Case file · Series 4, Episode 2 · Season 4, Episode 2
Destroying Angel
A hotel inheritance, a missing manager and some lethally expert mushroom knowledge produce an unusually patient reckoning.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
A celebrated revenge story whose eccentric methods never overwhelm its emotional logic.
- Best for
- An enclosed social world, business tensions and a developing puzzle.
- Mood
- Dark ensemble mystery
- Team
- DCI Tom Barnaby with DS Gavin Troy
- Spoiler guidance
- Read the premise freely; open the marked sections only after watching. Check the linked provider advisory for further viewing information.
Why it matters
A celebrated revenge story whose eccentric methods never overwhelm its emotional logic.
A hotel brings work, ownership and private relationships into the same space. That concentration gives this case a strong reason for its ensemble to keep crossing paths: the consequences of a death are personal and practical at once. It suits viewers who like a mystery in which an apparently orderly establishment contains several competing versions of loyalty. Let the investigation disclose its structure rather than reading a plot summary first.
Watch for
Notice when someone speaks as an employee, a friend or an interested party. Those roles can pull in different directions.
Before you choose
Avoid detailed episode discussions before viewing; knowing how the story is organised can reduce the pleasure of discovery.
Casebook editorial interpretation. ITVX synopsis · hotel and business relationships ↗
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The deaths form a deliberate campaign against people connected to an earlier injustice at the hotel.
Spoiler-safe viewing companion
Three questions to carry into the episode
Use these spoiler-safe prompts to notice the setting, the investigation and the details that may matter.
- Place
How does Midsomer Magna shape what people say openly, delay, or leave unsaid?
- Theme
Which details seem to carry more than one meaning, and what might be a red herring?
- Teamwork
Compare how DCI Tom Barnaby and DS Gavin Troy gather information: who watches the room, and who presses the conversation forward?
More episode detailsProduction, cast, deaths and filming information
Credits, context and checked facts
Production and cast
- TV series
- Series 4
- Episode number
- Episode 2
- Written by
- David Hoskins
- Directed by
- David Tucker
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 26 August 2001
- Reported filming period
- July–August 2000
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Gavin Troy
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Midsomer Magna
- 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 1 broader filming area and 1 exact on-screen site identity.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer credits9 episodes credited to David Hoskins
- Director credits3 episodes directed by David Tucker
- Release positionCase 15 of 144
- Story characterDark · Hotel · Inheritance
- Location evidence1 exact screen-use match
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
Destroying Angel cast
These selected cast entries link to their published profiles. They do not include every name shown in the end credits.
Samantha Bond
Suzanna Chambers is part of the tangled group drawn together by the death of a hotel porter and the fate of an inheritance. Bond brings poised assurance to a story in which identities and intentions repeatedly shift.
Open actor profile →Jane Wymark
Tony Haygarth
Tom Ward
Abigail McKern
Madeleine Worrall
Edward Jewesbury
Jonathan Coy
Nigel Betts
Maggie McCarthy
Rosemary Leach
Caroline Holdaway
Lisa Ellis
Richard Syms
Shuna Snow
Gordon Langford Rowe
Glen Berry
Adie Allen
Robert Lang
Niamh Daly
Philip Bowen
Jon Rake
Julia West
Roger Frost
Ben Macleod
The performers behind this case
Core cast
Actor profiles for the detective, investigating partner and pathologist credited to this episode.
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
6 people die in this case, according to the linked death record.
Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
- Karl Wainwright
Murder · Poisoning
Performer check- Karl Wainwright: Edward JewesburyThe body-count ledger prints ‘Wainright’; the published cast record supports ‘Wainwright’, used here.
- Gregory Chambers
Murder · Gunshot
Performer check- Gregory Chambers: Philip Bowen
- Tristan Goodfellow
Murder · Poisoning
Performer check- Tristan Goodfellow: Tom Ward
- Kenneth Gooders
Murder · Crushing
Performer check- Kenneth Gooders: Jonathan Coy
- Suzanna Chambers
Murder · Gunshot
Performer check- Suzanna Chambers: Samantha BondThe body-count ledger prints ‘Susannah’; the published cast record supports ‘Suzanna’, used here.
- Evelyn Pope
Suicide · Poisoning
Performer check- Evelyn Pope: Rosemary Leach
Break a second seal: reveal the verified killer
Verified killers
Suzanna Chambers · Tristan Goodfellow · Kenneth Gooders · Julia Gooders · Evelyn PopeSuzanna killed Karl Wainwright, then joined Tristan, Kenneth and Julia in the conspiracy to murder Gregory Chambers; Tristan carried out that killing. Evelyn engineered the deaths of Tristan, Kenneth and Suzanna, with Julia manipulated into firing the fatal shot at Suzanna without knowing who she was shooting.
Verified motive
Suzanna killed Karl to keep his replacement will from disinheriting the original beneficiaries; she, Tristan, Kenneth and Julia then killed Gregory to recover and destroy that will and retain their hotel shares. Evelyn retaliated against the conspirators to protect Annie and Gregory's unborn child, manipulating Julia into the final fatal shot.
Source: episode transcript ↗Verified important clue
Archive case 15 · checked 16 September 2026Karl Wainwright's replacement willThe hidden will explains why the original beneficiaries stood to lose their hotel shares and why Gregory, entrusted to produce it, became the conspiracy's next target.
Clue source: episode transcript ↗Verified decisive clue
Archive case 15 · checked 17 September 2026Gregory's fungus cut and Evelyn's mimicked callsThe Polaroid and Gregory's distinctive cut on the harvested fungus prove that the conspirators retained mushrooms he gathered before they killed him. Evelyn's imitation of two dead men's telephone voices and her confession then expose the wider retaliation scheme without treating every beneficiary as the physical killer.
Decisive-clue source: episode transcript ↗Verified red herring
Archive case 15 · checked 17 September 2026The evidence planted against Annie TysonGregory's burned clothing and blood in Annie's Land Rover, together with their pregnancy dispute, prompt her arrest. The hotel beneficiaries planted both traces to divert suspicion after killing Gregory, so the apparently physical case against Annie was manufactured.
Red-herring source: episode transcript ↗Verified death and discovery order
Archive case 15 · checked 16 September 2026- deathKarl Wainwright is poisoned
Suzanna kills Karl to prevent his replacement will from disinheriting the hotel's original beneficiaries.
- discoveryKarl's will starts the chain
His death, funeral and missing replacement will expose the financial interest shared by the beneficiaries.
- deathGregory Chambers is killed
Tristan kills Gregory while Suzanna, Kenneth and Julia share the conspiracy to recover and destroy Karl's will.
- discoveryGregory's remains are traced
The inquiry reconstructs the disposal of his body and the attempt to frame Annie.
- deathTristan is poisoned
Evelyn begins her retaliation against Gregory's killers by using poisonous mushrooms.
- discoveryA warning pattern emerges
Tristan's death and the threatening notes reveal that the surviving conspirators are being selected in turn.
- deathKenneth is crushed
Evelyn engineers Kenneth's death as the retaliation continues.
- discoveryOnly two conspirators remain
Kenneth's death narrows the pattern to Suzanna and Julia.
- deathSuzanna is shot
Evelyn manipulates Julia into firing the fatal shot without knowing that Suzanna is the target.
- discoveryEvelyn's scheme is reconstructed
Julia's account exposes Evelyn's manipulation and preserves Julia's unwitting physical role in Suzanna's death.
- deathEvelyn ends her life
Evelyn takes poison after explaining the retaliatory plan.
- discoveryThe two linked plots are separated
The resolution distinguishes the will conspiracy from Evelyn's later sequence of revenge deaths.
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
The Red Lion
Used as: Its exterior supplied the local pub in fictional Midsomer Magna.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.Sources support the listed site uses; they do not establish every filming location in an episode.
Wider filming areas