Speaking before the Moonflower murders broadcast on BBC OneManville was asked about the moment in the new season where her character Susan and Alan Conway’s fictional creation Atticus Pünd, played by Timothy McMullan, first come together.

Manville said: “I wonder what she thought about it and I don’t really know if she thought, going back and investigating a book again, that she would have these ‘manifestations’ of Pünd.

“Anthony Horowitz handled this very well, and it was one of the great successes and surprises for all the millions of Anthony Horowitz fans who knew the book so well.

“If you read the books, they’re divided into two distinct halves. You get the 1950s halves – the story of the Alan Conway book mystery so to speak – and then you get the world of Susan Ryeland.

“Well, of course, in a TV series you couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be very satisfying, so Anthony has merged the two worlds, and he does it brilliantly. I think the first time, his fans fans were so taken with me, I’m surprised by the intersection of the two worlds, because Pünd and Susan have a really rather charming relationship.”

Manville continued: “He’s a manifestation of her imagination, but there’s also a very nice connection between them. She must have thought ‘is he going to appear to me again?’, and sure enough, he does it.

“It’s his own battle with his own conscience. He’s the other half of his conscience and his conscience and it’s a delightful, witty, playful, piquant and quite adoring relationship.

Learn more:

“I think when we did Magpie Murders, we wanted to create our own style. We’re into that genre, but we wanted to create our own thing. It started with the scripts and having Anthony do this fantastic thing of ‘ let’s go for it’. marry these two worlds and see if we can cross them.”

“There were some wonderful shots where you have my red car racing around the Suffolk countryside, and then the little old Morris Minor from the 1950s with Pünd and his sidekick, who Matthew Beard played, speeding in the other direction, then the story takes you with them.

“It was really beautifully done, and I think Peter Cattaneo, who directed Magpie, set a really good tone, and I also think Murray (Gold)’s music was really helpful in helping it all along.

“And I remember the first time I saw the opening credits, I just thought, yeah, that’s absolutely the right tone. It’s got this kind of retro feel, style.”

Manville also recently teased the plot of the new season, saying it’s “quite unexpected, certainly for Susan“.

Moonflower Murders kicks off with a double billing at 9.15pm and 10.20pm on Saturday 16 November on BBC One.

Discover more of our Drama cover or visit our TV guide And Streaming Guide to find out what’s going on. For more on TV’s biggest stars, listen The Radio Times podcast.