Alex Darnley is a character appearing in the episode The Flying Club of the ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders.
Charming and dashing, Alex Darnley was an RAF officer who served in Afghanistan and came back alive from the war where he became a top-billing stunt pilot for the air shows that were performed at Bernard King's airyard. His best mate was co-pilot Gavin Hopkirk as they would often fly together in air shows, though behind the scenes, they had a bit of a rivalry centered on a love triangle involving their trophy crush: Jessie Rayner. Alex even asked her dad, Eddie, for his blessing so they can be married, though he does not allow due to the embittered chip on his shoulder involving aircrafts.
Unbeknownst to his associates, Alex Darnley ran an undercover flight traffic route at the King airyard where he would smuggle undisclosed items in and out of the county. The one person that constantly kept a close eye on the smuggling from afar was Eddie, who ends up dead after being taken out by a cropduster. With him out of the way, it seems that Alex has an easier chance at riding off with Jessie; though before the air show begins, Gavin decides to up the stakes by having both him and Alex switch planes without the crowds knowing. Whoever manages to win takes Jessie as their bride. The stunt show begins with Gavin riding Alex's plane and Alex riding Gavin's plane, and for a while, things seem to be going smoothly until Alex's fuel ramp goes out as a mechanical failure causes his jet to go into a nosedive. He survives the crash, though Alex notices that his fuel line was cut and accuses Gavin of attempted murder.
When DCI Barnaby, DCI Nelson and the rest of their squad raid the airyard to see who's organizing the smuggling, they discover it was Alex; along with Jessie who was snooping around the garage. Both are taken into custody where Alex admits that he was the one who stole Bernard's supercomputer as he was in the process of sending it to a French friend of his from Afghanistan, in the hopes that it would pay off the air field; which he would've inherited from his family's estate. Both are cleared for a murder alibi, though Alex gets court martialed for his illegal activities and says goodbye to his family and Jessie before military agents take him away.