The Wolf Hunter of Little Worthy

Little Worthy's claim to fame is a monster that never existed until a local photographer sat down and invented it. His creation, The Wolf Hunter, wins an urban myth competition and then does something myths are not supposed to do: it takes on a life of its own. The village takes to it with an enthusiasm that is faintly alarming, and the cult following grows. When a man is killed, Barnaby has to work out whether the story has crossed over from local colour into something that can actually kill.

The investigation sits in the awkward country between genuine belief and outright delusion, and Barnaby picks his way through it with his usual patience. DS Jamie Winter is with him, and together they try to find where a piece of invented folklore picked up a real motive. The village supplies a full cast of believers and doubters: Brandon Yarrow and his sister Rowan, Jez Gladberry, Kelly Kirk-Lees, and the Everetts, Pat and Ronnie, all drawn into the circle as the inquiry widens. The Wolf Hunter, whatever else it is, gives them all something to argue about.

Chris Murray wrote the episode with Caroline Graham, and Matt Carter directed. Neil Dudgeon and Nick Hendrix lead the investigation, with Fiona Dolman as Sarah, Annette Badland as Fleur Perkins, Mark Williams as Pat Everett, Ferdinand Kingsley as Brandon Yarrow, Maimie McCoy as Rowan Yarrow, Kojo Attah as Jez Gladberry, Siobhan Redmond as Ronnie Everett and Poppy Gilbert as Kelly Kirk-Lees. Mark Williams is among the faces the show is glad to wheel out, and the village feels fuller for it.

The episode is a neat little study in how quickly a made-up story can stop being made up. The cult following does most of the work; the killer just takes the legend at face value. And Barnaby, who has seen every kind of village nonsense there is, still has to take this one seriously enough to catch a murderer. In Midsomer, the scariest stories tend to have human authors, and this one is no exception.