Case file · Series 1, Episode 4
Faithful Unto Death
A craft-centre owner's wife disappears, leaving a suspicious ransom demand and a village eager to improve the story.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
An early case that keeps changing shape as Barnaby tests every convenient explanation.
- Best for
- Disappearance · Ransom · Marriage
- 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
An early case that keeps changing shape as Barnaby tests every convenient explanation.
A craft-centre owner's wife disappears, leaving a suspicious ransom demand and a village eager to improve the story.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The supposed abduction conceals a private arrangement, and the later violence grows from betrayal rather than a stranger's ransom plot.
Open the full research dossierProduction, cast, forensics, deaths and filming evidence
Credits, context and checked facts
The episode file
- TV series
- Series 1
- Episode number
- Episode 4
- Written by
- Douglas Watkinson
- Directed by
- Baz Taylor
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 22 April 1998
- Reported filming period
- November–December 1997
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Gavin Troy
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Morton Fendle
- 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 ledger7 episodes credited to Douglas Watkinson
- Director ledger2 episodes directed by Baz Taylor
- Release positionCase 4 of 144
- Story characterDark · Disappearance · Ransom
- 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
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.
Roger Allam
Published cast record ↗Tessa Peake-Jones
Published cast record ↗Sophie Stanton
Published cast record ↗Mark Bazeley
Published cast record ↗Lesley Vickerage
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
- Brenda Buckley
Murder · Vehicle or machinery
- Alan Hollingsworth
Murder · Poisoning
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