The stalker from Baby Reindeer is back: she is the talk of television after the success of Netflix, now Jessica Gunning returns in a new series of The Outlaws, the crime film that made her famous…

Given all the conflict plaguing the world, The Outlaws has a very human message underlying the premise of seven misfit criminals who come together while performing community service.

When it returns for a third series, its creator Stephen Merchant, who was behind The Office and is one of the most acclaimed writers on television today, says it was conceived as something deeper than a comedy.

“Part of the impetus was to take people with very different backgrounds, who come from different walks of life and have different points of view, and see if they could find common ground,” says Stephen.

‘The fun of the show is creating these unlikely friendships. We have John and Myrna, a right-wing loudmouth and a left-wing activist. They were polar opposites and now they are firm friends. “They have bridged the gap.”

The story began in 2021 with Stephen’s character, Greg, a recently divorced lawyer who had been caught in a compromising situation with a prostitute, doing community service with petty criminals.

In the first series, they confronted dangerous drug dealer Dean (Claes Bang) after they found a bag of his ill-gotten cash and spent it without realizing he was following them.

In the second season, the dean forced them to deal drugs to pay him back, but they planned their revenge by planting cocaine in his car in the hopes that it would put him behind bars.

In the third season, which arrives two years later, the group moved on with their lives but stayed in touch.

Then a body turns up, and when it becomes clear that the dean can avoid jail and the gang is accused of murder, they must do everything they can to prove their innocence.

Fans will be delighted to know that all their favorites have returned, including the show’s most unlikely star, Hollywood legend Christopher Walken, and Jessica Gunning, who has since gained widespread recognition as stalker Martha in the Netflix hit Baby Reindeer .

She’s been great fun as the deluded Diane, the community recovery officer desperate to be a policewoman, and it was this role that led to Baby Reindeer.

“Diane is persistent, ruthless and no-nonsense, she never misses a trick…or so she thinks!” Jessica laughs.

“He does the best he can and I don’t think there’s anything he wants more than to become a police officer.” Perhaps an American detective, she is Cagney & Lacey’s number one fan. Does she get there? You’ll have to wait and see.

Now she’s a police community support officer with a protégé who may or may not be alert to what the Outlaws are doing.

From the beginning, Stephen welcomed improvisation while filming in his home town of Bristol, and Jessica was so good at it that before this series she asked him to join the show’s writing team.

He co-wrote the fifth and final episode with Stephen. “I feel very lucky to have been invited into the writers’ room,” Jessica says.

“I was always involved and liked seeing how it was done, and I think Stephen recognized that. I’ve learned a lot from him and the writers and it was a real honor to see it all come to life.”

Stephen, who also writes, directs and produces the show, says it certainly does. “The problems the gang thought they had buried remain unburied,” he says.

‘With each series we try to increase the tension, drama and humor. In the new series it’s fine.

However, the elements of friendship are as important as ever. When we meet Greg again, he is living platonically with troubled aristocrat Lady Gabby (Eleanor Tomlinson), trying to fix her life.

She, meanwhile, has her own plans. ‘Gabby is living the good life. She’s sober and wants to have a baby,” says former Poldark star Eleanor.

‘He has a new girlfriend, but is she the one he wants to have a baby with? And who is going to be the father?

For Stephen, the whole experience is a dream come true. “It’s a real pleasure to be in the city where I was born,” he says.

‘The dream was always to return to my hometown, see the people I knew, my family, introduce the city to actors who had not worked here before and make them feel part of the show. “It is very much a love letter to Bristol.”

The Outlaws, Thursday, 9pm, BBC1 and BBC iPlayer.