Back on the BEAT

JASON WATKINS and TALA GOUVEIA on the return of their chalk-and-cheese Bath detectives

-  IAN MACEWAN

MCDONALD & DODDS

NEW SUNDAY, 8PM, ITV1 DRAMA

There's a slight case of déjà vu for Jason Watkins as he sits down for a chat with TV Times in an office near west London's iconic Television Centre.

"This is where we filmed the sitcom WIA!' smiles the star, who appeared alongside Hugh Bonneville in the mockumentary about the BBC, and who has since won a Leading Actor BAFTA for ITV's factual drama The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies and played Prime Minister Harold Wilson in Netflix's royal saga The Crown.

Today, however, he is here with co-star Tala Gouveia to discuss the fourth series of the hit, Bath-set ITV1 whodunnit McDonald & Dodds, which has carved out its own niche in TV's crowded world of cosy crime, largely thanks to the winning chemistry between Jason's quietly eccentric DS Dodds and Tala's more brusque and business-like boss, DCI Lauren McDonald.

Ahead of three brand-new feature-length investigations, we brought Tala and Jason in for questioning about what's in store for their decidedly different crimesolving colleagues...

How is the dynamic between McDonald and Dodds developing as we rejoin them?

TALA The trust between them has got much stronger. We always talk about their partnership, but it's becoming more of a friendship. There are times where I think they feel kind of betrayed by each other for various reasons, and then you get more conflict, but you need that foundation to make it feel important to them.

JASON There's the rank element, of course. Dodds is merely a detective sergeant, so McDonald can always put him in his place. Sometimes Dodds feels a bit left out and not included - which he hates and finds hard - but they're not people who will drift apart. They have to stick together and solve whatever the crime and the conundrum is!