Peter capaldi has lots to play with

Peter Capaldi is looking as sharp as ever. Great shirt, even better shoes. “It’s all my stylist’s work,” he deadpans. We are in Claridge’s in Central London. A very expensive hotel suite, full of very expensive camera equipment recording our every move. “This is just the team we roll with,” Capaldi adds with a grin. “I’ve usually got some dry ice as well.”

We are here to talk about Criminal Record, which could just be your new TV police drama obsession. Capaldi stars alongside Cush Jumbo in a classy thriller in which two detectives go head-to-head – one in fearless pursuit of justice, the other to try to save their reputation and career. The title may be horribly generic, but this is a special show. And both actors have been involved from an early stage.

“Well, my wife’s the executive producer. First dibs? Well, yeah!” says Capaldi. “Both Cush and I were involved in the development, which was really exciting, because I’ve never been in something where the writers all knew from the start who was playing those parts. So they wrote specifically for us, they were picturing us as they worked on the scripts. It also meant we could respond to their ideas at quite an early stage. So that was lovely.

“Elaine [Collins, Capaldi’s wife] brought Vera and Shetland to the screen. She’s incredibly well read. People walk into our house, see all these books and say to me, ‘Have you read all these?’ I say, No, I haven’t but my wife has. I’ve read the Doctor Who annuals!’”

Capaldi outlines how Collins was developing a project about policing in a recognisable, modern London. “I said, that detective part sounds quite interesting. And I haven’t played a detective before. So I became involved then.”

Capaldi and Jumbo had worked together before. “I met her on Torchwoodwhen she seemed like a teenager to me,” he says of his co-star. “She was great. Then I directed her in a comedy called Getting On, with Jo Brand. And Elaine cast her in Vera as well. Cush also wrote a wonderful play about Josephine Baker, a one-woman show she did. So it’s just great to see her really blossoming – and we’d always said it could be nice to do something together. And this was ideal.”

The first meeting between their characters is one of the finest scenes in recent television history. A beautiful dance of power as Capaldi’s DCI Hegarty pushes back against Jumbo’s DS Lenker as she attemp