Case file · Series 20, Episode 4
The Lions of Causton
The owner who transformed Causton's rugby club is frozen in a treatment chamber before a second victim dies in chocolate.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
Two flamboyant methods connect the hard commercial world of professional sport with a luxury food business next door.
- Best for
- Rugby club · Cryotherapy · Blackmail
- Mood
- Eccentric
- Team
- DCI John Barnaby with DS Jamie Winter
- Spoiler guidance
- Read the premise freely; open the marked sections only after watching. This is not a complete content advisory.
Why it matters
Two flamboyant methods connect the hard commercial world of professional sport with a luxury food business next door.
The owner who transformed Causton's rugby club is frozen in a treatment chamber before a second victim dies in chocolate.
Mark Adler bought and professionalised the Causton Lions, gaining sporting success while creating enemies among players, officials and people who disliked his methods. His death inside a cryotherapy chamber initially makes the club's finances and rivalries the obvious field of inquiry.
When chocolatier Dominic Braun is killed in the kitchen of Samantha Adler's shop, the case expands beyond rugby. Barnaby and Winter search for missing photographs and the link between a blackmail scheme, the club and two very different workplaces.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The missing photographs reveal the shared leverage behind the two deaths and expose a scheme whose consequences extend beyond the rugby club.
Open the full research dossierProduction, cast, forensics, deaths and filming evidence
Credits, context and checked facts
The episode file
- TV series
- Series 20
- Episode number
- Episode 4
- Written by
- Nick Hicks-Beach
- Directed by
- Matt Carter
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 29 June 2018 26 August 2019
- Reported filming period
- June–July 2017
- Detective
- DCI John Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Jamie Winter
- Pathologist
- Dr Fleur Perkins · Annette Badland
- Principal setting
- Causton
- 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 2 exact on-screen site identities.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer ledger4 episodes credited to Nick Hicks-Beach
- Director ledger8 episodes directed by Matt Carter
- Release positionCase 120 of 144
- Story characterEccentric · Rugby club · Cryotherapy
- Location evidence2 exact screen-use matches
Henley Rugby Football Club supplies the playing ground and facilities of the fictional Causton Lions.
The Lions refers to the rugby club on screen, while Barnaby's investigation also has to identify who benefited from Mark Adler's attempt to remake it.
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.
Tamzin Outhwaite
Published cast record ↗Don Gilet
Published cast record ↗Michael Maloney
Published cast record ↗Richard Rankin
Published cast record ↗Marcia Warren
Published cast record ↗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
Annette Badland
Dr Fleur Perkins · Police pathologistAn award-winning English actor with an extensive career in theatre, television, film and radio. Her many recognisable roles include Doctor Who, EastEnders, Outlander, Bergerac and pub landlady Mae in Ted Lasso.
- Ted Lasso
- Doctor Who
- EastEnders
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 Fleur Perkins
- Credit
- Resident pathologist
- Played by
- Annette Badland
Fleur pairs forensic certainty with dry humour and a magnificently low tolerance for Midsomer nonsense.
Meet the Casebook pathologists →Spoiler-controlled deaths desk
Deaths recorded in this case
2 source rows represent 2 people in the current ledger.
Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
- Mark Adler
Murder · Freezing
- Dominic Braun
Murder · Drowning
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
Henley Rugby Football Club
Used as: The real club ground represents the home of the fictional Causton Lions.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.Village house
Used as: A house in the village supplies Guy Bevan's home.
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