Travel via foreign police procedurals

Forgot the one we are watching now:

Line of separation: As WWII ends in what will become East Germany, the last gasp of German SS troops, USA army, and CCCP army troops interact sometimes violently in a small German village. The "line of separation" is drawn through the village. Many historical events unknown or unappreciated by USA citizens occur.

Spiral, a dedicated but flawed Paris detective squad investigates gruesome murders with guidance from an unusually incorruptible but flawed investigating magistrate (juge d'instruction). Each eight-episode series is a new mystery. On Amazon Prime Video.

And more dedicated but flawed British detectives than you could shake a stick at, mostly in Yorkshire and Northumbria where apparently murder is the leading industry. See this massive thread for much more.

Us, too. We especially like Montalbano (Sicily), and Brunetti (Venice). Not in the same class for the quality of the stories and acting, but having great scenery, are “Murder In” and “Inspector Marleau,” (various parts of France). There are many more Scandinavian noir series than Wallander, too many for me to list. Currently, we are making our way through “Aber Bergen.” The German series “Tatort” has at least three different strands, one set in Cologne, another in Kiel, and one whose setting I don’t recall. We get them on MHZ, via our satellite company.
“Vera”, (northern England) is on public television.
Happy viewing.

I like the Montalbano books by Andrea Camilleri. I have never seen the TV series. One of the books does have a joke about Inspector Montalbano wanting to avoid a certain place because the TV series is being filmed there. I have never been to Sicily, only to northern Italy, but it is a place I would like to visit.

I also like Vera, both the TV series starring Brenda Blethyn, and the books by Anne Cleeves. It is set and filmed in the north east of England, which is also a part of that country which I have never been to. I also have read one of the Shetland books by the same author, and whilst the setting is fascinating, I found I was not a fan of the main character. I like the character Vera Stanhope in the books and TV series, but I think of the main character in the Shetland books as "Mr Annoyingly Perfect".

For the UK:
Foyle’s War
Inspector Frost
Inspector George Gently
Inspector Morse
Shetland
Endeavour
Line of Duty
Scott and Bailey
Vera
Happy Valley
Broadchurch
Luther
Grantchester
River
The Fall
DCI Banks
Sherlock
MI-5

As a retired detective I can't watch many of the 'police procedurals' as they are usually so far fetched it becomes frustrating. The only one that kept me engrossed was Manhunt, a drama series starring Martin Clunes and the investigation into the serial killer Levi Bellfield. If you want to watch a drama that truly reflects the reality of a British major crime investigation then this is it.

Prime Suspect TV series with Helen Mirren, the original 7 season series, not the 2017 prequel which only lasted one season.

Young Wallander: Sort of a pre-Wallander, except it is contemporary so
it is in no sense a pre-quel to Wallender the older series.
Interesting, contemporary Swedish scene

If you want a sense of Sweden, avoid Young Wallander. It is a British production shot in Lithuania, with mostly British actors. For Wallander, you should watch the original TV-series with Rolf Lassgård as Wallander.

Other classic Nordic noir are the Martin Beck-novels, the original movies with Gösta Ekman as Martin Beck are worth watching, but there is also newer TV-series with Peter Haber that has not much to do with the novels, apart from the characters. But there are as mentioned no lack of Nordic noir to watch. The movies/TV-series based on Camilla Läckberg's Fjällbacka-novels are pretty popular.

As a retired detective I can't watch many of the 'police procedurals'
as they are usually so far fetched it becomes frustrating.

That is true about more or less everything you see on TV if you know a thing or two about it. Although I once had an experience in Scotland that could have been straight out of a Midsomer murders-episode. I was sitting on a bus with my sister in rural Fife, there where two other passengers on the bus sitting a few rows in front of us but otherwise the bus was empty. Suddenly the bus was overtaken by an unmarked police car and stopped at the side of the road. Two police officers got on an started talking to the other two passengers. One came over to us and said something that probably was "don't worry, this won't take long" or so, but in a very thick scottish accent. Then a minute or two later, they left the bus and we could continue our journey.

That is true about more or less everything you see on TV if you know a thing or two about it.

Evidently the writers of Death In Paradise have never even spoken to a police officer! How this is still going is beyond me, does anyone actually watch it?

I'll add three:

Fauda - Israel
Broadchurch - UK
Money Heist - Spain

"Evidently the writers of Death In Paradise have never even spoken to a police officer!"

The people who make Casualty ( set in a UK Hospital ER dept) apparently employ an A&E consultant to ensure accuracy, but when things get sent to "the lab" it is apparently a single Dr in an unbuttoned white coat sitting around doing very little.

Back to the original question:
If you can find the original "Cracker" with Robbie Coltrane. The individual episodes were better than the 2 hour versions, but still well worth seeing.
The Danish "Forbrydelsen" was excellent if you don't mind subtitles

Nice Post!!

I'll add three:
Fauda - Israel
Broadchurch - UK
Money Heist - Spain

Ah yes, Fauda, I enjoyed that a lot even if it is a bit OTT and as much as I enjoyed Money Heist I wouldn't describe it sa a police procedural. Braquo (French police series) was also quite enjoyable (I suppose I get more frustrated with British productions).

Here's a recent series: The Woods. The Polish one, not the older Japanese one. We agreed that it was much better watching it in Polish with English subtitles, than the version dubbed in English.

As a retired detective I can't watch many of the 'police procedurals' as they are usually so far fetched it becomes frustrating

Indeed. I can completely understand. Even I, as a complete outsider to actual police work, am amazed at the things that happen on programs. We are watching "Headwind", and it is particularly ridiculous. Someone will say, "Let's look at the phone records", and BOOM there they are, pages and pages of them.

As a person who knows a fair bit about computers, I'm always amazed at the "detective finds things in the suspect's computer" scenes. I can't even find stuff in my own computer, but the detective sits down, gets past the password screen in 2 seconds flat, and immediately finds the right file. It's beyond astonishing.

I am not a physician, but have spent 30 years in Medical Research. So, I can't watch any program with physicians. It's the same thing - magical speed to diagnose a problem that no one understood for 30 years, etc. And the programs where the Courageous Physician with Miraculous Diagnostic Powers Circumvents the Stodgy Medical Establishment to use an Untried Therapy which Cures the Attractive and Curvaceous Heroine? Mother of God!! The physician would have been taken before the Hospital board, and fired immediately. Or the new resident who immediately commandeers a surgical suite to perform an operation that he has read about? No, residents do not commandeer surgical suites. Nope, it just does not happen.

It is entertainment !!!! Love the scenery in Death in Paradise. I want to go to that island. Our friend who is a local District Attorney hates the detective shows because some members of the jury expect the case to flow just like the TV shows.

Hidden, another Welsh one.

Shetland.

Lava, Trapped, and The Valhalla Murders, all set in Iceland.

Rebus, set in Edinburgh.
There are two versions, but the one with Ken Stott is far better than the other one with John Hannah.

I love police dramas, also in book form.
Can't watch medical dramas, as I was a nurse: and I just get mad and shout "That would never happen"!!!

We just watched the first season of Marcella -- troubled detective solves murders despite the skepticism of colleagues and her own history of blackouts leading to crippling self-doubt, amid marital breakdown, corporate corruption, and other woes. Just another typical day in the life of British law enforcement! ;-)

We also enjoyed Manhunt, only one season so far (in the US) but more promised. Interesting that both JC and emma, with law enforcement backgrounds, found it more "real" than others in the genre.

We saw one Montalbano episode and didn't like the character as portrayed by the actor. A good story and great surroundings, just couldn't relate to the guy. On the other hand, we like Jimmy Perez of Shetland, so who knows?

The Brunetti series is best for the wonderful Venice locations. A bonus is the back story of his family. Another bonus is the incongruity of these Italian characters talking German all the time.

In addition to the other shows already posted - all on Acorn TV:

Wisting - good Swedish noir

Balthazar - French forensic pathologist with issues (of course) and scenes in Paris and surrounding area. Really like this one...

Loch Ness

I don't know that watching police/mystery types shows have ever interested me in travel. Frankly the number of ones set in Great Britain have made me a little leery of visiting. I know Americans have a reputation for guns and violence, but small towns in England are positively macabre if the 50+ shows of that type on Prime/Britbox/PBS/etc have any grounding in reality.

Highly recommend “Foyle’s War” set in Hastings, UK and London during WWII. Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle solves crimes in every day life which continue set against the WWII backdrop. Best series we have ever watched. Amazon Prime/ AcornTV.8 seasons each with three to four episodes.

Borgen is a Danish political thriller available on Netflix.

We also enjoyed Manhunt, only one season so far (in the US) but more promised. Interesting that both JC and emma, with law enforcement backgrounds, found it more "real" than others in the genre.

I suspect that because it is a drama based on true events the producers had a moral responsibility to make it as factual and true to life as possible, with a fictional drama they have more freedom to stretch the boundaries of credibility.

Homeland (CIA) on Showtime. (Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin as leads)
8 seasons

The Fall - based in and around Belfast and London (Gillian Anderson as the lead) free to watch on tubitv.com
3 seasons

I don't know that watching police/mystery types shows have ever interested me in travel. Frankly the number of ones set in Great Britain have made me a little leery of visiting. I know Americans have a reputation for guns and violence, but small towns in England are positively macabre if the 50+ shows of that type on Prime/Britbox/PBS/etc have any grounding in reality.

Indeed. I have occasionally considered the thought of taking the complete set of "Midsomer Murders", determining the various other "Midsomer" towns, and plotting the deaths. I am sure that this section of the "Lake district" (which is my guess as to where the fictional Midsomer district is) would have possible 150,000 people in 60 small towns set in a 10 hectare region, with possible 20% already murdered.

The vast majority of police dramas both in books and on TV focus on murder, yet murder is in fact a very rare crime. I used to enjoy the British drama "The Bill" which was set in London, and ran for many years. I do not know if it was very realistic in terms of police procedure, but murder and murder investigations were very rare on that show, and it usually showed more "everyday" crimes such as theft and drugs. In that one aspect it was a little closer to reality than most other shows. It also spent a lot of time showing the uniformed police, not just the detectives. It was not filmed in touristy bits of London. When I lived in London briefly in the 1990s, I actually recognised my local neighbourhood in one episode.

The vast majority of police dramas both in books and on TV focus on murder, yet murder is in fact a very rare crime.

And what is even more rare is "serial killers". Yet these are commonly a part of murder mysteries. Quite annoying.

"An Acceptable Loss" (starring Jamie Lee Curtis) is a pretty good movie. Showtime.

Somewhat of a far cry from her screamer Halloween days.

The other lead actress is very good and surprising. I will not list spoilers 🤓

I prefer movies involving the CIA, National Security, and Intrigue.

A "Pack of Lies" set in London is very good. Based on a true story. It has a really good cast. I watched it several times despite knowing the ending. One of my favorite movies. Youtube. A bit grainey - it is an old upload. Still very good.

Another decent movie based on a true story (United Nations scandal) is "Backstabbing For Beginners" starring Ben Kingsley.

Showtime.

To anyone who would be put off visiting a country because of the number of crime dramas set there, I would say that the correlation of dramas to real crime is likely a negative one. Going as far back as Agatha Christie, you’d think British villages were hotbeds of murder. Not so. Scandanavians produce lots of crime dramas, much of it very gruesome; but, in reality, murder is very rare in that part of the world. Same is true for France, Germany, Italy, etc.
Maybe those folks satisfy their evil impulses vicariously and don’t need to act them out in the real world.

Emma, you had mentioned Scott and Bailey some time earlier and it was new to me at the time - but I found and watched all the seasons. Loved it.

I have historically, been a great fan of non US police procedurals.

The single best Scandinavian series is The Bridge. Make sure you watch the original with subtitles, not the many copycat versions.

I did love the US version of The Killing set in Seattle.

Others I haven't seen mentioned: Department Q (Danish), The ABC Murders (British Poirot), DCI Banks (British), Wire in the Blood (British), Fortitude (Arctic)

Just following, so I can locate this again. Thanks, everyone.

I never realized how violent Europeans are, until I starting watching European police procedurals.
I thought we were leading the world in violent crime.

So to watch many of these, it looks as though I will need Britbox or Acorn TV (many of the earlier series I watched on PBS). If I am choosing one or the other, opinions on which I should choose?

"Prime Suspect" with Helen Mirren.

There is also the American counterpart "Prime Suspect" with Maria Bello.

That one lasted only one season.
It had a bit of a slow start. Season 2 was never made.

We have enjoyed:
Midsommer Murders
Shetland
Hinterland
Father Brown
Broadchurch

"I never realized how violent Europeans are"
Ridiculous accusation, The murder rate in Midsomer is only 32 per million inhabitants, compared to 1,490 per million for Cabot Cove.