The BBC's upcoming murder mystery series, Death Valley, is set to premiere tonight (Sunday, May 25).

Created by Paul Doolan, the six-part murder mystery centres around eccentric national treasure, John Chapel (Timothy Spall), a retired actor and star of hit fictional TV detective show Caesar.

When John's neighbour gets murdered unexpectedly, he teams up with disarming detective sergeant, Janie Mallowan (Gwyneth Keyworth) to solve the case.

The unlikely crime-solving duo solve gripping murders each week, with various idyllic Welsh locations providing the backdrop to their investigations.

"When John and Janie are not arguing about a case, they're inevitably up in each other's personal business," the logline continues.

"Despite their differences, they soon realise they are the closest thing each other has to a best friend and unwittingly help one another move on from the past."

The regular cast also includes Steffan Rhodri as Janie's boss, DCI Barry Clarke, Melanie Walters as Yvonne, Janie's "no boundaries" mother, and Remy Beasley as Rhiannon, an old adversary from Janie's past.

The line-up is rounded out by Mike Bubbins as the overly friendly desk sergeant, Tony, and Rithvik Andugula as DC Evan Chaudhry, the "eager to please" junior police officer.

Guest stars include Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Sian Gibson, Patricia Hodge, Jim Howick and Karl Johnson.

Speaking at a press event for the series, executive producer Madeline Addy recently revealed that Paul Doolan's unique scripts instantly drew her to the project.

"[I got involved] quite early doors. My boss, Josh Cole, was a big champion of the project and sent it to me, and I read it and absolutely loved it," she explained.

"Paul is a very talented and very well respected comedy writer so it was really exciting to us that he wanted to create this really original comedy-drama with an edge to it.

"The fact that it feels it's genre blending, a mixing pot of different genres. Paul's got this classic whodunnit with a twist to it, and there's high-stakes drama and along with that, it's like an inter-generational comedy as well. So, there's quite a lot going on."

Madeline concluded: "I think it's wholly original."

The producer went on to reveal that over 70 cast members appear across the six episodes.

Lead actor Timothy also explained the challenges he faced going into a more comedic role, and spoke about playing two contrasting characters - the actor and his most famous role.

"It's only hard because the expectation of making people laugh. Humour is a big taste thing, some people like certain aspects of it and some people don't," he said.

"The challenge is to try and play a character, however eccentric or supposedly funny they are."

Timothy continued: "It's nice to be able to play with that, someone who is a detective, and mess around with certain aspects of actors' [personalities], themselves, their skills and their conceits and over inflated versions of themselves.

"It was nice to be able to play a character who was somewhat heightened."

Death Valley will premiere on BBC One and BBC One Wales at 8.15pm on Sunday, May 25

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