Normally I think people are too hard on some of the "Midsomer Murders" episodes, which over many years vary in quality. Now it's my turn -- I hated this one.
I'm not a fan of horror films, but I could even have lived with the horror aspects of this one because of the presence of Barnaby. In The Straw Woman, the curate of the church in Midsomer Parva is burned alive in the effigy of the straw woman, which brings Barnaby and Scott into the village to investigate. Later, the vicar, the curate's lover, is also killed by burning to death, possibly the result of spontaneous combustion.
The village is all atwitter because of the presence of Alan Clifford, sort of a Hugh Hefner type, a wealthy man due to the sex business. He has moved to Midsomer Parva. He has plans for a mansion there, and people are nervous about it.
Due to the death by burnings, which continue, people are beginning to see witchcraft everywhere, as witches once inhabited the village, and they somehow connect this with the local homeopath. Hopefully Barnaby and Scott can solve the murders before local citizens take the law into their own hands.
I thought the denouement of this episode was so stupid. Scott is his usual flirtatious self, and this time has a more serious involvement.
I forgot to mention that all kinds of things go on with pig heads. I guess I blocked it out.