Richard Hope appeared in "Judgement Day" as Gordon Brierly, the local veterinarian, and seven years later reappeared in the episode "They Seek Him Here", this time as local actor and historian Neville Hayward. Kevin McNally appeared as Orville Tudway in "Blood Will Out" (1999) and as Gerald Farquaharson in "The Noble Art" (2010). Solicitor James Jocelyne ( Timothy Bateson) appeared in "Written in Blood", "Death's Shadow", and "Orchis Fatalis". Meanwhile, the script is smart and thought-provoking with some nice quirky humour, a grimness and with characters that are colourful and eccentric. The story is very absorbing, never simplistic, never confusing and the maturity that 'Midsomer Murders' has when on form is more than evident here. All the acting is very good indeed.

Neil Dudgeon, Chief Inspector John Barnaby, appeared for the first time as Daniel Bolt [7] a character in the episode "Garden of Death" (2000).VKK Birgitte Poulsen ( Ann Eleonora Jørgensen) appears in "The Killings of Copenhagen" and "Death of the Small Coppers". Grievous Bottley Harm: Otto Benham is tied down to the lawn while the murderer uses a small catapult to hurl filled bottles at him. His wife, Bernie, sees the whole thing and corrects the murderer's aim.

Death by Irony: Otto Benham is murdered with a combination of his hobbies of crochet, model siege equipment and wine, while has-been quiz show host Mike Spicer is forced to answer questions and slowly drowned in wine as he gets them wrong. Rosalind Knight played Eleanor Macpherson in "Birds of Prey" (2003) and Mother Jerome in "A Sacred Trust" (2011). Sarah Barnaby ( Fiona Dolman) (series 14–present)—John Barnaby's wife is the headmistress of a local secondary school. As she has a full-time career of her own (unlike Joyce), she does not figure as much in her husband's cases; and they don't have any children (until the end of the sixteenth series), although you may consider Sykes, their dog, as their child. They have a loving marriage and celebrated their fifteen-year anniversary in "Schooled for murder". Throughout the sixteenth series Sarah is pregnant and in the last episode of the series she gives birth to their first child, a daughter, called Betty. Robert Daws played a recurring role in Robin of Sherwood as King John's herald, Hubert de Guiscarde in the episodes "The Greatest Enemy" and "The Sheriff of Nottingham".

Clare Holman played Sue Tutt in "Ring Out Your Dead" (2002), Rose Southerly in "Country Matters" (2006) and Fiona Beauvoisin in "The Miniature Murders" (2019). The death scenes of Otto Benham and Mike Spicer are easily the show's most ingenious and brutal. One is catapulted with wine bottles, other drowns in a claret with a TV on his head... Jones is considerably less naive than Troy or Scott, possessing an insight into cases that neither would have. Jones was born in Wales and remarks about his love for Wales when he and Tom travel there in the episode "Death and Dust". He is a Welsh Baptist, as Barnaby calls him in "A Sacred Trust" (Series 14, Episode 7), to which Jones replies "What's wrong with that? Except the teetotalism." Rupert Vansittart appeared in three episodes: as Selwyn Proctor in "Market for Murder" (2002), as Desmond Harcourt in "The Axeman Cometh" (2007), and as Alistair Kingslake in "The Dogleg Murders" (2009). The production values are wonderful here with an awesome direction, beautiful music and great cast. All of the acting is good, but the standouts are Nancy Carroll (she's always good to look at), Oliver Ford Davies (whose character is extremely juicy and arrogant) and Robert Daws- who is very fun to watch and whose character could have been played as an annoying freak, which Mike Spicer actually isn't.