THE producer of Midsomer Murders, who lives in Great Missenden, has been suspended after claiming part of the TV drama's appeal is an absence of any ethnic minorities.

After the comments were reported in an interview with the Radio Times magazine, production company All3Media suspended Brian True-May pending an internal investigation.

The programme is made for ITV, which has said it is "shocked an appalled" by the comments.

The magazine quoted Mr True-May: "We just don't have ethnic minorities involved. Because it wouldn't be the English village with them.

“It just wouldn't work. Suddenly we might be in Slough... We're the last bastion of Englishness and I want to keep it that way."

The 65-year-old is the drama's co-creator and has worked on show since it launched in 1997.

He has also banned swearing, violence and sex scenes. But he told the Radio Times: "If it's incest, blackmail, lesbianism, homosexuality... terrific, put it in, because people can believe that people can murder for any of those reasons."

Many Midsomer Murders scenes have been shot on location in Great Missenden and the Chilterns.

The interview has sparked a national debate, with many fans of the show expressing their anger on the internet over what they see as an overreaction by ITV and the production company.