A popular drama series has returned after two years with a star-studded episode that had a very familiar backdrop.

The long-running ITV drama programme 'Midsomer Murders' returned on Sunday night, August 27, for the highly anticipated second half of its 22nd season after taking a break back in 2021.

The sixth episode of season 22, 'The Witches of Angel's Rise' not only starred 'This Morning's Holly Willoughby in her first acting role but included some very familiar background shots, prompting eagle-eyed viewers to spot that it had been filmed in the village of West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.

The episode, which centred around an annual psychic fair held in the fictional village of Angel's Rise in the county of Midsomer, also appeared to take inspiration from the Hellfire Caves in West Wycombe in its plot, which includes a coven of witches who carry out their rituals in the Hades Caves.

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The village is one of many spots around Bucks to feature in the programme, which has previously been shot in Amersham, Beaconsfield, Great Missenden and Gerrards Cross, among others.

West Wycombe Park, the base of the Hellfire Caves, where the notorious, eponymous club is said to have met during the 18th century, is also the site of an impressive Palladian mansion that has featured in a wide range of TV and film adaptations including ‘Sense and Sensibility’ (2008), ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘The Crown’. 

In 2020, the local council launched a Midsomer Murders location tour around Buckinghamshire, with a councillor at the former Wycombe District Council emphasising the importance of tourism initiatives that “not only add to the ‘feel good’ factor of a place but play an important part in supporting local businesses by bringing new customers in”.