Jo Joyner says buddy act with Mark Benton is key to Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators

Jo Joyner saw more than her fair share of misery in her years playing Tanya Branning in EastEnders.

But she’s left Walford woes behind for daytime hit Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators, starring with Mark Benton as a pair of mismatched private detectives.

And Jo says being part of the frothy fun with Mark is a real joy.

“I think it is the balance of the buddy friendship that these two have, rather than it all just being serious murder,” said Jo.

“There is a lot of doom and gloom on telly at the moment so that lightness really helps, I think.”

The series is set in Stratford, right in the heart of Shakespeare country, and Jo says the backdrop couldn’t be nicer.

“It is a real privilege to go around some of the places our locations find because of that quintessentially British thing of having a lot of stately homes. Because I’m from the area, I’ve driven past those great long driveways and thought ‘what is down there’ all my life? And suddenly I’m filming there.”

The series joins the successful stable of popular daytime detective dramas like Father Brown.

And as well as doing well enough to earn this second series, it has been sold around the world, with Jo and Mark doing interviews from Russia to South Africa and Holland to Japan.

“It is quite funny because when we were filming it in Stratford we had this couple, fans from Tasmania, who were dressed like us,” said Jo.

“They were such big fans of the show and couldn’t believe when they came over here and got to see it being filmed.”

And viewers who struggle to work out the killer’s identity have Jo’s sympathy.

“I am rubbish, I get really confused,” she laughs.

Shakespeare and Hathaway: Private Investigators, BBC1, Monday, 2.15pm