Case file · Series 6, Episode 3
Painted in Blood
Joyce finds a body during a watercolour class, but an intelligence operation and missing robbery proceeds complicate Barnaby's inquiry.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
Barnaby being formally removed from the case creates a playful contest between official secrecy and his refusal to stop noticing things.
- Best for
- Watercolour class · Undercover inquiry · Art theft
- Mood
- Classic
- 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
Barnaby being formally removed from the case creates a playful contest between official secrecy and his refusal to stop noticing things.
Joyce finds a body during a watercolour class, but an intelligence operation and missing robbery proceeds complicate Barnaby's inquiry.
Joyce joins the Midsomer Florey Watercolour Society on the village green and discovers fellow painter Ruth Fairfax dead. The National Intelligence Squad quickly takes control, claiming a wider operation around the victim and people living under assumed identities.
Troy keeps Barnaby unofficially informed as the case moves from the painting group to an old armed robbery and its missing proceeds. Secret relationships and the detectives' parallel inquiries eventually reveal why Ruth's quiet village life drew national attention.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
Ruth's death is tied to hidden identities and money from the earlier robbery; the intelligence operation has found the right circle but not the whole village story.
Open the full research dossierProduction, cast, forensics, deaths and filming evidence
Credits, context and checked facts
The episode file
- TV series
- Series 6
- Episode number
- Episode 3
- Written by
- Andrew Payne
- Directed by
- Sarah Hellings
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 17 January 2003
- Reported filming period
- July–August 2002
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Gavin Troy
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Midsomer Florey
- Casebook tone
- Classic
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 0 broader filming areas and 2 exact on-screen site identities.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer ledger11 episodes credited to Andrew Payne
- Director ledger13 episodes directed by Sarah Hellings
- Release positionCase 26 of 144
- Story characterClassic · Watercolour class · Undercover inquiry
- Location evidence2 exact screen-use matches
The Lee village green becomes the gathering place of the Midsomer Florey Watercolour Society.
Part of the Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden is used as a branch of The Shires Bank.
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.
Nigel Lindsay
Published cast record ↗John Sessions
Published cast record ↗Sheila Reid
Published cast record ↗Clive Merrison
Published cast record ↗Leslie Phillips
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
1 source row represent 1 person in the current ledger.
Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
- Ruth Fairfax, also known as Angela Browning
Murder · Stabbing or impalement
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
Roald Dahl Museum building
Used as: Part of the building is redressed as a branch of The Shires Bank.
The Lee village green
Used as: The green hosts the Midsomer Florey Watercolour Society's outdoor class.
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
No real-place link is published here until it can be tied to a specific, sourced screen use.