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THE MYSTERY OF THE DISAPPEARING MIDSOMER SIDEKICKS
DCI Barnaby’s got yet another sidekick. But why has he been through almost as many assistants as murder cases in 18 series of the show? Alison Boshoff investigates...
The critics call it ‘ Murde r Mos t Lovely’ – and surely there’s no more reassuring televisual experience than Midsomer Murders. But even though there are some enduring elements after 18 series – increasingly daft methods of criminal dispatch and pictureperfect settings – some features do change, namely DCI Barnaby’s sidekicks. Yet another has been announced for the coming series, DS Jamie Winter played by Nick Hendrix, but who else has been the second-string detective in the show? And to what extent have they had the ‘Poldark effect’ which indicates that – tall, dark and handsome – they’ve given women viewers of a certain age a joyous diversion? And why do they leave? From naked scenes to fan requests for foot pictures, and amid talk of low pay, long hours and issues over outerwear, here’s the curious story of Midsomer’s disappearing sidekicks.
DANIEL CASEY DS GAVIN TROY (SERIES 1-6)
Daniel Casey played the original foil to smoothie John Nettles’s Tom Barnaby. A native of Stockton-on-Tees, he has been seen recently in Coronation Street as the manager of a youth football team who caught Leanne Battersby’s eye.
His six years on Midsomer Murders were eventful, and when he left in 2003 he felt tortured about saying goodbye. He said at the time, ‘I’ve learned a lot and now it’s time to put that experience into practice. It is something to do with the benchmark of reaching 30 – I felt it was the right thing to do.’ He added, ‘Once I’d made the decision, I told John. He was sad because our relationship has been a major part of the series’ success but from a personal point of view he thinks it’s the right thing for me to do.’
In the show, it was explained that Gavin had passed his exams and was to become an Inspector. Daniel said, ‘The episode ends with a scene in the garden when Barnaby and his family say goodbye to Gavin. All the things Gavin was saying were apt for me.
‘Afterwards they brought in champagne and John proposed a toast. I got a golf ball in my throat and I was relieved they didn’t ask me to speak.’
His big break was playing Anthony in Our Friends In The North in 1995, but Midsomer took him into a different league, gaining an audience of more than ten million viewers and earnings ‘in the high five figures’. He bought a house in west London, and was often recognised in the street.
He said then, ‘Everywhere I go, people spot me and say, “How’s that John Nettles?” Or they say how much they like the show. Some actors get uptight about being recognised in public but I think that’s a terrible attitude to take.
‘I get lots of fan mail from teenage girls but some letters are a bit odd. One man asked for a picture of my feet!’
Married to Ellie, a costume assistant, he has a son Raferty. Since Midsomer he’s appeared in Doctors, Law & Order: UK, Casualty, Inspector George Gently and the ITV series Marchlands.
JOHN HOPKINS DS DAN SCOTT (SERIES 7-8)
A murder that was predicted in a Christmas cracker and foul play in an orchid-smuggling ring – DS Scott saw it all in his brief time on the show.
The plot saw him arrive in Midsomer fresh from the Met. ‘He thinks he knows it all,’ said John Hopkins of the character he played, when he joined the show. ‘He’s getting too big for his boots, so he’s sent to Midsomer. At first Scott thinks he’s just marking time until his return to London. But he soon realises how much Barnaby can teach him.’
A handsome graduate of Leeds University and RADA, Hopkins did a season at the Royal Shakespeare Company after leaving the show.
Before Midsomer he had roles in Love In A Cold Climate and Trial & Retribution. Since quitting the show in 2005 he’s had a run at The Globe in the play Holy Warriors. He was also in Hotel Babylon, Merlin and Secret Diary Of A Call Girl. This year he played the villain Charles Collins in Stan Lee’s drama Lucky Man on Sky 1.
JASON HUGHES DS BEN JONES (SERIES 9-15)
Welsh actor Jason – made a star by his role as Warren in the BBC drama This Life – made a big impression in Midsomer, not least in a controversial shower scene in which he appeared naked and singing cheerily. When it aired, actor Barry Jackson, who played the pathologist George Bullard, sniffed, ‘I
imagine decisions like that came from on high. I do worry this new licence to spice things up might alienate the heartland audience.’
Jason stayed on for seven years, but after he left in 2013 he said that the demands of the show – which films for ten months of the year – had almost killed him. ‘I was completely burned out from getting up at 4.30am in Brighton to get the train to London, then on to wherever we were filming in Buckinghamshire, and then doing the journey back and getting home at 9pm,’ he grumbled. ‘It was starting to affect my health and I was so tired I was no good to anybody, at home or at work. That would go on for ten months, and when I had a break I’d get colds that lasted for weeks. My doctor told me I was suffering from exhaustion and the only answer was rest.’
He’d thought about leaving when John Nettles quit the show in 2011, but after finding out Neil Dudgeon was to be the replacement he felt he ought to stay and help with the transition. He and Neil got on very well. ‘He made me crack up a lot on set,’ said Neil later. ‘We’d get into trouble for giggling. Jason helped to make it such a great atmosphere on set.’
Neil went on to claim – presumably tongue-in-cheek – that Jason had been put out when Neil was given a warm coat by producers to wear between takes right away, whereas Jason had had to wait three years for his Midsomer-sanctioned outerwear.
To the surprise of many, Jason later claimed he hadn’t been treated all that well by Midsomer’s producers. He said after leaving in 2013, ‘I was broke when I star ted so I couldn’t really afford to stay overnight. The nearest hotels were £80 a night so if I’d paid that I wouldn’t have been making enough.
‘Ironically, in my last year we had a new producer and, bless her, she arranged for a car to pick me up. I was also earning more than I had done. I finally had what I wanted, but I was so exhausted I had to stop.’
His final mystery involved the former EastEnders actress Martine McCutcheon being crushed to death by a giant wheel of cheese. After the show he caught up with drama school friends Michael Sheen and Matthew Rhys in LA, but had no luck finding work.
Jason now lives in Brighton with his jewellery designer wife Natasha and their three children. Since leaving Midsomer Murders he’s made a film, Crow, with Nick Moran, which has yet to be released, and also starred in the one- off drama Dante’s Daemon.