Case file · Series 4, Episode 6 · Season 4, Episode 6
Tainted Fruit
A wealthy young woman's hostility leaves Barnaby with a crowded suspect list when she is killed using stolen barbiturates.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
The victim has offended almost everyone, but the case is less about popularity than the power to control land, work and private lives.
- Best for
- Country estate · Blackmail · Privilege
- Mood
- Dark
- Team
- DCI Tom Barnaby with DS Gavin Troy
- 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 victim has offended almost everyone, but the case is less about popularity than the power to control land, work and private lives.
Melissa Townsend is found dead after an injection of barbiturates stolen from the local veterinary surgery. Her conduct towards tenants, employees and neighbours has produced threats, grievances and a large number of plausible motives.
A fatal apparent accident and another barbiturate killing on a tennis court force Barnaby and Troy to test stories involving blackmail, privilege and intimate betrayal. The Townsend estate connects the social conflicts, but not always in the way Melissa's enemies assume.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The murders silence people who can expose overlapping relationships and blackmail; Melissa's many enemies obscure the smaller circle with the most to lose.
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 Malham 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 Gavin Troy 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 4
- Episode number
- Episode 6
- Written by
- Peter J. Hammond
- Directed by
- Peter Smith
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 23 September 2001
- Reported filming period
- May–June 2001
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Gavin Troy
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Midsomer Malham
- 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 3 broader filming areas and 3 exact on-screen site identities.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer credits10 episodes credited to Peter J. Hammond
- Director credits22 episodes directed by Peter Smith
- Release positionCase 19 of 144
- Story characterDark · Country estate · Blackmail
- Location evidence3 exact screen-use matches
Newington House near Wallingford stands in for the Townsends' imposing Midsomer Malham home.
St John the Baptist at Little Marlow represents the parish church; Long Crendon's Church House supplies the village shop.
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
Tainted Fruit cast
These selected cast entries link to their published profiles. They do not include every name shown in the end credits.
Jane Wymark
Lucy Punch
Ellie Haddington
Claire Price
Miles Richardson
Adrian Rawlins
Benjamin Whitrow
John McGlynn
Terence Harvey
Amanda Walker
Richard Clothier
Ann Bell
Charles Collingwood
Brian Poyser
Pamela Miles
Terry O'Brien
Eleanor David
Sara Mair-Thomas
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
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
3 people die in this case, according to the linked death record.
Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
- Melissa Townsend
Murder · Poisoning
Performer check- Melissa Townsend: Lucy Punch
- Adam Keyne
Murder · Fall
Performer check- Adam Keyne: Adrian Rawlins
- Raif Canning
Murder · Poisoning
Performer check- Raif Canning: John McGlynnThe body-count ledger prints ‘Kenning’; the published cast record supports ‘Canning’, used here.
Break a second seal: reveal the verified killer
Verified killer
Georgina CanningGeorgina killed Melissa Townsend and Adam Keyne after they blackmailed her, then killed her husband Raif when he discovered what she had done. Sally Rickworth was framed for Georgina's earlier drink-driving collision and is explicitly cleared of the murders.
Verified motive
Georgina killed Melissa and Adam to stop their blackmail over the drink-driving collision she had framed Sally for, protecting the licence and social standing she feared losing. She killed Raif after he discovered what she had done and confronted her.
Source: episode transcript ↗Verified important clue
Archive case 19 · checked 16 September 2026Sally Rickworth's borrowed bootsThe wet-field route made in Sally's boots shows how Georgina returned to the tennis club after placing an unconscious Sally behind the wheel, exposing the collision frame that led to the blackmail and murders.
Clue source: episode transcript ↗Verified decisive clue
Archive case 19 · checked 17 September 2026The evidence planted in Sally's already-emptied handbagPolice have just searched and emptied Sally's bag before Georgina enters, so the incriminating item found there afterwards can only have been planted during her visit. The failed frame supplies immediate proof against Georgina and prompts her admission, while Sally's boots and route explain the earlier collision staging.
Decisive-clue source: episode transcript ↗Verified red herring
Archive case 19 · checked 17 September 2026The theory that Sally Rickworth was being blackmailedSally conceals her relationship with Melissa and has enough money to make a blackmail demand plausible, so the inquiry tests whether the victims were exploiting her. That theory is explicitly rejected: Melissa and Adam were blackmailing Georgina over the drink-driving collision, while Georgina had left Sally to take the blame.
Red-herring source: episode transcript ↗Verified death and discovery order
Archive case 19 · checked 16 September 2026- deathMelissa Townsend is poisoned
Georgina kills Melissa to stop the blackmail over Georgina's drink-driving collision and the attempt to frame Sally.
- discoveryMelissa's death opens the case
The scene and later toxicology turn suspicion towards several people she had threatened or angered.
- deathAdam Keyne is killed
Georgina kills Adam after he joins the blackmail, arranging his fatal fall at the barn.
- discoveryThe blackmail payment is traced
Adam's body and the missing payment connect the two victims to the same concealed collision.
- deathRaif Canning is poisoned
Georgina kills her husband after he discovers what she has done and confronts her.
- discoveryGeorgina's sequence is established
Raif's death completes the account and clears Sally Rickworth of the murders for which Georgina tried to frame her.
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
Church House
Used as: The historic building is used as Midsomer Malham's village shop.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.
St John the Baptist Church
Used as: The church represents the parish church in fictional Midsomer Malham.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.
Newington House
Used as: The house stands in for the Townsend family's manor.
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
Places connected to this file
Long Crendon
Manor houses, the old courthouse, village streets and pubs have supplied country houses, bookshops and competing villages.
Open location →Little Marlow
The village green, church, pub and houses have portrayed Morton Fendle and other compact Midsomer communities.
Open location →Wallingford
One of the principal doubles for Causton, with its Corn Exchange, riverside and civic streets appearing repeatedly.
Open location →