BritBox Confirms 'Death Valley' Season 2 Already in Production

One of the brightest spots of the 2020s has been the uptick in British cozy crime shows on American streaming services. Thus far in 2025, it has been an embarrassment of riches on both Acorn TV and BritBox over the last five months, including (but not limited to) Ludwig, Art Detectives, I, Jack Wright, Irish Blood, and Death Valley. Ludwig was already renewed before it was announced for BritBox. However, the others have all been waiting patiently for recommissioning announcements, even though all have been pretty sizeable hits with U.S. audiences. Thankfully, Death Valley fans have been given a reprieve from the endless wait for news with the announcement that filming for Season 2 is underway.

A Welsh spin on the amateur detective & police sergeant trope, Death Valley takes a cue from the American hit Only Murders in the Building, making its amateur detective a retired actor, famous for starring in a long-running police procedural, Caesar, for the bulk of his career. (One assumes it's the British answer to Brazzos.) Unlike the American series, the actor in question, John Chapel, played by Timothy Spall, is well aware that playing a detective on TV does not necessarily qualify him to solve murders.

But people believe what they see on TV, and DS Janie Mallowan, played by Gwyneth Keyworth, has watched every episode of Caesar multiple times and genuinely believes her TV idol can help her. The result is an often hilarious mismatch of a retired actor and an insecure cop trying to solve murders, and yet, somehow, they nail the bad guy every time.

Since Death Valley is a mystery-of-the-week series, there's no synopsis for Season 2 just yet. However, Jon Petrie, BBC Director of Comedy Commissioning, gave a delightful update to explain why it took so long to confirm the Season 2 commission: 

“The trouble with recommissioning Death Valley is it means the crime rate in Wales is about to skyrocket again. But if that’s the price we pay for more brilliant performances from Timothy Spall and Gwyneth Keyworth, and more scripts from Paul Doolan, then so be it. Delighted to bring the team back for more murder and mischief.”

Spall and Keyworth return as TV actor and BBC National treasure John Chapel and DS Janie Mallowan respectively. The announcement also confirmed that the main roster of the core ensemble from Season 1 will return as well, including Melanie Walters (Father Brown) as Janie's mother, Yvonne; Steffan Rhodri (Gavin & Stacey) as Janie's boss, DCI Clarke; Alexandria Riley (Lost Boys & Fairies) as her BBF, Dr. Helen Baxter; and Rithvik Andugula (Extraordinary) as co-worker DC Evan Chaudhry. Guest stars for Season 2 are expected to be announced closer to the show's premiere.

Series creator Paul Doolan (Bloods) returns to pen all six episodes of Season 2 of Death Valley. Directors are expected to be announced in due course. Doolan also acts as executive producer alongside Josh Cole and Madeline Addy. The series will film in Wales during the autumn of 2025.

Death Valley Season 2 is expected to premiere in 2026 on the BBC, followed promptly by its release on BritBox in the U.S. Season 1 is currently available to stream on BritBox and iPlayer.