Case file · Series 19, Episode 4 · Season 19, Episode 4
Red in Tooth & Claw
A summer pet show is disrupted when a local estate agent is found dead in a marquee surrounded by prize rabbits.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
The show ring offers classic Midsomer spectacle while ownership, breeding and property give almost everybody something to guard.
- Best for
- Pet show · Prize animals · Estate agency
- Mood
- Eccentric
- Team
- DCI John Barnaby with DS Jamie Winter
- 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 show ring offers classic Midsomer spectacle while ownership, breeding and property give almost everybody something to guard.
Bellville's annual pet show brings breeders, owners and campaigners into one competitive marquee. Estate agent Seb Huntington is found murdered among live rabbits, making his property dealings and his connection to the show immediate lines of inquiry.
Barnaby and Winter test theories involving animal-rights activism, a missing prize animal and personal resentments among exhibitors. The cheerful event masks conflicts about inheritance, control and the value assigned to both animals and land.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The pet-show disputes provide several plausible motives, but the solution depends on family control and a concealed relationship rather than animal activism alone.
More episode detailsProduction, cast, deaths and filming information
Credits, context and checked facts
Production and cast
- TV series
- Series 19
- Episode number
- Episode 4
- Written by
- Lisa Holdsworth
- Directed by
- Steve Hughes
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 18 January 2017
- Reported filming period
- August–September 2016
- Detective
- DCI John Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Jamie Winter
- Pathologist
- Dr Kam Karimore · Manjinder Virk
- Principal setting
- Bellville
- 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 1 exact on-screen site identity.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer credits4 episodes credited to Lisa Holdsworth
- Director credits1 episode directed by Steve Hughes
- Release positionCase 114 of 144
- Story characterEccentric · Pet show · Prize animals
- Location evidence1 exact screen-use match
Little Orchard at Long Crendon appears as the offices of Eden Moss Estate Agents.
The published filming reference identifies the agency but not a dependable real-world match for the pet-show marquee, so the Casebook leaves that site open.
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
Red in Tooth & Claw cast
These selected cast entries link to their published profiles. They do not include every name shown in the end credits.
Steve Pemberton
Pemberton plays Timothy Benson in Red in Tooth and Claw, a case centred on a rabbit show and a local prize. His taste for the macabre makes this an especially fitting Midsomer appearance.
Open actor profile →Fiona Dolman
Amit Shah
Susan Hampshire
Michael Obiora
Aisling Loftus
Sean Gallagher
Sara Crowe
Vanessa Hehir
Maxim De Villiers
Stirling Gallacher
Simon Nagra
Tom Price
Navinder Bhatti
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
Nick Hendrix
Jamie Winter · Detective SergeantAn English actor trained at the University of Exeter and RADA. His theatre work includes the National Theatre, Old Vic and West End, while his screen credits include Black Mirror, Marcella, The Crown, Legend and Suffragette.
- Black Mirror
- Marcella
- The Crown
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
2 people die in this case, according to the linked death record.
Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
- Seb Huntington
Murder · Stabbing or impalement
Performer check- Seb Huntington: Maxim De Villiers
- Cleo Langton
Murder · Suffocation
Performer check- Cleo Langton: Stirling Gallacher
Break a second seal: reveal the verified killer
Verified killer
Shray VarmaShray killed Seb Huntington because he saw him as an obstacle to a relationship with Tegan, then killed Cleo Langton when she might expose him. His attempt to kill Tegan's father Errol Judd was stopped; Timothy Benson's rabbit substitution and Ailsa Benson and Jayesh Varma's fur thefts are kept separate.
Verified motive
Shray's unspoken love for Tegan became a possessive fixation. He killed Seb to recreate the romantic moment Seb had interrupted and because Seb planned to leave with Tegan, killed Cleo rather than risk her exposing him, and targeted Errol when he believed Tegan's father would take her away; fear of rejection underpinned his refusal to tell Tegan how he felt.
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
Little Orchard
Used as: The property appears as Eden Moss Estate Agents.
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