Tears flowed as TV detective John Nettles filmed his last ever scene in Midsomer Murders, when an emotional cast and crew bid farewell to the man who played Det Chief Insp Tom Barnaby in 81 films over 14 years.
Yet Nettles, who previously starred as Jersey detective Jim Bergerac, has no regrets about his decision to step down from the role in one of television’s biggest success stories.
“It’s been a long time. Not just a chapter in my life, more a book, and I shall be very sad to leave all those friends behind,” reflects the Cornwall-born actor, who will go to Buckingham Palace later this year to collect his OBE.
“But it was an easy decision to make. I think characters have a life on television. A beginning, a middle and an end. Bergerac went on for 10 years and I knew exactly when it had to end. This one likewise. The character has to end and I’m looking forward to doing other things.”
The former Royal Shakespeare Company member is currently rehearsing for his role as Claudius and The Ghost in Hamlet, starring Life On Mars’ John Simm, at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield from next Thursday. Or as Nettles describes it: “A Danish version of Midsomer with plenty of blood and gore.”
The chance to return to the stage was just one of the reasons why he left Barnaby behind in July at the end of 13 series. “I’ve no regrets about my career. I might have got the balance slightly wrong, but you don’t have choices in this business.
“You’ve got to dress up in whatever clothes you think are fashionable, go into the market place, flog your wares and hope to Christ that somebody is going to say, ‘Yes, I’ll buy them.’ Obviously, you get pushed into all kinds of directions and end up in places you don’t expect to end up when you first started out.”
ITV has expressed interest in a new drama series currently in development for Nettles with the working title of Country Matters. If it gets the green light, he would star as a justice of the peace.
And there are still five of his Midsomer episodes to be broadcast before new leading man Neil Dudgeon takes over on screen in the New Year. He has just begun filming his role as Det Chief Insp John Barnaby, who lands cousin Tom’s job.
The first of Nettles’ farewell ITV1 films was screened this week. Blood On The Saddle concluded with a Wild West shoot-out fantasy sequence, as viewed through the eyes of the crazed killer.
It included Nettles as a Wyatt Earp cowboy character and one moment we didn’t see. “I was dressed up as Wiry Twerp, as he was known, and I had to run down the street.
“But because I’m so thin, the gun belt fell off as I was running. I tripped over and fell face down in the dust,” laughs the 66-year-old.
The new series continues with ghostly goings on in a story called Midsomer Murders: The Silent Land (ITV1, 8pm, Wednesday, September 22).
There’s also a repeat today of classic tale Days Of Misrule (ITV1, 3.30pm).
Tom Barnaby will not be killed off but is unlikely to return. Nettles’ final episode is titled Fit For Murder and sees the veteran policeman contemplating his future at a health farm.
“He’s not going to end with a bang. He’ll just fade away, as coppers do. That’s as it should be. He’s a straight down the line copper and it comes to an end one day. That’s when he walks away.”
The self-deprecating star makes light of the thousands of fans all over the globe who asked him to stay on. “Some have expressed mild regret. There’s one Australian lady in the Outback who’s invited me to her farm to do strange things to me. Six sides of A4. It makes my eyes water even to think of it.”
Although his character has investigated hundreds of murders in the killing fields of Buckinghamshire and beyond, Nettles doesn’t think he will be held up as a great example at police training colleges. “Barnaby is the worst policeman in the world. He’s bloody hopeless.”
Even so, the black humour of both Barnaby and the series has won fans in over 220 countries and still attracts big ratings in the UK. So life – and death – will go on in Midsomer, even after Nettles’ departure.
Jason Hughes stays with the series as sidekick Det Sgt Ben Jones with Fiona Dolman arriving as new leading lady Sarah Barnaby, the screen wife of Neil Dudgeon’s character and headmistress at Causton Comprehensive.
“I’ll still watch Midsomer, to see how Neil copes with it. I’m sure he’ll do very well, but I hope he’s not too good,” Nettles smiles.
Does he see himself retiring one day, like Barnaby? “As long as there’s an audience there, I’ll be there. You can’t retire. What would you do? Look at your showreel? Read my one good review again? No. You have to go on.”