JASON HUGHES

DC Ben Jones (from Series 9)

NEWS - DECEMBER 2006

Good friends Michael Sheen and Jason Hughes have teamed up for a major ITV1 Wales feature film. They star in 'Dead Long Enough', which was shown on Welsh TV on Friday, 15th December at 11pm.

NEWS - AUGUST 2006

Jason Hughes will be doing some celebrating of his own when Midsomer Murders reaches its half-century.

He is marrying his long-term partner Natasha Dahlberg at the end of September, with the couple's children, seven-year-old Molly and one-year-old Max at their side.

Explains Jason: "The plans are going very well. We've managed to get on top of it all, now we have to pay everybody! The children will be very involved because they're a big part of our lives."

Unfortunately, Jason's hectic workload allows him no time for a honeymoon.

"I'm contracted to Midsomer Murders for 10 months of the year but even though we have a break at the end of September I go straight into filming a one-off film of This Life, which catches up with everybody 10 years later. I start that on the 23rd of September, get married on the 24th, have the 25th off and then I'm back at work on the 26th!

"Natasha is also very busy, she's a jewellery designer and she's just cracked New York and is looking at starting something in LA. It's a busy year for us both, so we'll have to wait till Christmas for a break together."

BACKGROUND

Jason Hughes joins Midsomer Murders as Barnaby's new side-kick from the first episode of Series 9, 'The House in the Woods'. Scott is ill so Barnaby persuades DC Ben Jones to join him in his investigations.

Jason was ideally placed to play a policeman in the series because he's already passed the Met's entrance exam several times over. When he left drama school he worked for the Met for about a year, helping to train their examiners by doing role play mock interviews. He had to do a lot of work pretending that he wanted to join the police. They told Jason he would have made the grade, though he has remarked, 'I don't know if that's worrying or not'!

Jason's sister's also a policewoman, based in South Wales, and his grandfather was a sergeant who became a crime prevention officer. So there's definitely some kind of cop thing going on in his family, though when he told his sister he'd be playing a detective in Midsomer Murders she just laughed!

"Jones grew up in the Midsomer area and he's an enthusiastic copper who's given an opportunity to come out of uniform. He's bright and wants to learn so he loves it when he's given a chance to work with DCI Barnaby. He'll stand and listen but sometimes he can't help himself asking a question or throwing an idea into the pot.

Jason has said "I'm a bit like him because when things interest me, I like to get involved and know as much as I can about something. I'm not half-hearted. But we're very different people and come from different backgrounds. I'm Welsh and he's not, and I have a family and he doesn't."

He has also said, "John's been terrific. He's such a lovely guy - incredibly generous and calm. He's very easy to be around and I'm sure the good feeling on set is largely down to the way he is. Joining the series was an easy choice because I knew I was going into something of a good standard and quality. The whole team have made me feel really welcome."

Born in Porthcawl, South Wales, Jason represented his country at rugby before turning to acting. He trained at LAMDA and got his big break playing Warren in acclaimed drama This Life.

His other credits include The Flint Street Nativity, Harry Enfield's Brand Spanking New Show, Plain Jane, Mine All Mine, and the feature films Phoenix Blue, Shooters, Killing Me Softly as well as the forthcoming Red Mercury and Dead Long Enough.

Jason lives in Hove with his wife, acclaimed jewellery designer Natasha Dahlberg, and their children Molly, six, and nine-month-old baby Max. This year he has also made a short film, Mable's Story, about spiritualists and ghosts, with his Cardiff-based production company Spinning Head.

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