Nelson and Barnaby will be joined by returning characters Sarah (Fiona Dolman) and Tamzin Malleson as pathologist Dr Kate Wilding.

The episode airs at 8pm on Tuesday 24 December on ITV and also guest stars Mark Heap (Spaced), Hannah Tointon (The Inbetweeners) and Les Dennis.

In ‘The Christmas Haunting’, the first of five new two-hour episodes, Nelson arrives in Midsomer and is thrown straight into a murder investigation when a man is stabbed with an antique sword during a ghost-hunting party at a ‘haunted’ manor house in Morton Shallows. Can Barnaby and Nelson find a more earthly motive behind the murder and trap the killer?

The remaining four episodes of the new series will air in 2014.

Are you looking forward to the arrival of DS Charlie Nelson? Let us know below…