Case file · Series 20, Episode 4 · Season 20, Episode 4
The Lions of Causton
The owner who transformed Causton's rugby club is frozen in a treatment chamber before a second victim dies in chocolate.
The 60-second case card
Should I watch this one?
Two flamboyant methods connect the hard commercial world of professional sport with a luxury food business next door.
- Best for
- Rugby club · Cryotherapy · Blackmail
- Mood
- Eccentric
- Team
- DCI John Barnaby with DS Jamie Winter
- 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
Two flamboyant methods connect the hard commercial world of professional sport with a luxury food business next door.
Mark Adler bought and professionalised the Causton Lions, gaining sporting success while creating enemies among players, officials and people who disliked his methods. His death inside a cryotherapy chamber initially makes the club's finances and rivalries the obvious field of inquiry.
When chocolatier Dominic Braun is killed in the kitchen of Samantha Adler's shop, the case expands beyond rugby. Barnaby and Winter search for missing photographs and the link between a blackmail scheme, the club and two very different workplaces.
Break the seal: reveal the finding
Who was the killer in The Lions of Causton? (spoiler)
The missing photographs reveal the shared leverage behind the two deaths and expose a scheme whose consequences extend beyond the rugby club.
More episode detailsProduction, cast, deaths and filming information
Credits, context and checked facts
Production and cast
- TV series
- Series 20
- Episode number
- Episode 4
- Written by
- Nick Hicks-Beach
- Directed by
- Matt Carter
- Listed transmission date(s)
- 29 June 2018 26 August 2019
- Reported filming period
- June–July 2017
- Detective
- DCI John Barnaby
- Partner
- DS Jamie Winter
- Pathologist
- Dr Fleur Perkins · Annette Badland
- Principal setting
- Causton
- 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; 2 exact sites.
Credits and archive connections
- Writer credits4 episodes credited to Nick Hicks-Beach
- Director credits8 episodes directed by Matt Carter
- Release positionCase 120 of 144
- Story characterEccentric · Rugby club · Cryotherapy
- Location evidence2 exact screen-use matches
Henley Rugby Football Club supplies the playing ground and facilities of the fictional Causton Lions.
The Lions refers to the rugby club on screen, while Barnaby's investigation also has to identify who benefited from Mark Adler's attempt to remake it.
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
The Lions of Causton cast
These selected cast entries link to their published profiles. They do not include every name shown in the end credits.
Tamzin Outhwaite
Outhwaite plays Samantha Adler in The Lions of Causton, the rugby-club case from Series 20. ITV also identified her as one of the guest performers in its Midsomer anniversary feature.
Open actor profile →Fiona Dolman
Isabel Shaw
Don Gilet
Richard Rankin
Julian Lewis Jones
Carlyss Peer
Douggie McMeekin
Michael Maloney
Shereen Martin
Marcia Warren
Nicholas Goh
Aaron Cobham
The performers behind this case
Core cast
Follow the cast links for full actor and character guides.
Neil Dudgeon
John Barnaby · Detective Chief Inspector- Messiah
- Life of Riley
- The Mrs Bradley Mysteries
Nick Hendrix
Jamie Winter · Detective Sergeant- Black Mirror
- Marcella
- The Crown
Annette Badland
Dr Fleur Perkins · Police pathologist- Ted Lasso
- Doctor Who
- EastEnders
Image credits identify the licence used. No programme publicity stills are reproduced.
Forensic team
Dr Fleur Perkins
- Credit
- Resident pathologist
- Played by
- Annette Badland
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
- Mark Adler
Murder · Freezing
Performer check- Mark Adler: Nicholas Goh
- Dominic Braun
Murder · Drowning
Performer check- Dominic Braun: Douggie McMeekin
Break a second seal: reveal the verified killer
Who was the killer in The Lions of Causton? (spoiler)
Neville GallagherNeville drugged Mark Adler and trapped him in the cryotherapy chamber after learning that Mark had deliberately ended Bill Viner's rugby career. He then killed Dominic Braun after a photograph placed him at Mark's death and tried to frame Samantha Adler; Danny Wickham's break-in and the separate painkiller and blackmail threads are not murder attributions.
Verified motive
Neville killed Mark in revenge for deliberately ending Bill Viner's rugby career and from fear that learning the truth would destroy the man he loved. Dominic was killed when a backed-up photograph could expose Neville, prompting the attempted Samantha frame-up; the episode closes the motive as all for love.
Real place → fictional identity
Where was The Lions of Causton filmed?
Henley Rugby Football Club
Used as: The real club ground represents the home of the fictional Causton Lions.
Representative photograph of the real filming location; the exact camera angle or building may differ.Village house
Used as: A house in the village supplies Guy Bevan's home.
Sources accompany the identified filming places.
Wider filming areas