Neil Dudgeon, the 63-year-old star known for his role as DCI John Barnaby on ITV's enduring mystery series Midsomer Murders, shared insights into the show's success during an appearance on James Martin's Saturday Morning. The actor relished a "beautiful" calves liver dish while delving into conversation with the 52-year-old chef.
Discussing the surprise element behind the longevity of Midsomer Murders, Neil reflected on the solid foundation of the show during their chat.
The culinary host questioned the secret to creating a hit series: "What do you put it down to? Because we were talking about successful shows and 'successful' nowadays is about three or four years?"
Modestly discussing television success, James added: "I can't put my finger on this one, to be honest. 18 years I've been cooking on Saturday mornings. What would you put it down to?"
Responding with a touch of humour, Neil cheekily remarked: "If I may say so, the success of your show is even more of a mystery than the success of our show!"
Agreeing in a lighthearted manner, James laughed, "Precisely," prompting Neil to quickly contribute: "The reason I say that is because, I think the great thing about Midsomer Murders is... the people who originally created the show."
He expanded: "I mean the formula of Midsomer is something - not necessarily a murder - happens in a rural location and two policemen turn up to see what's going on."
Neil concluded by discussing writer freedom, "everything is changing all the time", thanks to the fundamental rule allowing authors complete creativity with a simple yet effective premise over a two-hour story, reports the Express.
"You've got this wide formula for what the story of the show could be," he elaborated. "You can have endless variety within it and - always there's something people find comforting about seeing the same thing over again - but the same thing is so different! ".
ITV's Midsomer Murders features Neil in the role of DCI John Barnaby, with Nick Hendrix as DS Jamie Winter, Fiona Dolman as Sarah Barnaby and Annette Badland as Fleur Perkins.
The ITV synopsis states: "World-renowned murder mystery series set in the idyllic Midsomer county. Inspector Barnaby and his young sergeant probe an alarming number of suspicious deaths in the community."
Midsomer Murders returns to screens on Sunday 10th November at 8pm on ITV1.
James Martin's Saturday Morning airs every Saturday from 9.30am on ITV and ITVX.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25749878/spectra_smartwatch1.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2913888/sling10_2040.0.jpg)
)
)
English (US) ·