Midsomer Murders star Neil Dudgeon has admitted he is starting to understand the old showbusiness adage “never work with children or animals”.

The actor plays DCI John Barnaby in the hit ITV series, whose wife Sarah has just had a baby, Betty, at the beginning of the new series, played by twin babies.

Neil said: “You know exactly what you’re supposed to be doing in the scene, and then on comes one baby, who starts crying, so we get the other one, and then discover that Sykes the dog has wandered off.

“It’s always a bit complicated, but because you know they’re not really actors but delightful babies and a wonderful little dog, you just have to go with it.”

Midsomer Murders' John and Sarah Barnaby (ITV)
Midsomer Murders’ John and Sarah Barnaby with baby Betty, dog Sykes and DS Charlie Nelson (ITV)

Meanwhile, art imitated life for Fiona Dolman, who plays Barnaby’s headmistress wife, Sarah. Like her character, the actress – who has also appeared in Heartbeat, Holby City and Coronation Street – is mum to a new daughter, Maddie.

“The baby strand was massively fortuitous to me,” she said. “It was absolutely fabulous that the producers included my pregnancy in real time, but now Maddie is slightly ahead of baby Betty and running around.

“Maddie [who turned one during the filming of series 17] helpfully decided to wake up the night before filming, so no method acting was required!”

Midsomer Murders can be seen on ITV on Wednesdays at 8-10pm.