Midsomer Murders (1997)
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Jason Hughes as DS Ben Jones
Episodes 52
The House in the Woods
A couple who have been searching the Midsomer area for a suitable property to renovate, Peter & Caroline Cave, are found brutally garrotted in their car outside a supposedly haunted dilapidated old cottage in the woods near Midsomer Newton. There are several other people interested in buying the house, but are they desperate enough to murder potential rivals? Barnaby investigates, with the assistance of PC Ben Jones, who he temporarily appoints Detective Constable, in the absence of DS Scott. Joyce Barnaby is helping a local group of conservationists identify architecturally important buildings in the area, and is asked to investigate the same cottage, potentially putting her in danger. Barnaby then discovers that there is something odd about the person selling the cottage.
Read MoreDead Letters
The village of Midsomer Barton is celebrating Oak Apple Week when a local single mother, Marion Slade, is found drowned in the village stream. It looks like suicide, and that she was driven to it by grief over the death, eight years before, of her daughter, Bella, a local beauty pageant winner. Barnaby investigates and is shaken by two villagers who look like murder victims from his past. Then another body is discovered and it appears that the festivities have stirred up a cocktail of adultery, contempt, unrequited love and revenge in the village. And it all appears to center around Bella Slade.
Read MoreVixen's Run
The elderly Sir Freddy Butler has invited both his ex-wives, Annabel & Lucinda, to stay with him and his current wife, Tara. When he dies suddenly of a heart attack, the bitter rivalry between the three and Sandra, the wife of his heir, comes to the surface, with murderous consequences. To solve the mystery, Barnaby must unravel paternity questions about some of the residents of the hall, and find the legendary missing emeralds.
Read MoreDown Among the Dead Men
Barnaby and Jones investigate the shooting of a blackmailer, Martin Barrett. But he had so many victims, they are spoiled for choice for a suspect. Then one of his victims, Sir John Waverley, gets another demand. The trail leads them to the seaside and diving for treasure on an uncataloged wreck.
Read MoreDeath in Chorus
The Midsomer Worthy local amateur choir includes Joyce Barnaby & Dr Bullard amongst its members. Their conductor, Laurence Barker, has a bitter feud with a rival. Following a rehearsal for the regional Four Choirs competition, the lead tenor, Connor Simpson, dies mysteriously.
Read MoreCountry Matters
Frank Hopkirk, an environmental adviser on the proposed site of a controversial Goodfare supermarket in Elverton-cum-Latterly, is found stabbed to death in an old farm building on the site. Barnaby & Jones question locals on both sides of the debate over the plans, and find that Mr Hopkirk had extra-curricular dealings with a number of the local ladies and their businesses. But which one of these caused passions to be stirred up to such a murderous extent?
Read MoreLast Year's Model
Annie Woodrow, a charity worker from Midsomer Malham, is standing trial for killing her best friend, Frances Trevelyan, in a case that Barnaby had investigated ten months previously. But he becomes increasingly unsettled that the prosecution's case doesn't match the facts. Barnaby & Jones enlist the help of key witness Mrs Beverly in a risky entrapment to find out what really happened. Jones's promotion to Det Sgt comes through at the same time.
Read MoreFour Funerals and a Wedding
Barnaby's mother-in-law comes to visit, and insists on being taken to the village of Broughton, which has seen a war between the sexes for decades. During this year's traditional fair, elderly women's campaigner Mildred Danvers is murdered. And then the misogynist vicar, the Rev Anthony Gant, is murdered during a bizarre traditional event that forms part of the proceedings. Is this an evening of the score, or is another long-standing feud responsible?
Read MoreDance with the Dead
Suicide pact or murder? Barnaby quickly discovers it's the latter when the body of a young man turns up in a hanger at an old disused World War Two airfield. There is also the puzzling disappearance of the victims girlfriend, Laura Sharp. Despite her dubious reputation she seemed popular with many in the local community. Barnaby has to probe deep beneath the soft underbelly of Morton Fendle in order to reveal what Laura actually meant to many of its inhabitants and if one of them may have committed murder on her behalf.
Read MoreThe Animal Within
Faith Alexander arrives in Midsomer Deverell to visit her estranged Uncle Rex, much to the surprise of his friends and associates who had been told she was dead. The problem is Rex is missing and Barnaby's initial investigation into his disappearance becomes more sinister when Rex's body is found at the bottom of the weir. The case becomes more complicated as it appears the eccentric Rex left several different wills and everyone wants a slice of his estate. Was this the reason for murder, or is it related to a family feud from 40 years ago? What was the secret of the feud? Those who know are not saying but someone is prepared to commit further murders to ensure it is not revealed.
Read MoreThe King's Crystal
When factory owner Alan King, owner of the Kings crystal glass company, meets his death in Shanghai the repercussions are swiftly felt in far off Midsomer Magna. His brother, not only assumes control and closes the factory down but marries the widow, much to the resentment of her son. When the company's chief accountant is found dead in the river Barnaby finds himself drawn into the mysterious world of Masonic rituals and business corruption. Jones's knowledge of the former proves invaluable but it is Cully's performance in an open air version of Hamlet that provides the vital clue, setting the detectives on a race against time to prevent further deaths.
Read MoreThe Axeman Cometh
Barnaby rocks!!! Barnaby dusts off his LPs and reminices about his younger days as a member of a rock band, (much to the amusement of Jones) when his former rock idols Hired Gun', reform to play the Midsomer rock festival. Backstage, however, the old tensions which caused the group to split quickly resurface, and there is still the unexplained mystery of the band member who disappeared 30 years ago. It becomes evident that not everybody shares Barnaby's enthusiasm for the group when one of their members is electrocuted on stage at their opening gig. Who is responsible? Is it one of the band or their sinister butler. Barnaby has to cast aside his fan cloak for his professional one to investigate.
Read MoreDeath and Dust
When Dr Alan Delaney is killed by a hit and run driver, Barnaby realises the real target was Delaney's senior partner, Dr James Kirkwood. Is the killer trying to prevent James from marrying beautiful divorcee Delyth Mostyn? And how is his death linked to £30,000 which is missing from the surgery accounts? Barnaby and Jones must travel to Snowdonia to unravel the truth.
Read MorePicture of Innocence
There's a shock for Joyce when she and Tom visit a photo exhibition in Luxton Deeping. Barnaby also gets a glimpse of the bitter rivalry between the traditional film photo followers and the digital enthusiasts. Things develop a more serious turn, however, when a member of the local camera club is brutally strangled. For once there are no shortage of clues and leads, all pointing to one suspect - Barnaby himself !! Suspended from duty, Barnaby, with a little covert help from Jones, has to use all his deductive powers to discover the motive and unmask the real murderer before they strike again.
Read MoreShot at Dawn
Although it's 90 years since the end of WW1, the feud between the Hammond and Hicks families still festers. Much to the disgust of Colonel Henry Hammond, Private Tommy Hicks condemned for cowardice in the conflict, has been exonerated and his name added to the local war memorial. Meanwhile Barnaby is not a happy man. His roof is leaking and his peaceful dinner with Joyce at the local hostelry is interrupted when he has to break up a fight between the two elderly patriarchs of the Hicks and Hammonds families who, despite being wheelchair bound, battle it out with baguettes!
Read MoreThey Seek Him Here
Nick Cheney was once a successful director, but he has now ended up mainly directing low-budget films. We meet him as he is directing The Scarlet Pimpernel at Magna Manor. A former convict, Jed Norris, has been hired as a security guard on the film set, and one night he finds the director dead, beheaded by the use of a guillotine.
Read MoreBlood Wedding
An upper class wedding results in an evil and sudden death, which becomes another challenge for Barnaby. These people are not used to having the police around asking a lot of silly questions. Besides, Barnaby has Cully's wedding to sort out as well
Read MoreDeath in a Chocolate Box
Reformed criminal Ronnie Tyler prepares to leave Midsomer Holm, a tranquil village and halfway house. In the village is an historic camera obscura. New arrival Eddie Marston takes Ronnie's place, making DCI Barnaby uneasy.
Read MoreLeft for Dead
The building of a new road attracts protesters to a small Midsomer village, and it seems to be motive for murder. As Barnaby and Jones delve into the complicated nature of this Midsomer village, they realise the key to solving the case lies under a well-concealed pact between several of the villagers.
Read MoreMidsomer Life
Guy Sandys is a retired City financier, who has bought Midsomer Life magazine, almost as a hobby, and enjoys using its pages to publish sharp reviews of local businesses. The body of Charlie Finleyson is found in woods near Sandys's house, and suspicion falls on Sandys, as his wife Cristina had left him for Finleyson some years previously. Then Sandys himself is found dead in his Midsomer Life office, and Barnaby & Jones have to sift through the long list of people who might hold a grudge against Sandys.
Read MoreThe Magician's Nephew
Jean Wildacre dies suspiciously during a performance as assistant to local magician Aloysius Wilmington, and Barnaby & Jones are called in. They have to investigate the relationships of Midsomer's Magic Circle, a group of old friends whose activities spun off a new cult, and led to long-running animosities. Soon they are looking for colorful South American poison-dart frogs, as the death count rises
Read MoreDays of Misrule
It is Christmas and DCI Barnaby deals with an explosion and some killings near a freight company, at the same time as trying to deal with his acting CS who has very strong beliefs about teamwork.
Read MoreTalking to the Dead
Two couples disappear in the tiny village of Monks Barton amid rumours of witchcraft and haunted woods. As Barnaby and Jones investigate, psychic Cyrus LeVanu clashes with cleric Wallace Stone over their different methods of `healing' the woods, while other locals seem to be caught up in a stolen antiques racket. When a body is unearthed and the death toll rises, the detectives race to find a connection between the missing couples and the thefts to catch the killer.
Read MoreThe Dogleg Murders
On the Midsomer Golfclub Whiteoaks a member is killed with a golfclub. In the course of the investigation they discover Whiteoaks to be full of hatred, gambling, violence, jealousy and extortion.
Read MoreSecrets and Spies
A number of murders near a government safe house in Midsomer appears to be connected to a group of British spies stationed in East Berlin during the Cold War.
Read MoreThe Black Book
The sale of a previously unknown painting by an 18th century painter sends Barnaby into an investigation of murders as well as art forgery.
Read MoreThe Glitch
Midsomer University science fellow George Jeffers threatens to make public a problem with his state-of-the-art invention Kernel Logic, but American software boss Clinton Finn fears he will lose millions if the truth comes out. When a schoolteacher is killed in a hit-and-run, Barnaby suspects Jeffers was the intended target.
Read MoreSmall Mercies
Richard Tanner is found murdered in a model village, stabbed and trussed up like Gulliver in a macabre tableau. The disturbing manner of his death leads Barnaby and Jones to suspect that someone in the village of Little Worthy is criminally insane.
As further gruesome killings rock the community, the detectives face a race against time to unravel past events that lead to the making of a dangerous serial killer.
Read MoreThe Creeper
Midsomer's Chettham Park House, once owned by Sir William Chettham, has been bought by entrepreneur Jack Filby to save Sir William from financial ruin. Long-term friends dating back to the days of university, Jack has allowed William, his mother Elizabeth, wife Isobel and son Freddy to stay on living at The Dower House - the smaller house on the estate where the Baronet's widowed mother would traditionally live. Jack is the man of the manor now with William and Isobel's son Freddy as his right hand man.
Read MoreThe Sword of Guillaume
Barnaby decides to join Causton's annual trip to Brighton when he become suspicious about the mayor's plans to buy up coastal land for holiday chalets. But before he can get to the bottom of the dubious deal, a hated property developer is beheaded at a funfair and a collection of valuable historical swords goes missing. With the help of his cousin DCI John Barnaby, the detective sets out to crack the case. Guest starring Neil Dudgeon (Roman's Empire), Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen), Coronation Street villain Brian Capron and Blackadder's Tim McInnerny
Read MoreThe Great and the Good
The night time peace of Badger's Drift is shattered horribly when teacher Connie Bishop screams in fright, convinced there is an intruder. Days later a local councillor, said to be obsessed with her, is found murdered in her garden. Is Connie the innocent victim she seems? Barnaby and Jones uncover jealous rivals, ruthless social climbers and a cottage with mysterious secrets as they search for the killer.
Read MoreThe Made-to-Measure Murders
The residents of Milton Cross, a feudal estate with a church, farms, houses and acres of land, depend on lord of the manor Edward Milton for their livelihoods. When Sonia Woodley is stabbed to death in the churchyard two years after the death of her husband, bespoke tailor Gerald, Barnaby and Jones investigate, and the village begins to reveal its secrets. Guest staring James Wilby, Gwyneth Strong and Karl Davies (formerly Emmerdale's Robert Sugden), with John Nettles and Jason Hughes
Read MoreBlood on the Saddle
Ford Florey is a town with a Wild West Society and many grudges. During a Wild West show at the local fayre, the witch on the 'Dunk the Witch' stall is well and truly dunked. Laughter turns to horror when she doesn't get up and the water in the tank starts to turn red. Barnaby and Jones need to be quick on the draw to track down the murderer.
Read MoreThe Silent Land
On a dark night in the village of March Magna, Barnaby's wife Joyce swerves her car to narrowly miss a shadowy figure in the road. Or so she thinks. Later that night a body is discovered in the old cemetery. Did Joyce hit someone after all or was the victim, who seems to have plenty of enemies, killed by one of the villagers? Barnaby and Jones have their work cut out as all the villagers seem to be hiding something - but is it murder?
Read MoreMaster Class
Piano student Zoe Stock has won a place at the Devington Manor Winter School led by internationally renowned musician Sir Michael Fielding. From the riverbank in the grounds of the manor she sees a woman jump from the bridge and disappear underwater. When Barnaby and Jones start investigating the possible drowning, they discover unsavoury connections to the past that could prove lethal twenty years later. But can they intervene before the body count escalates and will the talented Zoe survive her master class?
Read MoreThe Noble Art
Local boxer John Kinsella's successful world title bid stirs up hidden passions among the residents of Midsomer Morchard. As plans to stage a celebratory re-enactment of a Victorian prizefight shape up, jealousy, betrayal and blackmail take a ringside seat, while two suspicious deaths suggest Barnaby has let friendship cloud his judgement. Detective drama, guest starring Phil Daniels (formerly EastEnders' Kevin Wicks)
Read MoreNot in My Back Yard
A planning dispute turns to murder after a leading light in the Midsomer Conservation Society suspects her neighbours are involved in a money-making development scam. Political wrangling, burglaries and sexual liaisons abound in picturesque Great Pelfe - but why is someone driven to start killing? Barnaby and Jones investigate.
Read MoreFit for Murder
Barnaby reluctantly accompanies Joyce on a spa weekend to Swavely Manor. But as he attempts to de-stress, a woman is found dead in the flotation chamber. He abandons his treatment to investigate, but his personal worries are never far away as he contemplates his future.
Read MoreDeath in the Slow Lane
New DCI John Barnaby arrives in Midsomer and is bemused by the quaint villages and their quirky residents. But when a local DJ is crushed to death at a traditional girls’ boarding school, he soon discovers that murder and deception are never far away. As the death toll rises, could Barnaby’s first case also be his last?
Read MoreDark Secrets
The reclusive lives of elderly eccentrics William and Mary Bingham comes under police scrutiny when a social services investigator is murdered. Barnaby and Jones must unearth generations of family secrets and decipher astronomical charts to find the killer.
Read MoreEchoes of the Dead
When a young woman is dressed like a bride and drowned in a bath, it triggers a spate of ghoulish wedding-themed murders in Great Worthy. The case takes Barnaby and Jones to a donkey sanctuary, a heritage steam railway, and a pub run by an ex-copper and former brothel madam. With the serial killer still at large, could history be repeating itself?
Read MoreThe Oblong Murders
Bullard asks Barnaby to investigate the disappearance of a friend's daughter who was a member of the Oblong Foundation, a cult based at Malham Hall. Jones goes undercover as a new recruit to solve the mystery, but he and Barnaby soon start digging into an old case involving the death of a couple in a boat explosion, which could be linked to the missing woman.
With Will Knightley, Kevin Doyle, Holly Aird, Barbara Flynn and John Woodvine
Read MoreThe Sleeper Under the Hill
When the body of a farmer is found in the middle of a stone circle in Midsomer Mow, suspicion points at local druids. The murdered man had planned to plough Gorse Meadow, making Crowcall Circle inaccessible to the group led by high priests Ezra and Leticia.
Barnaby and Jones are joined in their investigation by new pathologist Kate Wilding. The body left on the bloodstone is her first assignment, but Kate doesn’t shock easily.
Read MoreThe Night of the Stag
A tax inspector goes missing as he tries to track down the maker of an illicit, potent cider popular among the residents of Midsomer Abbas. Barnaby and Jones have a murder investigation on their hands when the man's body is found floating in a vat at the village's spring fair, where the duo are sampling the local brew
Read MoreA Sacred Trust
Barnaby and Jones investigate the cloistered world of Midsomer Priory when a nun is strangled to death. The detectives uncover a complex mystery involving holy orders, teenage romantic liaisons, African art and missing antique silver as the community is forced to open its doors to 21st-century policing
Read MoreA Rare Bird
A row breaks out between some birdwatchers in Midsomer-in-the-Marsh ends things end up turning nasty after their president is killed. Patrick Morgan died as he hoping to get a glimpse of a rare bird, but is his obsession with ornithology to blame or something much more sinister. Barnaby is called in to investigate.
Read MoreThe Dark Rider
When a headless horseman makes an an appearance at Quitewell Hall it foreshadows a number of deaths amongst an aristocratic family. Whilst a Civil War re-enactment takes place the family relive their own historic battles with their neighbours.
Read MoreMurder of Innocence
After convicted killer Grady Felton returns to his childhood home after 18 years, it causes anger and raw emotion for the family of his victim. A barrister who was involved in the trial is murdered and the finger of suspicion is pointed at Grady. Grady has an alibi though so the detectives suspect he could be working with an accomplice. Grady ends up being critically injured in an arson attack and it looks like somebody is out to settle some old scores.
Meanwhile, Barnaby must face some personal demons of his own as he tries to train for the Chief Constable’s fitness test.
Read MoreWritten in the Stars
As darkness covers Midsomer Stanton during a total eclipse of the sun, amateur astronomer Jeremy Harper is killed by blow to the head with a meteorite. Barnaby and Jones are called in to investigate, and the duo discover that intrigue, sexual tension and academic rivalry are rife among the local stargazing community. Murder mystery, guest starring Maureen Lipman and Kenny Ireland, with Neil Dudgeon and Jason Hughes
Read MoreDeath and the Divas
The murder of a journalist leaves reminders of a 1960's horror movie starring Midsomer’s Stella Harris. After Stella’s more famous sister returns following a 40-year family rift, the killings contiue, each reminiscent of a film plot.
Read MoreThe Sicilian Defence
After having been in a coma since the night she attempted to elope, Harriet Farmer wakes up. A killer then murders members of a local chess club. John Barnaby and the team investigate whether the attack which left Harriet for dead a year ago could be linked to moves on a chess board and atempt to find out what happened to her boyfriend Finn.
Read MoreSchooled in Murder
A woman ends up being crushed to death with a giant wheel of Midsomer Blue cheese. Secret and controversial plans to modernise the dairy end up being revealed as rumours about the private lives of the parents cause a row at a local prep school. More people linked to the dairy are involved in shocking deaths as long-held secrets begin to be revealed.
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