Case file · Series 6, Episode 4
A Tale of Two Hamlets
A film promotion explodes into murder while two rival villages and one extended family compete to control their shared history.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
The episode turns a centuries-old village feud into both local folklore and a profitable family entertainment business.
- Best for
- Village rivalry · Film history · Family business
- Mood
- Eccentric
- Team
- DCI Tom Barnaby with DS Gavin Troy
- Spoiler guidance
- Read the premise freely; open the marked sections only after watching. This is not a complete content advisory.
Why it matters
The episode turns a centuries-old village feud into both local folklore and a profitable family entertainment business.
A film promotion explodes into murder while two rival villages and one extended family compete to control their shared history.
Actor Larry Smith enters a summer house during the launch of a sequel to his cult film The House of Satan, and the building explodes. His Upper Warden relatives immediately blame Lower Warden, whose competing claim to local history has become part of the publicity spectacle.
The director's death on an exercise bike brings the investigation inside the Smythe-Webster family and its businesses. Barnaby and Troy sift through affairs, blackmail and ownership while deciding which parts of the two villages' famous feud are history and which have been manufactured.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The deaths protect financial and family arrangements around the film legacy; the historic village rivalry offers a dramatic cover for much more recent deception.
Open the full research dossierProduction, cast, forensics, deaths and filming evidence
Credits, context and checked facts
The episode file
- TV series
- Series 6
- Episode number
- Episode 4
- Written by
- Alan Plater
- Directed by
- Peter Smith
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 24 January 2003
- Reported filming period
- September–October 2002
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Gavin Troy
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Upper and Lower Warden
- Casebook tone
- Eccentric
Check the credits, then follow the source trail for production and filming details. Counts below describe this archive’s records.
The fictional setting and the real filming sites are separate pieces of information. The location desk currently connects it to 2 broader filming areas and 4 exact on-screen site identities.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer ledger1 episode credited to Alan Plater
- Director ledger22 episodes directed by Peter Smith
- Release positionCase 27 of 144
- Story characterEccentric · Village rivalry · Film history
- Location evidence4 exact screen-use matches
Brill Windmill appears as museum curator Sarah Proudie's Lower Warden home.
The Eight Bells at Long Crendon becomes the pub where Danny works; Watlington supplies Lower Warden streets and the Ellis Bell Museum exterior.
Sources for the production file
Published episode chronology and credits ↗Official ITV programme page ↗Filming-location reference index ↗The chronology is the reference for the credits shown here. A programme homepage does not independently verify a filming date or every production detail. Where multiple transmission dates are listed, territory attribution needs checking. Story, teleplay and adaptation distinctions require the original credit wording; links to external synopses may reveal plot details.
Selected episode credits
Guest cast on file
Selected profiles and published cast-list entries. Database records are linked individually; this is not a full transcription or an independent check against the end credits.
Jonathan Hyde
Published cast record ↗Beth Goddard
Published cast record ↗Anne Reid
Published cast record ↗Phoebe Nicholls
Published cast record ↗Ronald Pickup
Published cast record ↗The performers behind this case
Core cast
Actor profiles for the detective, investigating partner and pathologist credited to this episode.
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John Nettles
Tom Barnaby · Detective Chief InspectorAn English actor, author and narrator who was already a household name as Jersey detective Jim Bergerac. After Bergerac he spent five seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company and later returned to television drama in Poldark.
- Bergerac
- Poldark
- Royal Shakespeare Company
Daniel Casey
Gavin Troy · Detective Sergeant · later InspectorAn English stage and television actor also known for Our Friends in the North, Steel River Blues, EastEnders and Emmerdale. He later returned to the Midsomer world to play Tom Barnaby in the first professional stage adaptation.
- Our Friends in the North
- Steel River Blues
- Midsomer Murders on stage
Barry Jackson
Dr George Bullard · Police pathologistAn English stage and screen character actor whose career lasted more than five decades. His credits ranged from the landmark television play Cathy Come Home to Doctor Who, Barry Lyndon and many familiar British television dramas.
- Cathy Come Home
- Doctor Who
- Barry Lyndon
Portraits are used only where a reusable licence or public-domain release has been verified. Publicity stills and stock photographs are not copied into this independent guide.
Forensic desk
Dr George Bullard
- Credit
- Resident pathologist
- Played by
- Barry Jackson
Causton's long-serving pathologist is professionally unflappable, quietly witty and an old friend of Tom Barnaby.
Meet the Casebook pathologists →Spoiler-controlled deaths desk
Deaths recorded in this case
3 source rows represent 3 people in the current ledger.
Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
- Larry Smith
Murder · Explosion
- Frank Webster
Murder · Electrocution
- Danny Pinchall
Murder · Drowning
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
Brill Windmill
Used as: The windmill becomes Sarah Proudie's home in Lower Warden.
The Eight Bells
Used as: The pub represents Upper Warden's local, where Danny works.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.Lewknor Primary School
Used as: The school becomes Upper Warden School and the police incident headquarters.
Foxwarren Park
Used as: The estate stands in for the Smythe-Webster family home.
Building identities are cross-checked against the Casebook's published filming-location references. A named match describes the part used on screen, not the whole village and not necessarily an interior.
Wider filming areas
Places connected to this file
Long Crendon
Manor houses, the old courthouse, village streets and pubs have supplied country houses, bookshops and competing villages.
Open location →
Watlington
The church, market hall, library and High Street shops have appeared as civic and village locations in several eras.
Open location →