Case file · Series 12, Episode 2
The Black Book
A rediscovered Victorian landscape sells for £400,000 before its former owner is killed and another painting disappears.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
The art market gives Barnaby a case where provenance, attribution and price are more dangerous than taste.
- Best for
- Art auction · Forgery · Stolen ledger
- Mood
- Dark
- Team
- DCI Tom Barnaby with DS Ben Jones
- Spoiler guidance
- Read the premise freely; open the marked sections only after watching. This is not a complete content advisory.
Why it matters
The art market gives Barnaby a case where provenance, attribution and price are more dangerous than taste.
A rediscovered Victorian landscape sells for £400,000 before its former owner is killed and another painting disappears.
A newly discovered landscape by nineteenth-century painter Henry Hogson causes a sensation and reaches £400,000 at auction. That night its former owner, Felicity Law, is tortured and killed; a second Hogson is then stolen and further violent deaths follow.
With help from art teacher Matilda Simms, Barnaby learns to read the painter's work and the commercial records around it. The missing black book matters because a credible ownership history can turn pigment and canvas into a fortune—or expose a deception.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The paintings' values depend on manufactured provenance. Barnaby follows the missing ledger and inconsistencies in the works to expose a scheme protected by torture, theft and murder.
Open the full research dossierProduction, cast, forensics, deaths and filming evidence
Credits, context and checked facts
The episode file
- TV series
- Series 12
- Episode number
- Episode 2
- Written by
- Nicholas Martin
- Directed by
- Peter Smith
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 26 March 2009 29 July 2009
- Reported filming period
- July–August 2008
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Ben Jones
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Midsomer County
- 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 4 exact on-screen site identities.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer ledger3 episodes credited to Nicholas Martin
- Director ledger22 episodes directed by Peter Smith
- Release positionCase 68 of 144
- Story characterDark · Art auction · Forgery
- Location evidence4 exact screen-use matches
Henley Town Hall is used for the high-profile Hogson auction.
Chesham Museum and Eton's Barker Gallery appear as the Hogson Society and rival galleries.
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.
Susannah Harker
Published cast record ↗David Bamber
Published cast record ↗Gavan O'Herlihy
Published cast record ↗Christopher Fulford
Published cast record ↗Ann Firbank
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
Jason Hughes
Ben Jones · Police Constable · Detective Sergeant · InspectorA Welsh actor who first became widely known as Warren Jones in the BBC drama This Life. His later television work includes Marcella and The Pact, alongside substantial theatre work at venues including the Donmar Warehouse and Royal Court.
- This Life
- Marcella
- The Pact
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 source rows represent 3 people in the current ledger.
Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
- Felicity Law
Murder · Stabbing or impalement
- Graham Spate
Murder · Stabbing or impalement
- Anthony Prideaux
Murder · Stabbing or impalement
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
Burnham Beeches Hotel
Used as: The hotel is dressed as The Golden Hind.
Chesham Museum
Used as: The museum becomes Patricia Blackshaw's gallery and the Hogson Society headquarters.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.The Barker Gallery
Used as: The gallery appears as Anthony Prideaux's art business.
Henley Town Hall
Used as: The civic hall supplies the auction room for the newly discovered Hogson.
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
Places connected to this file
Beaconsfield
Old-town architecture, churches and nearby estates have supplied homes, police buildings and village streets throughout the run.
Open location →Chesham
The old town, church, market square and shops have doubled for Causton and several fictional villages.
Open location →Henley-on-Thames
Its river, bridge, town hall and nearby Remenham and Harpsden locations lend themselves to clubs, courts and prosperous settings.
Open location →