The explosive new season is said to be "the best yet" and returns to TV screens after three years.14:56, 02 Aug 2026A gripping detective drama, perfect for fans of Bergerac, is returning to screens tonight.‌Starring Marc Warren as Piet van der Valk, and based on the original series that aired from 1972 to 1992, Van Der Valk premiered on ITV in 2020.‌Its fourth season is now hitting screens, after the third aired in 2023, with Piet returning to face a new series of homicide cases.‌Maimie McCoy is also back as Inspecteur Lucienne Hassell, while Sergeant Eddie Suleman is played by Azan Ahmed, Darrell D’Silva serves as team pathologist Hendrik Davie and Emma Fielding plays Chief Commissaris Julia Dahlman.The series, adapted from Nicolas Freeling’s crime thriller novels, is filmed and based in Amsterdam, and the new instalments are set to be the most explosive yet.‌Writer Chris Murray said: “We are 100% series that this is the best series of Van Der Valk we’ve done so far. Three strong, contrasting, resolving films flooded with our distinctive team dynamic but this time with the added spice of Piet’s combative ex-girlfriend turning up at the same time as one of our team has to confront their own mortality.”ITV also teased: “The return of Van Der Valk sees the Dutch detective and his team solving three more homicides in the city.“In the first episode the death of a whistleblower under police protection prior to a court hearing means Van Der Valk and his team are called in to make sure the second witness makes it to court.‌“The situation is complicated by the fact that the protection officer in charge of the first victim is Kalie Tenkers, a former flame of Piet’s.“Fair to say there is no love lost between the two, especially when he suggests she might have been involved in the killing…”‌Ahead of the series airing, star Marc also discussed how explosive the new episodes are, saying “it felt like a bigger show”.When asked what viewers could expect from the new season, he said: “What it felt like, and I felt it really strongly in episode one, it felt like a bigger show.“It seemed like we had more crew and there was more going on. In episode one particularly it was quite an intricate show, lots of cars and explosions and stunts, and it felt like the whole show had gone up a level. It’s a very impressive episode.”Article continues belowHe added: “Episode one was about a crime family and one of those members of that crime family being a whistle-blower. It’s about a big explosion, about trying to protect somebody, witness protection.“And it also sees Van Der Valk being reintroduced to an old flame. I was there when they filmed the explosion and saw it with my own eyes. It was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be, and they made sure that we were all quite a long way back.”Van Der Valk returns to ITV on Sunday at 8pm.