The Valhalla Murders
Some of these foreign police series are from way back. First from BBC 4 comes The Valhalla Murders, set in Iceland and notable for the parachuting in of a detective from Norway, the tall guy at the back. Not my favourite of these recent series, I found it hard to keep up with the plot.
DNA
Much better was this mystery detective series, this time from Denmark. And again on BBC 4. Set in Copenhagen, Northern Jutland and Poland, Yet again it does have yet another specialist drafted in, this time Charlotte Rampling as French detective Claire Bobin. And as well as the French Connection, there is also a link to a convent in Poland. And of course DNA. There were eight episodes, although it should have been less, it was too slow at times. But the last two episodes were exciting even if the conclusion was identical to a thousand thrillers that have gone before.
The Nordic Murders
On Channel 4 comes Nordic Murders, and we are off to Germany. Actually the action is set on the Island (peninsular?) of Usedom in what was the north of East Germany on the Baltic Sea. Just over the border is Poland (again) where we visit on occasions. This location is therefore one of the best things about the series, great photography and visually stunning. Each episode is a separate story so that was good. Not a lot of plot, more a character study of investigator Julia and her ex-con mother Karin who was the district prosecutor. Yes! However, the series soon disappeared from Channel 4 so will wait for it's return?
Monster
Channel 4 again and we are in Arctic Norway near the Russian border. Once more it's isolation leads to a detective arriving to help. But he doesn't. Poor Hedda, (the most unglamorous and unlikely female tv detective ever) out of her depth and with boss Ed soon to retire (both above) she finds it hard to communicate with the new Dreyer. It takes the difficulties of new partners to a whole new, violent level! A complicated plot, not a lot of dialogue but it's all about the scenery. I didn't have a clue of what was going on half the time, but it was curiously addictive.
Rebecka Martinsson: Arctic Murders
This was weird. I came across the second series of this Channel 4 series (it is also on Sky so will be there for ever) , and having watched the first episode, I found that Series 1 was on catch-up. So back to it's first episode. But the lead detective (Rebecka) seemed different, very weird. But investigating on Google, I found that the actress had changed for Series 2. The setting is the far north of Sweden, is everybody trying to get more north that the other? So we have snow and ice in the depths of winter as lawyer Rebecka returns to her home town of Kiruna. And murders. Currently watching in tandem with Spiral.
Spiral
I think I must have watched all the series of Spiral, the French crime series on BBC 4 set in the dark side of Paris. We have now reached the final series and the team is in trouble after the disasters of the previous episodes. It seems a long time since we last saw Laure and Gilou. But the photography of Paris is as great as ever especially the chase sequences with a hand held camera. Watch this space.
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