Midsomer Murders, Britain's Most Popular Crime Drama

  

Midsomer Murders is a television crime series which was adapted for television from the novels of crime writer Caroline Graham.

The series, which was created by T.V producers Betty Willingale and Brian Truemay and produced by Antony Horowitz, is set in the fictional county of Midsomer, which consists of sixty nine villages, thirty two of which have the prefix Midsomer, and it's fictional county town of Causton.

The county has jokingly been said to have the highest crime rate in Britain due to the high amount of murders per show, many of which are committed in the most comical way.

The show is also hailed as the most technically absurd cop show on TV as it’s lead character, Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby, can often be seen contaminating crime scenes with his incessant meddling and lack of protective clothing.  

The series, which is classified as a ‘dramedy’ or ‘comedy drama’  centres around the work and family life of a country police inspector and his deputy, whose murders are only ever committed by the most affluent people in the most affluent of locations, as the series is filmed in and around several of the British home counties’ most picturesque villages, non of which ever portray social housing, human depravity or degenerate criminals.

Despite all this the British public love it and so too does the rest of the world as it has become the third biggest selling TV series to be sold by Britain’s ITV television company. 

SOME MIDSOMER TRIVIA  

The Midsomer Murders pilot was ‘The Killings at Badgers Drift’ and was first aired on the 23rd of March 1997. 

Midsomer Murders, featuring John Nettles as lead detective Tom Barnaby, ran for fourteen years, where he made eighty one episodes in thirteen series. 

Midsomer Murders is unusual for the series being screened many months apart, unlike most series that are screened concurrently, although repeats are often screened as a regular series. 

Despite it's popularity there have only been two Christmas Specials made, ‘The Ghosts of Christmas Past released in 2003 and ‘The Days of Misrule’ released in 2008.  

Chief Inspector Barnaby's family life is also a strong feature of the series with the original Barnaby, who was played by actor John Nettles, his wife Joyce, who was played by actress Jane Wydmark and their daughter Cully who was played by actress Laura Howard appearing in most episodes.  

Tom and Joyce Barnaby's daughter Cully gets her unusual name from a small town on the banks of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Apparantly Cully is where the couple honeymooned and their daughter was conceived. 

  

When the original Tom Barnaby retired in 2011 he handed over the reins to his fictional cousin John, yet another Chief Inspector Barnaby.

John Barnaby is played by British actor Neil Dudgeon and his school teacher wife Sarah is played by British actress Fiona Dolman.

They have a new born baby and a dog called Sykes.  

John and Sarah Barnaby’s dog Sykes, whose real name is actually Harvey, was found as a stray, at the age of around seven months old, who went on to be re-homed and then trained by Oxfordshire dog handler Gill Raddings. He is now one of the country’s most famous dog actors and has appeared in countless T.V shows and T.V adverts. 

Barnaby has been assisted by four deputies and one probationary officer, they were;

Detective Sergeant Gavin Troy played by actor Daniel Casey who starred in the first six series before being transferred to Middlesborough. 

Detective Sergeant Dan Scott played by actor John Hopkins who starred in series seven and eight.

Detective Sergeant Ben Jones played by actor Jason Hughes who played the part until 2013.

Detective Sergeant Charlie Nelson played by actor Gwilym Lee who is the present deputy.

Constable Gail Stevens played by actress Kirsty Dillon since 2010.  

There have been five regular Midsomer forensic doctors, they were;

Dr George Bullard played by actor Barry Jackson between 1997 and 2011.

Dr Dan Peterson played by actor Toby Jones in 1999.

Dr Kate Wilding played by actress Tamzin Malleson between 2011 and 2015.

Dr Kam Karrimore played by actress Manjinder Virk since 2015.  

The Oxfordshire market town of Wallingford is the set for the fictional town of Causton. 

Causton Railway Station is actually the site of Twyford Railway Station located in Berkshire. 

The Six Bells public house in Warborough, Oxfordshire is the set of The Black Swan public house in the fictional village of Badgers Drift. 

The Town Hall located in Henley-on-Thames in Buckinghamshire is the most filmed location of the series having appeared in most of it's episodes as various civic buildings, most commonly court houses. 

 

There have been sixty nine fictional villages portrayed in the various episodes, they are: 

Aspern Tallow – Badger’s Drift – Binwell – Bishopwood - Bow Clayton – Broughton – Burwood Mantle – Calham Cross – Devington – Draycott – Dunstan – Elverton Cum Latterley – Ferne Basset – Finchmere – Fletcher’s Cross – Ford Florey – Goodman’s Land – Great Pelfe – Great Worthy - Haddington – Little Crosby - Little Upton – Little Worthy – Lower Warden – Luxton Deeping – Malham Bridge – Malham Cross – March Magna – Marsh Wood – Martyr Warren – Midsomer Abbas - Midsomer Barton – Midsomer Barrow - Midsomer Chettham – Midsomer Deverell – Midsomer Florey – Midsomer in the Marsh – Midsomer Herne - Midsomer Holm – Midsomer Langley - Midsomer Magna -  Midsomer Malham – Midsomer Mallow – Midsomer Market – Midsomer Mere – Midsomer Morchard – Midsomer Morton – Midsomer Mow - Midsomer Newton – Midsomer Oaks - Midsomer Parva – Midsomer Pastures - Midsomer Priors – Midsomer Sonning – Midsomer St Clair - Midsomer St Michael – Midsomer Stanton – Midsomer Virtue  Midsomer Vinae - Midsomer Wellow – Midsomer Worthy – Midsomer Wyvern - Milton Cross – Monks Barton – Morton Fendle – Morton Shallows – Newton Magna – Pandlefoot Bailey - Upper Warden.