Case file · Series 8, Episode 6 · Season 8, Episode 6
Hidden Depths
A solicitor falls from his roof, a neighbour disappears and missing client money leads to a murder by medieval catapult.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
The catapult tableau and wine-cellar climax make this one of Midsomer's most cheerfully excessive pieces of machinery.
- Best for
- Missing money · Wine fraud · Medieval catapult
- Mood
- Eccentric
- Team
- DCI Tom Barnaby with DS Dan Scott
- 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
The catapult tableau and wine-cellar climax make this one of Midsomer's most cheerfully excessive pieces of machinery.
Solicitor Nick Turner apparently takes his own life by walking from his roof on the same day neighbour Jack Wilmot disappears. Barnaby and Scott learn that a large sum is missing from a client account and that Turner's professional rivals have reasons to watch the fallout closely.
An elaborate killing involving a working model of a medieval catapult broadens the case, while wine investment offers another route for money to vanish behind specialist language. The detectives eventually find themselves locked inside a neglected cellar with the fraud's physical evidence.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The apparent suicide, missing neighbour and investment scheme are parts of one financial deception. The theatrical killings punish and silence people according to their place in it.
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 Dan Scott 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 8
- Episode number
- Episode 6
- Written by
- David Hoskins
- Directed by
- Sarah Hellings
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 13 March 2005
- Reported filming period
- November–December 2004
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Dan Scott
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Midsomer Magna
- 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 3 exact on-screen site identities.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer credits9 episodes credited to David Hoskins
- Director credits13 episodes directed by Sarah Hellings
- Release positionCase 41 of 144
- Story characterEccentric · Missing money · Wine fraud
- Location evidence3 exact screen-use matches
A former bank building in Beaconsfield represents the Causton branch of the Shires Bank.
A cottage in Little Milton is used as the office of Morgan's Estate Agents.
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
Hidden Depths cast
These selected cast entries link to their published profiles. They do not include every name shown in the end credits.
Jane Wymark
Robin Soans
Oliver Ford Davies
Nancy Carroll
Lucy Russell
Robert Daws
Eileen Davies
Philip Bird
Sara Kestelman
Simon Armstrong
David Hampshire
Ian Talbot
James Weber Brown
John Lightbody
Vicki Hopps
Charles Millham
Matthew Flynn
Nicky Lilley
Caroline Laskowska
Rebecca Charles
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
John Hopkins
Dan Scott · Detective SergeantAn English actor with extensive stage, screen and voice work. His credits include the Royal Shakespeare Company, Poldark and Alice in Wonderland, as well as prominent game performances in Horizon, Hitman and Assassin's Creed.
- Royal Shakespeare Company
- Poldark
- Horizon game series
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 people die in this case, according to the linked death record.
Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
- Jack Wilmot
Murder · Crushing
Performer check- Jack Wilmot: Matthew Flynn
- Otto Benham
Murder · Poisoning
Performer check- Otto Benham: Oliver Ford DaviesThe body-count ledger prints ‘Otton’; the published cast record supports ‘Otto’, used here.
- Mike Spicer
Murder · Drowning
Performer check- Mike Spicer: Robert Daws
Break a second seal: reveal the verified killer
Verified killers
Nick Turner · Felicity Turner (accomplice)Nick killed Jack Wilmot and used his body to stage Nick's own death, then killed Otto Benham and Mike Spicer in revenge for the fraudulent wine deal. Felicity helped construct and sustain the deception and is labelled as an accomplice rather than as the physical killer.
Verified motive
Nick killed Jack to fake Nick's own death and escape his financial collapse, then killed Otto and Mike in revenge for the fraudulent wine investment that had ruined him. Felicity helped sustain the false-death plan to protect them from exposure and its financial consequences.
Verified important clue
Archive case 41 · checked 16 September 2026Nick Turner's duplicate suit and shoesThe retailer remembers Nick buying two of every item in cash; combined with the photograph showing Nick and Jack's similar build and hair, the duplicate clothes expose how Jack's body could be passed off as Nick's while Felicity controlled the identification.
Verified decisive clue
Archive case 41 · checked 17 September 2026Nick Turner's duplicate suit and shoesThe retailer remembers Nick buying two of every item in cash, while a photograph shows that Nick and Jack had similar builds and hair. With Felicity as the sole identifier of the body, the duplicate clothing breaks the staged-death deception and exposes Nick as the three-time physical killer while preserving Felicity's accomplice role.
Verified death and discovery order
Archive case 41 · checked 16 September 2026- deathJack Wilmot is killed
Nick kills Jack and uses his body to construct the appearance that Nick has fallen to his death.
- discoveryThe apparent suicide is misidentified
The body below the Turner house is taken to be Nick's while Jack is treated as missing, allowing Nick and Felicity's deception to hold.
- deathOtto Benham is killed
Nick kills Otto with the medieval catapult in revenge for the fraudulent wine investment that ruined him.
- deathMike Spicer is drowned
Nick kills the second man behind the wine fraud, continuing the revenge concealed by his supposed death.
- discoveryThe cellar exposes the false death
The wine evidence and Nick's reappearance connect Jack's substituted body to the later revenge killings.
- discoveryFelicity's accomplice role is separated
The resolution attributes the three physical killings to Nick while recording Felicity's part in constructing and sustaining the deception.
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
Former bank building
Used as: The building becomes the Causton branch of the Shires Bank.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.The Crown Inn
Used as: The pub represents Midsomer Magna's village local.
Village cottage
Used as: The cottage becomes Morgan's Estate Agents.
Sources support the listed site uses; they do not establish every filming location in an episode.
Wider filming areas