BritBox Scoops Up Welsh Comedy Crime Series 'Death Valley'

With the financial backing of the BBC and Robert Schildhouse as its new CEO, BritBox has a new lease on life for 2025. The U.K.-centric streamer, initially a joint project between the BBC and ITV to prevent international piracy of iPlayer and ITV's streaming service, was bought out by the BBC in early 2024. Since then, it has been slowly ramping up its offerings, and 2025 promises to be a banner year with so many new titles that it seems almost incorrect to refer to it as a niche service. The streaming service has also started deliberately choosing series tailored directly to American tastes, like Death Valley, which may remind readers of a certain Hulu comic mystery series hit with Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez.

As with most of the shows aimed at Anglophiles, Death Valley is, first and foremost, a cozy crime series starring a well-known aging British actor, in this case, Timothy Spall, who rose to international fame starring in multiple Mike Leigh films and most recently starred in The Sixth Commandment. Spall will star in the series as the "amateur" half of the cozy crime-detecting duo, now technically a pensioner; his character, John Chapel, is a world-renowned actor and "national treasure" after starring for years as the lead in the cozy crime series Caesar, which was a hit on both sides of the pond.

Naturally, playing a detective on TV makes Chapel a natural at solving crimes in his Welsh community because he's learned so much from police procedurals. Pity his partner-in-crime-solving, DS Janie Mallowan, played by Gwyneth Keyworth (Doctor Thorne).

Here's the series synopsis:

Death Valley follows the unlikely crime-solving partnership between eccentric national treasure John Chapel, a retired actor and star of the hit fictional detective TV show ‘Caesar,’ and disarming Welsh detective sergeant Janie Mallowan. Thrown together by the murder of John’s neighbor, John and Janie are an odd yet hilarious duo with opposing instincts. 

Every week, they get to the bottom of gripping murders, with various stunning Welsh locations providing a backdrop to their investigations. When John and Janie do not argue about a case, they inevitably end up in each other’s business. Despite their differences, they soon realize they are the closest thing each other has to a best friend and unwittingly help one another move on from the past.

Spall and Keyworth are joined by an ensemble cast that also includes Steffan Rhodri (Gavin & Stacey) as Janie's boss, DCI Clarke; Alexandria Riley (Lost Boys & Fairies) as Baxter, Janie's BFF and the series' straight-talking pathologist; and Melanie Walters (Father Brown) as Janie's mother Yvonne. The cast is rounded out by Remy Beasley (Steeltown Murders) as Janie's frenemy Rhiannon; Rithvik Andugula (Extraordinary) as co-worker DC Evan Chaudhry, and Mike Bubbins (Mammoth) as Tony, the overly friendly Desk Sergeant.

This being a "mystery of the week" series, the series will feature a roster of guest stars in each episode. For the show's inaugural season, we've got several PBS favorites, including Patricia Hodge (All Creatures Great & Small), Karl Johnson (Lark Rise to Candleford), and Vicki Pepperdine (The Trouble with Maggie Cole). Other guests for the season include Kiell Smith-Bynoe (Ghosts), Sian Gibson (The Power of Parker), Jim Howick (Sex Education), Colin McFarlane (The War Between The Land & the Sea), Steve Speirs (Dickensian), and Amy Trigg (Such Brave Girls).

Series creator Paul Doolan (Bloods) penned all six episodes of Death Valley with Sian Harries. Director Simon Hynd (There She Goes) helmed all installments, with Nikki Wilson producing. Doolan also acts as executive producer alongside Josh Cole and Madeline Addy. The series was filmed in Wales with locations including Penarth and Llantwit Major in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Death Valley does not have a release date on either BBC Two or BritBox; however, BritBox lists it as part of the second half of the year slate, so we can say pretty confidently that it will arrive in late 2025. A second season is not yet guaranteed.