Watched a British detective drama, Midsomer Murders, TV show on PBS last nigt. You had to be watching closely, but in a couple of scenes, a motorcycle rider was aboard an 850 Commando roadster. The bikes' in scene time was brief, but just long enough you could make out what bike it was. Nice choice of bikes I thought, and fitting in a British show.
Commando brief TV appearance
- Thread starter quawk
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2004
- Messages
- 21,110
I stand corrected.Or, Interstate.
Norton Commando 850 Interstate in "Midsomer Murders"
www.imcdb.org
Café au Lait
VIP MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2024
- Messages
- 310
The burning question is, why on earth would you be watching Midsomer Murders? 
The fictional village has the highest crime rate of anywhere on the planet, heck just look at the private plate on that bike, says it all.
The fictional village has the highest crime rate of anywhere on the planet, heck just look at the private plate on that bike, says it all.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2004
- Messages
- 21,110
heck just look at the private plate on that bike, says it all.
Private plate (KKK 212N)?
Café au Lait
VIP MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2024
- Messages
- 310
KKK! Yeah I know it’s not a private # maybe just specially selected but the joke would have worked as well 
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2004
- Messages
- 21,110
As it wasn't registered until 1996 I'm guessing it returned from abroad (USA?) and given an age related registation (Maistone, Kent).
The only reason I happened to be watching that show, which I never usually do, was that the lead in show prior to that is Death In Paradise, which I do usually watch. Again, how many murders can there be on a small caribbean island? Second highest crime rate on the planet? Phony, I know, but living here in the mid-western U.S. in the cold, frozen winters, the setting and scenery is a welcome bit of pure escapism. As far as a "private plate" on the bike, I know nothing of plating motor vehicles in the U.K.The burning question is, why on earth would you be watching Midsomer Murders?
The fictional village has the highest crime rate of anywhere on the planet, heck just look at the private plate on that bike, says it all.
Café au Lait
VIP MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2024
- Messages
- 310
Midsumer Murders gets a great deal of flack here in Blighty, deservedly so imo as does anything with John Nettles since Bergerac. It’s the TV equivalent of a Mills & Boon novel.
Back to the bike. The plate is a standard registration for 1974/75 (back then they ran August to July). My joke was what KKK also stands for and linked it to the high crime rate of the village, seems I waisted my time I guess
Back to the bike. The plate is a standard registration for 1974/75 (back then they ran August to July). My joke was what KKK also stands for and linked it to the high crime rate of the village, seems I waisted my time I guess
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2004
- Messages
- 21,110
It isn't one village.
Midsomer Murders - Wikipedia
Fast Eddie
VIP MEMBER
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2013
- Messages
- 22,696
Well, if you’ve watched Inspector Morse, or Lewis, or Endeavour, then you’d know that Oxford is in fact the most dangerous place on Earth !Midsumer Murders gets a great deal of flack here in Blighty, deservedly so imo as does anything with John Nettles since Bergerac. It’s the TV equivalent of a Mills & Boon novel.
Back to the bike. The plate is a standard registration for 1974/75 (back then they ran August to July). My joke was what KKK also stands for and linked it to the high crime rate of the village, seems I waisted my time I guess
Richard Tool
VIP MEMBER
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2019
- Messages
- 1,944
I always look for Nigel when I watch - haven’t seen him yet .
Northumberland is a little sketchy too - as Vera says -
“ Whydja dooit luv ?
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2013
- Messages
- 337
For those outside the UK the full name of the actual village is “Midsomer Norton”
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2004
- Messages
- 21,110
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2018
- Messages
- 1,428
Dorchester on Thames is one place they filmed in, amongst many others in that area south of Oxford.It isn't one village.
"Midsomer Murders is a detective drama<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsomer_Murders#cite_note-1"><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a> set in modern-day England. The stories revolve around the efforts of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, and later his successor, cousin John Barnaby, to solve numerous murders that take place in the picturesque but deadly villages of the fictional county of Midsomer."Midsomer Murders - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Café au Lait
VIP MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2024
- Messages
- 310
Per capita I’d say Midsumer; by now the whole population have died at least twice over
A Mk3 Commando was (briefly) in The Sweeney, S3Ep7. And a T140 in a later episode of that series.
Re. Dorchester, a little way from Dorchester was Mount Farm airfield (now Berinsfield). A USAAF airfield during WW2. A pilot made a 'wheels up' landing in a Spitfire, and it was filmed by the stations doctor. Many years later relatives of the doctor identified the pilot and showed him the film, a great story.
Spitfire944 on YouTube
Re. Dorchester, a little way from Dorchester was Mount Farm airfield (now Berinsfield). A USAAF airfield during WW2. A pilot made a 'wheels up' landing in a Spitfire, and it was filmed by the stations doctor. Many years later relatives of the doctor identified the pilot and showed him the film, a great story.
Spitfire944 on YouTube
Last edited:
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2018
- Messages
- 1,428
great, just watched it.
I have just finished reading the Spitfire People book. Early Spitfire pilots sometimes forgot to lower the landing gear, as they were used to fixed undercarriage planes. Also, the initial flight testing of Mk1 Spits at Duxford resulted in push button hydraulic undercarriage deployment, rather than a hand pump , where the pilot scraped their knuckles repeatedly operating it!
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2018
- Messages
- 1,428
… but that place is quite a way from where the series was filmed, so I suspect they just used an English-sounding name .
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2004
- Messages
- 21,110
That is slightly incorrect as the landing gear was either raised or lowered by unlocking a lever from a gate and then moving it to the up or down position. After the landing gear had either raised or lowered the lever would automatically move to the locked position, it was not a push button. There was also a CO2 emergency system that would lower the undercarriage if the hydraulics failed.
There would often be a horn on early models that would sound if the throttle was closed too far if the wheels were not down.
Last edited:
