Death Valley's Gwyneth Keyworth is "desperate" to make a season 2

I play DS Janie Mallowan. On a murder case she meets John Chapel, her all-time hero from her favourite TV show. What first seems like the best thing ever to have happened, sort of turns when she realises she can’t get rid of him…

To start with, Janie hero-worships Chapel – does that reflect your own experience working with the great Timothy Spall?

Not far off. It’s Timothy Spall! There was a bit of hero worship when we started. But I’d worked with his son Rafe before on stage [in Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird adaptation] — he was so nice, so I thought his dad would probably be nice as well. And I was not disappointed!

Are you hoping that continues – could this become one of those long-running detective partnerships, like Morse and Lewis?

I really hope so. I haven’t been told anything yet. But I’d be desperate to do it. Getting to hang out with Tim again would be an absolute treat.

Death Valley is full of murder mysteries – but it’s also a very Welsh story. Was that part of the appeal for you?

Definitely. It shows off Wales in all its scope and diversity. But also, I think Wales has a really good sense of humour about itself. We all watched the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special! And as a Welsh speaker, it’s nice to be able to speak some Welsh in the show.

Do you ever worry about it being stereotypical, or tokenistic?

There’s a definite worry. I’ve gone up for things before set in Wales that have clearly been written by people who are not from Wales. Suddenly everyone’s in a choir, no one has a degree and we’re all down a mine.

And it’s disheartening, because you know that there is so much vibrancy and so much diversity within Wales. That’s what’s great about this — we’re showing a vibrant, modern version of Wales on primetime.

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