It's been five years since the illusionist-detective Jonathan Creek vanished from our screens. So what, you may wonder, has caused him to rise from his box now. Could it be public demand? Nostalgia? Or is Alan Davies struggling to get by on his earnings from QI?

No, the answer, according to Creek creator David Renwick, consists of two elements: laziness, and a rather special actress. It's a funny sort of laziness that involves a year's hard work writing and directing, but the alternative - coming up with a whole new programme - was even more daunting.

“It was a sort of safe decision.” admits Renwick, most famous for writing One Foot in the Grave. “I had three options. Retire. Or go away for the best part of six months and struggle to come up with something else, sit down and write it, and then try to interest someone else in it. Or I could resurrect Jonathan Creek.”

But it wasn't just the “safe decision” that appealed to him. “The other catalyst was the idea of working with Sheridan Smith,” he says. Smith, a perky blonde who has been building her name through Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Love Soup and playing Smithy's sister in Gavin and Stacey, follows Caroline Quentin and Julia Sawalha as Creek's latest sidekick. Smith happily admits that the role provided her with an unusual challenge. “He's [Renwick] written this feisty little northern character, and I am really honoured because he's such a great writer. I have always played chavs and slappers so I wasn't used to being an intelligent young girl.” Of course, Creek wouldn't be Creek without the tousle-haired main character. But can he weave his anti-magic on viewers again? Renwick has few illusions about reviving popular TV characters: “People say, Oh Jonathan Creek's coming back. Fantastic.' And then they watch it and go: ‘God, what a mistake.' Which is what happened with One Foot in the Grave. So I tend to expect the worst.”

Jonathan Creek is on New Year's Day, BBC One, 9pm

HOWDUNNIT? CRACK THESE CREEK CONUNDRUMS

A drug-dealer is killed in the cellar of a remote, riverside house. His corpse is found months later having climbed up the stairs. How?

The house was situated in a valley prone to flooding, and when the river burst its banks the corpse floated to the top of the stairs.

A former model is killed in her garden one morning. How could she be up and about that evening, talking to reliable witness Kathleen?

It wasn't evening at all. The killer had rigged lights outside Kathleen's window to fake longer days and confuse her perception of time.

An elderly lady dreams of the murder of a businessman. Her premonition turns out to be exact.

The man was suicidal and recorded a CD of his “murder” to frame a rival. It was stolen and ended up on the lady's auto-changing CD player. She then heard it in her sleep.

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