There is such endless array of British television brilliance, both in front of and behind the camera. We have had the great good fortune to interview many such individuals over the course of Tellyspotting’s (gulp!) 15 years.

With each conversation, we tried to take readers behind the scenes to understand each person’s craft and, in some cases, how the sausage is made. (Everyone loves a good “how the sausage is made” story … unless you are talking about sausage!)

So over the course of the week, I will share with you 15 of our most interesting interviews – five each in mystery, comedy and drama – from the past 15 years.

With that, this is the mystery category, a collection of my favorite conversations with brilliant, talented people involved in some of your favorite shows in this genre. It’s the best of the best for you to curl up with as we close the book on 2024 – and get ready for year 16 of Tellyspotting!

Q&A with Lorna Watson & Will Trotter – Sister Boniface Mysteries

February 2022

Lorna Watson as Sister Boniface. Photo: BBC Studios

There’s a new Sister in town and she’s armed with an IQ of 156, a PhD in Forensic Science and a Vespa! After appearing in only one episode of Father Brown, now Sister Boniface is hell-bent (sorry) on helping to make the streets of Great Slaughter safe for everyone – and not letting it turn into Midsomer or the sleepy little village of Kembleford, where there seems to be a murder every week.

In 2022, Lorna Watson (aka Sister Bonafice) told us of the Sister, “When she’s right, she knows she’s right.” We interviewed her and executive producer Will Trotter in advance of the newest offering from the BBC Daytime unit.

Q&A with Martin Shaw and Lee Ingleby – Inspector George Gently

February 2014

Martin Shaw as George Gently and Lee Ingleby as John Bacchus

Setting the Tellyspotting way-back machine to 2014, we catch up with co-stars Martin Shaw and Lee Ingleby from Inspector George Gently during the filming of its sixth of ultimately eight series (what we call a season here in the U.S.).

Set in 1969, lead characters George Gently and John Bacchus had suffered physical and mental scars several months after horrific shootings that nearly claimed their lives in Durham Cathedral. Their relationship had evolved since the show’s beginning.

“For Bacchus, it’s something deeply unusual and traumatic, which begins Gently teaching John, in a very subtle way, to carry on with life,” Shaw told us in this conversation. “There’s also the warmth of the father/son relationship – but [Gently] wouldn’t dare articulate it.”

Q&A with Emilia di Girolamo – The Tunnel: Vengeance

June 2018

Stephen Dillane as Karl Roebuck and Clémence Poésy as Elise Wassermann, co-stars of The Tunnel: Vengeance. Bill interviewed lead writer Emilia di Girolamo.

Outside of Sherlock, Life on Mars and MI-5, one of my favorite shows of all-time is the British-French crime drama trilogy, The Tunnel. To get a glimpse of what it was like to be the showrunner and lead writer on series 3, titled The Tunnel: Vengeance, Tellyspotting caught up with Emilia di Girolamo. It was in advance of the U.S. premiere of that third and final series, which aired on PBS.

As di Girolamo shared her vision for the show during our 2018 interview, I asked how one of the two main characters, Elise, had grown throughout Vengeance.

“Series 3 sees her obsessed with resolving mistakes she made in the past,” di Girolamo said. “She goes on a huge journey across the series, going from someone who really sees life quite simplistically and unemotionally, never fully connecting with other human beings, to a woman who truly understands the meaning of friendship.”

Q&A with Essie Davis – Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

July 2013

Essie Davis as The Hon. Phryne Fisher

It was just over a decade ago that the Honourable Miss Phryne (pronounced Fry-nee) Fisher took America by storm when it aired on public television. Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries was entering in the middle of Sherlock allegiance, but it did, without a doubt, hold its own.

The title character is definitely not your parents’ Miss Marple. Phryne Fisher is equally at home solving murders with her pearl-handled Smith & Wesson as she is with a cocktail in hand, charming paramours in her full-length white silk coat.

We caught up with Miss Fisher star Essie Davis in 2013 during the filming of series 2. Davis captured her character, an indepedent woman in the 1920s, perfectly:

“I guess Phryne Fisher is the female answer to James Bond, Indiana Jones or a combination of both,” Davis said. “She’s both a mystery and a bit of a romp.”

Q&A with Sanjeev Bhaskar – Unforgotten

July 2021

Sanjeev Bhaskar as DI Sunny Khan in Unforgotten. Photo: PBS Masterpiece

If you’re a fan of Unforgotten, you may be familiar with the early career efforts of co-star Sanjeev Bhaskar, who portrays DI Sunil “Sunny” Khan in the popular British crime drama.

He has early acting roots in comedy that date back to the late ’90s television show Goodness Gracious Me, a sketch comedy starring four British Indian actors. In 2001, Bhaskar moved on to The Kumars at No 42, the British sitcom about a fictional British Indian family.

In what seems like a lifetime ago – just before COVID – we sat down with Bhaskar for an interview in 2019 during series 4 filming, then posted that interview in 2021 when that series was just about to broadcast here. We discussed Bhaskar’s time on Kumars, his thoughts on Unforgotten, and a number of other topics like, how does he approach comedy and drama differently?

“I don’t really approach the two any differently at all,” he said. “For me there’s a character, and either funny stuff happens to the character or serious stuff happens to the character. It was only when I did Unforgotten that I got asked over here about the difference.”

Next roundup of my favorite interviews from the past 15 years – comedy and drama!

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Related posts:

Our favorite 5 interviews of all time: British comedy! Every mystery needs a leading lady – Miss Fisher back for more in 2014 Our favorite 5 interviews of all time – British drama!