Midsomer Murders: Fans to be treated to new instalments of the popular crime series

However, it’s such a big hit in the US, they got to see the latest episode, A Grain of Truth, a whole two years ago. While some thought it was well up to standard, others claimed it reach match the high standards set by older tales. There were also viewers who, bizarrely, claimed to be upset by DS Jamie Winter’s haircut.

Now, at long last, we’re getting a chance to see what all the fuss is about, both story and coiffeur-wise.

The plot takes place within the organic baking world, an industry you don’t necessarily think of whenever crime is mentioned. However, Barnaby and Winter’s investigative skills are going to be ‘kneaded’ (sorry) after pastry chef Chrissie Larkton’s newly renovated mill proves unpopular, leading to a suspected poisoning and a couple of grisly deaths.

As has been the case since 2011, Neil Dudgeon plays the man in charge of the case, DCI John Barnaby, the nephew of original central character Tom; he believes part of the show’s enduring success is down to the chemistry between himself and Nick Hendrix, who portrays Winter.

“We’ve had times where we’ve tried to play the scene without actually making eye contact because it made us laugh too much. And that is, I think, a low point for any professional artist, to be quite honest. I’m outing us both here,” smiles the Doncaster-born actor, although he goes on to claim he reckons they’d be good detectives in real life. “I’d do the thinking and Nick can run around dragging people into lakes and stuff like that.”

Dudgeon is about to match Nettles’ tenure of 13 years as the show’s lead, something he never expected to achieve when he was asked to play the role.

“I never had any idea that it would go on this long,” he reveals. “They said, ‘come in and do a few episodes of Midsomer,’ and I thought, ‘I’ll give it a try. I hope I don’t destroy the show inside one episode because that would be very embarrassing, after John Nettles has done it so marvellously for 13 years and I bury it inside one episode’. That would have been very embarrassing.

“But we got through that first series and then they wanted to do it again and I thought ‘Hurrah!’, and sort of repaid the faith of the people who cast me in it.”

Let’s hope the star continues to fight crime in this otherwise quiet corner of the country – here’s to another 13 years!