One of ITV's longest-running dramas, Midsomer Murders, continues on Sunday, with the second episode of series 22.

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Set in the fictional area of Causton, many of the show's episodes are shot in the south of England, with filming taking place across Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

The upcoming episode, The Stitcher Society, sees the founder of a local health club fall victim to an unknown assailant after letting a mysterious new member into the group.

Here's what you need to know about the locations we'll see on screen.

Where was Midsomer Murder episode The Stitcher Society filmed?

Midsomer Murders
ITV

In The Stitcher Society – season 22's second episode, DCI Barnaby and DS Winter investigate the murder of Reuben Tooms, the founder of a club for heart bypass patients, who is found dead after inviting an unpopular Midsomer resident to join the group.

Most of the episode was filmed in the countryside county of Buckinghamshire.

John Thomson, who guest stars as Cooper Steinem in the episode, said the Midsomer filming locations were very familiar to him. "That whole area of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire...when I was a kid in the 1970's I lived in Watford every summer and it was cool as I got to see the north and the south.

"Around that area it’s a melting pot of cinematic creativity. It’s very beautiful, Buckinghamshire and such a lovely place to film. You can see from the show it’s a lovely place to be, Midsomer, but a very dangerous place too."

Where was Midsomer Murders episode The Wolf Hunter of Little Worthy filmed?

Midsomer Murders
ITV

In The Wolf Hunter of Little Worthy, DCI Barnaby and DS Winter head to the village of Little Worthy to investigate a murder potentially linked to a cult urban myth. Filming for the episode took place in and around Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.

Nick Hendrix, who plays DS Jamie Winter in the series, said shooting the episode was "a unique experience" thanks to COVID-19.

"Our shoot had to adapt like everyone else. One of the main principals of that was that we had to try to have one location for the whole episode so there was less moving around and less transitions for actors and crew, which meant we were pretty much locked in to one location for a whole episode.

"The glamp site which features in this episode was a real camp site near Henley and we essentially had booked out a field at the end of the site and built a real glamp site, so we were there filming in and around tents and cottages buildings... A lot of people who go camping in this country are Midsomer demographic, so we had a lot of fans who were having a calm holiday and then they happened to see Neil Dudgeon, DCI Barnaby wandering around," he added.

Where was Midsomer Murders episode With Baited Breath filmed?

Midsomer Murders
ITV

In With Baited Breath, fishermen flock to the fictional village of Solomon Gorge desperate to catch a giant fish that is said to lurk in the lake. Filming locations included the historic Tudor manor house, Dorney Court, in Buckinghamshire.

Nicola Stephenson, who plays Izzy Silvermane in the episode, said: "One of my absolute fondest memories from filming this episode of Midsomer Murders was getting to film in this incredible stately home because its history is rather juicy. It is a place called Dorney Court, which is an early Tudor manor house, dating from around 1440.

"I ended up getting very geeky about it and sat there, on set, looking it all up online. One of the old ancestors who had lived in the house was the mistress of Charles II who had had all of these kids by him, who he looked after financially. She even gave birth to one of his babies in Hampton Court Palace, where Henry VIII lived, whilst him and his wife were on honeymoon."

Where was Midsomer Murders episode The Sting of Death filmed?

MIDSOMER MURDERS
ITV

Imogen Stubbs, who plays honey entrepreneur Tamara in the Midsomer Murders cast for series 21 'The Sting of Death', revealed where the episode was filmed: leafy Buckinghamshire village Little Missenden, which has been used as a series location multiple times in the past.

"Working on Midsomer Murders has been a revelation for me as I live in London and I had no idea how beautiful some of these places along the green belt are," she said.

"We filmed in a place called Little Missenden that was full of hills and beautiful forests and we saw piglets and chicks and sat in deck chairs by a river that looked clean enough to drink. There is something almost healing about reminding oneself about the beauty of England."

Where was Midsomer Murders episode The Lions of Causton filmed?

Midsomer Murders

In this episode, the Causton Lions rugby team comes under Barnaby and Winter's scrutiny when club owner Mark Adler is frozen to death in the team's cryotherapy chamber. Who killed him? And what is the complex conspiracy beneath it all?

This episode was filmed back in 2017 at Henley Rugby Football Club in Henley-on-Thames.

As the club writes on its website: "We’re very excited to see the final results as the Club was transformed into the home ground of the Lions, Causton’s top rugby side."

And while the fictional team includes actors Richard Rankin (as Danny Wickham) and Aaron Cobham (as Jake Galpin), the real-life rugby club teases: "Keep an eye out for familiar faces in Lions side..."

Where was Midsomer Murders episode Death of the Small Coppers filmed?

This episode takes us to a local school, where Circulus – a mysterious international club for geniuses – has taken over the premises during the summer holidays. The local village is crawling with butterfly enthusiasts, so Barnaby and his team have a difficult case to solve when the school's unfortunate headmaster is found murdered and pinned to the wall just like one of the insects in his own butterfly collection.

Midsomer Murders

Filming took place at the Bulstrode Estate in Gerrard's Cross, Buckinghamshire. The Victorian mansion we see on screen in Midsomer Murders sits in the beautiful grounds of Bulstrode Park, which is renowned for its beautiful trees from around the world.

The site at Bulstrode dates back to the medieval period. Over several centuries it was home to a series of grand families, before ending up in the hands of the Christian evangelical mission agency WEC International in the 1960s.

It was recently sold to private developers for £13 million – with plans to turn it into a luxury hotel.

Bulstrode Park

Where was Midsomer Murders episode The Ghost of Causton Abbey filmed?

This episode is based around a disused abbey that is believed to be cursed by an angry monk called Brother Jozef. Now two enterprising sisters are about to launch the Cursed Ale Microbrewery – but on the launch night, the curse appears to claim another victim when a body is found boiled to death in a kettle of beer.

As Causton Abbey doesn't actually exist in real life, the exteriors were filmed on location at Waverley Abbey in Surrey. As pictured below, one body was discovered in the remains of the vaulted undercroft.

Midsomer Murders filming

Waverley Abbey was founded in 1128 as the first Cistercian abbey in England, with an abbot and a dozen monks coming from Normandy to make this institution their new home. It was inhabited by Cistercian monks until King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1536.

After the abbey closed, it was reduced to ruins as the stone was reused in local buildings, including the Waverley Abbey House which stands on the abbey's former land.

Midsomer Murders

During the First World War, the house was converted into a military hospital which treated over 5,000 soldiers, and it also has numerous defences which were installed during the Second World War.

Waverley Abbey House is now a nursing home and a Grade II listed building, while the ruins are managed by English Heritage, who keep them open to the public.

This article was originally published in March 2019.

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Authors

Eleanor Bley GriffithsDrama Editor, RadioTimes.com
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