‘I brought popular detective role to Birmingham stage – and fans flocked from around the world’

The celebrity revealed fans of the cult show have flocked from all over the globe to see the new show

James Bradwell (Troy) and Daniel Casey (Barnaby) in The Killings at Badger’s Drift (Image: ©Manuel Harlan)

An ITV star has revealed fans of one cult series flew thousands of miles to Birmingham to see a new stage show with him in it.

Daniel Casey, who played DS Gavin Troy in ITV’s Midsummer Murders, was one of the key characters, alongside John Nettles as DCI Tom Barnaby in the hit murder mystery, which first began in 1997.

Daniel first joined the programme that same year, sticking around for a further seven years before calling it quits. He made a brief guest appearance in the long running show once more in 2008.

Now, the actor is appearing in a theatre show focused on the very first episode of Midsummer Murders – The Killings at Badger’s Drift – but as Tom instead of his former character, Gavin.

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The 53-year-old has now shared that fans of the original television drama have been flocking from all over the world to the UK to see the show.

In an exclusive interview with Reach Plc he said: “People have got a real affection for the programme so you’ve got that huge audience of people who want to come and see how we do it on stage. Do you know what’s been amazing?

“We’ve had people from all over the world come.”

He went on to share how he even had a man come all the way from Texas to Birmingham to see the theatre production.

“We were in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago and we had a man come with his daughter from Fort Worth in Texas and then we had someone that same night who was from Argentina,” he said.

He continued: “We’ve had people in from Germany and Belgium, all in that same week. When we were up in Glasgow we had a couple who had come over from Washington DC especially for the weekend to see the play.

“So we’ve had people from all over Europe and all over the world. We’ve had people from Australia, we’ve had Canadians. It’s been incredible, it’s been fantastic. “

He continued: “I knew it was really, really well loved, of course I did, it’s sold to 240 countries worldwide and I get messages even now from the TV series but to hear people talk about it to me directly and how much it’s meant to them and how much they love it.”

The Friends of the North actor went on to share the history behind the murder mystery series which has since exploded in popularity.

He said: “I think when we first started it was a contemporary police drama but it had a kind of 1950s soul so actually didn’t exist really in the real world at all.

“The original producer saw that vision of this bucolic English countryside and I think that’s what works so well – the countryside is an extra character in the series and I think it just has that gorgeous flavour. I think people worldwide think that’s how English people live.

“The other thing is that British actors play those eccentrics really really well. They’re kind of grotesques really. I think that’s what’s interesting about the characters. They’re absolutely real within that environment.

“I think that’s what works really beautifully. And you can watch it as a kid with your granny. These murders are gruesome but you don’t actually see them. It leaves it to your imagination. I think people love that.”

The stage show – The Killings at Badger’s Drift – follows the case of well-loved spinster Emily Simpson who is found dead in the picturesque village of Badger’s Drift.

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Her friend Lucy Bellringer refuses to accept it was an accident and DCI Tom Barnaby and Sergeant Gavin Troy are called in to investigate, uncovering a world of hidden passions, long-buried secrets and deadly rivalries, the Mirror reported.

With eccentric villagers, shocking twists and an unforgettable reveal, The Killings at Badger’s Drift is a classic whodunnit that Midsomer Murders fans have come to expect.

Daniel admits he was “a little bit worried” when approached to play Tom on the stage but he says when he read the script “it just felt really nice, it felt right”.

Daniel is close friends with John – “he’s a lovely presence in my life” – and he spoke to the former Bergerac star when he landed the job playing John’s former TV character.

Daniel said: “His first piece of advice was ‘do your own thing with it’. He just talked to me about what he thought were the important things about the character – his integrity, he’s very watchful, he listens, he has incredible empathy.

“And then he told me one thing that I’m going to keep for myself that I agree with which is a lovely, lovely quality of Barnaby’s. I think the lovely thing about him is he’s very straight up and down, he’s a lovely family man and so he goes into this mad world that’s Midsomer with these huge eccentrics and he’s in the middle of this madness and he’s the steady centre.”