Written in the Stars is the third episode of the fifteenth series of the popular ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders and was first aired 25th September 2012.
Synopsis[]
DCI John Barnaby and DS Ben Jones investigate the murder of 42 year-old Jeremy Harper who was struck on the head with a rock - a piece of meteorite actually - on an outing on Moonstone Ridge with the Midsomer Stanton Astronomical Society to observe a total eclipse of the sun.
Plot[]
During a local eclipse of the sun, Jeremy Harper, one of a group of amateur astronomers, is killed on Moonstone Ridge by a blow to the head with a meteorite. Jeremy had rowed with Lawrence Janson, head of the university observatory over plans to extend the observatory onto the ridge but was unaware of his wife Catrina's affair with Janson. Local clairvoyant Mags Dormer had warned Jeremy of impending disaster and tells Barnaby that Moonstone Ridge is cursed, since Catrina's sister Mary, wife of pharmacist Harry Dutta, also died there some years earlier. Then other murders occur, of members of the group who were opposed to Janson's plans but had also made a discovery of their own, leading to a resolution of the case written in the stars.
Cast[]
- Neil Dudgeon as DCI John Barnaby
- Jason Hughes as DS Ben Jones
- Fiona Dolman as Sarah Barnaby
- Tamzin Malleson as Kate Wilding
- Harry Hadden-Paton as Lawrence Janson
- Kenny Ireland as George Dormer
- Soraya Radford as Gagan Dutta
- Jay Taylor as Peter Groves
- Barnaby Kay as Adrian Sharp
- Maureen Lipman as Mags Dormer
- Tim Wallers as Jeremy Harper
- Clare Calbraith as Catrina Harper
- Kelly Price as Tanya Walker
- Ace Bhatti as Harry Dutta
- Charles Daish as Jack Clough
- Paul Blackwell as Eclipse Observer (uncredited)
- Chris Cowlin as CID Officer (uncredited)
- John Duggan as Yoga Student (uncredited)
- Anthony Farrelly as C.I.D. Officer (uncredited)
- Susan Fordham as Solar Eclipse Observer (uncredited)
- Richard Herdman as Solar Eclipse Observer (uncredited)
- Shaun Lucas as Torch Bearer (uncredited)
- Nick Thomas-Webster as CID Officer (uncredited)
- Fabio Vollono as Yoga Student (uncredited)
- Chris Wilson as Police Officer (uncredited)
- Jacquelyn Watson McKie as Police Officer (uncredited)
Galleries[]
Body Count[]
Prior to the Episode
Died of natural causes in the 20th century.
During an altercation she tripped and fell down a flight of stairs 15 years ago. Her body was then taken and left at Moonstone Ridge.
In the Episode
Struck on the head with a piece of meteorite from Moonstone Ridge.
Struck in the chest by a thrown spear whose tip came from Moonstone Ridge and was stolen from the Stanton Museum. The spear was then brought out, put in his hands and the body was arranged to represent the Scorpio constellation.
Throat was impaled by a thrown moonstone disk which triggered cardiac arrest. The disk which originated from Moonstone Ridge, was stolen from the Stanton Museum, the pattern on it which represented the Scorpio constellation was polished and its edges were sharpened prior.
Supporting Cast[]
Episode Images[]
Videos[]
Notes[]
The following actors and actresses who appeared in this episode have also appeared in the following episodes
- Barnaby Kay - Bantling Boy
- Richard Herdman - Murder of Innocence, Death and the Divas, The Sicilian Defence and Schooled in Murder
- Fabio Vollono - Murder of Innocence
- Paul Blackwell - The Sicilian Defence and The Dagger Club
- John Duggan - Let Us Prey, The Flying Club and The Killings of Copenhagen
- Shaun Lucas - The Ballad of Midsomer County, The Incident at Cooper Hill, Crime and Punishment, Last Man Out and With Baited Breath
- Jacquelyn Watson McKie - The Flying Club, A Vintage Murder, Habeas Corpus, A Dying Art and Till Death Do Us Part