Death of a Hollow Man is the second episode of the first series of the popular ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders that was first broadcast on 29th March 1998.
The body of Agnes Gray, a woman who loved only animals, is found in the river—but she did not drown. And then her cousin Esslyn Carmichael is tricked into killing himself on stage during an amateur production of the murder mystery Amadeus. DCI Barnaby has to get to grips with clues which include adultery, dramatic ambition, stolen religious art, and large donations to animal charities, before unmasking a killer who proves to be mad. Meanwhile, love begins to blossom between Cully Barnaby and Nico Bentley, one of the cast of Amadeus...
Tropes
- Brick Joke: During the production, Esslyn can be seen grimacing at the cakes he's supposed to be enjoying as Salieri, and later gives the production assistant hell for it. Later, it's revealed that David spread Vim on them.
- Death by Irony: The plot revolves around the death of a stage actor in a production of Amadeus. He's the actor who plays Salieri and dies when he slits his throat open with a razor that's been switched out for the prop he was supposed to use. The irony is that Salieri survives after having his throat slit in the play.
- Didn't See That Coming: Kitty attempts to blackmail Tim Young into providing her with financial support, threatening to tell his lover Avery the details of their affair. Confident that this will work, she heads straight for Tim and Avery's bookshop... only to find that Tim has already confessed everything to Avery, and though Avery is in tears, the two appear to be staying together. Realizing that her plan has gone down the u-bend, Kitty sheepishly walks away.
- False Confession: Colin Smy confesses to killing Esslyn after he thought he saw his son David change the blade of the razor used. He shortly afterward withdraws the confession after David is cleared (he has just spread some Vim note on some cakes Esslyn ate onstage).
- Fatal Method Acting: Occurs in-universe. Esslyn Carmichael, playing Salieri in a production of Amadeus, accidentally cuts his own throat when the prop razor he was supposed to use is switched out for a real one backstage. note
- Gold Digger: Kitty Carmichael, Esslyn's young wife, is clearly out for her husband's money - to the point that the only reason why they got married at all was because she got pregnant and guilted him into it. She's carrying on an affair behind Esslyn's back (with the actor playing Mozart, appropriately enough), and when Esslyn finds out and begins divorce proceedings, she quickly begins scouting around for new meal tickets - to the point that Kitty becomes a suspect for his murder. She even reveals that she's been carrying on an affair with Tim Young and tries to blackmail him into becoming her meal ticket.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Rosa Carmichael - Esslyn's previous wife - takes revenge on her ex-husband and his new wife by revealing the gory details of Kitty's affair to him. However, when Esslyn is murdered by means of fatal method acting, Rosa assumes that this was Kitty's revenge for being divorced as a result of the report on the affair and is immediately consumed with grief and remorse.
- Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon: The killer removes the tape from the edge of a cutthroat razor being used in the play's suicide scene.
- Prima Donna Director: Harold Winstanley is a notoriously strict theatrical director and not above taking out his frustrations on his subordinates. He's also easily the most egotistical of the entire theatre company, hogging as much of the audience's attention as possible before the show begins and during the interval.
- Shout-Out: When Harold Winstanley is caught and to be arrested, he's lured outside when Barnaby and Troy tell him that there are press people here to see him, playing into his delusions. This pays homage to the final scene in Sunset Boulevard when a delusional Norma Desmond is lured out of her home (after committing murder) by police telling her that she's being filmed by a famous director.
- Tension-Cutting Laughter: A very tense scene in which Colin tries to save David from being accused of murder by falsely confessing to it himself ends with David himself admitting that he didn't commit the murder at all - he was just spiking Esslyn's cakes with Vim as revenge for the actor's increasingly terrible behaviour. Both Colin and David crack up laughing out of sheer relief.
