Avon Calling!

Mark Benton and Jo Joyner on their fun daytime detective show set in William Shakespeare’s birthplace…

- Lan MacEwan

NEW CRIME DRAMA

Shakespeare & Hathaway

MONDAY-FRIDAY / BBC1 / 2.15PM

When TV Times heard that EastEnders actress Jo Joyner and Waterloo Road’s Mark Benton were starring in a new drama called Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators, we hot-footed it to Stratford-upon-Avon, where filming was taking place in the birthplace of the Bard.

But imagine our surprise when, on arrival to this picturesque market town that is the Mecca for fans of William Shakespeare, there was not a doublet or a ruff in sight!

This is because despite the title, this isn’t a period drama about the famed playwright and his wife, Anne Hathaway – although it is peppered with references to his plays.

In fact, it’s a contemporary, daytime crime series about a shambling, cash-strapped private eye called Frank Hathaway (played by Mark) and his new assistant Lu Shakespeare (Jo), whose previous job was working in a hair salon!

The unlikely duo team up after Lu hires Frank to investigate her fiancé, who she suspects of being unfaithful. When a shocking turn of events at Lu’s wedding results in a murder inquiry, it’s up to her and Frank to solve the crime – and before you can say ‘whodunit’, they’ve agreed to become partners in crime-solving!

To find out more, TV Times sat down with Jo, 40, and Mark, 52 at the atmospheric Wroxall Abbey Hotel – where, intriguingly, the message ‘Die Sally die!’ has been daubed in red on one of the bedroom windows as part of a Romeo and Juliet-themed episode currently being filmed there.