The second most popular TV show on Netflix worldwide comes straight outta Scotland, and it’s racking up rave reviews, making it one of the best Netflix shows. Dept. Q deserves every one of the five stars it’s getting, because it’s an absolute blast.
Dept. Q has so far spent two weeks in the Netflix top ten for global TV, with 8.9 million views and 73,400,000 hours – so almost everyone who starts watching it keeps watching it.
On the face of it, the show is just another cop drama. You know the type: maverick cop battling demons, a woman in peril at the hands of a sinister figure. But it’s much more than that, which is why I pretty much inhaled every episode.
What’s so great about Dept. Q
The show is based on Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Danish detective stories, but the action has been moved to Edinburgh in Scotland. Matthew Goode plays detective Carl Morck, and it’s clear that the man is an insufferable ass who is rightly loathed by many of his colleagues, even after he survives a murderous event. That event has terrible consequences for his friend and partner, played by the always brilliant Jamie Sives, and it’s clear that Monck is increasingly weighed dow by the guilt of that.
Monck is given the job of investigating cold cases, and gets a team of fellow misfits: former Syrian police officer Akram Salim (Alexjev Manvelov), a lovely man with many secrets, and the well-meaning but traumatised cadet Rose (Leah Byrne). Together they focus on a single case: the disappearance of lawyer Merritt Linguard (Chloe Pirie).
What follows is an extremely tense race against time to find and save Merritt, interwoven with the interpersonal dramas of Monck, his team, and his home life. It’s often very funny, especially in the home bits, and the script is whip-smart and razor-sharp throughout. And the cast is brilliant, with fine performances throughout and the very welcome appearances of Mark Bonnar, Kelly Macdonald and Sanjeev Kholi.
Without giving any spoilers I do need to warn you that the central disappearance teeters very much on the edge of voyeurism: I’m not a big fan of seeing women (or anyone else) undergoing terrible treatment and I think in a couple of instances the camera lingered a little too long on things in much the way that the Idris Elba show Luther sometimes did. But maybe I’m just easily upset.
If like me you’re a Scot there’s also fun to be had nitpicking: why does everyone in Edinburgh have a Glasgow accent? Don’t they know that pub is nowhere near that bit of town? Do Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives have to appear in everything (not that I’m complaining)? And it’s interesting to compare what you can do with a Netflix budget compared to the much more modest means of Scotland’s own broadcasters: I’m often excited by the arrival of a new homegrown drama only to be deeply disappointed. Whereas I loved this.
Dept Q currently has 84% on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics, and 94% from viewers. It’s available to stream on Netflix now.