The Cutprice Guignol

I know we’re meant to be coming into summer – you know, getting out of the house, doing things, seeing people, stuff like that. But I, for one, can only find it in me to curl up under the covers, dotted with various cats, and find a good old murder mystery to watch.

Well, in this case, not old – in fact, Death Valley was only out the week before last. But, other than that, this new British show has scratched exactly the itch I have been trying to reach. Following Janie (Gwyneth Keyworth), a police officer in a small Welsh town, Death Valley picks up when she discovers that the actor behind her favourite on-screen detective lives just a few streets away.

I’ll be honest, I’ve been looking forward to this show ever since I spotted it on one of my monthly trawls of Timothy Spall’s Wikipedia page, and he is certainly one of the major selling factors here. I am the resident Timothy Spall stan – from Outside Edge to The Sixth Commandment to Wicked Little Letters to Wolf Spall, uh, Hall, I just truly think he’s one of the best actors working today and I will never turn down a chance to see him in a lead role like he is here, with John Chapel. Death Spalley, more like, am I right?

And it’s a predictably brilliant performance from Spall, one a little more charming than his usual fare in recent years. It’s a tough role, in some ways, capturing the supercillious, almost arrogant edge to Chapel that overlays his rather sad and lonely existence without turning him into some unlikeable, sniffy ac-tor who’s too smug for his own good. But what really makes his performance sing is the double-act with Gwyneth Keyworth – in her sensational collection of cropped jackets and knitwear, she might seem utterly removed from Chapel on the surface, but their shared sadness and grief serves as this interesting pin that hooks all the major threads of their character. It’s lovely to see a relationship take centre stage on TV without it having to be romantic, and the way Paul Doolan finds these quiet parallels in their characters gives what could have been a standard odd-couple pairing into something with a bit of depth.

And the little world that Death Valley conjures to surround them is exactly the kind of dichotomy you’d expect from a show like this – utterly cosy, but also featuring more murders per square mile than Glasgow after a particularly contentious Old Firm result. Each episode delves into a small community plagued by some recent death, from amateur dramatic societies to walking groups to murder mystery nights, and, through a blend of excellent performances and sharp writing, fills out their dynamics, both spoken and unspoken, with ease. The mysteries are hardly brain-bending, but the smart choice to keep them thoroughly character-driven keeps them engaging either way.

Death Valley is not blowing the doors of the genre in any way, shape, or form, but it’s a pretty perfect example of how to tell these small-town murder mystery stories right. I would love to hear your take on it below, and any recommendations of shows you think hit a similar tone, for me to add to my watchlist – let me know in the comments!

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(header image via BBC)