Skip to content
Death Valley brings us a murder of a man called Carwyn, that looks like an apparent suicide, but because reasons, the only one who’ll be able to sort it out isn’t the actual police, but because reasons, the only person who’ll be able to figure it out isn’t the cops, but John Chapel (Timothy Spall), who used to play a detective on TV, called Caesar.
So, like a Welsh version of Ludwig, since David Mitchell’s character could run rings around the police in that series.
In his retired years, John’s become not only a widower, but rather a recluse, and as well as letting his beard overgrow, he spends far too much time talking to his cat.
However, with the arrival of DS Janie Mallowan (Gwyneth Keyworth – The Trouble With Maggie Cole) and this case, now he has a new sense of life, it takes seconds to shave it off, and he’s out and about viewing the dead man’s house, now that it’s available on the market.
Throw in his nosey neighbour Joyce Pugh (Marilyn Cutts), who may or may be not hiding something, along with how the dead man was apparently stealing from the company of which he was the boss, and you know that some of these sort of ‘clues’ will lead to the murderer, while others are just red herrings.
Still, Death Valley is less about the destination and more about the journey, letting the brilliant Timothy Spall be the shining light in this cosy, Sunday evening drama, and since it’s on just before 9pm, it’s not going to be a grisly affair.
Hence, for as much as this drama plays a straight bat, it’s not attempting to do anything different, but you don’t need it to be. You just need a great lead, and after first seeing Mr Spall in Auf Wiedersehen Pet, back in the ’80s, he’s certainly been putting out some of his best work in his later years, with the likes of Away, opposite Juno Temple, The Sixth Commandment and Wicked Little Letters.
On the night, there was a great observation about Mr Spall’s beard, and I wondered who he reminded me of!
Why does Timothy spall with a beard look like Peter Hitchens on drugs. #deathvalley
— Mark B 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@SternhammerWulf) May 25, 2025
Death Valley begins tonight on BBC1 at 8.15pm, and all the episodes are now on the BBC iPlayer.
You can pre-order the series on DVD, ahead of the release date of June 30th 2025.
Director: Simon Hynd
Producer: Nikki Wilson
Writer: Paul Doolan
Cast:
John Chapel: Timothy Spall
DS Janie Mallowan: Gwyneth Keyworth
DCI Barry Clarke: Steffan Rhodri
Helen Baxter: Alexandria Riley
DC Evan Chaudhry: Rithvik Andugula
Danielle Rees: Amy Griffiths
Ceri Richardson: Oliver Ryan
Joyce Pugh: Marilyn Cutts
Alys Evans: Bettrys Jones
Mel Davies: Zadeiah Campbell-Davies
Ava: Eryn Kelleher
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.