Daniel Casey returns to Darlington in Midsomer Murders stage role
Daniel Casey is bringing midsomer murders back to Darlington later this month, and the stop at Darlington Hippodrome lands at the end of a successful UK tour. The Teesside-born actor, best known as Sergeant Gavin Troy, will appear in The Killings at Badger’s Drift with a role that links his television past to the stage in his home region.
Darlington Hippodrome return
Casey will play Inspector Tom Barnaby in the stage adaptation, a casting move that gives the production a familiar name for television viewers and a recognizable anchor for a touring run. He said the return will be emotional and added, “It’s coming home - home is always home, no matter where you are.”
He also said, “It’s going to be very, very emotional. I’m really looking forward to it.” That is the kind of line producers like to hear when a show arrives in a city with local pull: it turns one stop on a tour into a homecoming with a built-in audience.
Stockton memories and Sadberge
Casey grew up in Stockton and often visited Darlington when he was younger, so the trip back is carrying more than promotional value. He said, “I can’t wait to go back,” and recalled family visits to Darlington indoor market with his mother, plus the Dolphin Centre swimming pool opening, where he stood on the middle diving board and dared himself to dive off it.
He also remembered travelling to Darlington railway station with five children in a Toyota caravette, saying, “There were five children in a Toyota caravette. I’d be in there half asleep, in a sleeping bag, driving along the back lane through Sadberge. We’d get to the station to pick my dad up from London, just excited to see him.”
Luke Casey and family links
The family connection runs through his father, Luke Casey, a respected North East broadcaster who began at The Northern Echo as a junior reporter. Daniel Casey said, “He did his first month as a junior reporter in his school uniform, until he could afford to buy a suit.”
He said journalism ran in the family, and added that his sister, Siobhan Casey, became a highly respected broadcaster. For Darlington audiences, that makes this run feel less like a routine tour date and more like a local son returning in a role that connects a long-running television name to a stage production arriving after a successful UK tour.
