"Dark Secrets" is the second episode of the fourteenth series of Midsomer Murders and was first aired 30th March 2011.
When he tries to see William and Mary Bingham, county social services officer Gerry Dawkins is promptly thrown off the property by the Bingham's daughter Selena and her husband Eddie Stanton. The same day, he visits a local artists' colony where he asks the residents to register with the local authority. They welcome him by gently tossing him in a nearby duck pond. The fastidious Dawkins complains to the police and, as a result, Barnaby and Jones visit both the artists' colony and the Binghams. They have a murder to investigate when, two days later, Dawkins is found floating face down in the river. After learning a good deal of village gossip, Barnaby looks for the medical report into the death of Robin and Jennifer Bingham over thirty years ago. He finds there is no autopsy report on Jennifer as her body was never found. He believes she is still alive, but there will be another death before he ties it all together.
Tropes:
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Gerry Dawkins is a poor beleaguered social services inspector. Dealing with the eccentric inhabitants of Midsomer would be enough to drive anyone crazy, but what he discovers while trying to help an elderly couple gets him murdered.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Forms part of the backstory to the murders. Once Barnaby realises this, the murderer becomes obvious to him.
- Meaningful Rename: After escaping the seeking car, Jennifer Bingham becomes Maggie and adopts the surname Viviani because she loves astronomy and because she knows her moon craters: Viviani next to Bingham...
- Surprise Incest: Selina Stanton immediately vomits upon learning that Ben Viviani, the employee she'd been having an affair with, was her nephew, the product of the aforementioned Brother–Sister Incest.
- Trapped in a Sinking Car: The episode opens with a flashback to 1975 where brother and sister Robin and Jennifer Bingham are involved in an accident when their speeding car runs off the road and into the river, leaving them both trapped in the sinking car. This accident proves pivotal to several murders that take place 25 years later.
