Midsomer Murders is a British television

Television program

A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham

Caroline Graham

Caroline Graham is an English playwright, screenwriter and novelist.Graham was born in Nuneaton, studied with the Open University, and received a degree in writing for the theatre from the University of Birmingham. Her first published book was Fire Dance, a romance novel...

, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz

Anthony Horowitz

Anthony Craig Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including The Power of Five, Alex Rider and The Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's...

. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby

Tom Barnaby

Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Geoffrey "Tom" Barnaby is a fictional detective created by Caroline Graham. DCI Barnaby is featured in the Chief Inspector Barnaby book series which began with The Killing at Badger's Drift in 1987. Barnaby is also the main detective in Midsomer Murders, a popular...

 (John Nettles

John Nettles

John Vivian Drummond Nettles, OBE is an English actor, historian and writer who is best known for playing the lead roles in Bergerac and Midsomer Murders.-Early life:...

) who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was replaced by actor Neil Dudgeon

Neil Dudgeon

Neil Dudgeon is a British actor best known for his many television appearances, most often in crime drama.-Early Life:Dudgeon was born 1 January 1961 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, and attended Danum Grammar School among others. He established himself as an actor in school plays and went on to study...

 who plays Tom's younger cousin DCI John Barnaby. The stories revolve around the Barnabys' efforts to solve the numerous murders that take place in the fictional English county of Midsomer.