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Dead Letters is the second episode of the ninth series of the popular ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders and originally aired on 26th February 2006.
Synopsis[]
Barnaby and Jones investigate the death of Marion Slade who is found face down in a stream just a short walk from the Midsomer Barton village fête. Oddly, Barnaby encounters a woman and her son who bear a striking resemblance to a pair who were murdered eight years before. They soon discover another body, that of Slade's neighbour, Mark Castle. Both victims had been mildly sedated with the same drug, leading to the conclusion that they were killed by the same person. The motive for the crime is related to the death of Slade's daughter Bella many years before and an abortion that everyone has kept secret all these years.
Plot[]
Cast[]
- John Nettles as DCI Tom Barnaby
- Jason Hughes as DC Ben Jones
- Jane Wymark as Joyce Barnaby
- Barry Jackson as Dr. George Bullard
- Elizabeth Spriggs as Ursula Gooding
- David Bamber as John Starkey
- Claire Askam as Marion Slade
- Tom Bennett as Rob Pride
- Richard Cant as Alistair Gooding
- Jenny Jackson as Vicki
- Tom Georgeson as Ron Chalk
- Tracy Brabin as Ruth Chalk
- Simon Callow as Dr. Wellow
- Caroline Goodall as Grace Starkey
- Sophie Thompson as April Gooding
- Paul Ireland as Mark Castle
- Louise Breckon-Richards as Helen Castle
- Cally Hamilton as Sadie Castle
- Clemmie Hooton as Phoebe
- Alice Knight as Queen of Hearts
- Josef Lindsay as Robin Hood
- Sarah Pritchard as Bella
Galleries[]
Body Count[]
Prior to the Episode
Died from complications of having an abortion 8 years ago.
In the Episode
Drugged with Dirathene which made her halucinate and run away from her house and when she was found was drowned in a stream.
Drugged with Dirathene in Scotch which made him halucinate and when he collapsed in the woods near an Oak had his throat slashed with his own knife.
Stabbed multiple times in the chest with a knife.
Supporting Cast[]
Episode Images[]
Video[]
Midsomer Murders Series 9 Episode 2 - Dead Letters Preview
Quotes[]
- DCI Barnaby: "Good God."
- DC Jones: "Anything wrong, sir?"
- DCI Barnaby: "Yeah. You see those two on the stage, lady with the red hat and the fellow with the ponytail? I could swear I had met them before, some years ago. But it's not possible."
- DC Jones: "Why?"
- DCI Barnaby: "Well, because the people I knew were both brutally murdered."
- — DCI Barnaby to DC Jones when he sees Ursula and Alistair Gooding on stage.
- DC Jones: "Then there's this. <points to a knife stuck in a tree>"
- George Bullard: "If that was the knife that killed him, then he didn't kill himself."
- DC Jones: "No, the knife would still be in his hand. <reaches for the knife>"
- George Bullard: "Don't touch! Now, only a CID man would think of that."
- — Pathologist George Bullard needling DC Jones in front of DCI Barnaby as Jones and Barnaby arrive at the crime scene.
Notes/Trivia[]
- Elizabeth Spriggs and Richard Cant who played in The Killings at Badger's Drift as Iris and Dennis Rainbird return to Midsomer Murders to play in this episode as Ursula and Alistair Gooding which are Iris's sister and Dennis's cousin respectively.
- In both this episode and The Killings at Badger's Drift, another tie is that the person already dead at the beginning of each was called Bella.
- It is revealed that Jones used to come to the Oak Apple Week fête when he was a kid.
- In the episode a copy of The House of Satan, a book from A Tale of Two Hamlets and a novel by Jezebel Tripp, a character who appeared in Sins of Commission are shown in the Midsomer Barton's Library where Alistair Gooding works.
- In the first dinner scene at the Gooding house, there is a tiered cake plate with sweets that resemble the same ones that Iris and Dennis Rainbird (Ursula's sister and Alaistair's cousin) were eating in The Killings At Badger's Drift.
The following actors and actresses who appeared in this episode have appeared in other episodes:
- Richard Cant - The Killings at Badger's Drift
- Elizabeth Spriggs - The Killings at Badger's Drift
- Josef Lindsay - Secrets and Spies
- David Bamber - The Black Book and A Dying Art
- Simon Callow - The Curse of the Ninth
- Caroline Goodall - The Killings of Copenhagen