Location file · Buckinghamshire
Bledlow
The church, village hall and Lions of Bledlow pub recur as the social centre of several fictional villages.
What it played on screen
From Bledlow to Midsomer.
The church, village hall and Lions of Bledlow pub recur as the social centre of several fictional villages.
The description above records what the real place supplied on screen. The list gives each linked case and its principal fictional setting; a production may use only one building or street rather than the entire settlement.
Beyond the camera
About the real place
Bledlow lies beneath the Chiltern escarpment near the ancient Ridgeway. The village gathers around Holy Trinity Church, a small green, old cottages and the Lions of Bledlow pub, producing the compact social geography that works so well for fictional village life.
The surrounding chalk landscape matters as much as the buildings. Public paths climb towards Bledlow Ridge and nearby viewpoints, making the village a useful stop on a walking day rather than a destination requiring a long drive around its narrow lanes. Pub hours and parking arrangements should be checked in advance.
Curated archive
Connected cases
The Killings at Badger's Drift
An apparently natural death draws Barnaby into a village of immaculate gardens and very untidy secrets.
Open case →S2 E1 · 1999Death's Shadow
A brutal death interrupts the Barnabys' anniversary plans and reopens a tragedy from three decades earlier.
Open case →S2 E3 · 1999Dead Man's Eleven
A village cricket match continues around a body and a grand estate whose family history refuses to stay in the pavilion.
Open case →S3 E2 · 2000Blue Herrings
Barnaby's recuperating aunt suspects that deaths at her nursing home are more organised than natural causes suggest.
Open case →S4 E5 · 2001Dark Autumn
The murder of a postman places the village's correspondence, affairs and closely observed daily routines under scrutiny.
Open case →S5 E2 · 2002A Worm in the Bud
An apparent suicide in Setwale Wood points instead to a land dispute, two observant children and a concealed family story.
Open case →S9 E2 · 2006Dead Letters
Oak Apple Week revives a festival-queen contest after eight years, and a body in the stream brings back faces from an earlier case.
Open case →S10 E3 · 2007King's Crystal
A glassmaking dynasty begins to resemble Hamlet after its chairman dies abroad and the family company faces closure.
Open case →S11 E2 · 2008Blood Wedding
Cully prepares to marry Simon while another grand wedding is disrupted by the murder of its maid of honour.
Open case →S14 E8 · 2012A Rare Bird
A disputed sighting of an African bird leaves a village ornithology club divided before one of its members is killed.
Open case →S18 E5 · 2016Saints and Sinners
An archaeological dig apparently discovers the village's namesake saint before its director is murdered in the trench.
Open case →S18 E6 · 2016Harvest of Souls
A harvest fair and equestrian centre become the stage for a death that reopens an old village grievance.
Open case →S19 E3 · 2017Last Man Out
A radical new cricket tournament is followed by the death of its star player—and the return of a familiar former detective.
Open case →S21 E3 · 2021The Sting of Death
The theft of prized bees at Apley Court precedes a doctor's death by stinging and exposes a carefully marketed miracle cure.
Open case →S22 E5 · 2023For Death Prepare
An unknown body is discovered as an amateur opera company rehearses The Pirates of Penzance, pulling the inquiry behind the curtain.
Open case →