Midsomer Murders star Neil Dudgeon talks leaving show

Neil Dudgeon has played DCI John Barnaby on Midsomer Murders ever since John Nettles stepped down in 2010 - but does he plan to be on the show for much longer? The actor recently opened up about his future on the series, and it looks like fans don't have to worry about John moving out of the village - for now!

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Neil plays John in Midsomer Murders

Chatting to Radio Times, he said: "I've been doing Midsomer Murders for… it’ll be ten years this year. I started in 2010. I started wanting to do it because I’ve always loved Midsomer Murders, and I've gone on doing it because – I suppose I still love Midsomer Murders, really."

READ: See how the cast of Midsomer Murders have changed throughout the years

Neil replaced John Nettles no the ITV show

He continued: "I've got no intention of stopping doing it. I don’t know what else I'd do. I’m in a very fortunate position. I think it's such a great show that, one always assumes – when you're an actor you always think, whatever job I'm doing, it's going to end next week and that'll be it, I won't work again. But no, I think that as long as ITV wants to make it and people want to keep commissioning it, as long as people want to keep watching it, it's a great show to do."

John, who played Tom Barnaby in the series for 14 years, previously opened up about why he decided to leave, telling The Telegraph: "I suddenly realised that I'm going to be the oldest detective in the business now that David Jason has thrown off the mantle. But it was a very difficult decision to make. I'll have been doing Midsomer Murders for 14 years by the time Barnaby leaves. I've formed familial ties with the people involved in the show and they will be hard to break."

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