This is a list of characters that appear in the ITV British murder mystery series Midsomer Murders since 23 March 1997: John Nettles (DCI Tom Barnaby), Daniel Casey (DS Gavin Troy), Jane Wymark (Joyce Barnaby), Laura Howard (Cully Barnaby), Barry Jackson (Dr George Bullard), Jason Hughes (DS Ben Jones), John Hopkins (DS Daniel Scott), Kirsty Dillon (WPC Gail Stephens), Neil Dudgeon (DCI John Barnaby), Fiona Dolman (Sarah Barnaby), Nick Hendrix (DS Jamie Winter), Manjinder Virk (Dr Kam Karimore), Annette Badland (Dr Fleur Perkins), Tamzin Malleson (Dr Kate Wilding) and Gwilym Lee (DS Charlie Nelson).
Barnaby's social life revolves around his wife Joyce and his daughter Cully, who often provide a personal connection with the crimes that he is investigating.
She is tolerant of her husband, despite his being a workaholic who spent their honeymoon solving the case of the "Pimlico Poisoner", which suggests that they met in London.
She has long possessed a desire to move out of their Causton home and into one of the picturesque Midsomer villages—only to be put off by the grisly murders that occur there.
Son of Ned Barnaby, he has a degree in Psychology from Durham University, which earned him some ribbing from DS Jones when he first arrived; however, despite a rocky start, the two make a formidable team.
Barnaby lives in a large country cottage with his wife Sarah, daughter Betty, and their dog Sykes (later Paddy).
As she has a full-time career of her own (unlike Joyce), she does not figure as much in her husband's cases; and they don't have any children (until the end of the sixteenth series), although you may consider Sykes, their dog, as their child.
[2] Detective Sergeant Daniel "Dan" Scott (John Hopkins) (series 7-8)—He is a lot cockier than his predecessor DS Troy; he is a Londoner who was not thrilled at being transferred from the Metropolitan Police Service to Midsomer, which he regards as the "sticks".
Unlike Troy and Scott, who first appeared on the series as plain-clothed detective sergeants, Jones was a uniformed police constable when he was first introduced.
In the episode "Death in Chorus", Jones exhibits a remarkable vocal talent and is recruited to sing tenor in the Midsomer Worthy choir.
A photo of Jones (alongside Kate Wilding, who also moved to Brighton) is shown in the series 18 opener "Habeas Corpus".
It is stated in the first episode of Season 19 that Nelson is doing an undercover course and as a result does not show signs of returning yet leading into DS Winters introduction.
He is a good friend of Tom Barnaby's and has been a regular throughout the series (save for a brief spell, when his place was taken by Dr Dan Peterson played by Toby Jones).
In later episodes Bullard has often played a greater role in the plot, even making a sterling appearance in the Midsomer Worthy Choir in "Death in Chorus".
Cully Barnaby (later Dixon) (Laura Howard) (series 1–13)— Tom and Joyce's only child takes her first name from a village on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where she was conceived during her parents' honeymoon.
Early in the series, she attended Cambridge University and dated a fellow drama student, called Nico (Ed Waters).
She meets Simon Dixon (Sam Hazeldine) in "The Axeman Cometh", becomes engaged to him in "Death In A Chocolate Box", and marries him in "Blood Wedding".
Detective Constable Gail Stephens (Kirsty Dillon) (series 10–13)— a colleague of Tom Barnaby and DS Jones, who often helps them in their cases, sometimes providing valuable insight.
Gail is cheery but emotional, breaking down in tears when, after initially serving as a uniformed woman police constable, she was appointed as a plain-clothed CID detective.
A Jack Russell terrier rescue dog, Sykes appeared in every episode for five years, providing warm companionship to his humans and occasional comic relief.
When his real-life owners put him into retirement, series 19 opened with a scene of the Barnabys paying respect at a grave in their back garden.