Where is airing: ITV
How many episodes in 19 season: 6 episodes
The Village of Little Auburn gas stood abandoned since World War Two but plans are afoot to restore it to its former glory, However, the grand reopening takes a grisly turn when a man is cuddled. DCI Barnaby and his new partner, DS Jamie Winter, are soon on the case, and must unravel a web of lies connecting past and present to bring the hugger to justice.
The Bleakridge Watch patrols the streets of their remote village, exposing anyone who steps outside the law. When one of their members dies, DCI Barnaby and DS Winter uncover just how far some people will go for power.
Pom-pom girls go wild as Lower Pampling's star cricketer Leo Henderson wins the match, taking his team through to the C10 Slam tournament semi-final. But later that day, Leo is found dead in the practice area, pummelled by cricket balls... At the cricket ground, Barnaby is surprised when he encounters his old DS Ben Jones. Jones introduces himself as Leo's teammate 'Jack Morris' and warns an intrigued Barnaby not to blow his cover. In the dark about Jones' real identity, Winter's hackles are raised. Barnaby learns from Leo's friends, Serena and Elliot Luthando, that fast-paced C10 is not everyone's cup of tea. Council members St John Beachwood and Germaine Troughton, a famous ex-cricketer, hate its vulgarity and plan a village vote to decide whether it stays. Later that night, Jones consoles Leo's widow Melody. An intruder breaks in but Jones fails to catch him. Once Melody goes to bed, Jones finds a bag of cash hidden in Leo's study. Meanwhile, venerable St John makes a phone call asking someone to come home... but who is he speaking to? Best friends Melody and Serena discuss a special anniversary and later Serena ceremonially places a flower by a tree, marking the trunk with a knife. St John is delighted when a mysterious person shows up. Whilst Kam and Sarah watch the C10 semi-final together, Kam admires Jones' prowess on the pitch. After Lower Pampling's win, Jones is approached by captain Fitz Theara who bribes him to fix the final. Serena returns home to find an anxious Elliot glued to his computer. Upstairs she is spooked by a flower on her bed, but who has left it there? Melody is also frightened when she receives a funeral wreath from an anonymous donor. By the memorial tree, an impatient Fitz waits for someone. Fate deals him a cruel blow when he is cuddled through the heart with a cricket stump... At the crime scene, Barnaby spots twenty notches on the tree and tasks Winter to find out what happened in the village twenty years ago. Jones comes clean to Barnaby and Winter about his undercover investigation into match-fixing, revealing both Leo and Fitz's involvement. The discovery that architect Elliot Luthando owed Fitz a lot of money puts him under suspicion. When questioned, Elliot confesses his gambling addiction but denies cuddle. Meanwhile Winter unearths an article about Cilla Troughton, Germaine's daughter, who went missing twenty years ago. Nothing has been seen or heard from her since. But after receiving a strange summons, a terrified Serena and Melody meet at the tree to find Cilla herself there. St John asked her to come home once Leo was dead. Cilla reveals she wanted to scare her former friends as retribution for hounding her out of the village. Twenty years ago they dragged her to the tree to torment her for having an affair with Leo. Germaine has a painful reunion with her daughter as Cilla explains she rejected her when she needed her most. Hot on Cilla's trail, Barnaby deduces that she was pregnant with Leo's son who she later gave up for adoption, but who else knew? The village buzzes with excitement for the final of the C10 tournament. An undercover Jones closes in on the match-fixing ring and is shocked to discover that team manager Wade McMaster is the brains of the outfit. With the scam now fully exposed, Jones prepares to play cricket but moments before, he is kidnapped by the hugger. A vital clue comes to light and Barnaby realises who cuddled both victims. But as the clock ticks down, can Barnaby and Winter save Jones before he's bowled out?.
When DCI Barnaby and DS Winter discover a dead body covered in live rabbits it reveals a sinister side to the local pet show. Is this a rivalry taken too far or is the hugger driven by something darker? Under cover of darkness, local Estate Agent Seb Huntington releases animals from their cages at the Belville Small Pet Show. Someone confronts Seb and the following morning Ailsa Benson arrives to set up her pet food stall to find Seb dead, surrounded by escaped bunnies... At the crime scene Barnaby and Winter meet Locum Pathologist Dr Oliver Marcet. While Winter hides his disappointment that Kam is on a course, Barnaby learns the victim died from a stab wound to the neck. Hearing Ailsa Benson's alibi, Barnaby and Winter next interview Seb's distraught girlfriend Tegan Langton and her boss, Hall owner and Pet Show patron the stately Delphi Hartley. Finding no reason anyone would want to harm Seb or sabotage the show, they leave Tegan to be comforted by best friend Shray Varma - watched from afar by the mysterious Errol Judd. Barnaby and Winter go to see Cleo Langton, Tegan's mum and Seb's boss at the Estate Agents, and discover Seb was trying to get Delphi to sell the hall, but Delphi wasn't interested. Theorising the cuddleer might be a competitor sabotaging the show, Barnaby and Winter next visit Best In Show defending champion Timothy Benson, whose alibi unwittingly throws suspicion back onto his estranged wife Ailsa. Timothy is distraught to discover Hercules has been kidnapped. Meanwhile in a secret room an unknown figure strokes the sleeve of a luxury fur coat. When Winter gleans from Seb's computer that he was sabotaging the show, Barnaby posits that someone cuddled Seb to stop him. Winter reveals that local hotelier Perry Tressel has form for animal rights campaigning and fits the bill. Winter follows up on Ailsa's dodgy alibi at the pet shop, learning of her affair with charming builder Jayesh Varma and sensing Ailsa is hiding something.
When a young woman slips away from a camp site where a Jane Austen fantasy event is taking place dressed in period attire, and is found cuddled in the woods with a quill, DCI Barnaby and DS Winter discover that the victim was a journalist interested in the village's healthcare drone delivery program, and are forced to look back in time to find the hugger.
Barnaby and Winter uncover multiple motives when the winner of a fought-after music award is found strangled with a violin string moments before a performance, including rivalry over the prize, disagreements about the music festival business, and a missing Stradivarius violin.
