I only catch an episode once on a while when it happens to be running on TV, but I've actually seen episodes in which the characters point at how absurd it is that so many murders happen all the time there.

Isn't it usually a different village each episode? I think Barnaby is responsible for the entire county

It started in 1997 and has had almost 150 episodes since then. An average then of like 5-6 murders a year. The UK homicide rate is about 10/million, so for a county of half a million it wouldn't be unreasonable. That kind of population is about right for a rural county.

Job security eh.

Now I understand why nobody pleads guilty.

Actually nah, in these shows they always come clean Scooby Doo style when someone has even an inkling of suspicion against them, as if they have definitive proof sitting in court.

YES, I DID IT BECAUSE... I WAS SCARED, OKAY?

Oh boy, would you love (Video game I can’t spoil).

Murder, She Wrought

Allow me to tell you of the "Unwitting Murder God" theory: Namely that murder, despite being a concept, not aware, alive or sentient, nonetheless wants to be near certain individuals who are otherwise innocent. It creeps from, or along with the god into someone nearby, sending that person - or occasionally animal - just mad enough to do the deed.

It may also want to be known. Written about, you might say.

Locking the god up in a regular prison wouldn't do any good. Murders would begin to happen around wherever they were incarcerated, and it wouldn't be limited to the prison walls.

Putting them on a remote island might work, but the radius of effect would undoubtedly grow and grow. Murder must feed. Also, you're going to need people to get the god to that island. Only one person - now a murderer - will be coming back from that trip.

Trying to kill the god also wouldn't work. They're a god. Like all unwitting gods, something would inevitably cause the death to happen to someone else. Out of universe, we call this "plot armour".

The only real way to win here is to convince the god of their godhood and hope they have the good conscience to do something about it themselves. And then hope that when they die - which may be a long time off if they choose to try the island alone - that there isn't a Pandora's box kind of thing going on.

At best, the godhood might just transfer to someone else.

She always managed to pin it on someone else as well.

I suspect that was part of the idea. It’s a murder show taking place in NYC, but still limits the murders to a single building. It’s the extreme version of this quirk of the genre.

Major difference is it’s one(ish) murder per season, rather than one per episode.

Small Town Arson?

Properties in Pontypandy must be absolutely uninsurable by now.

Maybe your wife can only relax when you’re not around?

Looks fine on voyager over here