Baptiste's Tchéky Karyo on the "challenges" of working with Fiona Shaw for season 2
Tcheky Karyo has returned to our small screens as enigmatic detective Julian Baptiste for the second and last ever series of the BBC One crime thriller.
The spin-off to The Missing features Fiona Shaw joining the cast as Emma Chambers, a British Ambassador whose family has vanished while on holiday in Hungary. Created by Jack and Harry Williams, the drama follows Baptiste as he becomes fully immersed in Emma's complex world, and committed to finding her husband and two sons.
And of course, all the while he is dealing with his own private pain that's bubbling at the surface.
Describing what it's like working with new co-star Killing Eve's Shaw, and discussing the challenges of fitting with a new personality on set, Karyo told Hello!: "What I love is that it's like a real duet, a great duet. I've been doing duets with men and then suddenly there is this woman [Shaw] who comes with this incredible stamina. She's not afraid to question and punch the situation and try a different direction. I mean, she doesn't take things for granted and she has humour, which is great."
He continued: "Still, yes, it's a challenge. It's exciting to come on set and have to fit with that personality, you know. There is a real challenge between the two characters, you know, they kind of have to go through a lot of sparks together and that's super. She did a lot of theatre work on classic plays – as did I – she knows very famous and good French directors, as I did. She's worked in French also and she's not afraid to go through discussions and let the brain travel so it's fantastic to work with her."
Season one of Baptiste came out in early 2019, with the BBC only committing to a second series a year later, which gave writing duo Jack and Harry Williams the time to "step back and go, 'Do we want to do that again and again without it turning into every other detective show?'"
Jack and Harry added to The Sunday Times: "The show means a huge amount to us. So completing the story, and ending to the story, is an important thing to do. Rather than drag it on and flog a dead horse."
Baptise continues on BBC One on Sundays at 9pm.
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