Midsomer Murders: Neil Dudgeon comments on acting standards
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Neil Dudgeon is best known for playing DCI Tom Barnaby in Midsomer Murders, but the actor is also brave enough to take the law into his own hands in real life, too. He claimed he saw off a gang of would-be muggers in his youth, even getting knocked out in the process.
The actor had been asked what the bravest thing was he had ever done in real life.
He recalled how he was walking home with fellow actor and friend John Hannah, back when he was in his 20s, and stood up for himself in dangerous circumstances.
The pair were in South London when some men “appeared in front of them”.
Neil said he bumped into one of them and apologised, before realising the man was “muttering”.
“I said ‘What? You want my money? You’re mugging us? You’ve got the bare-faced….’ I screamed in this guy’s face. I thought if ever I got mugged I’d kind of go ‘Oh take it, take it…but I didn’t. I went the other way,” said Neil.
“Next thing I remember was John over me saying ‘Dudge, are you alright?’ With me on the floor coming round going ‘Where are they?’ A mate of his had bottled me. They’d run off. I created a diversion so they could escape.”
Neil continued to The Mirror: “So they didn’t get any money or anything.
“Then, I don’t know what we were thinking of… but we then thought: ‘We’re going to get them…’ so we went after them into this high-rise estate shouting for this gang. We were now really in hostile territory… [then we thought] maybe we should go home.”
While Midsomer Murders has remained incredibly popular for decades, Neil has admitted he is still baffled as to why.
“I don’t really imagine people switching on Midsomer to watch me,” he shrugged.
“I wouldn’t switch on and watch me… I get enough of me at home!”
Neil also remarked on how many people watched the show for the first time during lockdown, gaining new fans all the way around the world
“I’ve heard it quite a lot – people have binged,” he smiled.
“Foreign channels bought two years of Midsomer Murders and, because of lockdown, they’ve shown all of them, binged the whole two years in two months!
“It’s fantastic and lovely to think people do enjoy the show. I find it comforting and a solace.”
But he still finds it strange when people refer to him as his character in real life.
“I’ll tell you what is an odd thing, when I went out shopping before lockdown, in my shorts, T-shirt and hat, just walking up the high street, there was a lady, I think she was French, who would sit outside a pavement café and used to shout at me,” he said.
“‘Oh, it’s you, Barnaby!’” he recalled her saying.
“It was really weird. You’re walking along thinking, ‘What time will I go to football?’ and someone says, ‘You’re Barnaby!’ And you go, ‘Oh, no, I’m not.’
“You forget who you are in the eyes of other people. And when you encounter that, it jolts you. It’s quite a dislocated sensation.”
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