Case file · Series 2, Episode 4
Blood Will Out
The arrival of two travelling communities intensifies an old feud in Martyr Warren before a local magistrate is killed.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
The case uses an apparent clash between villagers and newcomers to expose violence already rooted inside one household.
- Best for
- Travellers · Class conflict · Family feud
- Mood
- Dark
- 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 case uses an apparent clash between villagers and newcomers to expose violence already rooted inside one household.
The arrival of two travelling communities intensifies an old feud in Martyr Warren before a local magistrate is killed.
Local magistrate Hector Bridges responds to the arrival of two groups of travellers by assembling former army friends for an attempted eviction. Barnaby prevents the confrontation, but Hector is soon found dead in his study, killed with his own shotgun.
Hector's bullying, the treatment of his stepdaughter Fleur and a long-standing relationship inside the family provide more durable motives than the village's suspicion of outsiders. Barnaby and Troy must separate public hostility from the private history that preceded the travellers' arrival.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The murder is rooted in Fleur's parentage and Hector's abuse of power; the visitors make a convenient target for suspicion rather than the source of the crime.
Open the full research dossierProduction, cast, forensics, deaths and filming evidence
Credits, context and checked facts
The episode file
- TV series
- Series 2
- Episode number
- Episode 4
- Written by
- Douglas Watkinson
- Directed by
- Moira Armstrong
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 19 September 1999
- Reported filming period
- June–July 1998
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Gavin Troy
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Martyr Warren
- Casebook tone
- Dark
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 1 exact on-screen site identity.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer ledger7 episodes credited to Douglas Watkinson
- Director ledger2 episodes directed by Moira Armstrong
- Release positionCase 9 of 144
- Story characterDark · Travellers · Class conflict
- Location evidence1 exact screen-use match
St Mary the Virgin at Hambleden supplies the parish church, tower and churchyard used during the inquiry.
The travelling groups create the episode's immediate conflict, but the investigation repeatedly returns to Hector's conduct and Fleur's family history.
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.
Kevin McNally
Published cast record ↗Honeysuckle Weeks
Published cast record ↗John Duttine
Published cast record ↗Phyllida Law
Published cast record ↗Paul Jesson
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
2 source rows represent 2 people in the current ledger.
Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
- Hector Bridges
Murder · Gunshot
- John Smith (gypsy leader)
Murder · Blunt force
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
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
Beaconsfield
Old-town architecture, churches and nearby estates have supplied homes, police buildings and village streets throughout the run.
Open location →
Hambleden
Its church, shop, mill and village streets appear in early cases, while much of Wild Harvest was filmed here.
Open location →