Top team - Neil Dudgeon, and Nick Hendrix fighting countryside crime (Image: itv) Midsomer Murders star responds to series 'change' EXCLUSIVE Neil Dudgeon, star of Midsomer Murders, wants the popular detective show to be broadcast “as a whole series” again, warning that “no show is bulletproof” and audience figures could suffer. “Some years ago,” said the much-loved actor, “ITV decided to schedule single episodes, or just two episodes from a series so that Midsomer could take on rival shows on the other side.” Midsomer Murders is currently in its 23 rd season, with two new episodes due to be broadcast in July.
He said: “I think this is a shame. For an audience with any programme, they like to know when their show is going to be on, say for the next four weeks. But they stopped doing this some time ago.
“They started dotting them against whatever’s on the BBC , for instance. It’s been brilliant because we’ve kept our audience, and the audience is very loyal, and they love the show. “But it would be nice if it went out as a series again, but we’ve got two [new episodes] this time.
” Asked about viewers confusing repeat episodes with new ones, he replied: “I think that’s terrible. Because you put a new episode on, and people think, ‘Oh, a new series’. And then the following week you follow it with a repeat.
People sit there and start watching and say, ‘Hang on. I've seen this before.’ “If you keep messing with your audience, you're going to lose your audience with just about anything.
“But we’re a victim of our success in a way.” He was asked if the show “is bulletproof?” Said Dudgeon: “I don't think any show is bulletproof. The better the quality of the show, the more likely you are to keep your audience and grow your audience.
"But if you make your audience unhappy, or if they can't find the show, or if they get confused about it, you can alienate your audience – although it is easier to find it on catch-up now.” Winter's 'wet business shirt' moment (Image: ITV) 'There’s a wonderful escapism about Midsomer' The show, he reveals, was a global hit during the pandemic. “There’s a wonderful escapism about Midsomer.
“During the pandemic, I heard that broadcasters all over the world bought up the next two years of Midsomer episodes. There was a lockdown, and broadcasters around the world started showing loads more episodes of the show. “People were at home and they wanted the stuff.
So broadcasters were generally using up their content more quickly than they expected. They were coming back to Midsomer HQ and saying, ‘Oh, we need more episodes’. “I find it rather marvellous that people were finding a kind of an escapist release in Midsomer, which is all about murder, but it's kind of heightened reality, or a slightly different reality of its own, or something.
So that even in these sort of terrible times people could escape from that.” Dudgeon says the whodunnits are still especially good. “Out of the 50 odd episodes that I’ve done, I’ve only picked one.
“I said, ‘You've got to do something here. If even I can figure out who the murderer is, we're in trouble.” Midsomer Murders, ITV, Tues 16 Jul, 8.
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