MISSING LINKS - "MIDSOMER MURDERS" & "THE DOCTOR BLAKE MYSTERIES"

'That portrait was painted by Lucien Blake. 

And the bowl they smashed?

It was given to me by Olivier. 

Irreplaceable."

EDWARD ALLARDICE

'MIDSOMER MURDERS'

From the "Doctor Blake Mysteries" Wiki:

Lucien Blake was born around 1909 to French artist Genevieve Etienne and general practitioner and police surgeon Thomas Blake. His year of birth can only be speculated, as he was ten years old when his mother died in 1919. He had developed a strong attachment to her as she was gentle and understanding, while his father proved oppressive and demanding, urging his son to master the piano from an early age.

At Genevieve's passing, Thomas immediately sent him to a boarding school, for which Lucien never forgave him. In his twenties, the young man left for Scotland where he studied general medicine as well as surgery (as evidenced by his qualifications on the wall of his examination room).

There is at least a forty year span between 'The Doctor Blake Mysteries' and the "Judgement Day" episode of 'Midsomer Murders'.  And since ABC (the Australian TV network) has announced, in their "infinite wisdom", that the current fifth season is to be the last for Lucien Blake and his friends, I suppose we are free to consider how he spent that time.

Having been born in 1909, I'm assuming Blake was still alive in Toobworld into the 1990s, into his own 80s at least, barring any unforeseen accidents, illnesses or plain human evil.  He was a doctor and probably did his best to stay in condition.  And as far as I can remember, I don't think I ever saw him smoking.  (But that was not something I kept a lookout for.)

Of course, that all depends on how the series ends, of course.....  (The last episode airs in November at least as far as Australia goes.)

He spent most of his life following in the footsteps of his father, becoming a general practitioner and working as the coroner for Ballarat.  But at some point, his soul may have felt a yearning to follow a different path, and he may have found a muse in his memories of his late mother. Perhaps he inherited some of her talent as an artist, maybe not.  At the very least it was a way for him to reconnect to her, whom he lost in 1919 when he was only ten years old.

If he began painting in earnest soon after we lose track of him in the Toobworld timeline, by the end of the century he might have become so proficient that his work became renowned internationally.  Mr. Allardice did say his name as though he expected Tom Barnaby to know who Lucien Blake was.  But then again, it was a portrait of Edward Allardice at the height of his glory days as an actor, so he might have been biased as to Dr. Blake's fame as a painter.

This particular painting by Dr. Blake was damaged during a break-in, but it could have been restored.  The style of the artwork looks like that of Lucien Freud and so at least from the real world perspective, perhaps the name of the artist was chosen to suggest that.  But from within the "reality" of Toobworld, I'm going to stick with the claim that it was painted by the doctor from Ballarat.

And if any other pictures show up in other TV shows which display a similar style, why not add them to Lucien Blake's body of work?  

In fact, I'll take it a step further:  Have you ever seen the 'Columbo' episode "Suitable for Framing"?  Smarmy art critic Dale Kingston killed his uncle and framed his aunt so that he could inherit his uncle's art collection.  It's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that among the artworks in Rudy Matthews collection was an early example of Dr. Lucien Blake's style.  

It might even have been the painting that doomed Kingston because of a particular fingerprint on it.....

BCnU!