Death Valley

“The plotting is ridiculously schematic throughout: Death Valley sometimes feels less like a cosy crime drama and more like a snarky spoof of one. But you’ll be inclined to forgive its surfeit of eye-rolling moments, mainly because of its trump card, Spall. As he becomes more windy and verbose by the episode, you understand that you’re watching a man breezily engaging in one of the least subtle roles of his career and, very probably, one of his most enjoyable. Crucially, he and Keyworth have excellent chemistry, animated by just enough affection and antagonism. Thanks to them, Death Valley is supremely comfortable in its own skin – entirely undemanding but contentedly so.”
Phil Harrison, The Guardian

“Timothy Spall and Gwyneth Keyworth took an age to set up their abrasive, awkward partnership in the first series, but the dynamic between them is settled now - part admiration, part resentment. She’s Janie, a detective inspector who is having trouble leaving her adolescent anxieties behind, and he’s John, a retired thespian with an exaggerated sense of his own theatrical genius and an outrageous gift for name-dropping. John’s qualification for crime-busting is simply that he once played a TV sleuth. Comparing himself to Morse and Lewis, he let slip that his viewing figures were better but, ‘Kevin [Whately] is a dear friend.’”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Death Valley (BBC1) was the BBC’s highest-rated scripted comedy in five years when it launched in 2025. Was there nothing else on? Either that or Timothy Spall has a very committed fanbase, because this is a serviceable cosy crime drama but nothing out of the ordinary. It is, for example, no Ludwig, which does the quirky amateur sleuth thing in a far superior way.”
Anita Singh, Telegraph

“Traditionally the first episode in a series is the strongest and if this was the case here I’d fear for the rest of it. But being a dedicated reviewer (with nothing better to do), I watched ahead (all episodes are available) and I can tell you things do improve, especially in the episode featuring [Jim] Howick, which is funny (Howick rarely isn’t). I’d give the series as a whole three stars, but two to the opener.”
Carol Midgley, The Times