Lynley, the new TV series based on the hit novels by Elizabeth George about a mismatched detective duo, stars Leo Suter (Vikings: Valhalla, Victoria, Sanditon) and Sofia Barclay (Prime Target, Ted Lasso, We Are Lady Parts) as the unconventional team of DI Tommy Lynley and DS Barbara Havers. And it just premiered on BritBox in the U.S. and Canada on Thursday, with new episodes dropping weekly.
The four-episode show from Colin Callender’s production company Playground (Wolf Hall, All Creatures Great and Small), which BBC Studios is selling around the world, was shot in Ireland with an ensemble cast that also includes Daniel Mays (Magpie Murders), Niamh Walsh (The English Game), Michael Workeye (My Lady Jane) and Joshua Sher (Vera).
In a recent chat with THR, Suter shared how his experience with action scenes and stunts for past productions didn’t quite prepare him for the natural challenges of Ireland.
Recalling a Lynley scene in which his character chases someone through a muddy landscape, Suter said: “That was my Saigon. The viewers won’t know or see this. But the mud was knee-deep, and I lost both of my Chelsea boots. So I had to be rescued. I genuinely got stuck.”
After a laugh, he also told THR: “A lot of the crew who worked on this I had actually worked with before on Vikings: Valhalla, so they’d seen me wrestle and swing axes. So when I got stuck in the mud, they just thought it was pathetic.”
Leo Suter and Sofia Barclay in ‘Lynley’
Courtesy of BBC Studios
Barclay, though, praised her Lynley co-star. “He’s so enthusiastic, including when it comes to doing all these stunts,” she told THR. “Those shooting days can be very long and quite difficult, so it’s incredible to do this alongside someone who is really brilliant and makes it fun.”
Added Barclay: “This guy can go for three or four hours doing these scenes in the mud. I’m just sitting on the side normally, with a little heater, and watching. And meanwhile, he’s been drenched three times in water, in mud, in rain, and he’s like, ‘Let’s go again!’”
Lynley, from writer and executive producer Steve Thompson (Vienna Blood), is also coming to the BBC and its BBC iPlayer, marking a return to British TV for Lynley and Havers 17 years after the final episode of the BBC series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, which starred Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small and ran for six seasons.