When a ghost village reopens, death cannot be far behind. And so was the premise of “The Village That Rose From The Dead” – for my money, the saddest MIDSOMER MURDERS story EVER (R.I.P. Sykes). However, once my eyes dried up, I noticed ten – count ’em, TEN! – guest stars from other British fare. Let’s meet them all.
While technically not a guest star, this episode did introduce a new Detective Sergeant for Barnaby (adios, Nelson). Nick Hendrix plays DS Winter and he really hasn’t appeared in much else we’ve shown. There was a guest role on Call The Midwife and Foyle’s War but that’s really it.
Catherine Steadman was eco-village proponent Corina Craven. She may be best known as Mabel Lane Fox, Viscountess Gillingham, in series five of Downton Abbey. She was also Angela Wilson in Breathless and Julia Bertram in Mansfield Park.
Angus Wright played local landowner Roderick Craven. He was seen late last year as General Rodney Pickering in Cobra. Going back a bit, he was Severus in Warrior Queen and Miles Grendall in The Way We Live Now.
Hugh Dennis portrayed Milo Craven, Roderick’s estranged brother. Dennis may be most recognizable from two situation comedies – he was Pete Brockman in Outnumbered and Dr. Piers Crispin in My Hero.
Sally Phillips was flashy developer Lucy Keswick. About 15 years back, she played Meg Bayliss in The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard.
Pippa Haywood played Andrea Craven, Milo’s wife. She’s been DSI Julie Dodson in Scott & Bailey and Miss Buntingin Mr. Selfridge.
Matti Houghton, who portrayed Dottie Craven, was Elodie in The Collection.
David Burke was publican Fred Messenger. The veteran actor played Stalin in Reilly: Ace Of Spies and DSI Webberley in The Inspector Lynley Mysteries but if he seemed familiar my guess is you were a fan of Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes – Burke was Dr. Watson on that series.
Caroline Blakiston played living museum advocate Sylvia Lennard. She, too, has enjoyed a long career. In the 1980s, Blakiston portrayed Alice Bannister in The Last Song (opposite Geoffrey Palmer), Margaret Mottram in Charters & Caldicott and Lady Patience Hardacre in Brass. Much more recently, she was Aunt Agatha in Poldark.
Anthony Calf portrayed solicitor Julian Lennard. He played Alfred Lammle in a late-90s Our Mutual Friend. This century, he was Anthony Eden in Upstairs Downstairs. A few years ago, he played William Wickham in Poldark.
Lastly, Seeta Indrani was Susan Lennard. You may know her as Bryce from series three of Unforgotten but more likely you recognize her from The Britcom The Café where she played Ms. Brenda Kiely.
MIDSOMER MURDERS continues Saturday night at 8 on PBS NC.
Got a face you can’t place from one of the plethora of programs PBS NC airs from the UK? Email me at sparkymac@pbsnc.org and I’ll try to help out.
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