Episode Thoughts by Trevor Peacock

Trevor Peacock had fun becoming an accomplished musician for his role in MIDSOMER MURDERS: Midomer Rhapsody.

“Charlie is a jack of all trades in the entertainment business who has now retired and found romance. He is in great demand for playing the piano. I have a scene with David Burke, who plays Hedge, where we play the Midsomer Rhapsody together, with him on the violin as I play the piano.

“As neither of us can play a note, it was recorded by two brilliant musicians, while I mimed it with a piano that didn’t make any noise, accompanied by David playing scratchy noises on the violin, sounding like a cat being strangled.

“At the end I look up to him and have to say “you are not a novice on that”. He replies to me “you are not so bad yourself”. It was so funny and the continuity lady had to go and sit down for 10 minutes because she was laughing so much.”

Trevor was delighted to marry June Whitfield, who plays Charlie’s love Peggy Alder.

“I never thought I would get married to June. I have been married in roles before to Judi Dench and Penelope Keith, there is an endless stream! But it was good fun marrying June, she looked so beautiful. I didn’t even notice the cold because we are hardened circus performers, but I gave her a few cuddles to keep her warm!

“Charlie is genuinely pleased about the wedding and gets a bit upset that Peggy is being grilled by the police over the deaths in the village. He is a cheeky chappie and an eccentric. I was surprised I didn’t end up in a polka dot suit for the wedding.”

The episode reunited Trevor with John Nettles after a gap of 35 years. “I am an old friend of John’s because I worked with him in Hamlet in 1970, with Tom Courtenay. I haven’t seen him in the flesh since then. But I am a real fan of MIDSOMER MURDERS because for me Sunday night is television night.

“John takes a great responsibility to make sure everyone is happy and has everything they need. It’s a terrific gift to be like that and he deserves all the success he gets. I also really enjoyed meeting up with my old friends Frank Middlemass, Oliver Cotton, David Burke and Stephen Boxer in the same episode.”

Trevor plays Jim Trott in The Vicar of Dibley and his many other credits include She Stoops To Conquer, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Riff Raff Element, Growing Pains, The Gift, Madame Bovary, The Sins, Armadillo, The Way We Live Now, Family Business and The Legend of the Tamworth Two.

He adds: “I feel now that I will only take on work that I really enjoy and want to do. I can never turn down Dibley because we all have such a good time together and I couldn’t turn down Midsomer either. Other than that I can look forward to doing some gardening!”