Charlie’s back! First look at Bergerac season two

5 November 2025 21:55

Here’s our first glimpse of Zoë in the second season of broadcaster U’s Jersey crime drama Bergerac, which will air in 2026 (click/tap on the photo to see the full version). She returns as smart, witty Charlie Hungerford, mother-in-law to maverick detective Jim Bergerac (played by Damien Moloney).

Charlie is pictured at what looks like a party with her granddaughter Kim (Chloé Sweetlove) and new character Nigel (Adrian Edmondson), who U’s latest Bergerac press release describes as ‘a charming new presence in Charlie’s life’. Sounds intriguing!

Indeed, season two will find Charlie and Bergerac beginning to rebuild their lives following the loss of Charlie’s daughter shortly before the first season. And, of course, there’ll be another tricky case for Bergerac to solve – this time involving the murder of a newly-wed husband.

As with the first season, which became the second most-watched programme in the TV channel’s history with 1.8 million viewers, all six episodes of Bergerac season two will be shown on U&DRAMA, as well as available on its streaming service. Specific broadcast dates haven’t yet been announced, though if season two is anything like the first one, which debuted in February this year, we hopefully won’t have long to wait.

In the meantime, you might like to relive some of the best moments from season one on YouTube.

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Edge of Darkness at 40

2 November 2025 18:09

Incredibly, Edge of Darkness, the landmark 1985 BBC drama series about police detective Ronnie Craven’s quest to find his environmental activist daughter’s killers, will be 40 years old on 4 November. Zoë plays the enigmatic intelligence agent Clemmy, the only person Craven (played by the much-missed Bob Peck) grows close to in the run-up to his final, desperate attempt to uncover the truth about the murder.

‘It’s hard to believe this mighty thriller [by Troy Kennedy Martin] turns 40 this week; many will remember it like it was yesterday,’ emphasises the Radio Times magazine (1-7 November edition). Indeed, Edge of Darkness made such a huge impression on BBC Two viewers in 1985 that it was almost immediately repeated on the channel’s mainstream counterpart, BBC One.

The six-part drama’s 40th anniversary is being celebrated on BBC Four. Last night, another member of the cast, Ian McNeice, shared his memories of making what he described as one of the best pieces of work with which he’s been involved. Then the first two episodes were broadcast.

Zoë’s character will be introduced next Saturday, 8 November, when episodes three and four are screened from 9:30pm. If you don’t want to wait till then, you can stream the whole series now on the BBC iPlayer.

Clemmy is beautifully written and beautifully acted, and Edge of Darkness, which was directed by Martin Campbell, is widely regarded as one of the finest TV dramas ever made. 40 years on, the programme feels as fresh – and challenging – as ever.

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Halloween puzzles featuring Poirot’s Ariadne Oliver

29 October 2025 15:55

Fancy curling up by the fire and exercising your ‘little grey cells’ this Halloween? Then you’ll be pleased to hear the official Agatha Christie website has shared some spooky season puzzles that are perfect for Zoë Wanamaker fans.

There’s a digital jigsaw puzzle featuring Zoë as the delightfully eccentric crime writer Ariadne Oliver and David Suchet’s fastidious private detective Hercule Poirot. You may recognise the photo – it’s from ‘Halloween Party’, the 2010 Poirot episode about an evening’s entertainment that takes a dark turn. The programme is available on streaming services such as ITVX – I’m keen to re-watch it as part of my Halloween celebrations!

Plus, there’s an Ariadne Oliver-themed word search to solve.

Enjoy - and I hope all Zoe’s fans have a terrifyingly good Halloween!

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Zoë joins Professor T seasons 4 and 5 as Jasper’s aunt

20 October 2025 13:31

Zoë has joined the cast of the fourth and fifth seasons of ITV’s hugely successful crime drama Professor T. The show focuses on a troubled genius, Cambridge criminologist Prof. Jasper Tempest (Ben Miller), who helps the police solve challenging murder cases. Zoë is introduced at the beginning of season four as Zelda Radclyffe, Jasper’s artistic, quirky aunt, who’s house-sitting for her sister Adelaide (Frances de la Tour) - and soon runs into an old flame...

TV Zone UK reports that season four will air on ITV1 and ITVX during 2026, though specific dates haven’t yet been announced. Filming has been completed for both seasons four and five, with viewers in the US having already been able to watch all six episodes of season four on PBS.

Zelda’s arrival in Professor T comes at a particularly difficult time for her nephew. Jasper is grieving after the tragic death of his colleague and former student, DS Lisa Donckers, and has actively been avoiding working with the police for several months. His therapist, Dr Helena Goldberg (Juliet Stevenson) tries to help him while he wrestles with traumatic flashbacks.

Telly Visions helpfully summarises (with the aid of plot spoilers) the previous three seasons of Professor T for anyone (like me!) who hasn’t seen it before. It also discusses what happens in each episode of season four (again, there are plenty of spoilers).

As well as working on Professor T, Zoe finished filming the second season - another six episodes - of the equally compelling, Jersey-set crime drama Bergerac this summer for broadcaster U. Hopefully that will also grace our screens in 2026. For now, let’s enjoy some of her smart-as-a-whip character Charlie Hungerford’s best moments from season one on YouTube.

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The website’s 23rd birthday ♡

29 July 2025 16:09

I have to take a deep breath as I write this, but unbelievably, 30 July 2025 will mark 23 years since the launch of zoewanamaker.com (or geocities.com/zwsite as it was back then).

To celebrate the occasion, I’ve asked my friend’s daughter, the brilliantly talented young artist Emily (aka ‘E Smi’), to sketch a portrait of Zoë.

You can click on/tap the image for a bigger version.

As her reference, Emily used what must surely be one of the loveliest photos of Zoë ever taken. The finished artwork is even more wonderful than I’d hoped. Emily has captured Zoë’s delicate, distinctive features beautifully.

Sincere thanks to Emily and her mum Debra for making this celebration possible. You can see more of Emily’s fantastic artwork and even purchase prints on her own website.

I’m also extremely grateful to my family, Zoë’s PA Vanessa, and of course Zoë herself for believing in the project I dreamt up as a teenager: to create a website about my favourite actress for the benefit of other fans.

Liz x

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