Case file · Series 4, Episode 4
Who Killed Cock Robin?
A doctor's late-night collision and a body recovered from a well turn two missing men into one unusually tangled village case.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
The opening question—where did the man hit by the car go?—keeps changing as Barnaby establishes which disappearance he is actually solving.
- Best for
- Village doctor · Missing man · Community secrets
- 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
The opening question—where did the man hit by the car go?—keeps changing as Barnaby establishes which disappearance he is actually solving.
A doctor's late-night collision and a body recovered from a well turn two missing men into one unusually tangled village case.
Dr Oliver Burgess reports hitting a man on the road after a party, but no injured person can be found. The discovery of Robin Wooliscroft, missing for more than a year, at the bottom of a well gives the police a body without explaining the doctor's collision.
Barnaby and Troy work through a wedding party, the Stockard household, the village pub and relationships that survived Robin's disappearance. The two timelines eventually expose how an old killing and a new attempt to conceal it overlap.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
The missing pedestrian and Robin's death belong to connected but distinct moments; reconstructing the late-night collision exposes the attempt to protect the earlier crime.
Open the full research dossierProduction, cast, forensics, deaths and filming evidence
Credits, context and checked facts
The episode file
- TV series
- Series 4
- Episode number
- Episode 4
- Written by
- Jeremy Paul
- Directed by
- David Tucker
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 9 September 2001
- Reported filming period
- September–October 2000
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Gavin Troy
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Newton Magna
- 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 3 broader filming areas and 3 exact on-screen site identities.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer ledger1 episode credited to Jeremy Paul
- Director ledger3 episodes directed by David Tucker
- Release positionCase 17 of 144
- Story characterClassic · Village doctor · Missing man
- Location evidence3 exact screen-use matches
Old Amersham introduces the village, while Westlington green at Dinton supplies the place where the body is recovered.
St Peter and St Paul at Dinton hosts the wedding scenes; Little Missenden's Red Lion appears as The White Swan.
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.
Ian McNeice
Published cast record ↗Polly Maberly
Published cast record ↗Sean McGinley
Published cast record ↗Larry Lamb
Published cast record ↗Jane Lapotaire
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
2 source rows represent 2 people in the current ledger.
Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
- Robin Wooliscroft
Murder · Other recorded death
- Mary Mohan
Murder · Poisoning
Real place → fictional identity
What was filmed where?
Westlington village green
Used as: The green forms the centre of fictional Newton Magna and the site where Robin's body is recovered.
St Peter and St Paul Church
Used as: The parish church hosts the episode's Newton Magna wedding scenes.
The Red Lion
Used as: The pub is renamed The White Swan in Newton Magna.
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
Old Amersham
Historic streets and period buildings repeatedly become Causton, village centres, shops and institutions.
Open location →
Hambleden
Its church, shop, mill and village streets appear in early cases, while much of Wild Harvest was filmed here.
Open location →Little Missenden
A recurring village double whose streets, church, manor and Red Lion helped establish the look of Badger's Drift and later communities.
Open location →