Overview of British crime drama 'Death Valley'

This sly British murder mystery has a lovely duplicity. With an eccentric pair of investigators and a tea-and-biscuits level of comfort that starts with the rural Welsh setting, Death Valley can absolutely be enjoyed as a cosy crime series. There’s zero malevolence and plentiful enjoyment as police detective Jane “Janie” Mallowan (Gwyneth Keyworth) and retired actor John Chapel (Timothy Spall) crack one tidy case after another. But it’s also not difficult to find the delicious satire and knowing emotional nuance in the duo’s haywire investigations.

“I’ve watched you for hours,” Janie declares, with great delight, when she knocks on John’s door as part of doing the rounds following the suspicious death of a neighbour. It’s not as bad as it sounds, which is a common reaction to Janie’s errant remarks. John, a reclusive former actor, once starred in her favourite series, the long-running murder-mystery Caesar. Playing 1950s detective Charles Caesar, John was a proper TV star. Everyone knows his earnest catchphrase: “Crime waits for no man.” Nans love him.

Yes, this is a ludicrous premise. But then so, too, is Grantchester, which ran for 11 seasons. But the ludicrousness, with Janie not so subtly shoehorning the very helpful John, who fancies himself an expert on psychology and a keen sleuth after headlining countless Caesar episodes, into her ever so regular homicide case, is a delivery vehicle. The pleasure is in their banter and bickering. When the duo gets to explain a case to the assembled suspects they can’t help but talk over each other.

At its core, Death Valley is about two lonely people, both of whom have experienced a tremendous loss, finding an unlikely friendship and the means to encourage each other to slowly step back into the wider world. “Loneliness is a killer,” Janie professionally observes at one point. They both know that might also privately apply to them. That they respond to each other in such different ways – she’s a fan, he’s aghast – only adds to the reassurance of their fledgling bond.

Creator Paul Doolan, who previously helped deliver the long-running 2010s supermarket sitcom Trollied, doesn’t exactly weave complex cases for his idiosyncratic but nonetheless diligent detectives. There’s an opening death followed by a quick succession of suspects, most of whom are hiding something suspicious. Death in Paradise probably has more complex plots, but Death Valley has Janie delighting at a murder in a seaside town because she gets to order fish and chips.

There’s a lovely supporting cast, including Gavin and Stacey’s Steffan Rhodri as Janie’s gruff teddy bear boss Barry Clarke, but it’s the performances of the two leads that truly elevates the show. Keyworth gives Janie an endearing awkwardness – she’s trying so hard not to mess up simply straightforward situations – that not even John, who has a haughty smidge of the misanthropic at first glance, can brush her off.

For Spall, one of those do-it-all British actors who’s equally mastered Mike Leigh and Harry Potter, there’s the chance to send up the actor’s ego while surreptitiously finessing technical challenges. When Spall plays John, who in turn plays Caesar in a clip from his show, you have a gifted actor playing a very good actor who through repetition and success became a predictable actor. There are numerous layers to that, which can be appreciated in different ways by the audience. It’s the kind of subterfuge Death Valley is enjoyably good at.

Death Valley airs at 8.20pm Fridays on the ABC and ABC iview.

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