Filming News

CONSPIRACY, murder and intrigue was rife in Thame last week as the ever popular ITV drama, Midsomer Murders came to shoot an episode in the town.

The production team, film crews and a cast with entourage camped up outside Thame museum on Friday to film part of the third episode. Now in its twelfth series, DCI Barnaby - played by actor John Nettles and his trusty sidekick DS Jones, played by Jason Hughes, continue to solve the mysteries surrounding weekly murders in Midsomer Mallow.

Filming for the show has entered its second decade and more than 132 suspicious deaths later, the production team have remained firm fans of Thame and the surrounding Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire countryside.

Last Friday, the crew were working towards the completion of the third episode, which will result in a two-hour television slot and take 22 days to film.

Although crimebuster John Nettles was not on site, his colleagues Rosamaund Drury and Tom Rooke made an appearance.

They needed a museum for the current episode and Thame museum appeared to be the perfect location.

Bentley Productions is the team behind the series and head of productions, Ian Stracham, said: "Bentley productions chose Thame today as it has a museum that fits the Midsomer Murders look.

We are very grateful that the museum curator was able to accommodate us."

The crew stayed filming inside the museum all morning before moving to a location in a house in Thame in the afternoon.

The series is out next year.

A senior councillor was shocked when he returned home to find a dead body in his kitchen. Hart district and Hampshire county councillor Jonathan Glen arrived back to find his home in sleepy Rotherwick sealed off and a full-scale murder probe underway. But luckily for him the ‘murder’ was part of a day’s filming for a forthcoming episode of the popular Midsomer Murders series starring John Nettles.

Cllr Glen said: "It was so authentic that it really did look like there had been a murder at the house.

"It’s a strange feeling driving up to see the police there and your home sealed off. Your heart really does jump into your mouth."

The story of how Cllr Glen’s house came to be used as a set in the popular detective series goes back about a year when a location manager happened to be passing through Rotherwick.

"He called into the house and said do you mind if I take some pictures because we might consider using it for a future Midsomer Murders scene?" said Cllr Glen.

"We never heard anything more but then about two months ago he rang up again and asked if he could come and have another look.

"He also brought along the set designer and the props people to see what they would have to change."

Cllr Glen described the special effects used during the filming as "phenomenal".

"They did some night filming and created their own moon with a halogen lamp," he said.

"There must have been 30 very large caravan-type vehicles that came with the crew.

"They were all camped in a field nearby the house and the actors just came over when they were needed.

"A lot of the make-up was done in our back garden where the actors also rehearsed their lines.

"It was also fascinating to see an accomplished actor such as John Nettles fluff his lines."

Cllr Glen said he would not hesitate in welcoming the crew back for more filming.

"They were so pleased to have us around yet they were all focused 100% on what they were doing.

"They certainly recommended that we put our house on a list of location sites so I will be contacting the economic development office at Hampshire County Council."

The episode filmed at Cllr Glen’s house has a working title of The Black Book and is due to be shown next spring.

POPULAR TV detective drama Midsomer Murders is being filmed today in Cuddington.

Stars of the show such as John Nettles (Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby) and Daniel Casey (Detective Sergeant Gavin Troy) will be on set for filming, which takes place regularly in Cuddington and surrounding villages.

The ITV1 show has been a huge success since it first aired in 1997. A detective drama, it focuses on the main character of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby and his efforts to solve the various crimes that take place in the fictional English county of Midsomer.

MIDSOMER MURDERS RETURNS TO CHIPPERFIELD
Last month Bentley Productions, who produce the Midsomer Murders series for television, took over The Windmill pub for a day to shoot sequences for a forthcoming episode entitled Days of Misrule.
The pub, renamed the Calham Cross Inn, was taken over completely with sequences being shot inside as well as along the road in front. Inside the pub had been dressed for Christmas with decorations, holly and mistletoe everywhere. With police cars roaring up the road and John Nettles as Inspector Barnaby doing much the same in his Jaguar there was quite a lot of action going on. A barmaid arriving by bicycle and then sobbing in the arms of another lady was very intriguing - what was it all about?
Filming continued both outside and inside the pub until after dark when a further sequence was shot outside.
The episode is apparently being shown as a Christmas special so we will all have to wait to see the full story until it is transmitted much later in the year.

MIDSOMER MURDERS. The parish council has received a donation of £200 for allowing the use of the parish office for a filming session on October 30. The office was transformed into a prison office and the village hall foyer became the entrance to the prison (!) for an episode entitled Midsomer Life which will be screened next year.

The film team was also in Haddenham in July when they did some filming at Miles Garage and also, appropriately, used artist Penny Heydon's home - Dragon Barn - as an artist's studio for an episode entitled Shot at Dawn. You may remember when her house was used as a café (where a victim froze to death in the walk-in freezer) for the episode Talent for Life which was filmed in 2002.

Residents cannot fail to have noticed all the police activity around the village green in recent weeks. Events were centred around the pavilion on the green, which your Newsletter can exclusively reveal housed a ‘camera obscura’ used to secretly observe goings on.

Luckily Detective Inspector Barnaby and the rest of the Midsomer constabulary were quickly on hand and arrests have been made. The Midsomer Holm Newsletter will keep you up to date with developments as they happen.

We should be thankful that the real residents of The Lee do not suffer from the high murder rate depicted in the TV series. So far The Lee has been the scene of nine murders, three suicides and one accidental death investigated by D.I. Barnaby. If they were all real, we’d never sleep at night.

The Lee has starred as three different identities in Midsomer Murders so far. In the first series The Lee appeared as Badgers Drift, the main centre of the action in the pilot episode ‘The Killings at Badger Drift’. Action returned to Badgers Drift twice more in the second series, which was filmed in 1997 and 1998.

In 2002 The Lee was featured as Midsomer Florey in the episode ‘Painted in Blood’, which featured only one paltry murder. In 2007 we have had another name change, becoming Midsomer Holm, in an episode entitled ‘Death in a Chocolate Box’.

‘Death in a Deluge’ might have been a more appropriate title given the weather enjoyed during filming. Fortunately the script called for several scenes to take place on rainy days, though in an ironic twist the type of rain falling from the sky was not correct for filming purposes, so the crew could be seen spraying artificial rain from sprinklers onto cast and extras being soaked to the skin by the real stuff!

Filming took place in and around The Green, The-Lee Manor being renamed Holm Manor and the Cock and Rabbit becoming ‘The Safe Haven’. Elizabeth Stewart-Liberty, who gave permission for The Green to be used in filming, is kindly donating a portion of the proceeds paid by the film company to the Church of St John the Baptist, The Lee Old Church and to The Lee Cricket Club.

Midsomer Murders is made by Bentley Productions, the company run by local resident Brian True-May. Sixty episodes have been made in ten series, with filming on another six due to start in the summer. The series remains popular in the UK, where it typically attracts over eight million viewers, and is currently shown to 204 countries around the world. There are no plans at present to end the series, so perhaps more murders are possible in The Lee.

One sad footnote to the recent episode was the sudden death of actor Ian Richardson just one week before he was due to start filming in The Lee. Ian Richardson was a very accomplished actor on stage (with the RSC) and TV, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Francis Urquhart in the TV series ‘House of Cards’. His part, as ‘Lord Holm’ was taken by Edward Petherbridge, at very short notice.

The police are still finalising their investigations, and have imposed reporting restrictions until some point during the summer. All will be revealed in a nationally televised broadcast that I, for one, will be watching with a drink in ‘The Safe Haven’.

Loseley House is an ideal film location and in January 2007 the TV production team for Midsomer Murders starring John Nettles and Jason Hughes spent three weeks at the house. Bentley Productions with director Sarah Hellings filmed an episode that will form part of the 10th series of the programme turning the house into the fictional Magna Manor. The episode entitled They Seek Him Here uses the theme of a film within a film with Inspector Barnaby investigating a murder on the film set at the manor.

The episode which features scenes shot inside the house and in Loseley Park's grounds is to be broadcast on ITV1 in the late autumn (2007).

SHOPPERS and visitors to Thame recently, could not help but have noticed several large white vans, catering units, lighting units and film crews in and around the town.
Bentley Productions Ltd., who make the ITV series 'Midsomer Murders', starring John Nettles, has been filming in and around the town since Friday, December 1, for episode six in series ten, called "Picture of Innocence".
Particular attention has been attracted by the transformation of the former Pickles Deli in the Upper High Street, into a 1050's Camera Shop - a reincarnation so realistic that the crew have had to put a notice in the window, "No digital cameras in stock!"

Interior shots have been filmed there today, and tomorrow, filming will take place outside 15 Upper High Street, for about half an hour from around 8am, and then back at Pickles from 9am to 7pm for some more interior shots.
On Friday, December 8, the crews will be filming inside The Coffee House, in the Buttermarket between 8am and 11am, and then at Pickles again from 11am to 7pm.
The crews will return to Thame on Sunday, December 10, for some outside shots at Pickles, between 8am and Mid-day, followed by filming at Reproset Ltd., at 12 Buttermarket from Mid-day to 7pm.
On Monday, December 11, Pickles will again be the location for an exterior scene to be filmed from 8am for about one hour. After this the crews will move inside for rest of the day, moving outside once it is dark for the final scene of the day. Work is due to finish by 7pm.
Finally, filming will again take place outside Pickles on Wednesday, December 13, from 8am to mid-morning, inside, and then outside for the rest of the day, finishing around 7pm.

The eternally popular series Midsomer Murders, starring John Nettles (Bergerac) and Jason Hughes (This Life) spent a week on and around Mount Snowdon filming a whole episode for the new series.

A full crew of over 60 people came up from Pinewood for only the second programme in over 50 to be set outside of Midsomershire. (In reality parts of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire).

The North Wales Film Manager Richard Coombs said, “We were called out of the blue in early June by the team who said they were thinking about having a story set on Snowdon and could we assist.

The location manager came up soon after and we worked hard in gaining the right permissions. They even changed the script so that the locations used fitted in with the storyline.”

In one dramatic scene John Nettles is seen hanging out of a helicopter flying over a ridge near the Miners’ track. In addition to Snowdon, Llyn Gwynant and Beddgelert several private homes and farms were used.

The close working relationship the Commission’s office has with the Local Authorities as well as the private companies and National Bodies who own other locations ensured that filming went smoothly.

John Nettles is quoted as being very impressed with the scenery and is keen to see the result of the week’s filming in Wales. The crew have now moved back to Pinewood to finish off studio scenes.

"Media tourists" are pumping thousands of pounds into the economy as they visit production locations, says the commission's Richard Coombs.

The latest to use the area is the ITV detective drama Midsomer Murders, starring John Nettles.

Because of the interest in locations, the commission has already set up a Film Trail which places plaques at various points which have been used in film and TV programmes. There is also a map for people to follow.

"North Wales, and Wales as a whole, is definitely leading the pack and the Republic of Ireland is looking at copying our film trail," said Mr Coombs, film liaison manager at the Wales Screen Commission's north Wales office.

The fact big stars filmed at locations in the area gave the region "a high profile," he said.

As well as attracting tourists, local businesses were used by film crews - often out of season - and it had been known for production teams to return to the area for a holiday after filming ended, he added.

The programme's Shelagh Pymm said the trip to Snowdonia to film was only the second time Midsomer Murders had been filmed outside Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in its 10-series, 50-episode history.

The drama in Snowdonia will involve a group of ramblers from the fictional village of Midsomer travelling to Wales for a walking holiday with the John Nettle character, Inspector Barnaby, racing to prevent a murder.

A SPINE-CHILLING murder took place in Littlewick Green this week – but villagers have nothing to fear as this was all part of the filming for an ITV detective show.

A film crew brought fake blood, fake flowers for gardens and fake signs to turn the village into the set for Midsomer Murders on Tuesday. The crew is set to return tomorrow (Friday). Bentley Productions transformed several houses in Littlewick Green for episode two of series 10 which will be aired next year. Actor John Nettles was on the set as star of the show, Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, and he said the village is an ideal location. He said: “I think it’s the most beautiful place in the world – we’ve used it several times, it’s perfect. I hope we haven’t disturbed the residents too much and I hope we haven’t killed off too many!” Lynn Fitzpatrick’s house witnessed a murder in her kitchen as her house was used for two days’ filming. The crew also filmed in her front hall, dining room, lounge and living room after replacing all her downstairs furniture and planting fake flowers in the garden. She said: “I think it’s really great. I’ve only ever watched the show once. I will watch it now.” Laura Tebbutt’s house was transformed into a village post office store complete with pillar box, phone booth and sign outside.

FORTY GREEN residents lived to tell the tale when The Royal Standard of England pub found itself under the watchful eye of Midsomer Murders detective Tom Barnaby, writes Ben Smith.

The 950-year-old pub in Brindle Lane was used by makers of the ITV show, Bentley Productions, for a day's filming on Monday.

Pub owner Matthew O'Keeffe, 47, said: "The scene they are going to film features DCI Barnaby, John Nettles, eating lunch with his on-screen wife, Jane Wymark and then there is some kind of an altercation."

THE Oxfam Book shop in Thame underwent a temporary face-lift on Sunday, when it became the location for the filming of an episode of the TV Drama series, 'Midsommer Murders'.
This picture shows a lighting technician adjusting his equipment outside the shop, which has been disguised at a secondhand bookshop called 'Cover to Cover'.
Other shops in the Buttermarket underwent a similar transformation for a flashback scene to Coronation year, 1953.
By Monday morning the town was miraculously back to normal and the film crew had disappeared leaving no trace of their presence.
The episode, entitled 'Vixens Run', will be shown later in the year.

FILMING for the popular TV series, Midsommer Murders, will be taking place in and around Thame town centre in the next few days.

On Thursday, August 4, shots of characters walking and talking along the street from outside the Aga Shop in the upper High Street, down to the Swan Hotel, will be filmed sometime between 4pm and 3am the next morning.

Between 11pm and 1am the next morning on the same date, an exterior scene of characters walking along the pavement and entering the Oxfam Bookshop in Cornmarket, Thame, will be shot, and interior shots will be filmed between 1am and 3am.

On Sunday, August 7,the Buttermarket will be the scene for the filming of a flashback scene set in 1953, which will involve changing various shop signage and stringing bunting along the street. This will happen between 5pm and 7pm. Once again, the Oxfam Bookshop will once again be filmed between 9am and 5pm on the same day.

The scenes to be filmed are for an episode entitled "Vixen's Run", for what will be the 9th series by Bentley Productions Ltd, and will once again star John Nettles.

A MIDSOMER Murders film crew nearly suffered a casualty of their own after strong winds threatened to topple filming equipment outside a pub in Amersham.

Lighting technicians from Bentley Productions had rigged up overhead industrial lighting equipment above the High Street using a cherry picker. Their intention was to illuminate a scene being shot on School Lane.

However a strong gust of wind caused them to rethink their plans after the cherry picker wobbled and slid a couple of inches along the pavement.

A spokesman for the production company said: "As soon as we realised it was unsafe we lowered it."

No one was injured but the regulars in the Elephant and Castle were warned to stay indoors while crew retracted the machinery and lowered the lights.

Filming is due to continue in Beaconsfield in March. Beaconsfield residents and shoppers may catch a glimpse of John Nettles filming in the town on March 4.

Factory employees became the stars of a hit TV crime series when the cast and crew of Midsomer Murders took over their workplace.

The ITV1 drama, which stars John Nettles, spent four days at Tiptree Jam Factory to film the episode 'Sauce for the Goose', with 30 members of staff taking part in the production.

A 60-strong crew and team of actors including Mr Nettles and Vicar of Dibley star James Fleet, carried out the majority of filming over the weekend of January 22-23, returning for extra material the following two days.

David Cross, 60, head of the fruit-sorting department, explained: "They wanted an old-fashioned jam factory, because the episode's set in the 1950s I think. Tiptree just fitted the bill."

He said he still found it hard to believe. "It was like a dream," he explained. "I was doing a job and John Nettles just walked over - it didn't seem real. You can't imagine you're rubbing shoulders with someone so famous.

"One of my highlights was when (actor) David Ross was taking some Japanese tourists round the factory and his trousers fell down. Unfortunately the camera couldn't pan down quickly enough."

The real star came in the form of forklift driver, David Driver, 45, who drove a forklift truck in the episode and was the only jam factory extra to have a speaking part.

"I was picked by one of the blokes who works here who was organising it. He asked me if I'd be interested and I said yes because it's something different, something else to do for a change," he said. "I had about five complete sentences to say and it was only me who got to say anything at all."

Mr Driver's three children, aged 25, 23 and 22, couldn't believe he had taken part: "They thought it was great but took the mickey out of me. I've never done it before and they didn't think I ever would."

Janet Smith, 58, is head of the filling room department, where most of the episode was shot. Although interested to see how television programmes are filmed, Mrs Smith was delighted to have met John Nettles, who plays Ch Insp Tom Barnaby in the show.

"I think he's got a lot of fans here," she said. "He was very pleasant, a very nice chap, and he looks just like he does on telly. He seems quite shy to me, and was very quiet, but he did come in and say hello and good morning to everyone.

"It was a good experience and everyone came in on the Monday on a real high. Even my neighbours are asking when it's going to be on. I think televisions and videos will be hot that night.

Walter Scott, production director for Wilkin and Sons, who runs the factory, said it had been a fantastic experience for everyone involved. "It was around the time when the day was meant to be the worst day of the year and it uplifted everybody here. It was wonderful to see."

A MARLOW pub found itself under the watchful eye of Midsomer Murders detective Tom Barnaby, when the ITV show dropped in for a day's filming this week.

The Two Brewers Pub, in St Peter Street, was used by Bentley Productions, makers of the show starring John Nettle, for a day's filming on Monday. And the pub has been written into the drama's script because many of its furnishings which will appear on screen bear its name.

Landlord, Clive Mason, 56, explained: "It was written in because the place has The Two Brewers' plastered all over the place, including on a large mat as you come in.

"I suppose they thought it would be too much hassle to remove everything, though they will be taking some things out.

"We've got a real fire here and they're putting in their own so it stays the same while filming."

Mr Mason, of Little Marlow, said the producers had booked the pub out until 7pm.

August 4, 2004

THE conservatory at The Anchor, Church End, home of Ingrid and Ray Holmes was the latest setting for a Midsomer Murders film shot. Ray wins prizes for his produce at the local show and was fascinated to see the transformation when orchids were brought in for a scene in Orchis Fatalis, to be screened in the autumn.

August 2004

Britain's biggest bankrupt has been forced to rent out Moulsford Manor as the backdrop to the bucolic crime drama Midsomer Murders, for an episode entitled, perhaps presciently, Dead in the Water.

June 11, 2004

Town stars in Midsomer Murders

(Friday, June 11) THAME is set to star on the small screen in the new series of popular ITV drama Midsomer Murders after film crews spent much of Tuesday in the town.

The scenes, for an episode entitled Things That Go Bump In The Night, were shot first at empty offices in the town's High Street which doubled up as a funeral parlour before they moved to the Cornmarket to carry on filming behind The Birdcage.
As shooting did not finish until 1am the following morning, a large hydraulic platform was also used to enable the crew to light some of the areas being filmed at night.
Unit manager Ted Ladlow said star John Nettles, who plays Barnaby in the series, was full of praise for Thame.
He said: "He thought it was quite a nice town. I would like to thank traffic warden Peggy Long and Inspector Graham Sutherland for all their help."
Location manager Casper Mill said the team would be returning to Thame later in the year.
He said: "Everybody has been very open to the whole idea and very helpful."

June 9, 2004

FILMING. John Nettles (Inspector Barnaby) and John Hopkins (DS Scott) were in Haddenham again last week to film scenes for an episode (Things that go bump in the night) of Midsomer Murders – due to be screened on ITV this autumn. Filming took place at Brian and Zoe Bowman's Church End house and some late night filming took place at Church End.

June 9, 2004

VILLAGE FILMING. Filming has been taking place, mainly at Long Crendon Manor, for the Midsomer Murders series.

Midsomer Murders re-commissioned for 2 further series

Due to the phenomenal success at home and abroad, the international hit Midsomer Murders produced by Bentley Productions has recently been re-commissioned by ITV1 for a further 16 TV movies. Series 8 which has started production, will be 8 X 100' and series 9 will also be 8 X 100', with filming to start in 2005.

Series 7 of Midsomer Murders was recently screened on ITV and reached an audience high of over 11 million and 42% share. The final episode in this series is a Christmas special to be screened in December 2004.

Midsomer Murders is now on air in over 164 countries worldwide, making it one of the biggest selling UK drama series. The series of TV movies (43 x 100 mins in all) is based on the award-winning Inspector Barnaby novels by mystery writer Caroline Graham, who has been described by UK's Sunday Times as "the best detective writer since Agatha Christie" and stars John Nettles as Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby.

Recent International sales of the series include ZDF (Germany), ABC (Australia), Hallmark (various feeds), SVT (Sweden), DR (Denmark), France 3 (France) TVNZ (New Zealand) RTL-TV1 (Belgium), Holland Media Group (Netherlands) to name but a few.

With lots more murders, betrayal and blackmail, no one will be safe in Midsomer villages for a long time to come.

The beautiful -and murderous - villages of Midsomer are some of TV's most popular locations. But where, exactly, do they film the hit detective drama?

Visit the set of Midsomer Murders TV's deadliest location and you probably won't live to tell the tale. It's perhaps just as well, then, that the show's film crew are almost impossible to find.

"We use many locations and are always on the move," says the show's executive producer, Brian True-May. What also baffles fans hunting for a glimpse of filming is that the bulk of the crew's equipment is tucked away out of sight, and each fictional village is often an amalgam of up to three genuine locations.

Even so, while fans shouldn't expect to bump into DCI Barnaby (John Nettles), the Midsomer villages are, like bloodspots on a map, speckled across Buckinghamshire, The Chilterns and Oxfordshire. Specifically, they have included Little Missenden, Long Crendon and Bledlow (Bucks) plus Wallingford and Great Haseley (Oxon).

Finding fresh fields for the long-running drama is a challenge. When the show began in 1997, location manager Georgina True-May (Brian's daughter) surveyed the countryside on horseback. Now a team of scouts comb leafy lanes in cars, and use the internet to trace tricky sites.

"We needed a drained canal tunnel for The Green Man shown last November as a one-off," says Brian. "It was a hell of a job, but we eventually found one near Cirencester in Gloucestershire."

Worryingly, though, Brian warns a price war between independent film-makers and the BBC could strangle the supply of suitable beauty spots.

"We regularly filmed at The Lee, and put a few hundred pounds into the parish council's coffers each time," he says. "Then the BBC used it for the Mrs Bradley Mysteries and paid twice as much. Consequently, the council now want £1,000 a day. If it carries on, we won't be able to afford to go on location."

Clearly, filming in idyllic rural villages requires a finely-balanced working relationship with local residents.

"Some are thrilled when we come back time and again. The owners of properties we use or inconvenience receive a facilities fee, and if we need people to move their cars out of shot, we give them a bottle of champagne," adds Brian.

In the episode Faithful unto Death, the home of a famous resident of Little Marlow in Buckinghamshire former Spice Girl Mel B was featured, along with the church in which she was married. Plus, filming took place in Little Marlow's Queen's Head pub, a location also used for Inspector Morse.

"We knock on doors and ask people if we can borrow their property," says locations assistant David Campbell-Bell. "Sometimes we need to alter it - one lady whose house we hired loved the wallpaper we pinned up so much that she asked the set dressers to leave it there."

Meanwhile, creating Midsomer's trademark tranquillity is a constant headache, with aircraft, lawnmowers, chainsaws and even starstruck wildlife vying to be heard.

"We were shooting at a pub which had a pond full of wildfowl. A goose thought it would be amusing to honk every time the camera rolled, so we bribed it to keep quiet with some bread."

The production team are also battered by the Great British Weather, which can dampen the show's summery air.

"We were filming a barbecue once, and it was so cold that you could see the actors' breath," says Brian True-May. "So we got some ice cubes from the local pub, which the actors sucked to stop their mouths steaming."

To keep the peace on set, the drama hires off-duty policemen to keep order in the country lanes. "We get boy-racers who want to show off their big exhaust pipes," says Brian.

Indeed, an hour before our interview, an unscripted angry young man sped repeatedly through Dorchester in Oxfordshire (which doubles for Midsomer Worthy) and was duly nicked. And not, to his regret, by that nice DCI Barnaby.

Left: Locals watch as film crews set up for Midsomer Murders at the Royal Saracen's Head

A MURDERER was at large in Beaconsfield on Thursday but residents need not be unduly concerned - the wanted man has been tracked down by a detective extraordinaire played by John Nettles.

Nettles and a team of actors descended on south Bucks to film a new series of ITV drama Midsomer Murders last week.

Denham-based film producers Bentley Productions were at the Royal Saracen's Head in London End, Beaconsfield, to shoot scenes.

The new series, produced by Birds of a Feather creator Brian True-May, is yet to be billed but ITV bosses have promised that there will be some surprises in store.

More details on the Midsomer Murders filming which is going on in the village this evening. Sorry if you are not interested in this but I do have some readers who seem to drop into my blog on a regular basis to see what is going on.

A quick saunter down to the Village Hall and I see actors dressed in Spanish costume - Flamenco Dancers and Toreador stuff. Very Carmen. A red banner is stretched out above the door to the hall and reads "Midsomer Mallow Residents Association - Spanish Evening" and so I guess that is the link.

It is gone midnight and they are still filming. The night sky is lit up with some very bright white lights. At the moment most of the activity is taking place down a little footpath which leads down to the river Thame. Although I could not get very close the filming seems to be happening just behind a cottage known locally as "Tibbys".

I got talking to one of the crew - who was dunking great hunks of baguette into a cup of soup - and he told me that this is the second episode of the series. The first, entitled "The Green Man", was based around a pub of that name. However, having read through the script of this episode he told me that he could not see the link to the title - "Bad Tidings".

There are four more episodes to be filmed in this series, and the shooting schedule goes right through till February. They are having a problem this year with the availability of some actors and so the filming is more fragmented than normal.

Apparently we can expect another visit from the production company to the village this Friday. Stay tuned.....

MIDSOMER MURDERS. The film team was in Haddenham again recently, filming at Candlemas Cottage in Flint Street for an episode entitled Bad Tidings, to be shown next spring.

In the episode 'A Talent for Life,' were you one of the people who believed that Honor Blackman was the real corpse found by Barnaby and Troy by the river bank? And did you believe she was really the person seen being murdered in a flashback at the end? In fact, you were wrong! The whole of it took 3 days to film, when on film it lasted for no more than 5 minutes!

Laura Neilson was lucky to step in as the part of Isobel Hewitt, but a few days after she finished filming, she was called again to take part in another episode of Series 6, 'Death and Dreams'!

Her parents are in a mobile library, her son is a builder and her father is also the village gossip - which she says is the perfect part for him!

Laura will be appearing in a future episode based at a Gothic mansion in Surrey.

TELEVISION crews flocked to Haddenham this week to record an episode of The Midsomer Murders.

The drama, starring former Bergerac icon John Nettles, set up at Parminter's Butchers on Tuesday morning.

Simon Parminter, who runs the shop, said the day had gone exactly to plan and the crew had arrived and left on time.

He added: "The filming didn't put me or the customers out one bit. We did have one person who turned up having forgotten they would be here, but that was the extent of the problems."

The shop name and front was not changed for the filming of the popular detective show, and Mr Parminter added that he would be excited to see his store on national television.

JOHN Nettles and a television crew descended on a second-hand bookshop to film part of the new series of ITV1 drama Midsomer Murders.

The actor, who plays the part of DCI Tom Barnaby, spent Monday at Cottage Bookshop in Elm Road, Penn, filming for the episode entitled A Tale of Two Hamlets.

The production company remained tight-lipped on the storyline but admitted actor Ronald Pickup was filming alongside Mr Nettles.

Wendy Campbell, who owns the bookshop, said: "We had to close the shop on the Monday. You'd never know they had been here."

This the second time the shop has played host to a camera crew with children's favourite Blue Peter filming there some years ago.

She said: "I personally don't think it is very attractive at all but people do come here and say what a wonderful place it is."

The shop, which has around 70,000 books on its shelves, only deals with cash and cheques with one till and one phone.

Mrs Campbell added: "It's almost Dickensian. To be honest it's like stepping back in time, but that's what people seem to like.

"People ring up and want a book and I'm sure they think I'm sitting in front of a computer screen.

A village used as the setting for grisly murders and determined detective work showed its lighter side over the weekend.

Stanton St John is regularly used as a location for ITV's Midsomer Murders, starring John Nettles, but last weekend residents enjoyed their summer festival.

Strolling musicians from Oxford Waites performed around the village in 17th century costumes and a floral display was held in the parish church.

Members of Thame Players will be extras in a production of the TV detective series Midsomer Murders, starring John Nettles, when epsiodes are filmed in the Chilterns during the summer and autumn.

The series has used many Oxfordshire locations before, including Wallingford, Great Haseley, Long Crendon, Towersey, Tetsworth and Brill.

Episode: Ring Out Your Dead
Chris Hough notes "This Carlton series set in the fictional county of Midsomer has in two recent episodes had buses on the screen as stage sets. The first episode featured a Mk 1 National in NBC livery with vinyls saying 75 years of service but no clue as to the identity of the owner. The second bus to feature was a Renault?/Northern Counties minibus in a blue/white livery possibly ex Preston Bus it was vinylled as Cawston and District (Cawston being the fictional town the police are based in.)"

On Sun 2nd Sep 2001 here in the UK, TV channel ITV broadcast a feature length two hour episode of the murder mystery series Midsomer Murders that revolved around the crop circle phenomenon. The series is one of the top ten shows on ITV, and this episode attracted an audiences of over 10 million. Below is the synopsis of the episode entitled Electric Vendetta taken from the press release:

"When a man's naked body is discovered in the center of a crop circle, DCI Tom Barnaby laughs off tales of alien abduction. But as more corpses are discovered - each bearing peculiar injuries - it's up to him to uncover who is responsible, or if extra-terrestrial powers are truly at work in Midsomer.

The discovery of a man's naked body in the centre of a crop circle brings UFO fans flocking to Midsomer Parva and the field owned by Sir Harry Chatwyn (John Woodvine). With a hole at the base of the spine, a chunk of hair missing, burn marks and a terrified expression, the corpse bears all the hallmarks of alien abduction.

DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles pictured right) and Sergeant Gavin Troy (Daniel Casey) think stories of flying saucers are a smoke-screen for murder, but extra-terrestrial expert Lloyd Kirby (Kenneth Colley) is convinced otherwise. Lloyd is brought in for questioning but former diplomat Sir Christian Aubrey (Alec McCowen) vouches for his honesty.

A post-mortem confirms electrocution, but the victim is a London criminal with no interest in the countryside or aliens. Then the body of a local burglar is found in a crop circle with an identical set of injuries.

There are also plenty of earthly goings-on in Midsomer Parva. Sir Harry shares a mistress, doctor's receptionist Sally Boulter (Amanda Mealing), with his daughter Lucy's (Daisy Bates) husband. As a third victim is discovered, Barnaby must discover who is responsible - or if extra-terrestrial powers are truly at work."

Photos Copyright Circlemakers

When asked about the three formations that were featured in the program Sarah Hall from Bentley Productions, part of the Chrysalis TV Group that produced the episode said "Midsomer prides itself on being an entertaining drama set against a background of heightened reality with added sprinklings of Midsomer charm and as such the crop circles were designed purely for television." They certainly looked the part in the program, if not from the air! (see photo above). She told us that the formations were both designed and then created by four people from their art department in daylight with the permission of the land owner at Stonor House, Nr Pitslhill in Buckinghamshire back in August 2000 and that no crop circle researchers visited the formations during filming. The formations were subsequently discovered and documented by the Oxfordshire CCCS group.

The village was taken over on Tuesday and Wednesday by film crews shooting the television detective series Midsomer Murders.

Staff from Pinewood Studios used the village hall and the Plough pub for scenes for a new episode which will go out early next year.

Inspector Barnaby, alias actor John Nettles, and his sidekick Sgt Troy - Daniel Casey - were on location in the picturesque village street.

Previous episodes in the series have been filmed in Long Crendon, Haddenham and Tetsworth.

If you blinked you would have almost missed Haddenham's brief exposure in the episode of the detective drama screened on ITV on January 29. The scene at Church End Green with Haddenham Morris (accompanied by Hadda's Band), which took several hours to film last August, lasted less than a minute!

It was lights-action-Haddenham on Friday as the village proved to be the perfect setting for TV makers. This time, ITV's whodunit series, Midsomer Murders, starring John Nettles, was filmed on Church End Green as villagers packed picnics to leisurely watch a day's filming. Long Crendon Morris men acted in the five minute scene as the green was made to look like the judging of a best kept village competition. Morris man and Haddenham villager Mike Whitney said "We thought we were just going to be in the background, but we're playing a major part in the scene. We did our bit over 20 times and never actually got to finish a dance. It was quite interesting to find out how it was done but I couldn't be an actor - It's too boring." The episode, called Judgement Day, will be screened in the spring. the Morris men were paid £200 for their part, which Mike said they would give to charity. Haddenham Parish Council, which gave permission for the green to be used as a film set, received £400, which will be used to help repair the church tower. Locals were also offered the chance to appear as extras - but some turned it down as they wanted paying.

ACTOR John Nettles was joined by extras from Wallingford's theatre group during filming in the town.

The film crew returned to Wallingford to shoot another episode of TV's Midsomer Murders.

The actor was joined by members of Wallingford's Sinodun Players, during the day-long filming around Market Place.

The Players' home, the Corn Exchange, was decked with flowers and renamed the Causton Playhouse, while Payne and Son jewellers and Chessman Insurance, both in St Mary's Street, were also used in yesterday's filming.

The series' associate producer, Ian Strachan, said: "We are pleased to be here again because we know Wallingford and the Corn Exchange very well.

"Market Place is a pretty square to use. People quite liked us last time we were here, so we thought we would use the town again."

Thirty members of the Sinodun Players took part in the filming, including the Corn Exchange's general manager, John Warburton, who wore a bright green jacket for his role as a background extra.

He said: "We all really enjoyed it so much last time. But you won't see very much of us."

During filming, Inspector Barnaby - the character played by Mr Nettles - buys theatre tickets from the Corn Exchange to appease his actress daughter, and also vists the jewellers, where evidence about the story's murder is discovered.

The shots in Wallingford will be used in the first episode of the second series of Midsomer Murders, which is called Strangler's Wood.

Television detective John Nettles tucked into a good meal during an investigation.

But the restaurant scene for the latest Midsomer Murders series was not in the West Country but an Oxfordshire pub.

The actor, who sprang to fame as television's Jersey-based detective Bergerac, was filming at The Swan in Tetsworth, near Thame, yesterday. Kathy Robinson, duty manager at the 17th century former coaching inn, said: "A researcher ate here and decided it would be a perfect venue for the series.

The scenes will be included in an episode of the new series to be shown later this year.