weekend.  Edited 2/28/20 to add: dancers from the episode included members of the groups Mrs. Bennet's Ballroom and The Duke of Wellingtons Dancers - two of them have turned up in the comments below with more information about the filming of the dance segments.  There are some photos from the production here.

Bravo, Midsomer Murders.

For those who want to watch the episode, they don't make it simple to find a legal streaming version online, though I'm not exactly an expert at looking for such.  DVD sets for the season (Part 2 is the one with this episode) are available from, e.g., Amazon:

Special thanks to Chris J. Brady for pointing this episode out!

Comments

[Charlene]

Series 19 is available streaming and on DVD from Netflix.

[Susan de Guardiola]

See the part where I talk about not being expert at finding streaming things online! I suppose I am the last person on earth who doesn't have Netflix. Thanks, Charlene!

[Meryl Thomson]

Hi Susan. The music for most of the quadrilles and the background music as guests arrived was from one of our recordings of Duval's Lancers, although they did change to another version by a wind band later in the scene.

Meryl (Green Ginger)

[Rachel Dalziel]

I will take 'attempting steps' as a compliment, though I could have sworn I was doing a chasse! Unfortunately the floor was incredibly slippery so we had to be tentative. It was a brilliant experience and I am really glad you enjoyed the episode. best wishes, Rachel (Chair, The Duke of Wellington's Dancers and the lady in yellow)

[Libby Curzon]

Thanks for this review, Susan! Yes we had to teach the actors the figures and had to dumb it down for their dialogue scene in the dance. It was my idea to do the moulinet in the gunshot scene so that we got as many dancers as possible in shot (no pun intended!), after a long day of filming! Just a shame they edited it to spend longer panning along the line of actors watching us, than showing us actually dancing!! But great that you noticed us and appreciated our efforts!
Libby Curzon, of Mrs Bennet's Ballroom (wearing the cream stripe dress)

[Susan de Guardiola]

Belatedly responding to the comments here -

Meryl, I thought it might be your music, but after listening to the recordings and the music in the episode repeatedly I just couldn't be certain.

Rachel, it was definitely a compliment! I couldn't really tell what people's feet were doing, but I could see the springiness of actual footwork rather than just gliding around, and I completely approved!

Libby, I certainly did!

I've updated the post to include the music information and link to Green Ginger, The Duke of Wellington's Dancers, and Mrs. Bennet's Ballroom. Thank you all for responding with the extra information!

[Lisa Brown]

"La Lodoiska" and "La Dorset" were used in the 1987 Northanger Abbey adaptation.

[Graham Horn]

I know nothing about all the dancing. However, I do know about Midsomer Murders. I'm afraid it was not filmed at Chatsworth, which is 200 miles away from all the other Midsomer Murders locations. It was filmed at Shotover Park near Oxford.