Death Valley returns to iPlayer, One and BritBox on Sunday 17 May at 8pm, bringing Timothy Spall back as retired actor John Chapel and Gwyneth Keyworth back as newly promoted Detective Inspector Janie Mallowan. The pair are again set to solve crimes in the Welsh countryside, even though Janie is trying to ignore Chapel after discovering he has been dating her mum.
This time, Janie is forced to bring Chapel in as the department's consultant after a murder in a Community Payback group, and series two pushes him back into acting as well, this time on the set of an epic Welsh fantasy TV series. The new run will also see the pair investigate cases in a coastal fishing village, a sustainable commune and the competitive world of rugby, giving the show a wider canvas while keeping the same odd-couple partnership at its center.
Spall said he had been more involved in the development of series two, working closely with creator and writer Paul Doolan and making suggestions for John’s character and the relationship between John and Janie. He added that he was delighted by the enthusiastic and very positive response to the first series, saying you never know how something will be received. That early reaction matters because Death Valley now returns with the kind of momentum broadcasters want from a comedy-drama: a clear central pair, a return date already set and a second series that expands the world without losing the friction that made the first one work.
The show is set in the Welsh countryside and follows retired actor Chapel and detective Mallowan as they work cases together, with series two also bringing back Alexandria Riley as Helen Baxter, Steffan Rhodri as DCI Barry Clarke, Melanie Walters as Yvonne Mallowan and Rithvik Andugula as DC Evan Chaudhry. Chapel is also in a relationship with Yvonne Mallowan, a detail that gives Janie’s personal and professional life another complication just as the new cases begin. With murder at the center of the Community Payback storyline and more investigations to come, the real test for the series is whether its relationship tangle and crime cases can keep landing at the same time.
