Joyce Barnaby (Jane Wymark) (series 1-13) is DCI Tom Barnaby's long-suffering wife. She is tolerant of her husband, despite his being a workaholic who spent their honeymoon solving the case of the "Pimlico Poisoner", which suggests that they met in London. Joyce is an easy-going and friendly woman who likes to be involved in community activities. She has long possessed a desire to move out of their Causton home and into one of the picturesque Midsomer villages—only to be put off by the grisly murders that occur there. She's known to her family as an experimental, but not always successful, cook. Thus, Tom is often seen taking advantage of every opportunity to dine out. She married Tom in (1973) and their only child, Cully, was born five years later in (1978). Her parents are called Muriel and Douglas.