Case file · Series 11, Episode 2
Blood Wedding
Cully prepares to marry Simon while another grand wedding is disrupted by the murder of its maid of honour.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
The parallel weddings balance a significant Barnaby-family farewell against an unusually tangled aristocratic mystery.
- Best for
- Cully's wedding · Country-house marriage · Archery
- Archive category
- Landmark
- Team
- DCI Tom Barnaby with DS Ben Jones
- Spoiler guidance
- Read the premise freely; open the marked sections only after watching. This is not a complete content advisory.
Why it matters
The parallel weddings balance a significant Barnaby-family farewell against an unusually tangled aristocratic mystery.
Cully prepares to marry Simon while another grand wedding is disrupted by the murder of its maid of honour.
Sir Edward 'Ned' Fitzroy is marrying Beth Porteous at Bledlow Manor when maid of honour Marina Fellows is found dead. Barnaby tries to protect time for Cully and Simon's own ceremony, but the Fitzroy and Porteous families offer a thicket of resentments, concealed relationships and disputed lineage.
Archery equipment provides a line of physical evidence while the family tree supplies the deeper problem. Former sergeant Gavin Troy returns for Cully's wedding, linking the celebration to the earliest Barnaby years as the investigation reaches its own unhappy ceremony.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The murders enforce a hidden account of parentage and inheritance within the wedding party. Barnaby uses the archery evidence to connect the staged violence to the family member protecting that secret.
Open the full research dossierProduction, cast, forensics, deaths and filming evidence
Credits, context and checked facts
The episode file
- TV series
- Series 11
- Episode number
- Episode 2
- Written by
- David Lawrence
- Directed by
- Peter Smith
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 10 May 2008 6 July 2008
- Reported filming period
- June–July 2007
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Ben Jones
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Bledlow
- Casebook tone
- Landmark
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 4 broader filming areas and 6 exact on-screen site identities.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer ledger5 episodes credited to David Lawrence
- Director ledger22 episodes directed by Peter Smith
- Release positionCase 61 of 144
- Story characterLandmark · Cully's wedding · Country-house marriage
- Location evidence6 exact screen-use matches
St Mary's Church in Denham is used for Cully Barnaby and Simon Dixon's wedding ceremony.
Joyce Grove at Nettlebed represents the Fitzroy estate, while All Saints' Church at Rotherfield Peppard becomes Bledlow's parish church.
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.
Daniel Casey
Published cast record ↗Charles Edwards
Published cast record ↗Elisabeth Dermot Walsh
Published cast record ↗Mark Umbers
Published cast record ↗Emma Cunniffe
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
Jason Hughes
Ben Jones · Police Constable · Detective Sergeant · InspectorA Welsh actor who first became widely known as Warren Jones in the BBC drama This Life. His later television work includes Marcella and The Pact, alongside substantial theatre work at venues including the Donmar Warehouse and Royal Court.
- This Life
- Marcella
- The Pact
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
- Marina Fellowes
Murder · Stabbing or impalement
- Peggy Benson
Murder · Stabbing or impalement
- Robin Lawson
Murder · Gunshot
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
St Mary's Church
Used as: The church hosts Cully Barnaby and Simon Dixon's wedding ceremony.
The Royal Standard of England
Used as: The ancient pub appears during the wedding-weekend story.
Great Haseley Village Hall
Used as: The hall supplies one of the case's reception and community interiors.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.
Church House
Used as: The historic building represents the village library.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.
Joyce Grove
Used as: The country house becomes Bledlow Manor, home of the Fitzroy family.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.All Saints' Church
Used as: The church appears as Bledlow's parish church.
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
Bledlow
The church, village hall and Lions of Bledlow pub recur as the social centre of several fictional villages.
Open location →Great Haseley
Its village hall, church, pub and cottages repeatedly become community venues across different Midsomer villages.
Open location →Long Crendon
Manor houses, the old courthouse, village streets and pubs have supplied country houses, bookshops and competing villages.
Open location →Nettlebed
The village and its Crocker End hamlet have doubled for greens, halls, pubs and festival settings.
Open location →