The UK’s longest-running contemporary detective drama will return to our screens in March 2019 as Midsomer Murders celebrates its 20th anniversary year.
Here’s everything you need to know…
- Meet the cast of Midsomer Murders
- Midsomer Murders’ Neil Dudgeon: “I’m not that popular”
- Where is Midsomer Murders filmed?
When is Midsomer Murders back on TV?
The first two episodes of Midsomer Murders series 20 air in March 2019: The Ghost of Causton Abbey on Sunday 10th March at 8pm on ITV, and Death of Small Coppers on Sunday 17th March at 8pm on ITV.
A further four feature-length episodes will be scheduled later in 2019, completing the six-episode run.
Although the series has already aired in the US, this is its UK premiere.
Who stars in the new series of Midsomer Murders?
Neil Dudgeon returns as DCI John Barnaby for the seventh year running, with Nick Hendrix by his side as DS Jamie Winter.
Also returning this series is Fiona Dolman as John’s wife Sarah Barnaby, as well as Paddy the dog – the family’s “faithful canine companion.”
Joining the team will be EastEnders’ Annette Badland as “formidable” new pathologist Dr Fleur Perkins. She replaces pathologist Dr Kam Karimore (Manjinder Virk), who moved to Canada at the end of series 19.
Introducing the character, Neil Dudgeon says: “It is always very exciting when we get new characters joining and this series we have a new pathologist, Dr Fleur Perkins. The team thought it would be interesting to introduce a character who would test Barnaby, somebody with whom he would have a more provocative relationship, and Fleur does just that.
“She is not what we are expecting to begin with and she very much challenges Barnaby and Winter in a number of ways – she is obviously very good at her job and she can be quite direct which is brilliant. She also has a very surprising sense of humour. What is sprinkled in as the series unfolds are these tiny revelations about her personal life and romantic history which is very entertaining as she is a woman with an eventful past.”
Badland adds: “Fleur is very self possessed, she has a colourful past that includes many husbands and lovers, she drives a very swanky black Jaguar convertible and she doesn’t suffer fools gladly. She won’t ever be intimidated by the men’s police work as she has her domain and her skills and she does those to the best of her abilities. Fleur is someone who would use a scalpel to cut her apple up in the lunchroom.”
Who will guest star in Midsomer Murders?
Guest stars for the first two episodes include Elaine Paige, Angela Griffin, Jason Merrells, Anita Harris, Tony Gardner, Ann Eleonora Jørgensen (who was in the 100th anniversary episode), Mark Benton and Peter Egan.
The comedian Bill Bailey will feature in an episode about a comic book convention, and there will also be appearances from Nick Farrell, Kelly Brook, Jason Watkins and Tamzin Outhwaite.
We’ll also see an appearance from Liz Fraser, who has died since filming. Dudgeon says: “I was very sad and sorry to hear of her passing; Liz is an icon of a disappearing age so it was amazing to have her on the show.”
What will happen in Midsomer Murders series 2o?
In series 20, DCI John Barnaby and DS Jamie Winter’s investigations will lead them to a cursed brewery, an elite intellectual society with a dark past, a killer comic book festival and a circus of horrors…
Neil Dudgeon reveals: “This series Barnaby gets to learn more about Winter’s life and what he gets up to when he is off duty. As they grow closer we see Winter becoming a part of the Barnaby family which is great – their relationship continues to grow and become enriching for both of them.”
And it sounds like there will be some very high stakes in this upcoming series. Nick Hendrix explains: “‘You hear and see little of Winter’s personal life outside of policing because we only have one episode’s amount of time to introduce the audience to all of these wild, wonderful and eccentric characters.
“However, this series Winter gets personally embroiled in an investigation and romantically entangled with a young and rather attractive woman who is a part of the case, unknowingly making himself a target for the murderer.”
When was Midsomer Murders last on TV?
The first four episodes of Midsomer Murders series 19 aired in December 2016 and January 2017, but while the final two episodes in the six-part series aired on TV elsewhere in the world, their UK premiere was held back until May 2018.
Episode five, titled Death by Persuasion, was focused on a murder at a Jane Austen fan event. The final episode in the series was called The Curse of the Ninth and featured a prize-winning musician strangled to death with a violin string.
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