MIDSOMER MURDERS
TALKING TO
THE DEAD
CAST INTERVIEWS
Jeroen Krabbé plays Cyrus Levanu
Jeroen Krabbé enjoyed creating the character of psychic Cyrus Levanu.
"Cyrus was a wonderful role to tackle. I had to walk a very tight line so I didn't make him over the top. He might be a believable charlatan or he may be right - it was interesting to try to find out.
"I live in Holland and I based him on a female clairvoyant we have there who does healing on the television. She wears ridiculous long blue dresses but people believe in her and are being cured. She is a bit weird but at the same time I'm curious about her; she could be right as she has so many followers.
"Cyrus has some great costumes, too. When I saw the episode I thought it was very funny and the flashbacks are magnificent. I couldn't look at myself though!"
Jeroen is a talented artist and painted watercolours while he was filming the episode.
"Wherever I am in the world, I make sketches, so I did some of the countryside in Midsomer. My agent Francis Kyle told me to go to Cornwall while I was in England so I went and did 10 paintings. John Nettles has even bought one of my watercolours."
Adds Jeroen: "Midsomer Murders was the ideal job - we were working in the most beautiful locations. I'm sure my wife would have divorced me if I hadn't taken it! The quality is like a Hollywood production and I'd love to come back as another character."
Bill Ward plays Sam Nelms
Former Coronation Street star Bill Ward is back on dangerous ground in Midsomer.
The actor, who played murdered love cheat Charlie Stubbs in the ITV soap, guest stars as Sam Nelms, a light-fingered postman who's having an affair with the clergyman's wife in "Talking to the Dead".
Says Bill: "Sam is the local postman in the village of Monks Barton. He is looking for love and happy if it comes along. He's sceptical and a bit wary of detectives. He's a bit of a drifter, the sort of fella who might sell DVDs in a pub, but he's not a real crook.
"I loved the whole experience of being in Midsomer. The guest actors get very well looked after, the director Sarah Hellings was tremendous and John Nettles is a legend. Also, I was based in the village, so I didn't have to get involved with the night scenes which were cold shoots in the woods!"
Bill appeared in more than 200 episodes of Coronation Street between 2003 and 2007, before his character was brutally murdered.
"I still get recognised but each day I get a little less grief. People love a baddy and they are great fun to play. When I got the scripts I used to wonder what Charlie was going to do next as he was so unpredictable. Writers wrote fantastic stuff for him and from an actor's point of view that is great fun.
"One day I filmed 18 scenes, all strong and often quite emotionally-difficult and even violent. It was demanding but exhilarating at the same time. I'll never forget it and I still keep in touch with some of the cast, but it's also great to be doing other things."
After filming the episode, Bill met up with another familiar face from Midsomer.
"I went on tour as Jimmy Porter in the play Look Back in Anger, which also starred Laura Howard who is Barnaby's daughter Cully. So we had a good chat about Midsomer.