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The Ghost of Causton Abbey is the first episode of the twentieth series of the popular ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders and was first aired through Acorn TV streaming service to the U.S. on 3rd May 2018. It was later transmitted in the UK, on 10th March 2019.

Synopsis[]

Causton is buzzing at the opening of a new brewery on the site of a famously cursed Abbey. With the unveiling of a new beer, excitement turns to fear when a man is found boiled to death in one of the vats. Could this really be about beer? DCI Barnaby and DS Winter will need to work out the clues to catch the killer.

Plot, Part 1[]

Years ago: The first scene shows a monk, Brother Josef, in Causton Abbey being lowered into a bowling vat of ale. He curses everyone before he goes down.

Present day: Causton Abbey brewery is promoting its Cursed Brew IPA with a launch party featuring free beer samples. Emani Taylor, head of the brewery, says she hopes everyone has had a chance to try it and tells them it will be on supermarket shelves come Monday.  Emani thanks her husband, Paul,  and little sister, Faiza Jindal, the brewmeister. In the last three years they’ve gone from a home brew kit to an award winning brewery on a historic site. Then she announces a brewery tour with Faiza. Irene Taylor, Paul’s mom, says Faiza should be up there (announcing) too since she made the beer. Faiza says she is happy that people like what they are tasting. That’s enough for her.

Elsewhere, there is a Beer Festival at the Real Ale Society. John Barnaby goes to buy some ale. He points out the free samples from Causton Abbey. Russell Grundy says that it is craft beer and has to be given away. Sarah says she always thought Real Ale and Craft Beer were the same thing. The room goes silent.

Faiza is giving a tour of the brewery. It is her favorite place- she loves experimenting with new flavors. She points out the brewery tools on the wall found in the excavation of the site. Beer has been brewed here for 500 years.  While on the tour, Faiza finds barrels of beer that she did not make. Later, Faiza is angrily cleaning up after the launch. Paul tells her to leave it for the cleaning crew.  Faiza demands to speak to Emani- “I’ve seen what’s in the brew room. She will speak to me now!” Paul refuses to let her disturb Emani who has passed out from drinking.

Plot, Part 2[]

Murder 1: In the morning, Paul’s mom, Irene, goes to clean up at the brewery and finds a shoe on a shelf. She goes up to the walkway by the kegs and opens a vat and finds a dead body floating inside.

Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and Detective Sergeant Winter arrive. “I was here yesterday,” says Barnaby.  “They were having a free beer tasting.”  Winter replies, “I wouldn’t sample their current batch.” The dead body appears to be Adam Osoba. They ID’d the man from his signet ring and his bag has been found with his wallet.   “It’s not just a drowning- he was boiled to death. It’s a kettle vat and was on its boil cycle overnight,” says Winter.  “Perhaps he was drunk and toppled in,” says Barnaby. But the lid was closed and some drops of blood are below.

“This place is famous for the curse of Brother Josef,” says Barnaby.  “He was accused of poisoning people with his beer and was boiled alive in his own cauldron and he cursed the place. Legend has it that anyone who drinks beer here will come to a bad end.”

Barnaby and Winter approach Emani and Faiza in the brew room. “God it’s the boiler suit brigade,” says Emani.  They will  need the cops “help with the press release. News of this could devastate our business. We need to be in control of the narrative.”  Faiza exclaims, “EMANI! It’s Horrific! Poor man.”  Emani explains that she had 5-6 meetings with Adam over a book he was writing for them-  A Lifestyle book.  Ghostwriting was Adam’s thing. He was referred to Emani by one of her former clients, actress Sylvia Reynolds.

“What time did your event finish last night?” asks Barnaby.   “About 11:00?” Emani. “It finished at midnight. You just don’t remember anything after 11,” says Faiza.    “It was a booze-up in a brewery,” says Emani. Who would want to hurt Adam? Emani thinks it is an attack on their business by Russell Grundy, “a petty, sexist little man  who works on the council and is not a fan of what we do. Grundy “kept them out of his Good Beer Guide, scheduled his Real Ale Festival to clash with our launch” and used his position on the council to prevent them from expanding.

Barnaby goes to talk to New Pathologist, Dr. Fleur Perkins, who is at the crime scene. She snarks at Barnaby and refuses to give a time of death. It is her time to do her job. She will have to consult experts about boiled victims and “possibly a cookbook.”

Irene talks to Barnaby and Winter. She felt it was a bad idea to launch a brewery on the site due to the curse. Paul says the cops just want the facts and not a fairy story. Irene calls her son a patronizing sod.  Irene knew Adam. He’d been interviewing Keith Grundy at her retirement facility for a book. Grundy used to run with an East End Gang.

Emani is nervous about the situation. Paul consoles her. Faiza bursts in and says “it is all finished and she has ruined everything. The police are everywhere.” Paul goes off to deal with Faiza and  Emani finds a bloody shirt in a chest.

Barnaby and Winter go to Adam’s place to look around. He has cheap beer in his fridge. Lots of tapes above his file cabinet.  Then a man opens the door, sees the cops and immediately runs away. Winter gives chase and tackles him at the river. Barnaby offers him a tissue to dry off with.  The man, Kwame Asante, makes up a story about meeting Adam at a bar last night and staying overnight. Asante is married with a kid. "We are investigating his murder," says Barnaby. "And you have keys to his house?"   Barnaby is skeptical. He suggests Asante stay at the guest house up the road.

Barnaby and Winter drive to Fletcher House Retirement and Care home to interview Keith Grundy. Winter reports that Grundy was involved with the Kenton gang- racketeering, forgery, extortion- and rumored to be involved with the murder of a dealer, Charlie. Jenny Moss shows them to Grundy’s rooms. She tells the dogs to shush. Jenny appears shocked when she hears that Adam was killed at the brewery. Her kids are there with her ex- Paul.  Grundy denies knowing much about Adam and suggests they ask Jenny, with whom he had spent a lot of time. The book Adam was writing about him is about “a terrifying criminal who turns himself around to become a saint and a member of the British Empire” and shows them a medal. Barnaby asks if Adam was in contact with Grundy’s old associates. Grundy refuses to comment. Jenny denies having an affair with Adam. He was helping her write a book for her kids since she is dyslexic.  

Plot, Part 3[]

Barnaby visits Fleur, who reports that the blood on the steps was the victim’s. “Are you one of those? A fainter? Tell me now and I’ll get you a chair.” Adam’s death was caused by scalding. “He’s a piece of boiled meat.”  Barnaby invites her to dinner at his house.  Later, Barnaby refuses to tell his wife and Winter much about Fleur.  Paddy barks at Fleur when she arrives and she says “he still has his testicles. You should think about castration.” Paddy goes to hide and Barnaby and Winter look at each other in consternation.

Barnaby goes to talk to Russell Grundy. He has seen a draft of the book and states that Adam was supposed to write about his father’s efforts in the prison reform movement. Instead it had salacious details about Keith’s prison experience. As for the Causton Abbey brewery, he thinks they make tasteless pop.

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Barnaby and Winter go to see Sylvia Reynolds, the actress. She shows them posters of herself in Ophelia and Lady MacBeth years ago when she was young. She says she hasn’t had any contact with Adam since he wrote her book. She denies having a motive to kill Adam.

Fleur calls Barnaby and Winter to her lab- the man known as Adam Osoba died 3 years ago- Dental records are for Adam Dumont. He went missing and was declared dead 18 months later. He was reported missing by his civil partner, Kwame Asante.  Barnaby and Winter confront Asante. He says they were in so much debt and needed a way out. So he played the grieving husband and collected the insurance money. Adam called him recently as he wanted to come back to life. Asante can’t afford to pay back the life insurance money. But Adam told him he had a way to make money.

DNA from Adam’s house comes back as Russell’s or as good as. Barnaby and Winter confront Russell at his workplace. He says it’s Toby’s DNA. He does odd jobs for people and worked for Adam. They go to talk to Toby Grundy. He tells them that a woman from the brewery showed up to yell at Adam. She seemed to be drunk. It was Emani.

Emani tells Barnaby and Winter that she never should never have employed Adam in the first place. “It needed someone who was passionate or at least liked beer.”  Emani admits to making cut-price beer. Russell blocked their expansion and they couldn’t produce enough beer to fulfill their orders. Only about 50% of their beer at the supermarket is their product. Faiza is not happy about this.  Emani says, “People won’t know the difference. If it comes in a nice bottle and costs alot, it tastes better.”   Faiza replies,“The whole point was to make something we could be proud of. Emani replies,  “No, the whole point was to get it on the shelves and build a brand.” Emani claims Adam wouldn’t have sold them out as it wasn’t in his interest. Faiza said he wouldn’t have until she fired him!

Back in the car, Winter is reading a paper with an article in which Sylvia Reynolds makes disparaging comments about another actress.  They paper got their information from an audio file. Adam must have sold it to them. Winter says the paper won’t reveal their source. In another recording, Adam asks Keith Grundy about his old associate, Charlie Allen. Keith tells him to not ask.

At home, Keith Grundy drops his TV remote and asks Jenny to get it. She tells him not to gossip about her. Keith asks if it is her “time of the month.” She turns off the TV and leaves.

When asked about the recording Adam sold to the paper, Sylvia says “it was the wine talking.” She can be indiscreet. Adam told her he would keep it to himself. Barnaby and Winter notice one of Toby Grundy’s flyers at her house. She apparently paid him $500 for gardening.

Barnaby and Winter ask Keith Grundy about Charlie Allen. He has no comment. They ask Toby about his earnings from work for Sylvia. Did she pay him to steal a tape from Adam?  He has no comment.

At home, Sylvia reads the damning article that Adam sold. She has the tape and starts tearing it up while crying.

Plot, Part 4[]

MURDER 2: That night, Barnaby starts reading Little Red Riding Hood to his daughter. While doing this, the picture shifts to Emani outside the brewery with a bottle in her hand. Faiza is seen leaving the brewery. There are howling noises in the background. Someone goes to the brewery and takes the two-pronged brewing tool out of the cabinet.  Emani continues to wander the grounds in the dark. She is stabbed with the brewing tool. Then she was dragged on the site where Brother Josef was killed.

Paul talks to Barnaby and Winter. He last saw Emani when he went to bed at 10:00. They slept in different rooms because of her drinking or if he had an early start. When she was drinking she couldn’t stop and wandered around the grounds at 3 am. They were reasonably happy. His relationship with his first wife, Jenny, was civil. Barnaby asks what happened to his hands- he has scratches from his construction work. Faiza hasn’t been told about Emani’s death yet. She can’t be found and isn’t answering her phone. Their relationship was up and down. They fought alot. Irene comes up to Paul and tells him she is sorry about Emani. He says “are you? You hated Emani just like you hated Jenny.”

Fleur points out to Barnaby and Winter that Emani has recent bruising and the stench of alcohol. She had several healed and semi-healed fractures. She concludes they are a result of long term domestic abuse. Barnaby and Winter go to ask Jenny about whether Paul was abusive. Faiza shows up and they tell her about Emani’s death. She tells them she had to get away from the brewery- she trashed her own room. The supermarket cancelled their entire order. The beer was her product, what she was good at. She told Emani she wished they had never gone into business together.

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Meanwhile, cops are searching the ruins at the Abbey and find a skeleton and a place where coins are being made. Keith Grundy’s old equipment has been used by Toby Grundy to forge coins.

Later, Russell Grundy admits that he was on the grounds when both the murders occurred trying to cover up the forgery situation. He wants to protect his son, Toby.

Keith Grundy admits that the forgery setup was all his. After he had his accident, he couldn’t get down to the area where the forgery equipment was. He had Toby go down there to clean it up. He admits that he wasn’t really a part of the Kenton gang. He made up his involvement. He was an errand boy for them. He pretended to be a part of the gang because “prison is a very frightening place.”  He confirms that Jenny took his dogs for a walk the previous night.

Sylvia sits in her house watching her old movies. Barnaby says she knew Adam was going to the press. That’s why Toby stole the tape for her. Sylvia admits that Adam told her she could match the money that the press was going to pay him for the story or not. She asked Emani to do something about it.  So, Adam sold the story that threatened her career. Emani had told her she was going to stop it, but she didn’t.  So Sylvia had good motive to kill them both. But she says she was at the doctor’s the previous night.

Barnaby concludes that Emani was the intended target the night Adam was killed. Fleur tells him that there were traces of blood on Paul’s jumper. They confront Paul. But it turns out Emani beat Paul when she was drunk. He shows the bruises on his chest. The blood on the jumper was from Emani throwing a vase at Paul. She got cut on the vase. Paul says she wasn’t with him when Adam was killed. She’d had a complete blackout that night. She asked Paul to hide her bloody clothes, which he did.

Plot Denouement[]

Barnaby wonders about Jenny walking Keith’s dogs at 10:00 and that they were barking. The dogs don’t bark at Jenny. So was she really walking the dogs last night?

Barnaby and Winter confront Jenny before her son’s birthday party with Paul present. Jenny says she is dying. She has only months to live. How could she leave her children to be raised by Emani, an alcoholic?  “I know what it’s like to live that life. To be little and scared and not know what you’d done wrong.”  Her daughter is wetting the bed and son has bruises on him.  She admits to killing Emani.  She killed Adam by mistake. He came after her in the brewery and she had a knife. They tussled and he fell in the vat. She shut the lid. She knew he was never going to survive.  Barnaby asks who helped her. Someone helped her with her alibi. Who was walking Keith’s dogs?  Then Irene walks in and tells Paul, “You made excuses for Emani over and over again. But I saw the bruises on you and on Finn.”  

Barnaby allows Jenny to be with her son when he blows out his candles on his cake.



Some time later, the detectives, Sarah and Fleur are at the ruins of Causton Abbey Visitor Center, featuring the bones of Brother Josef. Barnaby says, “If you’re going to stick around here you'll have to learn the legends.” Winter says, “Yeah, we've got a headless horseman, a faceless phantom.” Fleur says, “A bollock-less dog?” Paddy growls and barks. Barnaby says, “Never! He helped to solve the case, didn't you boy? The least I can do is protect your manhood.” 

Sarah says, “I thought we could go for a beer.” Barnaby says, “You know what? I might prefer a glass of wine.”

Cast[]

Galleries[]

Body Count[]

Prior to the Episode

In the Episode

Supporting Cast[]

Episode Images[]

Arrests[]

Notes[]

The following actors and actresses who appeared in this episode have also appeared in the following episodes

Trivia[]

  • This is Fleur Perkins first case. She is abrupt in her interactions with the detectives at first.
  • The Prebendal, Thame, which doubles as Causton Abbey, was the home of Bee Gee Robin Gibb. He is buried in St Mary's Church yard, as is Elizabeth Spriggs who was in the first episode of Midsomer Murders (1997) as Mrs Rainbird and then in another episode as her cousin.
  • Annette Badland's major TV break was the series Bergerac (1981) which starred John Nettles, who was the first Barnaby in Midsomer Murders.

The Trials and Tribulations of Jamie Winter:

  • While chasing Kwame Asante, Winter tackled him and they fall in the mud. Across the river, Barnaby offers Winter a tissue.

Fleur's Foibles:

  • When she first meets Barnaby she is rather rude. Later at Barnaby's house to meet the "team," she suggests Barnaby's dog needs to be castrated because he is barking at her. Sarah and all are shocked and Paddy hides under a table.

Quotes[]


DCI John Barnaby: I'm DCI John Barnaby. I was hoping for an estimated time of death.
Fleur Perkins: Are you a smoker? Heavy drinker?
DCI John Barnaby: No?
Fleur Perkins: Then I give you another thirty years.




Fleur Perkins: We'll be into dental record territory for a formal identity, I'll tell you that much. Boiled human flesh isn't something I work with every day, so I'll need to consult a specialist. And possibly a cook book.




Fleur Perkins: Sorry I'm late. I was removing a chainsaw from a chest cavity. I wish these farmers wouldn't drink.




Fleur Perkins: Still got his testicles, that's your problem. (Talking about the dog, Paddy, who barks at her).
DCI John Barnaby: Told you, just your type.
DS Jamie Winter: Very funny.
Fleur Perkins: If he's aggressive you need to think about castration. There are all sorts of health benefits. Ian, my boyfriend is a vet. I'll get him to give you a call.



Goofs[]

  • When first talking to Barnaby, Keith Grundy produces a medal and refers to himself as a "Member of the British Empire" An MBE is in face a Member of the Order of the British Empire.


Video[]

Midsomer_Murders_Series_20_Episode_1_-_The_Ghost_of_Causton_Abbey_Preview

Midsomer Murders Series 20 Episode 1 - The Ghost of Causton Abbey Preview


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