Case file · Series 18, Episode 1
Habeas Corpus
A wealthy man's corpse disappears from his deathbed, turning an inheritance dispute into a search for the missing body.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
The absence of the expected corpse gives a familiar country-estate mystery a playful engine.
- Best for
- Missing body · Estate · Inheritance
- Mood
- Eccentric
- Team
- DCI John Barnaby with DS Charlie Nelson
- Spoiler guidance
- Read the premise freely; open the marked sections only after watching. This is not a complete content advisory.
Why it matters
The absence of the expected corpse gives a familiar country-estate mystery a playful engine.
A wealthy man's corpse disappears from his deathbed, turning an inheritance dispute into a search for the missing body.
Wealthy landowner Gregory Lancaster dies at home, but his body vanishes before the expected formalities can begin. The disappearance turns an already tense inheritance into a body-snatching inquiry in which relatives, staff and local professionals all have reasons to control what happens next.
Barnaby and Nelson work with newly arrived pathologist Kam Karimore as further macabre events unsettle Little Malton. The investigation must establish whether Gregory's missing remains are evidence, leverage or merely the first move in a much older family dispute.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The missing body and later deaths are connected to contested family history, concealed parentage and the effort to determine who controls the Lancaster estate.
Open the full research dossierProduction, cast, forensics, deaths and filming evidence
Credits, context and checked facts
The episode file
- TV series
- Series 18
- Episode number
- Episode 1
- Written by
- Rachel Cuperman & Sally Griffiths
- Directed by
- Alex Pillai
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 6 January 2016
- Reported filming period
- March–April 2015
- Detective
- DCI John Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Charlie Nelson
- Pathologist
- Dr Kam Karimore · Manjinder Virk
- Principal setting
- Little Malton
- 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 1 broader filming area and 2 exact on-screen site identities.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer ledger4 episodes credited to Rachel Cuperman & Sally Griffiths
- Director ledger7 episodes directed by Alex Pillai
- Release positionCase 105 of 144
- Story characterEccentric · Missing body · Estate
- Location evidence2 exact screen-use matches
Manjinder Virk joins the regular team here as forensic pathologist Dr Kam Karimore.
Allanbay Park at Binfield supplies the Lancaster family estate, while St John the Baptist Church at Cookham Dean appears as the local 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.
Helen Baxendale
Published cast record ↗Ciarán McMenamin
Published cast record ↗Alastair Mackenzie
Published cast record ↗Navin Chowdhry
Published cast record ↗Diana Quick
Published cast record ↗The performers behind this case
Core cast
Actor profiles for the detective, investigating partner and pathologist credited to this episode.
Neil Dudgeon
John Barnaby · Detective Chief InspectorAn English actor whose television work before Causton included Piece of Cake, The Mrs Bradley Mysteries, Messiah and the sitcom Life of Riley. He also appeared in Midsomer Murders years earlier as a different character in Garden of Death.
- Messiah
- Life of Riley
- The Mrs Bradley Mysteries
Gwilym Lee
Charlie Nelson · Detective SergeantA British actor whose screen career includes Jamestown, The Great and Top End Wedding. International audiences may know him best as Queen guitarist Brian May in the film Bohemian Rhapsody.
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- The Great
- Jamestown
Manjinder Virk
Dr Kam Karimore · Police pathologistA British actor, writer and director known for The Arbor, Britz and Trigger Point. Her filmmaking work includes the award-winning short Out of Darkness, which she wrote and directed.
- The Arbor
- Trigger Point
- Out of Darkness
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 Kam Karimore
- Credit
- Resident pathologist
- Played by
- Manjinder Virk
Exceptionally capable and forthright, Kam works across the transition from Charlie Nelson to Jamie Winter.
Meet the Casebook pathologists →Spoiler-controlled deaths desk
Deaths recorded in this case
1 source row represent 1 person in the current ledger.
Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
- Gregory Lancaster
Accidental, natural or other · Natural or unexplained
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
Allanbay Park
Used as: The estate represents the Lancaster family's Little Malton home.
St John the Baptist Church
Used as: The church appears as Little Malton's parish church.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.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