Latest news with #JussiAdler-Olsen
Spectator
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Style, wit and pace: Netflix's Dept. Q reviewed
Can you imagine how dull a TV detective series set in a realistic Scottish police station would be? Inspector Salma Rasheed would have her work cut out that's for sure: the wicked gamekeeper on the grisly toff's estate who murdered a hen harrier and then blamed its decapitation on an innocent wind turbine; the haggis butcher who misgendered his vegetarian assistant; the Englishman who made a joke on Twitter about a Scotsman going to the chippy and ordering a deep-fried can of Coke… It would get lots of awards, obviously, but I doubt it would do that well in the ratings. But you needn't worry about Dept. Q (Netflix). Though it is set in a police station in Edinburgh it bears about as much relation to contemporary Scotland, Scottish policing or indeed Edinburgh as, say, Midsomer Murders does to real-life English villages. Perhaps this is because – based on a novel by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and originally set in Copenhagen – it derives from the Scandi-noir genre where every other person in the bleak, washed-out countryside and pullulatingly corrupt modern metropolis is either a bent City bigwig, an occultic serial killer – who wears antlers on his head while drawing runic symbols in blood – or the disturbed victim of some Terrible Family Secret that will only be unravelled after a series of long car and ferry journeys to remote islands where no one wants to answer questions. Our hero is DCI Carl Morck (Matthew Goode), whose statutory unique quirks are that he's stupidly clever, incredibly grumpy and deeply traumatised having been shot in the head by the same masked gunman who crippled his colleague (and only friend) DCI James Hardy (Jamie Sives). Everyone hates him; he hates everyone in return; but you'd definitely want him solving your case, even if it's impossible, such as the one he's investigating here. I feel bad about describing it because it might give away the game about the rather ingenious temporal device that furnishes the first episode with its satisfying final twist. (Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want it spoiled.) Essentially, a woman barrister (Chloe Pirrie) has gone missing on a ferry and her case has been closed because there were no leads or witnesses and she is presumed dead. In actual fact though – oh, the horror! – she has spent the last four years imprisoned in what looks like the metal hull of a ship, where she is psychologically and physically tortured by a vicious old woman and her sidekick who bear her some-as-yet-undisclosed grudge. See what I mean about our being in Scandi-noir territory? This is the sort of crime almost no one ever commits in real life because even if they had the motive the logistics would be just too complicated. That's why, having hit you with this bizarre and deeply implausible scenario, the rest of the book/TV adaptation has to work so frantically hard to provide you with the convoluted psychological and organisational rationale necessary to persuade you that this hasn't all been a huge waste of your time and credulity. Not that I'm really complaining by the way. Just like with Slow Horses – whose set up this resembles quite a lot – Dept. Qisn't really about the tortured MacGuffin of a plotline but about enjoying the company of loveable misfits. Besides Goode's adorably hateful antihero detective, these include: Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov), a deceptively gentle soul who used to be in the Syrian secret police; DCI Hardy (now bedbound but at least if he can still help solve crimes it might suppress his urge to kill himself); DC Rose Dickson (Leah Byrne), with her big red hair, bright red lipstick and mental-health issues. They work together in a dingy basement, forgotten since the 1970s, and, handily, have a decent budget because the cabinet secretary has apparently decided that it's good for optics if there's a dedicated department for solving cold cases. All the other characters are, of course, similarly messed up. The missing woman's brother William (Tom Bulpett) has mental-health issues on account of having had his head stoven in by a mysterious hammer attacker; Kelly Macdonald's Dr Rachel Irving – aka meet-cute love interest – has been off men ever since jilting her bigamist husband at the altar; Morck's teenage stepson wears a mask and plays death metal at full volume while playing video games, etc. Yes, the crime bits are bit warped, morbid and voyeuristic (for my tastes anyway), but the cast are great, and it's adapted and directed with such verve, style, wit and pace by Scott Frank, you can hardly not enjoy it – nor wish they'd get a move on with Season Two.
Boston Globe
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
In ‘Dept. Q,' Netflix continues a trend of finding hits across the globe
Based on Jussi Adler-Olsen's novel 'The Keeper of Lost Causes,' and created by Scott Frank (who brought a similar storytelling verve to his breakout 2020 Netflix limited series ' Yes, the streamer cranks out its share of dross, especially in the true crime genre. But it also has a history of success with programming from across the globe, including the likes of 'Baby Reindeer' (from Scotsman Richard Gadd), 'Adolescence' (from Englishman Stephen Graham), 'Squid Game' (South Korea, Hwang Dong Hyuk), ' Advertisement In movie terms, you could think of 'Dept. Q' as a descendent of the Euro American art film — think Michelangelo Antonioni's 'Blow-Up' (1966), or Wim Wenders's 'Paris, Texas' (1984). But such a description doesn't do justice to the show's fiendishly entertaining flavor. As grim as it can get, 'Dept. Q' offers a world of viewing pleasure. Chris Vognar, a freelance culture writer, was the 2009 Nieman Arts and Culture Fellow at Harvard University.
Cosmopolitan
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
If you loved Dept Q, this is how to watch the gripping Scandi film series version for free
If like us, you spent your weekend intensely binge-watching Netflix's newest thriller series Dept Q and are already desperate for more, then you're in luck. No, the series hasn't yet been confirmed for series two just yet (fingers crossed tho!), but there is in fact an entire movie series of the same books you can watch right now. Dept Q is based on a series of books by Jussi Adler-Olsen and follows Detective Carl Morck who is set up in a new department investigating cold cases in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Netflix series follows the first book in the series closely but makes one big change - it's set in Scotland and is in English. But the Netflix version isn't the only adaptation of the story. A few years after the novel was originally published in 2007, a Scandi film adaption was made of the novel, and we've got all the details on where to see it and its sequels. The Department Q novel series began in 2007 by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and he has since published 10 novels in the series, all following Detective Carl Morck as he solves cold cases alongside his team of Assad (Akram in the Netflix series) and Rose. The most recent novel Locked In in the series was published in 2021 and sees Carl himself behind bars. Several years after the release of the first novel in the Department Q series Mercy, in 2013 a movie adaptation of the novel was released in Denmark called The Keeper of Lost Causes. It stars Nikolaj Lie Kaas as Detective Carl Morck, Fares Fares as Assad and Sonja Richter as Merete Lynnggard, and follows a similar plot to that of the Netflix series. The second film The Absent One, based on the novel of the same was released a year later in 2014 and follows Carl and Assad investigating the double murder of a pair of twins whose death was meant to have been solved 20 years ago. A third film in the series A Conspiracy of Faith was released in 2016 and shows what happens after an eight old message in a bottle turns up. There was also a fourth film The Purity of Vengenace released in 2018 which is about what happens when the duo discover three mummified bodies in an apartment. If you want to see more of this unlikely police duo solving cold cases then thankfully you can find all four of the movies online. They are all available through ViaPlay on Prime Video and right now you can try a free seven day trial of ViaPlay. After the week is up this then auto-renews for £4.99 a month if you don't cancel it after your trial. SIGN UP FOR PRIME VIDEO HERE Dept Q is available on Netflix now
Cosmopolitan
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Netflix's ‘Department Q' Cast: Where You Recognize the Actors From
If you're in need of a dark, twisty thriller this weekend, then you should, no, need to watch Netflix's Department Q. Based on Jussi Adler-Olsen's novel series the Netflix show stars Matthew Goode as a Detective Carl Morck who is assigned to work a new department focused on solving cold cases, after his previous case results in the death of one officer and the injury of another. While the rest of the police force work out who is responsible for their colleague's death, Morck begins investigating a four-year-old case of a prosecutor who goes missing in mysterious circumstances. The series is seriously good, filled with multiple layers of mystery and a great cast. And if you've been watching the series wondering where you recognize them from then here's what you need to know about the cast of Department Q.
Cosmopolitan
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Netflix's Department Q cast: Character guide and where you recognise the actors from
If you're in need of a dark, twisty thriller this weekend, then you should, no, need to watch Netflix's Department Q. Based on Jussi Adler-Olsen's novel series the Netflix show stars Matthew Goode as a Detective Carl Morck who is assigned to work a new department focused on solving cold cases, after his previous case results in the death of one officer and the injury of another. While the rest of the police force work out who is responsible for their colleague's death, Morck begins investigating a four-year-old case of a prosecutor who goes missing in mysterious circumstances. The series is seriously good, filled with multiple layers of mystery and a great cast. And if you've been watching the series wondering where you recognise them from then here's what you need to know about the cast of Department Q.
