Elen Rhys and Julian Looman are back for a brand new season as Detectives Miranda Blake and Max Winter pursue more criminals under the Spanish sun in The Mallorca Files season 3.
After two seasons as part of the BBC1 daytime schedule, no-nonsense Brit Miranda and her laidback German partner Max have found a new home on Prime Video for their third season, but it’s very much business as usual for the chalk-and-cheese team as they bring more Balearic bandits to justice while the romantic tension between the two of them continues to simmer potently.
The new season begins with Max and Miranda investigating the disappearance of the local eccentric behind a high-profile treasure hunt — but Max is slightly preoccupied with the prospect of a visit from his father Thomas (Philippe Brenninkmeyer).
What To Watch caught up with Elen and Julian to find out more about what’s in store for season three…
Elen Rhys and Julian Looman interview for The Mallorca Files
Season two aired back in 2021, so it’s been a while since we last saw Max and Miranda. How does it feel to be back?
Elen: “I read the other day that it had been three years since season two aired, and I gasped! Filming season two was cut short because of the pandemic — we were supposed to do 10 and we only shot six, and we shot the last scenes without even knowing that they could have possibly been the last-ever scenes, so we were absolutely thrilled to come back with Prime Video.”
Did you find it hard to get back into Mallorca Files-mode after such a long break?
Julian: “That’s a good question — for me it was difficult, because when we finished season two I was 35, and when we came back I was 38. I’m not old, but in that time I’d become a father again, my second daughter was born, and I felt more grown-up so I was afraid that I’d outgrown being the ‘funny guy’, because there’s so much of your own spirit in there. So it took some time to get back into it.”
Elen: “It was funny, the first day on set, there was a moment of, like, ‘is it still working?’ The producer and the director and everyone was going ‘… yep, it’s good, it’s still there!'”
How do we find Max and Miranda at the start of season three?
Julian: “I think we’re basically picking up the loose ends we left the audience with, and we take a little deeper dive this time. We have a lot of fun, and I think if the audience loved seasons one and two, then season three will leave them with an open mouth!”
Elen: “Yeah, Amazon very much liked what the show was, and it was a case of more of the same, but it’s a lot bigger now in scale and more epic. At the heart of it, though, it’s still Max and Miranda and that ‘will they, won’t they?’ — exploring that a little bit more has been fun.”
Julian: “Yeah, the core of the show and the team remains the same — it still felt like the little family we were, but we’re on a bigger ship now. A cruise ship.”
Elen: “A superyacht!”
Max’s dad comes to visit in the opening episode. What can you tell us about their relationship?
Julian: “Max fled to Mallorca because he didn’t want to take over his dad’s company, he wanted to be his own boss. His dad comes to visit once in six years, and it’s never a big success because his dad expects more from him than he is willing to show or say. There’s a lot of friction there, a lot of disappointment.”
Elen: “I really enjoyed seeing that relationship — you go, ‘oh, it makes sense that Max is the way he is’, because we’ve seen that relationship with his dad.”
A later episode in season three sees them going undercover as a couple to catch a conman. Was that fun to film?
Elen: “Yeah, it was nice because it felt very different — pretending to be other people, but still keeping the banter between them. And there were very different looks for us as well, which was interesting!”
Julian: “I always think it’s funny — as actors we pretend to be Max and Miranda, and now we’re pretending to be Max and Miranda pretending to be someone else! And we had lovely cars in that episode, and great guest actors, so it was great fun.”
Elen: “Yeah, we get really good guest actors and it’s just a joy — it really elevates and energises us, and makes us look better! [laughs] People love coming to Mallorca — it’s kind of a working holiday, but people are always in such good spirits and so grateful to be there. It’s annoying though that we don’t have loads of time to hang out with them, because we’re kind of busy!”Â
There are all kinds of chase scenes and stunt sequences in the new season — what’s that side of the job like?
Elen: “It’s amazing! Every day is completely different, it’s just so cool the stuff we get to do — especially now it’s elevated and on a bigger scale, we get to drive speedboats and jetskis. I got my little powerboat licence, it was very cool!”
Julian: “When you watch the episode with the sharks, I was in that tank! That was great — when do you get to do that? That’s such a cool part of our jobs, that we can literally dive into other worlds.”
How do you feel about the romantic tension between Miranda and Max? Would you like to see them get together?
Julian: “I think that tension is always an important thing — if we lose the tension, we’ve lost a lot. Do I want to see it come to an end by getting them together? Not at the moment, I’m not ready for that yet! That’s me — maybe you want them to?”
Elen: “No! I think that’s what’s at the heart of the show. It’s interesting, because in season two, we were like, ‘we don’t want it to be one note, we don’t want to keep playing this will-they-won’t-they, it will get boring’, so I think it is important that it evolves constantly, but I think the moment they get together you’ll lose some of the magic!”
You film on location in Mallorca and it looks amazing — but are there any downsides?
Elen: “We usually film over the winter months — for seasons one and two, we filmed from November through to the end of May, which is the ideal time because it’s less busy and it’s less hot. But because of Julian’s work commitments, this time we had to film into the summer, and by the end of the summer it was like 40ºC [104ºF] — the last six weeks of filming were unbelievably hot! I don’t know how we got through it, really.”
Julian: “We got three sets of costumes everywhere we went.”
Elen: “We’d have to change costumes after every take because we’d be soaked!”
What do you think is the secret of the show’s success?
Julian: “I think the core of the show is Max and Miranda, seeing this relationship and living with them through everything. The cool thing about The Mallorca Files is that people love it for several reasons — some people love the crimes, and then you have people watching it for Mallorca because it’s a 45-minute holiday on your couch! And people love it for the story, the chemistry, the energy and the fun.”
Elen: “I think it allows people easy escapism, it’s not too taxing or heavy — it’s something you can giggle along with and watch with a smile on your face!”
- Season three of The Mallorca Files is available as a box set on Prime Video from Thursday August 8
