Midsomer Murders - Habeas Corpus - 1:35 pm Monday, June 29 on ITV3

Neil Dudgeon (Actor) .. DCI John Barnaby

Born: January 01, 1961 in Doncaster

Best Known For: Being the new Barnaby in Midsomer Murders.

Early-life: Born in Doncaster in 1961. His dad drove a bread delivery van and his mum was an assistant supermarket manager, although they both also performed on the club circuit. Neil credits his own love of acting to a teacher who forced him to read aloud in an assembly _ it was supposed to be a punishment for misbehaving in class, but Neil found he actually enjoyed it. He went to appear in school plays, before studying drama at Rada.

Career: Neil made his film debut in 1987 with an uncredited role in Prick Up Your Ears, and went on to appear in London's Burning on TV the following year. He's worked pretty steadily since then in a wide range of TV shows, although he admits he's most frequently cast as a cop _ he's starred in Inspector Morse, Out of the Blue, Between the Lines, Messiah and Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking. Last year it was announced that he would be taking on his most high-profile police role to date when he took over from John Nettles as the star of Midsomer Murders. He has also starred alongside Caroline Quentin in the sitcom Life of Riley.

Quote: On joining Midsomer Murders: "My secret dream is that viewers will switch on, watch it all the way through and not notice there's a new bloke in it."

Trivia: He has starred in a number of dramas on Radio 3 and Radio 4.

Gwilym Lee (Actor) .. DS Charlie Nelson

Helen Baxendale (Actor) .. Rose Lancaster

Born: February 14, 1969 in Lichfield, Staffordshire

Best Known For: Her roles in Friends and Cold Feet.

Early-life: Born February 14, 1969, in Lichfield, Staffordshire. She has a sister called Kate. Parents June and Bill were both teachers. Helen dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer when young and attended The Elmhurst Ballet School in Surrey, but realised she would never reach the required standard. As a result, she put her back-up plan - to become an actress - into action, landing a place on the Bristol Old Vic's training scheme.

Career: Baxendale joined Glasgow's Citizens' Theatre and landed parts on TV in The Marshall, Casualty, and short film The Euphoric Scale. In 1994, she won the plum role of Claire Maitland in Cardiac Arrest which made her name. Two years later she was particularly busy, starring in Truth or Dare, In Suspicious Circumstances, Crossing the Floor and Cold Feet. The latter became a major success. She's also appeared in The Investigator, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Ordinary Decent Criminal, Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years, and played Ross's girlfriend in Friends.

Quote: 'People are really stupid. They think you're serious and intelligent if you're a brunette with a pale complexion and a bit of hooked nose. If you're blonde and pretty, they don't give you that sort of part. It's short-sighted and stupid, but that's how it goes.'

Trivia: She has a fear of flying.

Navin Chowdhry (Actor) .. Sonny Desai

Emma Cunniffe (Actor) .. Rev Melissa Ackers

Fiona Dolman (Actor) .. Sarah Barnaby

Born: January 01, 1970 in Findhorn, Moray

Best Known For: The Royal Today, Heartbeat and Midsomer Murders.

Early-life: Fiona Jane Dolman was born in Findhorn, Moray, on January 1, 1970 to Rosemary and Gordon. She is the youngest daughter of four children. Her father worked in the RAF and he moved his family to Gibraltar when Fiona was 15. In 1993, she made her TV acting debut in Crime Story.

Career: Roles followed for Dolman on the small screen in Strike Force, A Touch of Frost, The Knock and Ultraviolet. In 1998, she joined the cast of Heartbeat playing Jackie Lambert. She went on to have a recurring role in The Royal Today. In 2011, she began playing Sarah Barnaby alongside Neil Dudgeon in Midsomer Murders.

Quote: On working with the Barnaby's dog on Midsomer Murders: 'We have sausages strapped to bags and in pockets so the dog follows you around.'

Trivia: At the age of 16 and 17 years, Dolman won awards at the Gibraltar RAF ladies windsurfing championships.

Alastair Mackenzie (Actor) .. Felix Lancaster

Ciaran McMenamin (Actor) .. Craig Coffley

Born: October 01, 1975 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

Best Known For: Playing Matt Anderson in Primeval.

Early-life: Born on October 1, 1975 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. He attended St Michael's College before going on to study for a Bachelor's degree at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He graduated in 1998.

Career: McMenamin started landing TV roles in 1998, including that of Jez MacAllister in The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star. He got the title role in the BBC TV film David Copperfield (1999) and co-starred in To End All Wars (2001). McMenamin later appeared in an episode of Agatha Christie's Marple, co-starred in The Golden Hour and appeared in a one-off special episode of Jonathan Creek. He also had prominent roles in the film The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce (2008), TV series Primeval and docudrama Saving the Titanic (2012). Since then, he has appeared in Death in Paradise, Midsomer Murders and Paula.

Quote: 'Playing a character in your own accent can be a double-edged sword as it makes it harder to get away from ‘yourself' early on in rehearsals, but ultimately it frees you completely to let the emotional journey of the character come out without the technical hurdles of an accent.'

Trivia: He released his debut novel, Skintown, in 2017.

Clive Merrison (Actor) .. Caleb Southwood

Diana Quick (Actor) .. Hermione Lancaster

Manjinder Virk (Actor) .. Dr Kam Karimore

Best Known For: Being a multi-talented writer, director and actor.

Early-life: Manjinder was born in Coventry and comes from a family of three children. Her first taste of acting came at the Belgrade Youth Theatre in Coventry and she went on to become artistic director of Pangram Dance Theatre with her brother, Hardish. She earned a degree in contemporary dance at De Montfort University in Leicester. She made her TV acting debut in an episode of Holby City in 1999.

Career: Guest roles for Virk followed in Doctors, the TV film Ready When You Are, Mr McGill, The Bill, Swiss Toni, and Green Wing. She had a recurring role in ITV medical drama Monroe. More recently, she has starred in The Thick of It, Hunted, Call the Midwife and Ordinary Lives. Her other TV credits include the TV movies The Bradford Riots and Britz. Away from acting, she started writing when she joined the Royal Court Young Writers Programme. Her first commission in 2003 was a stage play called Glow for Theatre Centre. In 2010, she won a Best Actress gong at the British Independent Film Awards for the documentary The Arbor.

Quote: 'I've written and devised plays since I was at school. My whole family are in the arts, my mum and dad are writers, it's really natural to be doing it.'

Trivia: Virk's 2013 short film Out of Darkness won the Best Drama Award and the Best of Fest Award at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival.

Sarah Middleton (Actor) .. Ellie Loxley

Joseph Mydell (Actor) .. Dr Isaac Vernon

Elizabeth Rider (Actor) .. Bobbie Loxley

Jo Wright (Executive producer)

Phil Hunter (Producer)

Alex Pillai (Director)

Rachel Cuperman (Writer)

Sally Griffiths (Writer)

Midsomer Murders: Habeas Corpus

1:35 pm - 3:35 pm, Monday, June 29 on ITV3 (10)

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Habeas Corpus
Season 18, Episode 1

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