WINTER’S TALE
NICK HENDRIX TELLS US HOW HE’S SETTLING IN AS MIDSOMER’S DS JAMIE WINTER…
DS Jamie Winter is in the strange position of being both a newcomer and an established presence in Midsomer Murders – although he’s been on-screen since 2016, ITV’S scheduling of the drama means that we’re only just approaching the end of his first series as DCI John Barnaby’s right-hand man. To mark the occasion, Inside TV talked to actor Nick Hendrix about arriving in Midsomer, chatting to celebrity guest stars – and the unfortunate time when life imitated art…
Hi, Nick! It’s taken a while for your first full series to finish airing, hasn’t it?
It has! It’s a strange sort of flattery in a way because ITV treasures the Midsomer episodes – they’re such a big ratings hit that they hold on to them, like a grenade to throw out on a Sunday. But as an actor you want to be on every week and have the audience get to know you – but instead we had four episodes go out, and it’s been about 16 months to get the last two!
This week’s finale is called ‘The Curse Of The Ninth’ – tell us more…
It’s very musically themed, all about an orchestra. James Fleet plays the conductor and composer who has written his ninth symphony. There’s a common mythology around the ‘curse of the ninth’, that composers don’t get past their ninth symphony. As per Midsomer Murders, people start dying around it in various musically themed ways, so look out for violin strings and sheets of music being used as murder weapons…
Simon Callow guest stars in this episode as well – what was it like working with him?
With Simon, you just want to sit him down and hear his life story – which we did! I feel like we’re Parkinson, constantly getting new guests sitting down in the artists’ chairs just off set. It got to the point with Simon where it was becoming an intrusion having to go back on set to film. We were like, “I know that we need to do a scene, but he’s just telling us about Laurence Olivier, okay?”
What’s your welcome from the fans been like so far?
Obviously with social media nowadays, it’s quite tangible. But so far, there’s been a generally positive response – Midsomer people are a very dedicated fan group. A lot of them are still dealing with
Neil Dudgeon taking over from John Nettles!
Even though he’s been doing it for seven
years, a lot of them are like, “I don’t like this new detective, I’m just not sure about him”. Well, I think he’s proved himself! I imagine I would know if they really hated me by now – but I think it’s all been okay, touch wood.
Has playing DS Winter made you look at people more suspiciously in everyday life?
Ha ha! I always look at people suspiciously anyway. Ironically, my wife and I got burgled – which was terrible – while I was filming one of the episodes. After we found out, I had to shoot a scene that was us basically turning up at a break-in – which was a very hectic scene to shoot – and then I had to go home. It was really strange having to deal with actual detectives while filming being a detective!