MIDSOMER DREAM

DANIEL CASEY IS ENJOYING HIS PROMOTION AS HE TALKS TO MARION MCMULLEN ABOUT TAKING MIDSOMER MURDERS ON TOUR

- 

You created the role of Sergeant Troy in ITV's Midsomer Murders. What is it like now playing Inspector Tom Barnaby in the world premiere of the stage adaptation of Midsomer Murders: The Killings at Badger's Drift?

To step into the shoes of John Nettles and play Barnaby is really exciting. I had a chat with him a few weeks ago and he was so lovely. He said 'do it your own way, make it your own,' but he also gave me a few pearls of wisdom about the character. I can't wait for him to come and see the production and see what he thinks.

We are going all over the place and I love touring. I grew up in the north east and when a tour came along it was always exciting.

There's a lot of affection for Midsomer as well and I still get recognised from it all the time.

I remember when I was appearing in it I was in a local supermarket at the till with my mum and a woman was just rubbing my arm and she said, 'Aren't you lovely?' and I assumed it was someone I knew, but she said, 'Oh, you don't know me' and my mum was, 'He is lovely! (Laughs) They saw me as a lovely young boy and I used to get that sort of attention from mothers.

Did you ever expect to be returning to the Midsomer world?

No, not at all, is the simple answer. Even when the director Guy Unsworth got in touch with me and said, 'I'm adapting the first episode can we have a chat?' I said 'yeah' but it never occurred to me that I would be involved in it. It wasn't until he then said, 'would you be interested in doing it?' and I said,