Shakespeare & Hathaway’s Jo Joyner has revealed that the first series of the daytime detective drama featured a kiss scene that was cut.
Joyner plays Lu Shakespeare, the rookie sidekick to Mark Benton’s hard-boiled private investigator Frank Hathaway, in the BBC production.
The programme – at the time the biggest drama launch for BBC daytime since Father Brown in 2013 – returns this month for a second series.
Joyner, 41, said she and Benton had gone off script and spontaneously kissed during filming for the first series.
Pleased to say that #shakespeareandhathaway season 2 starts February 25th BBC and iPlayer at your leisure pic.twitter.com/gDrXOHdOLZ
— Jo Joyner (@dollyjoyner) February 13, 2019
She expressed dismay that the impromptu moment was eventually cut, suggesting it would have been “quite fun” to keep it in.
Joyner said: “We put one in last series and it got cut.
“There was a really nice bit where we were going to chase somebody and I had to get the hat off the back seat in disguise.
“It just happened naturally when we were filming it. I went like ‘that’ and Mark went: ‘What you doing? What you doing?’
“’Getting my hat’, but they cut it unfortunately, because I do think it would be quite fun.”
Excited! pic.twitter.com/AMLJLxhQGY
— mark benton (@markbenton100) February 8, 2019
Ex-Waterloo Road actor Benton said he thought it best not to break the sexual tension between their characters, hinting viewers would find out more.
He said: “It’s a funny one that, because you want to keep the possibility there, but I think if you go too far that way it might ruin the dynamic between them.
“There is an episode later on where you do find out the back story.”
Joyner, best known for her role as Tanya Branning in EastEnders, added: “You find out about the fondness for them.
“There’s a really unbreakable bond between the two of them. There’s a real loyalty there.”
Shakespeare & Hathaway – Private Investigators returns on BBC One on Monday February 25.