What episode of Midsomer Murders is Orlando Bloom in?
Long before Legolas, Will Turner, or anything with a budget, a 22-year-old Orlando Bloom turned up in a sleepy English village and got himself killed with a pitchfork. It's one of the great "wait, is that…?" moments in British telly. Here's exactly where to find it.
The short answer
Series 3, episode 3 — "Judgement Day", first broadcast on ITV on 29 January 2000. Bloom plays Peter Drinkwater, a local burglar and serial womaniser in the village of Midsomer Mallow. He's the episode's first victim, stabbed through the chest with a pitchfork before DCI Barnaby can bring him in.
What the episode is about
Midsomer Mallow is competing for the title of Perfect Village on the day of judging, with Joyce Barnaby (Jane Wymark) sitting on the panel. A spate of break-ins brings John Nettles's Barnaby and DS Troy (Daniel Casey) to the village — and when the prime suspect turns up dead, the committee's chief concern is whether a murder will hurt their chances. Two of the judges are killed before it's over.
Who else is in it
The guest cast is stacked with people who'd go on to considerably bigger things:
- Toby Jones — as Dr Dan Peterson, years before Captain America and Detectorists.
- Tobias Menzies — as Jack Dorset, long before Outlander, Game of Thrones, and his Emmy for The Crown.
- Timothy West and Hannah Gordon — already established, and both frequently singled out by reviewers as the episode's strongest turns.
- Josephine Tewson — Keeping Up Appearances' Elizabeth, playing against type.
The Lord of the Rings coincidence
This is the good bit. At one point Barnaby visits a suspect's house named Lothlorian and explains to Troy that it's a Tolkien reference. The Fellowship of the Ring had not yet been released. The actor standing a few scenes away would be introduced to the world as an elf 22 months later.
Behind the camera, the episode also breaks the fourth wall by accident: when a gardening expert is filmed for his TV programme, the crew in the background are the actual Midsomer Murders production crew, director included.
Did he ever come back?
No. It was a one-off. Bloom filmed Judgement Day in 1999 while still finding his feet — he'd graduated from Guildhall that year — and the Lord of the Rings trilogy took over shortly after.
Where can you watch it?
"Judgement Day" streams on ITVX in the UK. It's also carried on Acorn TV and BritBox in various territories, and turns up regularly on PBS in the US as part of the series 3 run.
For the record: Marlene Sidaway, who plays the historic murder victim Mrs Foster in this episode, had already appeared in the first two series as an entirely different character — a housekeeper named Mrs Bundy, who kept house for several victims. Midsomer has always recycled its villagers.