With Baited Breath is the fourth episode in the twenty-first series of Midsomer Murders. It was first streamed in the U.S. on 1 December 2019 on streaming services Acorn TV and Britbox, with its UK release date announced as 28 March 2021 on ITV1.
Tensions run high in the village of Solomon George when a fishing competition and extreme obstacle course are scheduled for the same weekend. With each group attempting to sabotage the other, it's not long before someone's life is on the line.
Tropes:
- Brats with Slingshots: Cornelius Tetbury is done in with a projectile fired from a commercial fishing slingshot (normally used to fire bait into the water).
- The Catfish: The main draw of the fishing competition is the hope of catching a legendarily large catfish.
- Cement Shoes: The killer attempts to dispose of his final intended victim by tying her to a large rock, rowing her into the middle of the lake, and dumping her out of the boat, but is thwarted by the arrival of Barnaby and Winter.
- Corpse Temperature Tampering: Following the killing of Cornelius, the murder stashes his body within a freezer to disguise the time of death. Then using his stolen mobile phone, makes it appear he wwas still alive hours later whilst he was having dinner with Inspector Barnaby. It only falls apart when Doctor Fleur Perkins manages to use other methods to determine how long he was dead for.
- Dead Man's Chest: The body of Cornelius Tetbury is found stuffed into a chest freezer.
- High-Voltage Death: Lex Bedford is killed when an obstacle on an endurance trail that is set to give a mild electric shock is cranked to the maximum while he is in contact with it.
- Murder by Mistake: Cornelius is killed because he is wearing the very distinctive hat of the intended target.
- Never a Runaway: A variation; the entire village of Solomon Gorge believes Lola Silverman ran away after she left with her suitcase following a major fight with her mother Isobel ten years ago. Isobel likewise regularly receives postcards from all over the world from Lola to tell that she's safely traveling. In reality Lola was killed in a road accident whilst coming back to her mother, with the killer hiding the body and writing the postcards to sell the illusion.
