Man of MYSTERY

NEIL DUDGEON on sleuthing in Midsomer, saving marriages and sorting his life out with Stacey Solomon!

Neil Dudgeon is delighted to be back in DCI John Barnaby’s smart suits to unravel new Midsomer Murders mystery The Blacktrees Prophecy.

The first case in Series 23 of the ever-popular ITV1 crime drama, the story is set in the picturesque fictional village of Blacktrees-on-Marsh and begins with the macabre death of a survivalist, Warren Kaine (played by Aran Bell), in his bombproof shelter.

DCI Barnaby and colleague DS Jamie Winter (Nick Hendrix, see box, right) are immediately suspicious of two members of a doomsday preppers group – scientist Guy Burrows (The Royal’s Robert Cavanah) and camper-van owner Etta Derby (Your Christmas or Mine? star Cora Kirk).

But as the body count rises, bookshop owner Paige Burrows (Hijack’s Holly Aird), pub manager Medora Salt (The Outlaws’ Nina Wadia) and Warren’s bitter ex-wife Lyra (The Couple Next Door’s Kate Robbins) also find themselves in the frame.

Here, in an exclusive interview with TV Times, Neil, 63, tells us what to expect…

What clues can you reveal about this latest case?

It’s written by Jeff Povey [Casualty, EastEnders], who’s very imaginative and comes up with some marvellously eccentric things. The story starts off seemingly with nuclear war and then builds from there!

The fantastic thing about this episode is the bizarre deaths. Not only do we have someone beaten around the head with a tin of Spam, but also a death by exploding lifeboat, which is just inspired!