Doctor Kate Wilding ( Tamzin Malleson) (series 14–17)—Dr George Bullard's replacement as resident pathologist. Her confident, competent, no-nonsense approach has earned the detectives' respect. She is unmarried and is also a professor. Her parents, Giles and Laura, have appeared in one episode, "The Flying Club". [4] In the series 18 opener, "Habeas Corpus", Wilding has left Midsomer to take up a professorship in Brighton. She is briefly seen on-screen in a photo with Ben Jones, who had previously relocated to Brighton. This episode was good until the end. One murderer is a married female who takes pills to kill herself. She is responsible for the death of many. They play sad music and people are crying. Her husband says "she could be pretty tough at times but underneath she is the gentlest person you could ever meet." Yeah right! Evelyn is a beloved former puppet master in Midsomer Magna. Her shows of Mr. Punch and Judy were iconic from entertaining the kids, but usually placing innuendos about the villagers' worst actions and secrets she found them deserving to be ruined by. Tom Barnaby himself regarded her for exposing a husband beating his wife, which preceded a successful arrest. Evelyn was the godmother of the village aside her loving husband Woody, her two closest confidants for the show being her dear niece Clarice Opperman and local mushroomer and all around do-gooder Gregory Chambers.

The story, over the top and elaborate but appropriately and wonderfully so and with a high body count, is hugely compelling, and never simplistic and never losing any of the maturity of the previous episodes. There is a lot going on mostly without being cluttered or rushed, and that nothing is what it seems, or very few people are who they seem adds to the complexity, while there are no out of kilter scenes. The twists, red herrings and turns keep coming, and rarely in an obvious or press-the-rewind button. The characters are colourful.

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It also boasts the customary comic subplot involving mushroom expert Colin Slater (Roger Frost) and his unusual relationship with his housekeeper, but it’s well integrated into the plot – Colin is a comic character who contributes a lot. And that’s really the key to what makes ‘Destroying Angel’ work – not a scene is wasted, or fails to add something to the mystery. On a rewatch, I’m impressed with quite how clever it is. Not just in the way the mystery resolves – this is perhaps one of the more involved cases in the show’s history, but still possible to work out and understand – but in the way it subtly introduces key players and clues without making a big deal of them. The show got less good at this over time (the only exception is ‘Murder of Innocence’, featuring one of the best rug-pulls in Midsomer history), but ‘Destroying Angel’ gets it perfect. Kudos to David Hoskins in his first script for the series. This episode had many people murdered in different ways. It seems it was about who was going to inherit property. Four people were to get a hotel and land until the day before the owner died who made a new will.

The story of "Destroying Angel" is one of "Midsomer Murders" most compelling. Clever twists and turns keep coming and coming, the characters are well-written. I agree: David Hoskins's research and effort leaps from the script. The body count is also very high here and the murders are committed in brutal manners. The puppet show aspect of "Destroying Angel" is fun, but suitable chilling at times. DCI Barnaby (played by John Nettles) finds himself investigating another murder when a local Punch and Judy man called Gregory Chambers (played by Philip Bowen) goes missing whilst collecting wild mushrooms in the woods near Midsomer Magna. This coincides with the death of a hotel owner called Karl Wainwright who has left the bulk of his estate, including the Easterly Grange hotel, to Chambers, his wife Suzanna (played by Samantha Bond), the chef Tristan Goodfellow (played by Tom Ward) and two other members of his most trusted staff. When a disembodied hand is found in the woods, it is confirmed that Chambers is dead meaning that his share of Wainwright's estate will now pass to his wife. Suzanna has been having an affair with Tristan and it seems Gregory had also been having one of his own with the daughter of the local gamekeeper Ann Tyson who is pregnant. When the beneficiaries of Wainwright's estate start dying in gruesome ways, including poisoning by a deadly wild mushroom known as 'Destroying Angel', Barnaby and Sgt Troy (played by Daniel Casey) must find a common motive for the murders. Could Clarice Opperman (played by Madeleine Worrall), the new Punch and Judy artist, provide a lead and does her aunt, Evelyn Pope (played by Rosemary Leech) know more than she is letting on?

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This is one of the best episodes I've seen so far. Who the killer is, what their motives are and how they carry out the murders is quite clever and unusual. My only complaint is that damn Punch & Judy. I'll never understand why the tradition of this creepy and horribly violent doll is still kept alive but it did suit the story. I was quite amused when Troy finds Clarice attractive until she brings out that creepy Punch doll and then he's completely put off.

Dominic Jephcott first appeared as Richard Bayly in "Death's Shadow" (1999) and was later cast as Henry Marwood/Benjamin Hastings in "Four Funerals and a Wedding" (2006). At the start Gregory Chambers is killed in the forest while looking for mushrooms. He helped out at a hotel owned by an old man, Karl Wainwright, who was dying and planned to leave his property to Gregory, Gregory's wife, Suzanna the manager, her lover, Tristan the chef, and Julia the accountant. When Karl overhears Kenneth, Julia's husband, Suzanna and Tristan talking about how they're going to sell off some of the land he can't help letting slip that he's made a new will in which they don't inherit anything. Suzanna realises that Karl really trusted Gregory and that he must have the new will. She smothers Karl so he can't make it public that there's a new will and Tristan murders Gregory the day before Karl's funeral and takes the will before Gregory has a chance to make it known. Tristan Goodfellow - Consumed a poisonous type of mushrooms, Destroying Angel, which were placed for him to cook instead of regular mushrooms. This was carried out by Ben the gardener at Evelyn's instruction. Destroying Angel" starts with the murder of Gregory Chambers. Gregory was out in the woods collecting mushrooms when he falls to the ground after being shot with an bow and arrow. Karl Wainwright, owner of the local hotel, dies at the same time, and his funeral is being held. Karl Wainwright leaves his hotel and modest capital to be shared between Suzanna Chambers, Gregory Chambers, Julia Goodard and Tristan Goodfellow. Now that Gregory is dead, his shares will be taken over by his wife Suzanna. A severed hand is found it the woods, and it is later identified as Gregory's.

Selina Cadell played Phyllis Cadell in the pilot episode "The Killings at Badger's Drift" (1997) and Eleanor Crouch in "Midsomer life" (2008). Evelyn Pope is a character appearing in the episode Destroying Angel of the ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders. Evelyn Pope admits she is the person responsible for the Murders of Tristan, Kenneth and Suzanna. Shortly after, she dies in Woody's arms. Her time had come and she wants Woody to be as happy as he can be with the rest of the time he has left. After the brilliant first episode of the fourth season, "the Garden of death", despite all its advantages, there was disappointment that the funny chemistry between Barnaby and Troy was gone. However, I understand that this was required by the plot and the development of the character of Troy. But I digress.

Serena Gordon appeared as Ginny Sharp in "Market for Murder" (2002) and later appeared as widowed Christina Finleyson in "Midsomer Life" (2008). Evelyn and Woody go to the fete. They ask Suzanna about Tristan. She says he is dying. Evelyn tells Suzanna that the Punch and Judy show is a tribute to Gregory using the script he wrote before he died. If you know me, you know that I’m a huge Midsomer Murders fan. Since 2015, I’ve been blogging every new episode in the show for this very paper, and I’m always keen to sing its praise. I do admit, however, that the show’s quality is incredibly variable, and that each episode of Midsomer may be a dud just as easily as a classic. This was less so in the series’ classic days, with many favourite episodes coming from the earlier series. And that’s where you’ll find an instalment that, to my mind, is the pinnacle of the show – series four’s ‘Destroying Angel’. In fact, my only real problem, despite the solution actually being pretty ingenious, is the ending being written in a way that seemed to try too hard to make one feel sorry for someone who killed so many people. Giving the nature of the crimes, it did fail to do that. Meanwhile, the script is smart, thought-provoking and suitably grim, the humour also being a breath of fresh air. Nothing felt inconsequential, everything had a point, everything intrigued and it was explained and cleared up well.In "Murder Of Innocence", it is revealed that Jones is in a relationship with firefighter Susie Bellingham. In the series 16 opener, "The Christmas Haunting", it is revealed that Jones has been promoted to Inspector and transferred to Brighton. A photo of Jones (alongside Kate Wilding, who also moved to Brighton) is shown in the series 18 opener "Habeas Corpus". DI Jones made a further appearance in episode 3 of series 19 "Last Man Out", in an undercover role - erroneously still listed in the credits as DS Ben Jones. In the end, he left Causton CID after a mini farewell party at John and Sarah Barnaby’s home at the end of episode 6 of series 15, "Schooled in Murder".