Death Valley

Seeing Timothy Spall in a new detective series the first thing that I thought was I hope its good enough for him. I think he's a brilliant actor. Probably my favourite performance of his was as Ian Paisley opposite Colm Meeny. I was also a little concerned when I saw it was set in wales. Having just seen the first episode and the first face I noticed was that of Steve Mao (hoffeman in high hopes) raised my expectations and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise from there on. Spall is as always excellent and the support cast do a fine job. Welsh humour is on show and I had a few chuckles along the way. It fits well into the cosy mystery slot and I must say Im looking forward to the next. I have to say that Tim playing a retired actor sort of in the vein of the crew of galaxyquest is inspired.

Early in the first episode, there's a TV murder mystery on in the background and one of the characters comments that they're all the same. So there can be no doubt in the viewer's mind as to whether "Death Valley" is intended to be a serious murder mystery series or a tongue-in-cheek self-mocking amusement. There's a hint in the title as well

The actual murder mysteries are rather silly, but that's partly the point. The show is witty and amusing, and the characters are fun. The main draw is Timothy Spall, who is as wonderful as usual, playing a retired actor. Gwyneth Keyworth is also very good as the slightly goofy police officer who relies on Spall for help in solving the crimes, while trying to keep this fact away from her superiors.

I don't understand people giving ratings of 1 for this. They must be very serious people because for me it's amongst the funniest detective shows that I've seen. The writing is excellent and it delivers exactly what it's meant to deliver. Not highly original but more enjoyable to watch than most in this genre. Timothy Spall is always excellent and Gwyneth Keyworth, while not the most convincing detective, is brilliant. It definitely doesn't take itself seriously, even slightly. If you're looking for authenticity and grittiness in your detective shows you'll hate this. I feel that you can have too much grittiness.

As others here have pointed out, she's a thoroughly off-putting character. And not even in a convincing or consistent way. At the start of episode 1, she's so thrilled to see Timothy Spall, as a TV detective-show star she idolizes, that she acts like a breathless schoolgirl fan (though she's supposed to be a cop). Yet just minutes after pushing her way into his home and chatting with him, she's inexplicably treating him with disdain and is impatient to leave. A couple of scenes later, talking with him in a coffee shop, she begins helping herself to chunks of his brownie... and apparently we're supposed to find this hilarious. I did not. And that's as far as I got.

Timothy Spall as always is excellent but based on the first episode I found it very disappointing. It is advertised as a comedy drama but I felt more effort was put into the comedy than the drama. It did make me chuckle a few times but I was hoping it would be a drama with a slight comedic touch. What I struggle with most was trying to cram the story it into one episode. We seemed to jump from puzzling over a few random clues to all of a sudden having a Death in Paradise type ending where everyone was gathered together and the big rather complex reveal was made with no explanation as to how they got there.

I will give episode two a try but not hopeful I'm afraid.

Edit. Well I gave episode two a try and enjoyed it more, by the time I watched all of season one I had changed my mind and now look forward to season 2.