SIXTY SECONDS
THE MIDSOMER MURDERS STAR, 60, ON COVID-SAFE SCENES, WORKING WITH ANIMALS AND THE RETURN OF DCI BARNABY
Tell us about new Midsomer mystery Happy Families…
The writer came up with a brilliant idea of an old-style Agatha Christietype whodunnit. Everybody is stranded in a big country house for the weekend and people are being picked off. Inspector Barnaby and his sidekick, DS Winter, are called in to investigate but there’s a storm sweeping England and the house is cut off, trapping them alongside various suspects. We filmed in January and February when it was -4C but because of Covid we had to leave all the doors and windows open so the snow was gusting in.
Is it all in one location?
Yes, which was great. Normally we film in and around one or two villages and will keep moving from location to location but for this episode, apart .
. Ade Edmondson.
Shouting lines:.
from one day at the Barnabys’ house, the rest of the shoot was in this wonderful old house. So instead of, ‘Right, let’s move eight miles up the road to the next location’, we went from the billiard room to the drawing room to the kitchen. Normally, the lovely guests go home after filming but because of Covid they were obliged to stay in the local hotel so we took a band of equity hostages and locked them away – which fostered a lovely atmosphere. The only downside was the weather. We filmed one scene by the lake with Ade Edmondson and he must have been standing four feet away from me but because of the wind, he was shouting his lines at me and I couldn’t hear anything he was saying.
Did you have a Midsomer WhatsApp group to keep in contact over lockdown?
We didn’t have WhatsApp then but the marvellously modern Nick Hendrix set one up after we finished filming the last series in June so we came to it late.
Would you live in Midsomer with all those murders?
Everyone says there’s loads of murders but the programme has been running for 22 series and over 22 years there have been about 360 murders – which is just over 16 murders a year. Over the huge area we film – Buckinghamshire, South Oxfordshire, Berkshire – I’m afraid there’s likely to be more than 16 people murdered over the course of the year. So we’re not that bad. The series does have a Location, Location, Location feel to it and I always have the same feeling with Antiques Roadshow – it’s eye candy TV in wonderful settings with something else going on. When my wife and I used to watch Midsomer Murders before I took over from John Nettles, we’d look at the idyllic settings and say ‘where’s that filmed?’ The move to the countryside conversation comes up during filming, when we’re looking at beautiful thatched cottages and someone in the crew asks, ‘Could you live here?’ I like the places but I live in London and I’d need a different mentality. I’d also need a dog to walk.
Did Paddy, your TV pet, miss you during lockdown?
He’s a gorgeous boy and when we rehearse, his handler will show him what he’s got to do, then she’ll give me sausages to reward him, which I put in my pocket. I’m terribly soft and can’t resist slipping him biscuits and sausages, and his trainer is always saying, ‘Don’t give him all the sausages at once.’ But he’s such a clever boy, he takes much less rehearsal time than me.
What was it like filming during Covid?
Conflicting. The executive producer said, ‘We’re going back to work, and we’ll be careful’, and we started shooting at the beginning of October and finished in June. This was months before the vaccine and everyone was wearing masks and being tested. Our first scene back was in a field, and everyone was standing at a healthy distance. We were thinking, ‘Is this safe?’ but after an hour and a half, it was like being back with this big family after a long absence. All the crew had returned and people I’d been working with for ten years. I’d been sitting at home for a year waiting to shoot this, and all of a sudden a body was found on a glampsite and I was plopped straight back into Midsomer.
Everybody stayed at home and wanted more of the countryside, the eccentric characters
Are you recognised lots?
You hear terrible things about people from EastEnders being assaulted in supermarkets because of plot lines but it doesn’t happen in Midsomer – people are always really nice. In Sweden one day, a girl of about 14 was looking at me and whispering to her friend. She said, ‘Are you Inspector Barnaby?’ and asked for a picture. When I walked into the next room, there were 15 of their schoolfriends who raced over.
Do you still watch Midsomer?
Of course! I watched it right from the beginning and always loved it. I’d snuggle down in front of the fire with a glass of wine on a Sunday and it would be a great escape. It’s a curious thing that over lockdown, sales of Midsomer shot up around the world. Everybody stayed at home and wanted more of the lovely countryside, the eccentric characters, a few murders and good escapist fun.
A new episode of Midsomer Murders will air on ITV at 8pm this Sunday