Marc Warren has reprised his role as the detective in ITV's Van der Valk for its fourth season, which launched on Sunday, August 2. The new run arrives three years after the previous series, with Warren joined again by Maimie McCoy as Inspecteur Lucienne Hassell.
Van der Valk first aired in 2020 as a reboot of the 1970s series starring Barry Foster. Based on Nicolas Freeling's crime thriller novels, the drama follows the detective and his team as they face a new series of homicide cases.
A 'bigger production'
Ahead of the season premiere, Warren teased that the new episodes are the best yet, describing a larger-scale production and a major explosion in the opening installment.
He shared: “It felt like a bigger production… the scripts were great, we had a huge explosion in the first one. It felt a lot more expensive, a bigger crew, and it’s like everything we’d been learning over the three previous years culminated in this series.”
He added: “We’re much more of a family, there’s a much tighter bond within us, and also one of the family gets a health problem, and that really unites us - it’s got a lot of heart. It really touches me, there’s something about it, and it’s a show with a lot of heart, and as a group of actors, we were lucky to do it.”
A cinematic ambition
McCoy also addressed comparisons to other detective shows, insisting this one is “elevated.” She said: “There’s a real ambition within the crew, because it’s an international co-production as well. There’s an energy and a drive to make it cinematic and to elevate that procedural cop drama, which we’re so used to.”
Amsterdam cases
Set in and around Amsterdam, the new season opens with the death of a whistleblower under police protection before a court hearing. Van der Valk and his team are called in to ensure the second witness safely arrives at court. His work is complicated when he discovers that the protection officer in charge of the first victim is his former flame.
“Fair to say there is no love lost between the two, especially when he suggests she might have been involved in the killing…” the synopsis teases.
Van der Valk continues Sunday at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
