Paul Doolan on the second series of Death Valley

Comedy-crime series Death Valley returns to BBC One on Sunday, starring Timothy Spall as retired actor John Chapel, aiding Gwyneth Keyworth’s detective sergeant Janie Mallowan with her investigations. It comes after last year’s opening series attracted the biggest overnight audience for a new scripted show in five years. Here, series creator Paul Doolan talks about what to expect across the six new episodes.

Why do you think the first season of Death Valley appealed to audiences?

I think there was a certain appeal to having a crime show that wasn't unremittingly bleak. We'd always hoped committing to a show with warmth, that worked as a comedy but also tried to tell a satisfying mystery would find an audience, especially in times that are more 'interesting' shall we say.  When you add to that a certified national treasure like Timothy Spall and the brilliant Gwyneth Keyworth as the main duo then I think there's a lot to appeal to audiences.

What can audiences look forward to in series two?

Getting to make more Death Valley really gave us an opportunity to dial everything up another level. We've managed to attract some real wish-list guest cast as well as adding a level to the scale and ambition of the show. At its heart, though, the real joy of getting to make series two was being able to spend more time with the characters from series one, find out more about them and take them to new places.

How did you approach writing series two?

The writing started with a very intimidating blank whiteboard which myself and the writing team started adding to with dream worlds we'd like to investigate; whether that's interesting locations, groups or communities. 

That's always the starting point for the episodes, where do we find interesting and multi-layered enough to want to spend an episode? 

Then we start diving into our characters. We were very keen to take what we'd learned about our core cast in series one and flesh them out. Series two sees us going deeper especially into Janie's family background and John's feelings towards his acting career, as well as mining a whole host of new tensions in our main duo.

How difficult is it to get the right balance of comedy and crime in the series?

It can be tricky but, in some ways, that awkward balance is the show’s unique selling point, and it’s a lot of fun to use both genres to subvert what people are expecting. Generally, if a scene’s starting to feel too much like a crime procedural, I always like to CHUCK an unexpected joke in. Likewise, if it feels too much like a comedy, it can be fun to undercut it with a moment of drama or tension out of the blue.

How would you describe the two lead characters and what makes them distinctive compared to other crime solving duos?

Essentially, they’re a pair of oddballs who, despite their many differences, understand each other better than anyone else. In some ways, they’re like Holmes and Watson, John the ‘genius’ with flights of fancy, Janie the one with a foot in the real world. 

I think what sets them apart, though, is that they both behave how I imagine real people would in a murder investigation, rather than the cool, unflappable way we’ve come to expect of TV detectives.

Do we see more of Caesar in this series – the TV detective  Timothy Spall’s John Chapel played in the past? And how did you want to develop that side of John’s character?

We definitely get to see a little more of Caesar but we also get to find out much more about John’s past as an actor. A real joy for me is sneaking in details of shows John’s appeared in, we’ve added London’s Burning, Poldark and All Creatures Great And Small, as well as his involvement in a certain wizarding franchise. At this rate he’s going to need a bigger IMDB page. 

But series two certainly dives deeper into John’s status as an actor when a murder on a TV set forces him to face the reality that his career might be over.

What makes Death Valley different from other crime dramas?

I think the tone is hopefully what sets it apart. It’s able to find moments of comedy in what is usually portrayed as a very serious, procedural, professional world. It’s a crime drama populated by flawed, funny, relatable people which, if feedback from real police officers is to be believed, isn’t all that far from reality.

Tell us about the different cases in series two?

We’ve had a huge amount of fun with the different worlds we’ve been able to explore for series two. From a community service group to a fishing village to a rural rugby club. 

More often than not, the inspiration for these worlds comes from the emotional journeys our main characters are on, whether it’s the hippy commune where one of the suspects is a blast from Janie’s past to the TV set that forces John to look at his career as an actor. 

And, because it’s not a proper murder-mystery without a locked room, we have a whole episode where the suspects are locked down in our police station.

What would you say are the key themes in Death Valley?

Unlikely pairings are a real theme of Death Valley. There’s no reason why John and Janie should have any common ground, but they manage to find a way, just like the unlikely pairing of crime and comedy. 

There’s also a real leaning in to finding the joy in the darkness. As a crime viewer, I’ve had enough of troubled, grizzled detectives in the wilderness battling their demons. Just because someone’s dead, doesn’t mean we have to be miserable about it.

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Published: 11 May 2026