What a curious confection Death Valley is. It’s as cosy as crime drama gets and yet, thanks to its show-within-a-show concept, it manages to be oddly arch and knowing, too. Its body count challenges that of The Sopranos, but in its soothing episodic rhythms and Welsh valley quaintness, it remains as comfortable and predictable as Christmas.
As we return, everything and nothing has changed. Janie Mallowan (Gwyneth Keyworth) has been promoted to detective inspector and is wondering if her seniority means she can no longer call herself “J-Dog”. She remains charming but also goofy and tactless; at one point, she complains about a teabag being left in a cuppa made for her by the wife of a recent murder victim.
