MARLOW Murder Club, the cosy murder-mystery adaptation of Robert Thorogood’s novels is returning for a second series.
For star Samantha Bond – who plays crime-solving crossword-setter Judith Potts – that meant more naked swimming in the River Thames.
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The 63-year-old actress, who played Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan, said: “It’s where Judith does her thinking, naked in the Thames.
“But it didn’t seem as frightening this year as it had in the first season – that was very alarming!
“You don’t get used to it, but I’ve got huge support out there. There’s always a boat just by me, and there’s usually a diver in the water with me.
“It’s not something I could really take to in my day-to-day life, but Judith loves it.”
In the show, Judith teams up with two friends – dog walker Suzie (Jo Martin) and vicar’s wife Becks (Cara Horgan) – to solve a series of head-scratching murders in the otherwise sleepy, picture-postcard town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
The trio’s friendship is at the heart of the show, and Samantha struck up a similar bond with her co-stars.
“The relationship between the three women has blossomed as, indeed, has the relationship between the three actors,” she smiles.
“A filming day is incredibly long – you get picked up at 6.30am and shoot until seven o’clock at night, then you have to go and study for the next few days ahead of you.
“But because we all get on so well, it means when there are gaps or breaks, you are at least with great company.”
Like other quaint British murder-mystery shows, it seems the first series of The Marlow Murder Club was a hit abroad as well as at home.
“I gather it went down very well in America, which is great,” says Sam. “And it’s gone down really well in Australia – they love a good murder mystery – and bits of Europe as well.
“I was having a pizza one night in Marlow, in one of my regular restaurants, sitting in the back half, quietly eating and working, and a Norwegian couple – who’d come to Marlow because they’d loved season one – came in.
“They couldn’t believe that Judith Potts was sitting in the same restaurant!”
Read the full interview in The Sun’s TV Mag, out on Saturday 15th March
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