Category Archives: Police Culture

Young Wallender (2020)

From Netflix:

Rookie cop Kurt Wallander stumbles into a hate crime in his own neighborhood. As he hunts the killer, the incident fuels anti-immigration anger.

From Netflix you can stream the 6 episodes of this drama involving crime, gangs, romance, and white supremacists. Each episode lasts about 50 minutes.

Henning Mankell’s “Wallender” novels have been dramatized several times. Swedish and English versions can be streamed from many different sources. His novels take place in the Sweden of the 1970s. “Young Wallender” attempts to portray Kurt Wallender in his first job as a policeman. Instead of the 1970s, the setting is present-day (2020) Sweden. English is the original soundtrack although you can choose from many languages for sound and subtitles, none strangely enough in Swedish.

Appropriate to our era is the fact that the predominant theme of this series is the crusade of white supremacists against immigration. Throw in illegal weapons smuggling, sibling rivalry, disadvantaged blacks forming gangs, and a convincing romance to produce an exciting 6 episodes.

If you Google for “Young Wallander” you will find not only reviews but also debates over the conclusion. Beware of “spoilers.”

Even though the story seems to drag at times, I do not hesitate to strongly recommend this series.

A Confession (2019)

From IMDB:

Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher intends on catching a killer of a missing woman, even if that may cost him his career and reputation.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 6 episodes of this true  one season British TV crime story. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Using carefully researched material, this series documents a true, riveting, and frustratingly sad case in which DS Steve Fulcher of the Wiltshire police district successfully finds a serial killer only to have his career destroyed because he made a brave and clever decision that did not completely follow guidelines.

Do not be put off by the word “documentary” because this series is a very well done enactment that is anything but a presentation of dry facts.  All the characters come to life in moments of grief, anger, loneliness and love.   Wiltshire police department concern with public relations is maddening and, thanks to this series, fully exposed.

Once again there are many familiar British actors:

  • For me the biggest surprise was the appearance of the actor Joe Absolom who plays the serial killer Christopher Halliwell.  You may recognize him as the young man Al Large who was the son of the very LARGE Bert Large in Doc Martin.  He seems so much older in “Confession” and plays the part of a clever, intelligent but stricken serial killer very well.
  • Siobhan Finneran (who plays Elaine Pickford) played Clare Cartwright in the wonderfully unhappy series Happy Valley. Her acting resumé is enormous.
  • Imelda Staunton (who plays Karen Edwards) is another seasoned British actor with a huge resumé.  Her role as the abortionist Vera Drake was remarkable.

Sorry for the “Do Not Miss” inflation, but DO NOT MISS!

Black Work (2015)

From Acorn TV:

This powerful crime thriller written by Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies) dives into the murky depths of undercover police work and tells the story of a woman willing to risk everything to protect her family. Sheridan Smith (Jonathan Creek, Accused) delivers a powerhouse performance as Jo Gillespie, a police constable who embarks on a dangerous investigation of her husband’s death.

From Acorn TV you can stream the 3 episodes of this series. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Because this engrossing procedural, which takes place in Leeds, involves so many facets, for a while I could not imagine the story ending in a mere 3 episodes. Have no fear, the conclusion is quite satisfying.

You can hear various accents include the Scottish accent of Douglas Henshall and the Yorkshire accent of others, especially the character Zoe Nash.

Familiar faces abound:

  •     Matthew McNulty, who plays Jack, was Steve Campbell in the wonderful Deadwater Fellwhich is also found on Acorn TV.
  •    Geraldine James, who plays CC Carolyn Jarecki,  was 65 years old in the filming. Her resumé is enormous.
  •   Douglas Henshall, who plays DCS Hepburn,  was DI Jimmy Pere in Shetland.  He appears in many familiar series.
  •   Was there ever a more familiar veteran than Phil Davis ( who plays Tom Piper) ? He has played in everything (slight exaggeration but just take a glance at his IMDB entry).

For most of the 3 episodes I spent much time trying to figure out who is corrupt. There are a lot of name to remember, but names are used a lot. And some of those names are bad guys, so stay alert.

So well done that I feel obliged to say DO NOT MISS!

Deadly Seasons (2017)

From Amazon Prime:

A mysterious Superintendent with a troubled past teams up with a young, reckless female inspector to solve a series of troubling murders.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 4 episodes of this French detective series. Each episode lasts a bit more than an hour and a half.  Spoken French with English subtitles.

No visual punches are pulled in these episodes: nudity, beheadings, headless naked bodies entwined and other delights.

What is even more of a novelty is that Mariella de Luca, the “young reckless female inspector,”  at night dons a disguise, including a silver wig, and has sex with male strangers she finds online.

Each episode features a separate crime,  while underlying all four episodes are two themes:

  • What happened to the missing adult son of Commissaire Rousseau,  Marielle’s boss?
  • Can Marielle ever find true love instead of being sexually promiscuous?

By the end of the last episode both questions are resolved.  And while getting to that end we can all enjoy a few visual shocks.

 

The Valhalla Murders (2020)

From IMDB:

Police profiler Arnar is sent back home from Oslo to his native Iceland to investigate the country’s first serial killer case. He teams up with the local senior cop Kata.

From Netflix you can stream the 8 episodes of this Norwegian detective series. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Orphanages in which the boys are sexually molested is a theme that has been used several times in other dramas.  In that sense there is a sameness to this series that seems a bit copycat. It takes 8 episodes to find the predator, deal with police bureaucracy,  and fight a conspiracy to cover up the murders and rapes.  Expect at times to suspend disbelief:  injured cops heroically save lives,  TV commentators miraculously save the day, etc.  Sometimes I am happy that a too convenient solution relieves the tension.

Along the way the divorced Kata has trouble with her son while the unusually taciturn Arnar must fight his own personal demons.

Despite any flaws, the clever obstacles created by the bad guys, the personal stories, and the action sequences kept me glued.

The Silence (2010)

From Acorn TV:

Deaf teenager Amelia (Genevieve Barr, Liar) wants to adjust to the hearing world and escape her overprotective parents (Hugh Bonneville & Gina McKee). But when she witnesses a murder, it jeopardizes the career of her homicide-detective uncle (Douglas Henshall, Shetland) and endangers her whole family. “A stunningly well-made thriller…taut, suspenseful and earth-shatteringly well written” –Express.

From Acorn TV you can stream the 4 episodes of this Irish thriller. Each episode is about an hour.

Talk about tense! In Shetland Douglas Henshall’s character DI Jimmy Perez is calm, thoughtful, persistent, and competent.  In “The Silence” his detective character Jim (characters as found in IMDB have no last names) is persistent, competent, not corrupt, however anything but calm.  And no wonder! His deaf niece Amelia witnesses one corrupt cop murder another cop by running her down with an automobile.  Jim is faced with protecting her while fighting to convince his fellow officers that there are clever, bent cops in the precinct who murder and are drug dealers.  Moreover, because of his exasperated demeanor those bent cops can easily persuade Jim’s  colleagues that Jim has mental problems, which reminds us of Trump’s method of discrediting anyone who disagrees with him.

You will probably recognize some of the other actors such as:

From IMDB we learn some personal facts about the deaf actress Genevieve Barr:  Genevieve Barr was born deaf and normally uses hearing aids. For her role as Amelia, who has just had a cochlear implant fitted, she was required to remove her hearing aids. She also had to learn sign language which she had never done before because she had always relied on her hearing aids supplemented by lip reading.

You might be astounded, disappointed, angry, puzzled, or all of the above after the last (fourth) episode finishes. But that is a notable feature of British plots:  why waste time on the details of an expected warm-feeling finale?  You can figure out for yourself what will happen next. However, if it makes you feel any better, rest assured there are many “outraged” reviews. Here is just one such review from IMDB:

What a Shame!

jeanjeannie3815 July 2010
I watched this, potentially brilliant, mini serial for each of its four days. Each day I really looked forward to the next episode. However, having now watched the whole series, I have reached the conclusion that the drama should have continued for five days instead of four. The fourth episode could very easily have concluded with a cliffhanger concerning the main character. This would have enabled the drama to end in a much more satisfying way. Instead, after watching four days of a truly gripping thriller, the ending was very disappointing. I don’t think merely leaving your audience with a good idea of the probably outcome of a drama is a patch on concluding with a fully rounded ending. Instead of the series concluding in a way that left me pleased I have invested my time and energy in it, I was left feeling it had been cut short because the writer (or director) had simply run out of steam. On the plus side the acting, especially of those playing the two leading characters, was first class.
Don’t listen to them. This is one really good thriller!
DO NOT MISS!

Rebus (2000)

From IMDB:

DI John Rebus is a hard drinking, unkempt, womanizing police officer whose job is his whole life. He is the most senior and most experienced DI at his station. He has a mysterious past that his partner DS Siobhan Clarke learns about from time to time through various comments Rebus makes. She is a young woman who wants to succeed, but does not have much of a personal life. She feels being paired with Rebus jeopardizes her career because of his unorthodox methods, but she is also fascinated by the man and is extremely loyal. DI Rebus’ boss is Chief Superintendent Templar, a woman who was one of Rebus’ lovers in a distant past. Their relationship is now one where they barely tolerate each other.

From Acorn TV:

Based on the novels by Ian Rankin, this gritty crime drama stars Laurence Olivier Award winner Ken Stott (The Hobbit) as gruff Scottish detective John Rebus. The world-weary policeman investigates the grisly crimes that mar Edinburgh’s historic streets in these sharply written and intricately plotted mysteries.

From Acorn TV you can stream seasons 2,3,and 4. Season 1, which is described in IMDB, seems to be missing. Season 2 has 2 episodes. Season 3 has 4 episodes.  Season 4 has 4 episodes. Each episode is a complete story.  Each episodes lasts approximately 68 minutes.

Fans of Ian Rankin should enjoy these well-done adaptations with interesting and compelling plots.  Only one, season 4 episode 1 (Resurrection Men)  stands out as especially violent.

Beautiful Claire Price plays Rebus’ long-suffering partner, DS Siobhan Clarke (which is pronounced “sha-von”.) Jennifer Black plays DCS Gill Templer.

As is common in many detective stories, Rebus is a heavy smoking quasi alcoholic.  In all fairness, however, people as portrayed in the British isles and in my own experience drink A LOT of alcohol. In one of the more recent Ian Rankin novels, Rebus’ unhealthy lifestyle catches up with him.

The ABC Murders (2019)

From Amazon Prime:

1933. Hercule Poirot, older and greyer, receives letters threatening murder. The sender signs themselves only as “A.B.C.” When he takes the letters to the police looking for help, Hercule finds all his old friends have moved on. But soon there is a murder and the once-great detective must take matters into his own hands.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 3 one-hour episodes of this complete story.

John Malkovich  stars as the aging Hercule Poirot in this S L O W moving presentation. “Bizarre” is the adjective that springs to my mind. Eamon Farren portrays the creepy Cust. To give you an idea of “creepy”,  Cust pays a prostitute to walk on his back with stiletto heeled shoes.  You may well be surprised by certain plot turns.

Not a waste of time, but certainly not to everyone’s taste.

 

 

London Kills (2019)

From IMDB:

With the world’s most recognizable city as its backdrop, LONDON KILLS will dramatize the experiences of a team of top murder detectives. Slick, modern and fast moving, the series will be shot like a cutting-edge documentary. Each episode of LONDON KILLS will focus on a different murder following the detectives as they uncover the truth behind the killing but will also have a serial story involving the lead detective’s missing wife.

From Acorn TV:

London’s best detectives take on its worst crimes in this sleek mystery series from the creator of Suspects. DI David Bradford (Hugo Speer, Father Brown) heads an elite murder squad, but the one case he can’t crack is the one closest to him – the disappearance of his wife. Also starring Sharon Small (The Inspector Lynley Mysteries), Bailey Patrick (Bodyguard), and Tori Allen-Martin (Unforgotten).

JULY 2019 ADDENDUM:

From Acorn TV you can now stream both season one and season two.  Season two also consists of 5 episodes. Finally in season two we learn what happened to Bradford’s wife and what he has been hiding from his team. Nonetheless, season two leaves enough unsolved threads so that there could be a season three.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

From Acorn TV you can stream the first season on this detective series. Each of the 5 episodes last about 45 minutes.  Although the 5 episodes of the first season bring an investigation to a close, throughout all the seasons there is the continuing mystery of what happened to DI Bradford’s wife. In addition the investigation in the first season is closely related to that disappearance.

As far as detective series go, this one is on a par with most and offers some genuine suspense and character portrayal. Season one’s villain is effectively creepy.

Not bad!

 

Amnesia (2004)

From Acorn TV:

Hailed by Variety as “fascinating” with “a top-notch cast,” this psychological thriller stars John Hannah (The Mummy) as DS Mack Stone, who, while searching for his missing wife, uncovers a possible murder masked by a claim of amnesia. But as Stone investigates, he begins to doubt his own memories. Co-starring Jemma Redgrave (Bramwell), Anthony Calf (New Tricks), and Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey).

From Acorn TV you can stream this 2 episode series. Each episode lasts about 75 minutes.

Chances are you will spend most of the 150 minutes as a captive audience  trying to decide who is lying, who murdered a wife, and who really has amnesia.

What a difference 14 years can make in a person’s appearance.  You will probably recognize the Scottish actor John Hannah (who played Batiatus in two Spartacus TV series),  Jemma Redgrave (a member of the famous family of actors) and Brendon Coyle (who played John Bates in Downton Abbey).

From the very beginning of the series you learn that DS Mack Stone continues to be traumatized by the disappearance of his wife and obsesses over not only his missing wife but also whether John Dean (played by Anthony Calf), who claims to suffer from complete amnesia about his past life, is really a wife-murdering serial killer. Also intimately involved in these problems is Brendon Coyle’s character D.C. Ian Reid.

Your own obsessing over what is really going on is time well spent watching this well-done story.