Case file · Series 11, Episode 6 · Season 11, Episode 6
Days of Misrule
A compulsory police team-building exercise collides with an explosion at a haulage yard and a body recovered from a lake.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
A Christmas special that replaces country-house comfort with paintball, workplace tension and institutional embarrassment.
- Best for
- Christmas · Team building · Haulage yard
- Mood
- Eccentric
- Team
- DCI Tom Barnaby with DS Ben Jones
- Spoiler guidance
- Read the premise freely; open the marked sections only after watching. Check the linked provider advisory for further viewing information.
Why it matters
A Christmas special that replaces country-house comfort with paintball, workplace tension and institutional embarrassment.
Acting Chief Superintendent John Cotton sends Causton CID on a Territorial Army team-building course just as an explosion tears through the Parkes family haulage yard. The discovery of Alec Grainger's body in a submerged car and the later death of Jamie Parkes connect the business to a much older chain of decisions.
Barnaby, Jones and their colleagues move between the yard, Calham Cross and the compulsory exercises while family and commercial resentments surface. The seasonal setting supplies decorations but very little peace on earth.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
Who was the killer in Days of Misrule? (spoiler)
The explosion, the submerged body and the Parkes deaths belong to a connected history of business and family concealment. The team-building distraction helps obscure movements but does not create the motive.
Spoiler-safe viewing companion
Three questions to carry into the episode
Three spoiler-safe questions for your rewatch.
- Place
What does Calham Cross conceal?
- Theme
Which details could have more than one meaning?
- Teamwork
Watch DCI Tom Barnaby and DS Ben Jones: who notices what?
More episode detailsProduction, cast, deaths and filming information
Credits, context and checked facts
Production and cast
- TV series
- Series 11
- Episode number
- Episode 6
- Written by
- Elizabeth-Anne Wheal
- Directed by
- Renny Rye
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 5 July 2008 24 December 2008
- Reported filming period
- February–March 2008
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Ben Jones
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Calham Cross
- Casebook tone
- Eccentric
Sources accompany the production credits and filming links.
Fictional settings and real filming places are listed separately. Filming links include 3 mapped areas; 3 exact sites.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer credits4 episodes credited to Elizabeth-Anne Wheal
- Director credits23 episodes directed by Renny Rye
- Release positionCase 65 of 144
- Story characterEccentric · Christmas · Team building
- Location evidence3 exact screen-use matches
A Chipperfield pub represents the fictional Calham Cross Inn.
Thame Town Hall appears among the Causton and investigation settings.
Sources for the production file
Published episode chronology and credits ↗Official ITV programme page ↗Filming-location reference index ↗Credits follow the linked chronology. Dates can differ between territories. Consult original credits for story, teleplay and adaptation wording. External synopses may contain spoilers.
Selected episode credits
Days of Misrule cast
These selected cast entries link to their published profiles. They do not include every name shown in the end credits.
Jane Wymark
Kirsty Dillon
Nick Fletcher
Judy Parfitt
Niamh Cusack
Philip Martin Brown
Joseph Millson
Alexandra Morris
Adam Kirley
Tom Beard
Sidney Livingstone
Tim Pigott-Smith
Alyson Spiro
Gus Gallagher
Elspeth Rae
Tony Bell
The performers behind this case
Core cast
Follow the cast links for full actor and character guides.
John Nettles
Tom Barnaby · Detective Chief Inspector- Bergerac
- Poldark
- Royal Shakespeare Company
Jason Hughes
Ben Jones · Police Constable · Detective Sergeant · Inspector- This Life
- Marcella
- The Pact
Barry Jackson
Dr George Bullard · Police pathologist- Cathy Come Home
- Doctor Who
- Barry Lyndon
Image credits identify the licence used. No programme publicity stills are reproduced.
Forensic team
Dr George Bullard
- Credit
- Resident pathologist
- Played by
- Barry Jackson
Spoiler-controlled deaths
Deaths recorded in this case
2 people die in this case, according to the linked death record.
Break the seal: reveal the list of deaths
- Alex Grainger
Murder · Blunt force
Performer check- Alex Grainger: not listed in the current published cast recordNo Alex Grainger performer appears in the current published cast record.
- James Parkes
Murder · Stabbing or impalement
Performer check- James Parkes: Joseph Millson
Break a second seal: reveal the verified killer
Who was the killer in Days of Misrule? (spoiler)
Matt ParkesMatt found Alex Grainger alive after Jamie's attack and killed him while trying to protect his son. When James later refused to surrender over the wider stolen-car operation, Matt killed him too; Tim Galsworthy and Ed Lovell's bombing of the haulage yard is retained as a separate non-fatal offence.
Verified motive
Matt killed Alex while protecting his son's innocence and his own involvement, accepting Jamie's claim that the attack had been self-defence. After learning the scale of Jamie's criminal scheme, Matt intended to make him surrender; the second killing followed Jamie's refusal rather than a planned effort to silence him.
Verified important clue
Archive case 65 · checked 16 September 2026The speeding car identical to Grainger's BentleyThe camera record cannot show Grainger's real car because a Spanish garage bill places it abroad; the duplicate exposes a stolen vehicle using the Bentley's identity and explains why Grainger confronted Jamie, separating the laundering scheme from Matt's later killings.
Verified decisive clue
Archive case 65 · checked 17 September 2026The speeding car identical to Grainger's BentleyA Spanish garage bill proves that the real Bentley was abroad, so the camera image exposes a stolen car carrying its identity and the laundering scheme Grainger confronted. The trail leads through Jamie's attack to Matt's decision to kill the surviving Grainger and later Jamie, while the haulage-yard bombing remains a separate non-fatal offence.
Verified death and discovery order
Archive case 65 · checked 16 September 2026- discoveryThe haulage-yard bombing is carried out
Tim Galsworthy and Ed Lovell bomb the truck to expose the stolen-car operation, a dangerous but non-fatal offence separate from the murders.
- discoveryJamie attacks Alec Grainger
Grainger uncovers the laundering of stolen cars and is left badly injured after his confrontation with Jamie.
- deathMatt Parkes kills Alec Grainger
Matt finds Grainger alive and kills him while accepting Jamie's claim of self-defence and trying to protect his son.
- discoveryGrainger's body and car are concealed
Matt moves the body and possessions while the duplicated Bentley identity begins to expose the wider vehicle scheme.
- discoveryMatt learns the scale of Jamie's operation
The recovered Bugatti part and Tim's account show Matt that Jamie recruited others into a sustained stolen-car enterprise.
- deathJamie Parkes is killed after refusing to surrender
Matt summons Jamie to make him go to the police; the confrontation ends in a second killing when Jamie refuses.
Real place → fictional identity
Where was Days of Misrule filmed?
Village pub
Used as: The pub is renamed the Calham Cross Inn.
Village house
Used as: The property supplies one of the Parkes-family residences.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.
Thame Town Hall
Used as: The civic building appears in the Causton investigation scenes.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.Sources accompany the identified filming places.
Wider filming areas
