Q&A with 'Midsomer Murders' Star Neil Dudgeon

The 20th season of "Midsomer Murders" premieres on PBS SoCal on March 19. View the schedule.

The classic whodunit drama series centers on DCI John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) and his partner Jamie Winter (Nick Hendrix), who are kept very busy investigating murders despite the apparent idyllic nature of the county. American Public Television recently reached out to Dudgeon to discuss his character, the popularity of "Midsomer," his favorite memories of being on set with guest stars, and more.

This Q&A was lightly edited for clarity.

How would you describe your character? What makes him a good policeman?

Neil Dudgeon: John Barnaby is quite a sort of self-effacing character. He loves the idea of justice. He’s very interested in people. He wants to get justice for the victims of the terrible crimes that they meet. And he's also a very sort of domestic home body sort of person. He's very happy with his home and family life. I always get the idea though that if there isn't a murder to be working on, he's a bit antsy, as he likes to be working. I guess he likes the puzzle and likes to bring justice to the world.

How would you spend a week in Midsomer County as a tourist?

ND: I have met on many occasions people who visit Midsomer as tourists — and fans of "Midsomer." There's a book you can get, I believe, that shows our locations and fans tour those locations. I remember having this conversation with [former "Midsomer" co-star] Gwilym Lee and he said, "Actually, it's a brilliant way of seeing some lovely parts of England, isn't it? Because you've seen them on the telly and you think, "Oh, I'd like to see more of that. You come and you see the beautiful villages, the village greens, the pubs, the churches, the stately home or whatever it is, the lovely places that we film." So I think that's what I would also do. I would tour this large county. I'd find a little area of it and I would go from stately home to nice pub, to nice hotel, to nice Norman churches. And I would just mooch about having nice lunches, nice beers, and it's very nice walk because Midsomer, as we know, is very beautiful and not really that dangerous.

Can you share a memorable experience you've had with a 'Midsomer Murders' fan?

ND: I've had many memorable experiences with "Midsomer" fans, really because they're so lovely. I've met a number of people in Midsomer when we are filming. One day I came out of a hotel that we were filming in. It was lunchtime and I came out of this building, applause rang out and I thought, "Oh, who's there?" And I looked up across the road and there was a coach bus and there was a crowd of about 40 or 50 people lined up on the other side of the road and they were applauding and getting their cameras out. It turned out that this was a coach tour from Sweden and all these people were Swedish people who had come to see Midsomer and had happened to be in Dorchester on Thames in the High Street on the day that we were filming there. So I've met a number of lovely people, it was a bit alarming on that occasion. I stayed and we had some photos, a bit of a chat.

And the other group of people where I met fans is being abroad. I quite like whenever I get the chance to go somewhere abroad to check out any local art gallery or museum. And several times I've met lovely fans in them.

And another one, Italy, this little lady stood in front of me shouting at me in Italian. I picked up she was saying, "Barnaby, Barnaby." Then her friend came up and said, "Ah, she wants me to say she's very excited because she's a police officer and she's also writing a PhD on fictional detectives and real life detecting. And the two detectives she's writing about as her fictional detectives are Inspector Barnaby and Inspector Montalbano, the Italian Sicilian detective."

Of all the ways an unlucky Midsomer inhabitant has met their end, which one sticks out in your mind as the most memorable?

ND: The most memorable murder of my period in "Midsomer," well… there's quite a number to choose from. In "The Dark Rider," it began with lovely Murray Melvin waking up in his four poster bed, pulling on his dressing gown. And there was a great storm going on and so he ran upstairs to the roof in this terrible storm. And as he was standing there being lashed in this storm, he looked down from the turret of his stately home, actually Knebworth Castle, I think it was. He looked down into the courtyard where he saw a headless horseman. And in his shock and horror, he fell to his death from his battlement.

There's a nice sort of escapism about the bizarreness of the murders in "Midsomer," which gives it, yes, a kind of escapism. And they escaped to the beautiful world of "Midsomer" and lots of rather exotic murders.

And the other one that I always have to mention is the man who was found tied to a tree in the woods. And his shirt was torn open, he'd been covered in truffle oil. And he'd been eaten alive by a wild boar. I mean, again, every bit of that, you just think, "That is so brilliant and so twisted."

What are your favorite experiences with guest actors on 'Midsomer Murders?'

ND: As usual we are spoiled by the tremendous guest actors who appear in "Midsomer" this series. We had the wonderful Elaine Paige who was full of marvelous and entertaining stories. I am an enormous fan of the musical theatre genre so having Elaine come in was a thrill. Nick and I were like puppies at her feet listening to all of her stories.

Dear Liz Fraser, whom we sadly lost recently, was in this series too and she was excellent. Liz is an icon of a disappearing age so it was amazing to have her on the show. Slightly older actors are wonderful to work with because it is likely that throughout their careers they would have performed in various different plays — Shakespeare, Pinter, Noel Coward — and as a result have learned so many different styles of theatre and thus of acting, so when they come in to "Midsomer" they can do all of that within scenes. Nicholas Farrell played this outrageous character who has some hilarious moments but also had to play moments that showed the character’s genuine heart at the center of it all and it was brilliant to watch.

Not only do we get to meet and work with these wonderful people but occasionally I have the opportunity to catch up with people I haven’t seen in so long.

What do you think is the lasting appeal of 'Midsomer Murders,' for both current and new generations of fans?

ND: I think a part of the secret of the lasting appeal of "Midsomer," well, I think there are many reasons, obviously. I think the British countryside is a very important part of it. The pubs, the village greens, the churches, the beautiful houses, all those sorts of things. I think people like that very much.

And the quiz element of the whodunit. The whodunit is perennially a popular thing where people start off thinking, "Oh, it's the bloke in the hat did it. Oh, no, he's dead. He's dead. No, no, it's the woman in the green jumper — oh, no, she's dead." I think people love to play that sort of game. It's a thing that people like to do as a family, for people to try and figure out who's done it. I think that's part of the pleasure of it.

So it's got a very loose formula to it, to the extent it has a formula at all. Most shows are a bit more tightly packed. They've got a smaller area to create ideas in. Whereas "Midsomer" is just something happens in the country, two coppers turn up, "Go on, tell me a story. You can do anything with it." And we have.

With the 20th season airing on public television stations nationwide, what adventures are in store for DCI Barnaby and DS Hendrix?

ND: Season 20 has some magnificent stories coming your way. In fact, I think the whole series starts back in 1522 with a flashback to a terribly unfortunate incident, that then is echoed in the modern age. And then, "Ooh, are there...?" Well, there's a bit of a clue, the first episode is called "The Ghost of Causton Abbey." And there's ghostly goings on.

Watch

Drawing Dead (Preview)

Things to look forward to… there's a very enjoyable episode with a bit of a shock in it, that is set at a local rugby. Death by chocolate. There's also an episode that is set in a village where a famous cartoonist used to live, now deceased and they run a yearly convention. So we actually pretty much took over a village and dressed everybody we could find in superhero costumes. We had a great deal of fun trying to arrange all these people in as many shops as we could, all with their capes and their masks and all sorts of strange outfits. That was a lot of fun to do. I hope it's as much fun to watch.

There's a lovely episode set at the circus, where a great secret is revealed about Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby. He has a bit of a problem that most people don't know about, and it's a bit awkward for him.

How good are you at guessing the killer when reading a script for an episode?

ND: I think one time in 50 odd scripts, I've thought, "Oh, it's that one. It's that person." Which immediately made me ring up the producers and say, "This has to be really obvious if I could guess it, because I've never guessed it before." I'm very, very bad at guessing who the killer is in "Midsomer." And I sometimes struggle, even when I've seen the episode, to be frank.

You’ve been playing the lead role of DCI John Barnaby for a number of seasons (the character was introduced in Season 13, and joined the main cast in Season 14). Are there nuances to the character that you continue to discover with each season?

ND: I would say that as an actor, to an extent, you can only reveal what the writer puts in the script and wants to reveal about your character and that you reveal through things. Sometimes we discover something about John Barnaby that is somewhat surprising, that he has an issue about something.

When you read this, you kind of go, "Okay. So I've been playing this part for about eight years, and now there's this kaboom. Here's this great big thing." And you think, "Oh, okay." You just incorporate the fact that, for example, oh, it turns out that he's also an avid fly fisherman, and it's never been mentioned in the previous six or seven years of doing the show. It's a part of the genre that you accept and embrace these things, like you doing improvisation, you just have to say, "Yeah, okay, I'll go with that.” The thing I always like to try is to make him a bit touchy, or annoyed, or judgmental, or angry about things, because I think he's such a nice person. He's always rather distanced from the case.

How would you describe DCI Barnaby’s relationship with DS Jamie Winter?

ND: I think when DS Jamie Winter first arrived on the scene, Barnaby finds it a little bit difficult. He's a creature of habit and I think he likes things to stay the same. I don't think he would think he is like this, but I think he is. So if a Sergeant moves on and a new Sergeant moves in, I think he's a bit uncomfortable with that at first. And I think they both have a period of sort of proving themselves to each other. And I think they're a little bit wary of each other and they dance around each other a little bit.

You have bonding experiences. And obviously for a Barnaby and Winter, they bond over murders, dangers and risks, and burning the midnight oil together. They are thrown together in a very intimate way.

Nick and I get on very well, [we] have a very lovely time together. He's a terrible giggler, which always makes me laugh.

So the relationship between Barnaby and Winter has grown and developed. And I think it feels quite rich and quite secure, and I hope a very enjoyable part of the show.

What do you think John Barnaby would do for a living if he weren't a policeman?

ND: I imagine that when he hangs up his handcuffs, he and Sarah will go off somewhere and open up a nice tea shop or something, and he'll make cakes. I think in a way, the mixing together of all the ingredients and stirring it all in and putting it all together, it is a bit like the jigsaw thing of putting together a case and finding the murderer. Then he put all the pieces of the cakey jigsaw together and popping in his oven and then out comes the solution.

That'd be a nice thing for him to do, wouldn't it? What harm can come to you in a kitchen? Lots. There's lots of food related deaths in "Midsomer."