TV Talk: ‘Doc Martin’ star Martin Clunes returns in a 2nd season of ‘Manhunt’

With production of the final season of public television hit “Doc Martin” delayed to 2022, series star Martin Clunes revisits the lead role in his other British franchise, “Manhunt.”

Streaming Monday on Acorn.tv, the four-episode second season, “Manhunt: The Night Stalker,” chronicles a real-life investigation of a burglar and serial rapist in southeast London. Clunes plays DCI Colin Sutton, and the series is based on the real-life diaries of actual, now-retired DCI Colin Sutton.

“It was helpful hanging out with Colin, on so many levels, initially, just asking lots of questions about what it is like to be a policeman, to operate within the rank system, but also helpful just to get eyes on him and hear him talk and get a sense of the man behind the actions,” Clunes said during a recent Zoom virtual press conference for the series. “It’s great to have somebody there to have in the back of my mind as a target.”

The first season of “Manhunt,” released on Acorn in March 2019, also followed a single case and wasn’t intended to be the start of a recurring series. But the show did well in the ratings on British TV and there was a desire for more stories from Sutton’s diaries. “Manhunt” writer/creator Ed Whitmore said the goal with the “Manhunt” is to tell the most authentic and detailed police story possible.

“There’s a lot of crime drama on TV, but when you speak to real police officers, they tell you it bears little resemblance to the reality of police work,” Whitmore said. “When I read Colin’s diary of the case … I just felt as a TV writer who’d written (his) fair share of crime drama, this is really more exciting, more compelling than any fictitious crime script I’ve ever read or written.”

While there was no plan for a second season of “Manhunt,” Whitmore said there’s “definitely a chance” that the team will reconvene for a third season.

“It’s something that we’re exploring,” he said. “We just want to take our time and make sure that if we do a third one that we live up to the standards that we hope we set with the first two. The response to the second season in the UK has been extraordinary and we’re very grateful for that and grateful for the interest in a third season.”

Next year, Clunes will film his title role in “Doc Martin” one last time for that show’s 10th and final season. There’s not yet a sense of when those episodes will premiere on Acorn, let alone trickle down to U.S. PBS stations, which usually comes at least a year after the episodes premiere on Acorn.

“That got nudged because of the coronavirus from this year,” Clunes said of production on the final season. “So, yeah, were heading off down there (to Port Isaac in North Cornwall to film) next year.”

Clunes appreciates having two regular roles he gets to revisit.

“Woe betide I ever get the two wires crossed, because the joy of ‘Doc Martin’ returning is having a character that I don’t have to summon too hard. I can concentrate on: Is this the funniest way to tackle a patient, which is my primary objective in that show,” Clunes said. “Whereas with Colin’s, it’s (a question of) am I operating in the right context of who’s above me, who’s below me in terms of rank? Am I paying attention to the right details? But it’s really nice because you’re really lucky to be re-employed in this game.”