Case file · Series 5, Episode 3 · Season 5, Episode 3
Ring Out Your Dead
The week before a bell-ringing competition becomes deadly when members of the village team are attacked in sequence.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
Its bells provide both atmosphere and structure for a particularly English procession of grievances.
- Best for
- Bell ringing · Competition · Village tradition
- Mood
- Eccentric
- Team
- DCI Tom Barnaby with DS Gavin Troy
- 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
Its bells provide both atmosphere and structure for a particularly English procession of grievances.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
Who was the killer in Ring Out Your Dead? (spoiler)
The attacks are tied to a past romantic tragedy and to a story the village has repeated more confidently than accurately.
Spoiler-safe viewing companion
Three questions to carry into the episode
Three spoiler-safe questions for your rewatch.
- Place
What does Midsomer Wellow conceal?
- Theme
Which details could have more than one meaning?
- Teamwork
Watch DCI Tom Barnaby and DS Gavin Troy: who notices what?
More episode detailsProduction, cast, deaths and filming information
Credits, context and checked facts
Production and cast
- TV series
- Series 5
- Episode number
- Episode 3
- Written by
- Christopher Russell
- Directed by
- Sarah Hellings
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 15 September 2002
- Reported filming period
- June–July 2001
- Detective
- DCI Tom Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Gavin Troy
- Pathologist
- Dr George Bullard · Barry Jackson
- Principal setting
- Midsomer Wellow
- Casebook tone
- Eccentric
Sources accompany the production credits and filming links.
Fictional settings and real filming places are listed separately. Filming links include 1 mapped area; 1 exact site.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer credits2 episodes credited to Christopher Russell
- Director credits13 episodes directed by Sarah Hellings
- Release positionCase 22 of 144
- Story characterEccentric · Bell ringing · Competition
- Location evidence1 exact screen-use match
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
Ring Out Your Dead cast
These selected cast entries link to their published profiles. They do not include every name shown in the end credits.
Hugh Bonneville
Hugh Barton is a writer returning to his bell-ringing home village of Midsomer Wellow. His memories and family connections give Barnaby a route into the local tensions behind a series of deaths.
Open actor profile →Jane Wymark
Clare Holman
Adrian Scarborough
Gemma Jones
Lyndsey Marshal
Graham Crowden
Gwen Taylor
Carmen Du Sautoy
Caroline Lintott
Jamie de Courcey
Dugald Bruce Lockhart
Harry Burton
Seamus Whitty
Steven Pimlott
Julia Swift
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
Daniel Casey
Gavin Troy · Detective Sergeant · later Inspector- Our Friends in the North
- Steel River Blues
- Midsomer Murders on stage
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
- Off-screen consultation
- Played by
- Barry Jackson
Spoiler-controlled deaths
Deaths recorded in this case
5 people die in this case, according to the linked death record.
Break the seal: reveal the list of deaths
- Rev. Jonathan Ebbrel (historical)
Murder · Other recorded death · historical or before the main case
Performer check- Rev. Jonathan Ebbrel: not listed in the current published cast recordNo Jonathan Ebbrel performer appears in the current published cast record. Dennis Ebbrell is a different character, so no identity is inferred.
- Greg Tutt
Murder · Gunshot
Performer check- Greg Tutt: Dugald Bruce Lockhart
- Emma Tysoe
Murder · Gunshot
Performer check- Emma Tysoe: Lyndsey Marshal
- Marcus Steadman
Murder · Drowning
Performer check- Marcus Steadman: Jamie de Courcey
- Wing Commander Reggie Barton
Accidental, natural or other · Natural or unexplained
Performer check- Wing Commander Reggie Barton: Graham CrowdenThe list of deaths includes the Wing Commander title; the published cast record credits the same core name as ‘Reggie Barton’.
Break a second seal: reveal the verified killer
Who was the killer in Ring Out Your Dead? (spoiler)
The six Midsomer Wellow bell-ringers of 1860 · Maisie GoochThe 1860 ringing team killed Rev. Jonathan Ebbrel and concealed what they had done. His descendant Maisie killed Greg Tutt, Emma Tysoe and Marcus Steadman while taking revenge on the present team, then threatened the surviving ringers. Wing Commander Reggie Barton's death was natural and is not attributed to her.
Verified motive
The 1860 ringers killed Rev. Jonathan Ebbrel after their conflict over church attendance and his removal of their beer. Maisie regarded the present ringers as inheritors of that unpaid debt and killed them as retribution for her ancestor's murder and the hardship she believed it caused five generations of her family.
Source: episode transcript ↗Verified important clue
Archive case 22 · checked 16 September 2026Mud and rubber on Marcus Steadman's backThe contusion and traces show that Marcus was prodded into the stream with a rubber-tipped walking stick, turning an apparent accident into the third present-day murder while keeping Reggie Barton's natural death separate.
Clue source: episode transcript ↗Verified decisive clue
Archive case 22 · checked 17 September 2026Maisie's Ebbrell family link and rubber-tipped walking stickMaisie's relationship to Jonathan Ebbrell decodes the notes as revenge for the six ringers killed in 1860, while the mud, rubber and contusion on Marcus show that he was prodded into the stream with a walking stick. Her final admission assigns the three present-day murders to her without reclassifying Reggie Barton's natural death.
Decisive-clue source: episode transcript ↗Verified red herring
Archive case 22 · checked 17 September 2026Reggie Barton's death during the bell-ringer murdersReggie dies while threatening notes and attacks are still narrowing around the ringing circle, so his death appears to extend the sequence and his will creates another line of suspicion. The post-mortem finds only natural causes: Maisie's present-day murders remain Greg, Emma and Marcus.
Red-herring source: episode transcript ↗Verified death and discovery order
Archive case 22 · checked 16 September 2026- deathRev. Jonathan Ebbrel is killed in 1860
The six bell-ringers kill the vicar after their dispute over church attendance and the beer removed from the ringing chamber.
- discoveryThe vicar is found in the well
Ebbrel's body is recovered the next day, but the ringers' silence prevents a prosecution.
- deathGreg Tutt is shot
Maisie begins her revenge against the present ringing team by shooting Greg.
- discoveryGreg is found in the bell tower
His body and the first threatening rhyme make the ringing team central to the inquiry.
- deathEmma Tysoe is shot
Maisie shoots Emma with the same revolver used to kill Greg.
- discoveryA common weapon is confirmed
The bullet evidence proves that Greg and Emma were killed by the same gun.
- deathMarcus Steadman is drowned
Maisie pushes Marcus into the stream with a rubber-tipped walking stick.
- discoveryMarcus's death is reclassified
A contusion, rubber traces and mud show that his fall into the stream was not accidental.
- deathReggie Barton dies naturally
The Wing Commander dies in his sleep while the murders are still under investigation.
- discoveryThe natural death is separated
The post-mortem finds only natural causes, leaving Greg, Emma and Marcus as Maisie's three present-day victims.
Real place → fictional identity
Where was Ring Out Your Dead filmed?
St Michael's Church ringing chamber
Used as: The ringing chamber supplies the interior bell-ringing scenes for Midsomer Wellow church.
Sources accompany the identified filming places.
Wider filming areas
