Popular ITV detective series McDonald & Dodds return this weekend with the first of three new two-hour episodes, kicking off its fourth series. Once again the Sunday night crime drama was filmed at The Bottle Yard Studios and on location in Bristol and Bath with assistance from both city’s Film Offices last year.
The new series will consist of three feature-length episodes, each focusing on a different mystery. Tala Gouveia (Cold Feet) and BAFTA-award winning actor Jason Watkins (Des, The Crown) reprise their roles as the smart and ambitious DCI McDonald and the humble and quietly brilliant DS Dodds, joined by Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) as their boss, Chief Superintendent Ormond. Charlie Chambers (EastEnders) returns as DC Goldie, while Bhavik C Pankhania (World On Fire) joins the cast in the new role of DC Lee. Guest stars set to appear in the new series include singer/songwriter Pixie Lott (The Voice Kids), Toby Stephens (Lost in Space), Lydia Leonard (Gentleman Jack), Daniel Lapaine (Catastrophe), Dipo Ola (Landscapers), John Gordon Sinclair (Gregory’s Girl) and Ace Bhatti (Line of Duty).
Production company Mammoth Screen once again based its headquarters at The Bottle Yard Studios, where sets were built for the police station precinct. Bristol Film Office supported filming at The King William Ale House on Little King Street, which was renamed ‘The Sunne Rising’ for the shoot. Filming also took place on Chandos Road in Redland, Cattle Market Road in Redcliffe, Alder Close and Petherton Road in Hengrove, along Hengrove Way and the University of the West of England conference centre on its Frenchay campus.
Bath Film Office assisted filming in numerous locations in and around Bath where the drama is set, including Temple of Minerva in the Botanical Gardens, Royal Crescent, Abbey Green, Bath Marina, Kelston Village and Compton Dando in the Chew Valley.
Veronica Castillo, Head of Production at Mammoth Screen, says: “We’re thinking of opening a Mammoth Screen branch office at The Bottle Yard Studios as we’re a returner year on year! Very much a home from home. TBYS is the perfect base for McDonald & Dodds, the consummate fit of great facilities, excellent studio space, highly talented local crew, fabulous and historic locations both city and rural within easy reach and a wonderfully supportive Bottle Yard team led by Laura, Katherine & Emma. Who wouldn’t want to come back again?!”
In the first episode, titled ‘The Rule of Three”, McDonald & Dodds have just tied up a case after a local scandal-breaking journalist dies of anaphylaxis at a party, but their work isn’t over as a woman is separately found dead in a rented flat – can the detective duo navigate Bath’s elites to find the truth?
McDonald & Dodds is written and created by Robert Murphy. Series 4 directors are Khurrum M. Sultan, Samantha Harrie and Stephen Gallacher. The producer is Joseph Shrubb. Executive producers are Damien Timmer and Charlotte Webber for Mammoth Screen.
McDonald & Dodds series 4 begins on Sunday 21st July at 8pm on ITV and ITVX. Subsequent episodes will air weekly.