Fiona Dolman has portrayed Sarah Barnaby in the beloved ITV drama Midsomer Murders for 15 years.
Fiona, 56, appears on a repeated episode of Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh this Sunday, where she talks all about the iconic ITV murder mystery series.
The past episode in question from series four, which aired in 2022, saw Fiona also talk about working with Neil Dudgeon, who plays her husband, DCI John Barnaby.
Fiona opened up about their working relationship, admitting there can be a fair bit of “naughtiness” when the pair are on set together. Host Alan, 77, commented: “There is clearly a great rapport with you and Neil [Dudgeon], you clearly get on with one another!”
Fiona joined Alan Titchmarsh to discuss her career -Credit:ITV
Fiona smiled and explained: “Yeah! We got on from, I think, day one really, he is a fantastically good actor, and he is great fun to work with.
“There is a real naughtiness, and we’ll discuss how we are going to do something, and then he’ll just throw something slightly different.
“So we have a lot of fun playing them, but obviously it is 10 years, and you don’t get that a lot as an actor, so it means that we sort of fall into that role of being that old married couple.
“You do slightly bicker, and I’ll get a script through the post, and I’ll read it, and I can, I laugh because I can see what he is going to do or how he is going to say something!”.
The past episode in question from series four saw Fiona also talk about working with Neil Dudgeon -Credit:mark bourdillon/ITV
Alan also raised the remarkable fact that she had remained part of the show despite the then staggering 400 on-screen deaths that have taken place across the then 25 years the series has been on air.
He teased: “Midsomer has been going now for 25 years, if you see little things coming into the script like the marriage is getting a little rocky, then be very worried!
“It’s like treasure island, if you get a piece of paper with a black spot on it, be careful, be very afraid, everyone else in Midsomer is gone, but I’m sure you won’t be next!” to which Fiona hilariously pleaded: “Please don’t kill me off!”
Throughout her stint on the programme, Fiona’s real-life pregnancy was incorporated into the storyline. The plot saw Sarah and John welcome their daughter Betty, with twin girls cast to portray their child.
Fiona has previously spoken candidly about shooting scenes with two newborn infants and disclosed that she witnessed a different side to Neil.
Fiona’s real-life pregnancy was incorporated into a storyline. -Credit:mark bourdillon/ITV
Back in 2015, Fiona explained: “We get a lot of time between takes to play with the girls and make silly baby noises. You can get giggles out of them now, and it’s been fun seeing that side of Neil, it brings out the clown in him.”
However, Neil described filming with the twins as “challenging”. He confessed one of the infants disliked being secured into the pushchair while he and Fiona delivered their lines.
This resulted in the baby “screaming her head off” during the take. Despite the screaming, Neil praised the “spontaneous quality” of his young co-stars, telling Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine that they made the scenes “more real.”
The show is shot almost exclusively on location across the Chilterns area of Buckinghamshire and the surrounding counties of Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey.
Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh airs Sundays at 10am on ITV
