Death Valley season 2: everything we know

John Chapel (Timothy Spall) sits at his kitchen table with various documents and a teacup on top of it. DS Janie Mallowan (Gwyneth Keyworth) is standing next to him, leaning on the table with her left arm and looking at John with some degree of confusion.

(Image credit: BBC)

Death Valley season 2 is officially on the way, which means more cases for Wales’s most unlikely crime-fighting duo.

Timothy Spall returns as retired actor John Chapel alongside Gwyneth Keyworth as detective sergeant Janie Mallowman.

Timothy says: "I'm delighted that the show has been received so well, and audiences have embraced the warm and eccentric nature of John and Janie's partnership. I'm really looking forward to revisiting this unlikely duo with the brilliant Gwyneth Keyworth as they take on more crime-solving escapades in Wales."

Gwyneth says: "I'm so chuffed Janie and John get to bicker their way through some more deadly crime scenes. Thank you so much to everyone who watched and supported the show! I can’t wait to be back ‘corpsing’ with Timothy and the gang for series two!”

Here’s everything we know...

Death Valley season 2 release date

Death Valley season 2 is filming now, so we'd expect it to be shown in early 2026. But the BBC is yet to confirm this.

Death Valley season 2 plot

Steffan Rhodri as DCI Clarke in Death Valley — Steffan Rhodri as DCI Clarke (Image credit: BBC/BBC Studios/Simon Ridgway)

Spoilers ahead if you've not seen season 1!

We'd expect season 2 to explore John's relationship with Janie's mum! It was revealed at the end of Death Valley season 1 that the pair had started dating, which Janie wasn’t too impressed about. Janie's mum, Yvonne (Melanie Walters), is a great character.

Hopefully, we also might get to see a bit more of Tony the desk sergeant (Mike Bubbins) and Janie's pathologist pal Baxter (Alexandria Riley), who wasn't given a huge amount to do in the first series. Might we also see some romance for Janie? The first series had some great guest stars, including Car Share's Sian Gibson and Ghosts actor Kiell Smith-Bynoe, so we’d expect more top names for season 2.

Hopefully, we will also see more of another Ghosts actor, Jim Howick. He popped up very briefly in the first series as Constable Atkins in John's TV show Caesar.

Death Valley season 2 cast

Baxter in Death Valley — Baxter returns with hopefully a bit more to do in season 2 (Image credit: BBC/BBC Studios/Tom Jackson)

Timothy Spall and Gwyneth Keyworth return alongside regular cast Alexandria Riley (Helen Baxter), Steffan Rhodri (DCI Barry Clarke), Melanie Walters (Yvonne Mallowan), and Rithvik Andugula (DC Evan Chaudhry). No guest stars have been named yet.

Death Valley season 2 behind the scenes and more

Death Valley season 2 is six parts with each episode 45 minutes long. It is a BBC Studios Comedy in association with BritBox for BBC One and iPlayer. It is written and created by BAFTA-nominated Paul Doolan, with additional material by Sian Harries