Filming began this month on the 20th anniversary series of the UK’s longest running contemporary detective drama, ITV’s Midsomer Murders. 

Neil Dudgeon returns to play DCI John Barnaby for his seventh year in the role and Nick Hendrix is back as DS Jamie Winter. Midsomer Murders is made by Bentley Productions, part of All3Media and is the UK’s top-rated drama export. 

Joining the team this series will be redoubtable new pathologist, Dr Fleur Perkins, played by Annette Badland (EastEnders, Outlander) who will assist Barnaby and Winter in their pursuit of justice in the picturesque but deadly countryside of Midsomer. 

On joining the popular drama, Annette says "I have always enjoyed living dangerously so arriving at Midsomer is thrilling! In truth I'm delighted to be involved in the twentieth series of Midsomer Murders and to work alongside and be part of this creative team. I hope Fleur can assist Barnaby in maintaining his high success rate of crime detection. She is very good at her job." 

Also returning this series is Fiona Dolman as Sarah Barnaby followed closely by Paddy the dog as the Barnabys’ faithful canine companion. Guest casting will be announced at a later date. 

Executive producer, Jonathan Fisher shares his excitement over working on the anniversary series of Midsomer Murders. "It is a real privilege to be leading this iconic British detective series into its landmark twentieth year.  As part of our celebrations, we will be treating our very loyal audience with nods back to some of the most memorable moments of the show’s history.  Meanwhile we are thrilled to welcome the wonderfully talented Annette Badland to the cast as our formidable new pathologist Fleur Perkins.  We’re sure Fleur will prove to be a vibrant and much-loved Midsomer character." 

"We're thrilled Midsomer Murders has reached this television milestone," said ITV Drama Commissioner, Jane Hudson. "It's testament to the dedicated production team, past and present, at Bentley Productions and the superb cast lead by Neil Dudgeon that Midsomer Murders has reached it's 20th series and is consistently successful for ITV and many territories overseas." 

This series, sees Barnaby and Winter investigating a cursed brewery, an elite intellectual society with a dark past, a killer comic book festival and a circus of horrors… 

Midsomer Murders is produced by Guy Hescott (Prime Suspect 1973, Lewis) and executive produced by Michele Buck (The White Princess, Endeavour, Parade’s End) and Jonathan Fisher (Lewis). 

Directing the six feature length episodes for the upcoming series are Matt Carter, Paul Harrison, Toby Frow, Audrey Cooke and Nick Laughland. Writers include; Helen Jenkins, Chris Murray, Jeff Povey, Nick Hicks-Beach and Julia Gilbert. 

Midsomer Murders sells to more than 220 territories worldwide and the last series which transmitted earlier this year averaged 5.9m viewers and a 23% share of the audience. The most watched episode achieved 6.2m.