BritBox viewers are in for a treat with Lynley, which brings Elizabeth George’s beloved sleuth Inspector Lynley back to television in a new way. Leo Suter (Vikings: Valhalla) stars in the title role, while Sofia Barclay (Prime Target) co-stars as Lynley’s partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. The duo have a high bar to live up to, yet they hit their mark with aplomb.

In an interview ahead of the Sept. 4 release of Lynley, Sofia and Leo joined TVBrittanyF.com to talk about their approaches to the characters of Lynley and Havers. They also spoke about some of their experiences shooting the first season, and what it was like for them to find the chemistry every great TV detective duo needs.

Brittany Frederick: The last Inspector Lynley series ran for years; what was it about these characters that you connected with so that you can hopefully be playing Lynley and Havers for just as long?

Leo Suter: For me, it was the car—the Jensen interceptor. A beautiful ride, a big engine, great round the corners, that was a big draw. But as well, I’ve not played a detective before, and there’s something nice about going into a new genre, that’s so tried and tested and beloved. People love a crime show, and there’s going to be something fun about leading an audience through these complex mysteries that I was really excited about.

Sofia Barclay: For me, it’s the fact that Barbara Havers is Barbara Havers. I think any actor would be so delighted to play a character like havers, because she just bucks every trend. She goes into every room with an actual physical instinct to buck any kind of authority or hierarchy or expectation of what she should be, what a woman should be like.

And it’s just really fun to play a character who really doesn’t care what people think about her, because we all do to some extent, walking through life. We all are more aware and conscious about how people receive us. Barbara Havers just doesn’t care. And I think, isn’t that so liberating? It’s just a joy. I was delighted.

Leo, to your point, TV audiences last saw you in Vikings: Valhalla, which could not be a more different show or character type from Lynley. What was that transition like for you?

Suter: I took a haircut and a beard trim. [Lost] the Scandinavian accent. (Laughs.) It was very nice to be doing something totally different [than] Valhalla. Yes, there was lots of war cries and swinging of axes, and I’m not giving away any spoilers—much less of that in this.

Variety is obviously really nice, but one of the really special things that I didn’t know was going to be the case with this job was that we shot in Ireland, with much of the same crew who had worked on Vikings: Valhalla. So we were walking through the Wicklow Mountains, which I had walked through with a shield on my back and ready to run into battle against Saxons. And I was just boring Sofia mad, telling her oh, here I killed a Saxon and chopped his head off. And by the end it, I’m sure, got very tedious. (Laughs.)

Barclay: No, it’s a lot of fun. He was definitely the the person to know on set, because he worked with everyone. He’d been into all those places. He’d run through that mud before. It was really cool.

Every great detective show requires chemistry between the characters, which in turn necessitates a rapport between the actors. The push-pull between you two is immediate from your first scene. How did the two of you find your rhythm in Lynley?

Suter: I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I’m so glad you liked the introduction, but we actually tinkered with it. And so it took a while. We filmed a few versions and finally got the essence of it, which is so satisfying, and I think it was so nice to see that work. It was wonderful to really get the essence of these two characters and how they how they butt up against each other.

And I love how early on when they first meet, Lynley just throws a sly little passing shot across the bow at the end, which feels like a very Lynley way of doing it. But working with Sofia was a complete treat, and we got to meet at the chemistry stage, before you actually get out there. And it was immediately apparent [that] working with Sophia was going to be great fun, and I was going to have a wonderful scene partner to butt heads with.

Barclay: Leo is possibly the best scene partner you could ever ask for, particularly leading a show. He is the number one person you want on set, because he’s got energy for days. He’s always in a good mood. He’s an incredibly fun scene partner, and it just makes all of it a lot easier—particularly, as we said, he’s been to those places. He’s filmed in those places before. So I felt very much like I had a big brother. When I was like, do we need to eat before I shoot the scene? [He’s] like, yeah, you eat first, and then we’ll shoot the scene.

And the fun of this genre is the supporting and guest cast that you get to play off of. In Lynley, you two have a great third wheel in Daniel Mays’ character, Brian Nies. How would you describe what he brings?

Suter: He was fantastic. The scenes with Nies were great fun. A) Because we had a giggle in between takes. B) He just brought that character to life so wonderfully.

Barclay: He always had the crew in stitches. When he’s on set, everyone is laughing. Everyone’s having a good mood. He’s a delight.

Did either of you read the Elizabeth George books over the course of filming, or watch the previous TV series, just to get a general idea? Or did you want to keep your Lynley separate from that history?

Suter: I listened to the audiobook of the first one just before we got going, and then quickly realized that our series is based on different books and is a whole different world. So there was obviously crossover. The bare essentials of these characters [are] the same. Lynley’s an aristocrat. He’s the Earl of Asherton, but the context is very different.

And then, like I said before, once you’re in it, there’s a lot of lines to learn, and it’s a long slog. So there was not time. Bedtime reading was learning lines, I’m afraid. There’s a wealth of Lynley mysteries to get tapped into, which I wasn’t able to do because I was just too busy.

Barclay: Both Leo and I watched [the Inspector Lynley Mysteries pilot] “A Great Deliverance,” and I think Sharon [Small, who played Havers] just did the most phenomenal job. And then also Nat Parker is just so dreamy. It was amazing to see their versions of the characters, after we’d already got our own versions of the characters.

But then we quickly were like okay, we can’t watch that too much, because then we’ll just have them in our heads. So it was an amazing thing to see why these guys are really so immediately magnetic, and now we have to kind of figure out our own way. We can’t live in the shadow of that. So it was a great two-step process.

Suter: Often when you’re filming in a house, there’s a green room where you sit and wait while they set up the cameras. And there was one where the gentleman who owned the house [said] I’ve got the Lynley books, and he pulled back this cover of a bookshelf, and he had all of them. And it was, I’ve got some homework to do!

Lynley premieres September 4, 2025 on BritBox. Photo Credit: Courtesy of BritBox.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.