The Midsomer Murders TV schedule shake-up explained

Midsomer Murders returned for series 23 with its premiere episode The Blacktrees Prophecy, which saw DCI John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) and DS Jamie Winter (Nick Hendrix) face a difficult murder case.

Viewers were delighted to mark the ITV show's comeback, but were disheartened when they realised that the episode's release did not mean the show was back for multiple weeks. The ITV crime drama may have returned for one episode, but it will be a while until fans of the show get to watch episode 2.

But there's a reason why, and here is everything that we know.

Why is Midsomer Murders not on TV this week?

Midsomer Murders series 23 returned on Sunday, 14 April but the series will not be airing concurrently on TV with the same time slot on Sunday, 21 April being filled instead by Red Eye. This has resulted in a lot of confusion and anger amongst fans who have complained that ITV are choosing not to support the show.

Concerned about the show's future, one viewer wrote on X: "Its obvious [ITV] don't give a fudge about #midsomermurders now and are just using it as a constant random filler for all their other promoted shows. Makes you wonder if they will bother making it for much longer." The same person added: "Yup, no MM next week, [ITV] using it again as a random filler. Its so frustrating."

Another viewer shared: "So whats happening next week then they're advertising something else at 9pm?"

While one person wrote: "Yeah [ITV] as much as I'm looking forward to #RedEye I would much rather have a whole series of #MidsomerMurders first."

However the explanation of the series schedule shift is simple, Midsomer Murders has always been released on an episode-by-episode basis and viewers should not be concerned about the show's future because it is the norm. The show works with standalone stories, which is why each is released on their own merit rather than as a full series.

A spokesperson for the show confirmed to Yahoo that there is not yet a release date for the rest of series 23, but that episodes will continue to be released individually.

It's not abnormal for the show to have a break between releasing episodes, as this has been happening for decades. For example, series 22 was released between April 2021 and August 2023.

This TV schedule plan was also confirmed to the Express, as an ITV spokesperson told the publication: "We only ever had one episode of Midsomer Murders scheduled as they are standalone stories and there'll be more episodes in the coming months."

Midsomer Murders series 23 has three more episodes left to be released, and a further four episodes have already been filmed for series 24. While series 25 of the crime drama has not yet been confirmed, it may well be that the show is renewed again soon.

Midsomer Murders is available to watch on ITVX, and series 23 will return to ITVX in future.