There’s a lot of gloom about, so that lightness really helps
ACOSTLY dognapping, the disappearance of an Eastern European oligarch and a run-in with psychic sisters: there’s plenty to look forward to from a second season of Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators.
In the return of the detective drama, Frank Hathaway, a hard-boiled private investigator, and his rookie sidekick, ex-hairdresser, Lu Shakespeare (Mark Benton and Jo Joyner) uncover the secrets of rural Warwickshire’s residents once more.
And judging by the success of its predecessor, the BBC1 hit, set in Stratford-Upon-Avon, exemplifies why “light crime” is a genre worth watching.
“It’s nice seeing all the daytime stuff that’s on at the moment and thinking, ‘We have quite a nice little slot in amongst it’. There’s such a brilliant variation,” begins Jo, 41, thrilled by the series’ comeback.
“But I think the balance of the buddy friendship that these two have, rather than it all being serious murder (is what makes the show so popular),” she reasons.
“There’s a lot of doom and gloom at the moment, so that lightness really helps.”
“You get a bit of everything and, like Jo said, there’s so much dark drama and heavy stuff, which is wonderful, but sometimes people want to sit down and just enjoy something,” agrees Mark, 53, of the show’s appeal.
“And the nice thing with this series is the (cases) are not all murders!” reveals The Halcyon actor. “It’s not Midsomer Murders, it’s not the scariest place to live, so there are different ones we can do!”
“It gives it more scope for silly things as well, like the dognapping and going to extremes, I suppose,” adds Jo.
What else is to come for the undercover double act, then?
“There are doppelgangers,” Jo says. “There’s a couple who are pretending to be us, so we have to investigate ourselves, essentially, which was quite funny.”
Add all that to wood-beamed pubs, sprawling estates and the quaint, leafy suburbs of Shakespeare country and it’s a perfect advert for idyllic Britain, too.
“I think that’s why it’s done so well abroad,” Jo muses.
“You couldn’t really cram much more in there – you’ve got your Tudor buildings, Minis, Earl Grey tea... whenever we get a chance!”
She adds: “I often read the (scripts) and think, ‘This will be fun’.
“It’s a real privilege to go to some of the locations because of that ‘quintessentially British’ thing. There are a lot of stately homes. The reaction from people is so nice; I’ve never known so many nice messages about the show,” Mark says, recalling its popularity in Russia, Poland and the Netherlands, for starters.”
So is a third season on the cards?
“There are a lot of shoots you finish and you’re just so fed up and exhausted that you can’t wait to leave,” Jo confesses.
“And I must admit, by the time we finished this, although we were tired and cold, we were all getting on so well, we did go, ‘Oh, we could probably do another block’.
“How often do you finish something thinking that?”