The quaint British TV show Ayo Edebiri is obsessed with: “I would be honoured to be a victim”
We all have our chosen TV shows that we can’t help finding comfort in, delving back into that familiar world whenever we need to relax. What someone considers their go-to can say a lot about a person, though, especially when it’s something you’d never expect, which is certainly the case for American actor Ayo Edebiri.
Having found success in shows like the popular drama The Bear and comedies like Abbott Elementary and Big Mouth (which she also worked on as a consulting producer), Edebiri is a pretty seasoned TV star. Of course, she has starred in movies too, most significantly the teen comedy Bottoms, but TV seems to be where her heart lies, and where she has had the chance to flex her writing muscles as well as her acting chops.
So, you’re probably wondering what her own favourite shows are and which ones inspire her, and you’re likely not going to guess that one of her go-to pieces of television is a British institution that no one can be quite sure is watched by anyone under the age of 60. Believe it or not, the Massachusetts-born actor loves Midsomer Murders.
The show is religiously shown on ITV3 multiple times a day – seriously, you can watch it at 9am, 4pm and 10pm, with each episode the same runtime as a feature-length film. It has been running for 24 seasons so far, first airing back in 1997, and there’s even a 25th on the way.
What’s the appeal of Midsomer Murders, anyway? With such long episodes, it makes you wonder how it has garnered such popularity, but it seems like there is something comforting in the quaint English countryside setting, undercut with dramatic murders, that lures people into its grasp. And let’s be real, if you’re off work sick, retired, or working from home and want some background accompaniment, why not opt for a reliable hour and a half of murder mystery? It’s better than watching Loose Women or This Morning.
You’d think that an American actor like Edebiri wouldn’t be familiar with something as iconically British as Midsomer Murders, but she absolutely loves it, and in an interview with Vogue, she was asked about her appreciation for the show. In fact, she was even asked to describe her ideal plot for an episode if she were able to play a victim. “How much time do you have?” she replied.
“OK, we have to get Detective Inspector Barnaby, the OG, played by John Nettles, back, first of all,” she explained. “And then I think it’s like, you know, classic like village fete, multiple affairs, and, like an old country house, I don’t know. I would be honoured to be the victim, is what I would say, ultimately”.
Perhaps Edebiri longs for life in a small English village where mystery and betrayal lurk among the otherwise beautiful landscapes and cottages. It’s this dichotomy between the setting and the murders, paired with the show’s blend of humour, that has allowed it to become such a success, although you can’t help but wonder why any of the characters still live in Midsomer. With that many murders happening – often multiple per episode (and there’s been 140 in total) – you’d think that they’d move as far away from the fictional county as possible.
Maybe one day Edebiri will guest star in a new episode of the show, making her dream of appearing in the classic British show a reality.
