Timothy Spall plays John Chapel, a famous actor who had a hit TV detective series but is now retired and living a quiet life in a quaint village. It was a quiet life until one of his neighbors is murdered.

When Detective Sergeant Janie Mallowan (Gwyneth Keyworth) begins questing all the neighbors she discovers one of them is John Chapel, who played her TV hero. Janie tries to be professional however her idolization of Chapel cannot be squelched.

Chapel, having played a detective for many years albeit a fictional one, has an impressive instinct when it comes to actual detecting. Can fiction be that far off from reality?

The two join together with Chapel bringing the excellent skills he learned in his series to the investigation, to the chagrin of DCI Clarke (Stefan Rhodri) who wants him to stay out of police business. Nevertheless Mallowan continues to get insight from Chapel and eventually they solve the crime.

The season continues with Chapel and Mallowan conducting further investigations and the two begin to forge a friendship. As Mallowan learns more about Chapel and he learns about her, they become a great team, although he is not really supposed to be helping the police.

Janie’s mother (Melanie Walters) is also a fan of the actor and once she meets him and realizes he is helping her daughter, she is over the moon. She wants to join in the fun, aka investigations, however her daughter forbids it.

Even though Chapel is not sanctioned by the police, he manages to quietly add great insight, intelligence, and knowledge to the investigations and soon Mallowan is being hailed as solving several crimes. DCI Clarke has an overinflated ego takes the credit for having a mentored Mallowan in the first place.

This is a fun story due to the acting background Chapel brings to the investigations. Having played a detective, he feels he has gained the knowledge of real detectives and acts accordingly. After all, he did inhabit the role of a famous detective for years, so that cannot be far from being an actual detective. Can it?

Spall is a veteran British actor, having had roles in many films and TV series, including playing Winston Churchill in the 2010 film “The King’s Speech,” JMW Turner in the acclaimed film “Turner, and Wormtail in the two-part films “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

Spall has been nominated for many awards throughout his long career and won the BAFTA in 2024 for Leading Actor in the series “The Sixth Commandment.” His acting history covers the gamut of genres and in this new series he adds a lot of comedy to his dramatic skills.

“Death Valley” streams on BritBox, which can also be added to Prime Video subscriptions. The second season is in production.