This brand new three-parter is the first new series in ten years – why so long?
Alan Davies: David (writer David Renwick) wanted to write about a married couple, so he married me – to the lovely Polly (Sarah Alexander). I did quite well! He wanted to show an ongoing relationship – so here we are. Though Polly is positively against me doing any more investigations, but she gets drawn in..
Where’s Creek’s famous duffel coat gone?
AD: It’s still on the costume van, but as yet it hasn’t been brought out for any scenes; instead I’ve got a range of fashionable jackets that all look like they’ve been cast off from Ant and Dec! But who wears the same duffel coat for 17 years?
**And Creek has left his windmill home for a posh place in the country…? **
Sarah Alexander: Polly’s father dies in the opening episode; which gets them out into the country and you see another world. They’re immersed in village life, meeting all sorts of characters – giving them lots of opportunities to go inside creepy houses, meeting weird blokes, and women too!
AD: Their place is very grand. It’s shot at Dorney Court in Bucks, which is really old and Medieval; Henry VIII has been there. It’s a little bit Vicar Of Dibley, a little bit Midsomer Murders – there are lots of nosey parkers and weirdos.
Have you worked together before?
SA: We haven’t, but we’d moved in similar comedy circles so we knew each other - which is helpful when you’re in an on-screen partnership, especially when you have to climb into bed with each other…
The last Jonathan Creek special was hugely popular – do you sit down and watch it as a family?
AD: I’m married with kids now and we don’t watch much television. Plus, I find the very idea of watching myself for an hour extremely uncomfortable and painful! Though I don’t know anyone who enjoys watching themselves; that’d be weird. You just think you’re cr*p!
SD: If I’m in something, I’ll watch it go out but I’ll never watch it again. I just need to check that it was all there, in the right places. It’s excruciating.
Alan, will you show your kids (Susie, four and Robert, two) Jonathan Creek when they’re old enough?
AD: Oh, they’ll find it anyway; that’s the trouble with Google - and I’m dreading it. My four-year-old did ask, “Daddy, who is Jonathan Creek?” and I said, he’s a man that Daddy goes to work with…
Alan, how do you keep your famous curly locks under control?
AD: This is all my own hair, I’m pleased to say. The last Jonathan Creek we did I didn’t have enough hair so they had to clip in bits. They were stuck into a polystyrene head in the make-up van and I said, ‘God, what is that?’ I thought it was for a tramp; this lank, grey, dirty hair. It was the perfect match!
Are there any good guest stars this series?
AD: June Whitfield; she plays twins. The read-through was interesting; she was just talking to herself for a few pages.
Do we find out where Joey’s gone at all? (Sheridan Smith quit as Creek sidekick, paranormal investigator Joey Ross, last series.)
AD: No, it’s the destiny of former sidekicks – they never get mentioned again!
Will we see Jonathan Creek grow old on screen?
AD: Who knows? You’d never think something would go on this long, shows don’t! If David (Renwick) is sick of it, he’ll kill it. Maybe he’ll do a Victor Meldrew and run him over (David also wrote One Foot In The Grave) – but people would still ask if there was going to be anymore! I’d do more if he wanted to write them.
Jonathan Creek, Fridays, 9pm, BBC1