MIDSOMER MURDERS RETURNS TO ITV FOR NEW SERIES

The village of Blacktrees-on-Marsh not only sits in the very heart of Midsomer, but extraordinarily enough, it was once also listed on secret Cold War documents that detailed the places in England that Russia would target in the event of nuclear war.

While the listing is more than likely a myth or a joke that someone cracked in The Huntsman’s Horn, there are still some who are convinced of its truth… even plagued by it.

Blacktrees-on-Marsh has always been haunted by the shadow of the Blacktrees Prophecy, and for some the fear has seeped into them so deeply that a small group of locals founded Midsomer’s first doomsday prepper group - founded two decades ago by Warren Kaine, an obsessive-compulsive fearmonger, Warren’s apocalyptic beliefs have grown to dominate every second of his existence.

Warren initially became a prepper after attending the site of a natural disaster, but his PTSD led to him growing increasingly terrified of life and the spectre of imminent disaster - fear burrowed into his brain so deeply that he plunged his life savings into the building of a bombproof underground bunker stocked with rations to last four people for months on end. One morning Warren receives the call he has been waiting for - nuclear missiles have launched.

Vindicated, Warren races to the bunker and radios for the other preppers to meet him there… but as dawn breaks over Blacktrees-on-Marsh, the sun rises over village green serenity rather than scorched earth, and Warren’s resentful wife Clodagh arrives at the bunker to tell him that it was a hoax but discovers him dead instead.

As Barnaby and Winter arrive to investigate, Fleur explains that Warren was suffocated - as someone tampered with the air filter and sucked the oxygen out, this someone has technical skills.

Meanwhile, Barnaby must admit that he is tempted by the outdoors life and stocks up on his own survival rations when Sarah reveals that her mother is coming to stay… Warren was part of a small doomsday prepper community in the village and had found much comfort being with like-minded individuals… until now.

Was someone desperate to get their hands on Warren’s shelter, or is someone is trying to send a message? The pressure is on to work out who and why before the killer can strike again…