Sophie Rundle is back as newly promoted detective Jo Marshall in ITV's hit series After the Flood
20:25, 15 Jan 2026Updated 21:29, 15 Jan 2026
After the Flood returns this Sunday night, 18 January, with an exciting and explosive second series.
The first series saw an unidentified man found dead in an underground car park after a devastating flood with PC Jo Marshall, played by Sophie Rundle, commissioned to investigate the truth of the man's death with devastating and shocking revelations.
The second series of After the Flood sees newly promoted detective Jo on the trail of a baffling new murder investigation. As tensions simmer in Waterside amid the rising threat of moorland fires and the subsequent risk of further flooding, a body is discovered in bizarre circumstances.
Jo's race to stop the killer brings her into direct conflict with powerful and influential forces within the town, ultimately drawing her into an investigation that becomes deeply personal.
The investigation will require her to operate in secret if she is to have any hope of rooting out the corruption that has blighted the town's police force - and her own family - for decades.
Talking about the new series and filming, Sophie, 37, exclusively told us: "It's really nice coming back to something that has been recommissioned because people watched it and because people liked it, you know, and I think that's obviously the only way you can kind of judge whether people want a series two.
"It's really lovely coming back, you meet people when you're out and about and they often say, 'Oh, we loved After the Flood, we loved that one', so it's really nice when you go back to something and you think, 'Okay, to a degree, I think we got that right' and I think people liked it and people kind of want more, so that is always a really nice starting point.
"And 99% of the crew was the same crew from series one so there was a lovely kind of consistency there and it's a great part and it's a great, very well-drawn, well-built world that lends itself really well to continuing on the story, I think, and kind of expanding out into a second season.
"There's more new characters come in, so yeah, it felt like we started from a really robust place and it was just a really nice one to come back to."
Elsewhere during the chat, Sophie opened up on the challenges of managing filming and motherhood, praising the ITV show for letting her work four days a week in order to manage both.
Sophie is in a relationship with fellow actor Matt Stokoe, who is best known for starring as Alex in Channel 4 series Misfits. He plays detective Pat Holman in After the Flood, who is the husband of Sophie's character Jo. Sophie and Matt have two sons together, a four-year-old and one-year-old.
The Peaky Blinders and Gentleman Jack star admitted of filming, which took three to four months: "It was hard, it was hard going because I have a four-year-old. My eldest son turned four and then my youngest son turned one.
"So there's the huge juggle of trying to be mum and trying to be, you know, me as an actor. And that is always really, really hard for anybody, a parent who tries to work. It's very difficult.
"But I had a wonderful team and production were amazing actually. And they configured the schedule so that I could work four consecutive days a week and then I would get three days off so I could come home and be with the boys and be with the family.
"It was great because this show is about a woman trying to find a balance between motherhood, herself as a mother, and herself as a professional. They allowed me to do that in my real life as well. It was such a lovely job and it was so fun to do."
Teasing what's to come with series two of After the Flood, Sophie said: "I guess in a way, in the same way that Jo [her character] just kind of goes hurtling down that rabbit hole, so does the show, you know, it goes right to the brink.
"It's a really good, well-deserved continuation of season two. There's so much more story to be explored in it and it does go there, you know, it gives you that gripping murder mystery element.
"But you also think at this point, you really care about these characters and you're rooting for them. So you want to find out what happens. I think the show, it serves that."
After the Flood returns on Sunday, 18 January, airing weekly on Sundays and Mondays on ITV. All episodes are available on ITVX.
For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website.