Daniel Mays teases “amazing climax” to Temple season 2

"I just love Temple as a show because it's one of those things that you literally can't sort of categorise," he said. "And the great thing about season two is that obviously we ended [season one] on this amazing cliffhanger – and what transpires with that is it's forcing the second series to kind of come out of the bunker and it's much more sort of street level. "

The first series focused on surgeon Daniel Milton (Mark Strong) who set up an illicit clinic in the tunnels below the Temple tube station, with the help of Mays' character Lee, in order to find a cure for his ill wife.

Throughout the course of the series, Milton became embroiled in a criminal underworld and had to make some very tough decisions – and it looks like he might end up regretting some of his earlier actions in the new run.

"All the stuff that he got up to in that first series, I would say that the second series is the consequences of those actions," Mays explained.

"In many respects, he was sort of playing God, wasn't he? Taking people's kidneys out – obviously to save his own wife – but all of those decisions that he made in the first series will come back to haunt him in season two. And it's a much more dark trajectory for Daniel Milton."

One of the things that makes the second series a rather different proposition than the first is that, whereas the initial run was based on the Norwegian series Valkyrien, this time around the story is wholly original – and Mays reckons that the new directions it goes in will "really surprise a lot of people".

"We had to kind of keep to the constraints of Valkyrien [in the first series]," he said. "And this time around the blinkers are off.

"We've got some amazing additions in terms of cast. We've got Rhys Ifans in it, who's playing a new character, Michael Smiley is in it, there are some wonderful new additions. So that's the beauty of the second series is that we just had free rein with it.

"They got all the writers room together and, I mean, my biggest compliment is that you're completely on the edge of your seat in terms of what's going to happen next. I love it because it's like a tapestry of storylines that just go off in different directions. And then they fuse and come together for this amazing climax again.

"I'll be fascinated to know what people think of the ending of Temple, because it kind of it sort of leaves it open to go any which way."

Temple returns to Sky Max on Thursday 28th October 2021. Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide or visit our Drama hub for all the latest news and features.