The 10 Best Crime Dramas This Week (Monday 30th March – Sunday 5th April)

This week, the much-anticipated second series of Lenny James’s Save Me returns with a second series. Also starting is Norwegian thriller Twin on BBC Four, starring Kristofer Hivju, and Victorian crime series, Miss Scarlet And The Duke, over on Alibi. And just a heads-up: Babylon Berlin has been shifted to a later time slot. Enjoy!

1 Save Me Too *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S2 E1/6
Return of the critically-acclaimed drama. Seventeen months after Nelly Rowe rescued vulnerable young woman Grace, he continues his desperate search to find his missing daughter, Jody.
Wednesday 1st April, 9pm, Sky Atlantic

READ MORE: ALL OUR NEWS REVIEWS OF SAVE ME

2 Babylon Berlin *NEW UK PREMIERE EPISODES*
S3 E9&10/12
Rath has an idea for how they can track down Walter. Meanwhile, Greta’s execution looms and things turn violent as Rath confronts Helga and Nyssen.
Friday 3rd March, 11.20pm, Sky Atlantic

READ MORE: ALL OUR NEWS AND REVIEWS OF BABYLON BERLIN

3 Thou Shall Not Kill *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S2 E3/12
Now on leave, Valeria struggles to absorb the shocking fact revealed about her parents, so Andrea takes over the leadership of the unit. When the body of a small boy who had been kidnapped is discovered in a frozen field, the child’s father, a suspected child abuser, becomes the main target of the investigation, but after Andrea interrogates him, he realises that they must widen the field of suspects.
Friday 3rd April, 10pm, More4

4 Twin *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S1 E1&2/8
Erik lives alone in a run-down campervan on a desolate beach, while his twin Adam is the complete opposite – a successful man with money, a thriving family business, a loving wife and two children. When Erik’s irresponsible lifestyle finally catches up with him, he contacts his brother for help, but Adam brutally rejects him – with fatal consequences.
Saturday 4th April, 9pm, BBC Four

5 The Nest *NEW UK PREMIERE EPISODE*
S1 E3/4
It has been weeks since Dan learnt the truth about Kaya’s past and he is tormented by the dilemma of whether to tell Emily, who has built a firm friendship with the teenager and is finally allowing herself to believe that there will be a baby at the end of all this. Kaya and Jack start to dream about what their lives will be like after the baby is born, but on the night of their school prom Hilary makes a decision that has devastating repercussions for everyone.
Sunday 5th April, 9pm, BBC One

6 Miss Scarlet And The Duke *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S1 E1/6
When Eliza Scarlet’s father dies, he leaves her penniless in a time where marriage is the only option for financial security. However, Eliza has an ace up her bonnet – his detective agency business. However, to operate in this man’s world the headstrong beneficiary needs a partner.
Tuesday 31st March, 9pm, Alibi

7 Murdoch Mysteries *NEW UK PREMIERE EPISODE*
S13 E12/18
When a body is found during a fox hunt, Murdoch and Brackenreid suspect a group opposed to the blood sport is responsible.
Monday 30th March, 9pm, Alibi

8 Liar *NEW UK PREMIERE EPISODE*
S2 E5/6
Andrew is pushed to the edge and as he runs out of options, he concocts a plan to take drastic measures. But first, he will need help. In the present day, a vital piece of evidence comes to light and Laura seeks to discover its origin. Now in a desperate position, she must use all her wits to get the information she needs, but with Katy and Liam’s assistance, she is led to a startling new suspect.
Monday 30th March, 9pm, ITV

READ MORE: ALL OUR REVIEWS OF LIAR

9 Bulletproof *NEW UK PREMIERE EPISODE*
S2 E3/8
The search for a missing girl leads Bishop and Pike to Amsterdam, where they find themselves at the heart of a large people-trafficking operation headed up by the Markides. However, when the Dutch police refuse to play ball, the duo must take the law into their own hands in order to keep their case against the Markides alive.
Friday 3rd April, 9pm, Sky1

10 Vera *REPEAT*
S2 E2/4
The detective investigates the murder of social worker Jenny Lister, but figuring out the motive behind the killing of an apparently popular woman proves difficult. However, an infamous past case involving the death of a child appears to hold the key. In her pursuit of the truth, Vera uncovers the failings of an understaffed care system and discovers the secret at the heart of Jenny’s death – which the killer will stop at nothing to protect.
Friday 3rd April, 8pm, ITV

REVIEW: Babylon Berlin (S3 E3&4/12)

German series Babylon Berlin – the noirish tale of murder and skullduggery in Weimar-era Berlin – began its third series last week, and you have to say it simmered – as it always has done – rather than blazed a trail. Once again it looked gorgeous, and all the elements were fascinating, but I always think with this show that I should love it more.

Instead, there were a dizzying amount of characters, plenty of storylines and two main cases that our heroes were investigating.

Because of the amount of detail and the sheer heft of stuff happening, I’m going to revert to character breakdowns in my reviews.

Gereon Rath
Pity poor Gereon. He looks terrible – not only like the weight of the world is on his shoulders, but also physically; pale, slightly jaundiced, sweaty and with big, dark rings under his eyes.

Part of this bonkers series is the side-story of the shady, aggressive psychiatrist he sees. We have more of that in these two episodes as he climbs down into the sewers or subways to secretly meet the man who successfully weaned him off the morphine and is helping him with not only survivor’s guilt but also in his relationship with Helga (albeit with unconventional means).

But it doesn’t take long for he and Helga to split up, which, in terms of narrative, frees him up to concentrate on the cases. Yes, cases.

First of all, he’s hanging around the film studio to find out more about the death of silent film star Betty Winter. He’s not finding too much because the studio is abuzz with a ‘show must go on’ vibe. Things soon take a turn for the worst when another starlet – Tilly Brooks – is found with her throat slit in one of the dressing rooms. And there seems to be a slightly occult, secret society vibe to all of this, especially as the runner who was shot in Gereon’s car at the end of episode two and the frantically, overly-dramatic widow, Tristan Rot, was found to have some sort of saucy link.

And look out for his simmering rivalry with Böhm…

Charlotte Ritter
Lotte is such a great character, and there’s a sense here that even though she has left her sex-worker, club-dancer past behind, every now and then it rears its head. So far, Lotte has been – thanks to Gereon – playing an active role in the murder investigations at the film studios, and in these two episodes she has been placed at the centre of the comings and goings, trying to figure out what has been going on.

She has seen the costumes the mysterious cloaked figure has been wearing, and is on-set when Tilly has her throat slit.

But there’s more about Lotte – and her two worlds – when they begin to fall apart or at least start to unravel. In among her mother’s things, she finds a letter from who might be her real father. And, she has befriended Vera – part of the movie cast and Walter Weintraub’s ‘friend’ – who she enjoys a raucous night out at a gay bar, where much debauchery ensues.

Edgar ‘Die Armenian‘ Kasabian
He’s an interesting character, is Die Armenian. He’s a bad man, of that there is no doubt, and his association with his right-hand man, Walter Weintraub, is a classic gangster one-two punch.

But there’s another element to his character: some strange sensitivity. He knows all about Rath’s past and addiction, because he was in the same boat, and, as the banks collapse and his fortune is under threat from foreclosing banks and loan sharks, he realises that the production of the movie still has to continue.

So when Rath and Die Armenian finally meet again, there’s an uneasy understanding between the two: they both want this case solved, but for different reasons. I wonder if their bond will deepen to the extent that they might actually work together in some unofficial capacity to solve the case.

Greta Overbeck
I’m becoming increasingly concerned that Greta is doomed. How can she not be? In prison and on trial for the murder of Councillor Benda, the nefarious Wendt gets his way when he threatens her child unless she recants her testimony and blames the Communists for the murder.

Under extreme pressure, she decides to go with Wendt, but I honestly don’t think this is going to save her. Unless Rath, watching on from the sidelines can somehow spring her.

Other things…

Alfred Nyssen is impossible to read. He’s admitted he’s unstable mentally, and yet he seems calm and collected, just waiting to mop up in the chaos after the banks fold. And what is going on with him and Helga?

This week’s most touching scenes were with young Reinhold Gräf, who Gereon assigns a stealth mission to retrieve the Benda files from the archives. Unfortunately, the brute who’s guarding the archives recognises him from the red light district and forces himself on him. It’s another fascinating nuance – that of gay men and their secrecy in Weimar-era Germany – that gives this show so much depth.

READ MORE: OUR REVIEW OF EPISODES ONE AND TWO

 

REVIEW: The Outsider (S1 E9&10/10)

Over the past few months, The Outsider has quietly become one of the most critically acclaimed dramas of the year so far; a rare anomaly in the rather lacklustre history of adaptations from its original author’s work.

Some have even likened it in style to being a missing season of True Detective, obsessed as it has been with the glacially-paced reveal of a dark intent deep within America’s heartland. But for all the kudos and acclaim, the show had one final trick to perform – to bring it’s story to a satisfactory close with the weight of expectation riding up against it. Thrillingly – and frustratingly – the wheels nearly came clean off but we concluded our journey in spectacular fashion.

Suddenly, after weeks of circling the origins of their unusual suspect, Ralph’s team finally reach the epicenter of it’s own home as it returns to a place that has dark memories for both itself and the Bolton brothers. This was the first of a few leaps of faith that the writers asked us to undertake in these closing episodes, with this instance being that the Bolton’s family history was so inexplicably linked to the Grief Eater’s own – something shown to us in a series of (initially confusing) flashbacks to Depression-Era Tennessee and the fate of two small children in the caves system that provided a home to our villain.

The exact whereabouts of the “Bear Cave” was a little overworked in the penultimate episode until Seale Bolton was able to recount his family’s grim tale that finally assembled the side story of a town’s menfolk being consumed in a cave collapse. Arguably the inclusion of this element was really padding to have all our players pitch up at the same location ahead of what we anticipated would be a final showdown. Part of the problem in that was Claude was now as finely attuned to his doppelgänger as he ever would be, and therein shared a direct link to the plans of his protection posse. All it took was Seale to unknowingly reveal the plot to his brother and suddenly – boom – we were into the endgame.

I made mention in the last review that the sign of a good show is that you’re never truly comfortable that all your principal cast will survive to the end, and boy, did The Outsider deliver on that principle. Yet here, another leap of faith: both in that Ralph’s team of seasoned legal professionals would not request back up from local law enforcement to tackle a suspect with such an extensive rap sheet but also – and more fundamentally annoying it must be said – that Holly’s much-mentioned pre-cognitive abilities around imminent death did not spark up as they entered the lion’s den. Either way, the set up was flawless, as Jack played out one final atrocity for his master, tearfully massacring the majority of the cast until – perhaps predictably – only our two principal players remained standing.

To say the eventual confrontation of the show’s monster was largely a disappointment by comparison is perhaps the wrong way to look at it – more that the thing that had become Claude Bolton was as mundane an entity as its victim – something the Grief Eater did by design to blend in with society. In being a host, that only really lives to feed, there wasn’t much philosophical reasoning to be had. This was shown beautifully in the differing reactions of Ralph and Holly – one a visceral desire to just end this now, and another trying to understand why. Fittingly, it was the real Claude who got to destroy his tormentor (another leap of faith here – would they not share pain in the merging of their bodies?), and Ralph who got to face his own demons – literally – in the shifting masks of the monster before putting a rock through its skull (another question here, how did the Grief Eater shift into faces that it hadn’t drawn blood from – more on that later).

There was definitely a feeling of desperation in drawing threads together almost too quickly in this aftermath, ironic given the languid tone of the show beforehand. It was almost like there was such a firm resolve from the show-runners to hold onto that (very capably handled) reveal right until the last twenty minutes of the final episode, that resulted in a very rushed – and wholly nonsensical – debrief as a result. Wherein, Ralph is able to explain away the deaths of several people to the hands of a mystery assailant based off an anonymous tip – as well as have his wife coerce Glory into a conspiracy she had adamantly been against throughout the show – to wrap multiple murders in one breath AND re-open the case around Frankie Petersen’s death in the same turn, thereby acquitting Terry Maitland of any wrongdoing and bringing us back to the beginning in a full circle.

It was audacious, and awkward, and left an indelible mark against the show’s largely flawless run so far. Many shows suffer from the same fate in their finales, but The Outsider went a step further and doubled down with a largely unseen mid-credits scene that revealed Holly had been scratched and thus our time with the Grief Eater wasn’t over, nor was HBO’s desire to squeeze out a second season. The fact that she never had physical contact with the monster is a point we’ll have to gloss over, something I’m sure will be rewritten for any new series, but it felt like a cheap conclusion to an excellent show. That aside, I would love to see Cynthia Erivo reprise her role as Holly Gibney, and as the series title was neatly revealed to be more about her than the Grief Eater, perhaps the show will evolve into something of a successful vehicle for her.

The Outsider may have been a little flat-footed in it’s closing half-hour, but overall as a show, it should be rightfully regarded as a masterclass in how to maintain suspense over many hours – and how to handle supernatural themes in a realistic way that isn’t a detriment to the plot.

It’s a show well worth your time.

Andy D

READ MORE: OUR REVIEW OF EPISODES ONE AND TWO

READ MORE: OUR REVIEW OF EPISODES THREE AND FOUR

READ MORE: OUR REVIEW OF EPISODES OF FIVE AND SIX

READ MORE: OUR REVIEW OF EPISODES SEVEN AND EIGHT

 

 

The 10 Best Crime Dramas This Week (Monday 23rd – Sunday 29th March)

Well, we hope everyone is keeping safe and observing social distancing. If you are, then there are lots to enjoy this week in crime TV land. There’s a brand new series of Ozark on Netflix, while the streaming giant also pumps out Freud – the series that features the famous psychologist tackling a murder mystery in 19th-century Vienna. Elsewhere, we say goodbye to Bang, and Save Me on Sky Atlantic, in preparation for next week’s premiere of series two. Enjoy!

1 Babylon Berlin *NEW UK PREMIERE EPISODES*
S3 E7&8/12
Vera shares a secret that Lotte finds hard to keep, and Rath searches for Walter. There is tragedy at the film studio when the cloaked phantom strikes again. 
Friday 27th March, 9pm, Sky Atlantic

READ MORE: ALL OUR NEWS AND REVIEWS OF BABYLON BERLIN

2 Ozark *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S3 E1-10/10
A financial adviser drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder money to appease a drug boss. The Byrdes are back in business and the stakes have never been higher. As tensions mount surrounding their new casino, The Missouri Belle, Marty and Wendy struggle to balance their family’s safety with the growing success of their money-laundering empire.
From Friday 27th March, Netflix

3 Thou Shall Not Kill *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S2 E2/12
In flashback to 1998, the Ferro family is driving to the Lake house for a holiday. Lucia sees that they are followed and is in fear of her life, so tries to convince Mario that the family must leave for France, but he does not agree. In the present, Giorgio tells Valeria that they have placed officers at Menduni’s daughter’s wedding party, but a gun-bearing Valeria confronts him there herself.
Friday 27th March, 10pm, More4

4 Freud *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
E1-8/8
Young psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, investigates a murder conspiracy in 1880’s Vienna.
From Tuesday 24th March, Netflix

5 The Nest *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S1 E2/4
Three months have passed and Kaya is living with Dan and Emily and enjoying her new lifestyle, but James has his reservations and is concerned that she is being exploited. Souter is suspicious Kaya’s background doesn’t quite check out and is having to field questions from young and ambitious journalist Eleanor. At home tensions between the couple and their surrogate are at breaking point, and Dan questions what he really knows about the teenager he has invited into his home.
Sunday 29th March, 9pm, BBC One

6 Save Me *REPEAT* *LAST IN SERIES*
S1 E6/6
Nelly stages a lock-in at The Palm Tree, where he confronts one of the pub regulars about their role in Jody’s disappearance. He then puts his life at risk by penetrating the darkest corners of a secret network, in his final attempt to find Jody before it is too late.
Tuesday 24th March, 9pm, Sky Atlantic

READ MORE: ALL OUR NEWS AND REVIEWS OF SAVE ME

7 Bang *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES* *LAST IN SERIES*
S2 E6/6
As the police race to find the killer, Morgan disappears. While Gina and Luke search for Harri, Sam and Linda do their best to protect Caryn.
Sunday 29th March, 9pm, S4C

8 Inspector Montalbano *REPEAT*
S4 1/4
The detective’s quiet retreat with Livia comes to an unexpected end when he is called back to Vigata to investigate the murder of a 70-year-old prostitute, who has been strangled.
Saturday 28th March, 9pm

9 Liar *NEW UK PREMIERE EPISODE*
S1 E4/6
As the investigation takes a shocking turn, secrets rise to the surface. When Andrew was living in Edinburgh, a strange turn of events brought him face to face with an old acquaintance, whose deeply corrosive influence becomes clear. Meanwhile, the tragic recent history of Laura’s family helps explain the deep bond she and Katy share, as well as the lengths Laura will go to for those she loves. Will her past catch up with her, just as Andrew’s did?
Monday 23rd March, 9pm, ITV

READ MORE: ALL OUR REVIEWS OF LIAR

10 Bulletproof *NEW UK PREMIERE EPISODE*
S2 E2/8
Tension mounts as Pike and Bishop are drawn deeper into the Markides family, and Tanner starts to sweat over her decision to steal drug money to fix a problem in her personal life.
Friday 27th March, 9pm, Sky1

The Best Of Walter Presents: Five Series To Binge Right Now

More fab recommendations from Walter himself.

Alibi acquires US series Stumptown

British crime drama channel, Alibi, has acquired American crime drama, Stumptown.

The series was adapted for TV after the success of the 2009 graphic novel series of the same name.

Stumptown, a nickname for the city of Portland where the series is set, follows the life of Dex Parios (Cobie Smulders), a former army veteran turned private investigator, solving problems the police can’t get involved in. Dex’s intelligence and natural instinct to do what’s right makes her perfect for the job, but her brash style and disregard for the rules often gets her in trouble.

Struggling with PTSD after an explosion killed her childhood sweetheart in Afghanistan, burdened by heavy gambling debts and dealing with the responsibility of taking care of her younger brother, there is more to Dex than meets the eye.

Alibi confirms transmission date for Miss Fisher movie

Australian Golden Age crime drama, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, has been a staple on UKTV channel Alibi for almost a decade now.

The drama, starring Essie Davis as Phryne Fisher, a Golden Age-era private detective based in Melbourne.

And now we know when it’s going to air.

Miss Fisher And The Crypt Of Tears continues the story Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. After freeing a young Bedouin girl from her unjust imprisonment in Jerusalem, Miss Fisher begins to unravel a wartime mystery concerning a priceless jewel, ancient curses and the truth behind the suspicious disappearance of Shirin’s forgotten tribe.

Miss Fisher And The Crypt Of Tears: Friday 10th April, 7pm, Alibi

Amazon Prime reveals Bosch start date

In among all the gloom, your favourite TV shows have a big part to play in helping to escape and enjoy an hour or so of the day.

Many people’s favourite crime drama is Amazon Prime’s Bosch – the adaptation of Michael Connelly’s best-selling books.

We’ve known that a new, sixth series is just around the corner, and now we know when it’s returning.

Bosch is up against the biggest case of his career when the city he loves comes under attack. The new season of #BoschAmazon arrives April 17 on @PrimeVideo. pic.twitter.com/S6xaPbuMgk

— Bosch (@BoschAmazon) March 17, 2020

In series six, when domestic terrorists threaten the fate of Los Angeles, Harry Bosch must save the city in the highest stakes season to date.

READ MORE: FOR ALL OUR NEWS AND REVIEWS OF BOSCH

The 10 Best Crime Dramas This Week (Monday 16th – Sunday 22nd March)

It’s a busy week in crime drama land, which is just as well. We say goodbye to Hidden, but also open our doors to Netflix’s much-anticipated cheerleader thriller Dare Me, series two of Thou Shall Not Kill, BBC One’s The Nest (with Line Of Duty’s Martin Compston), and Channel 5’s three-part thriller, Penance. Enjoy… and stay safe out there.

1 Babylon Berlin *NEW UK PREMIERE EPISODES*
S3 E5&6/12
The Benda file reveals a name that takes Gereon on a mission. Meanwhile, Greta receives her sentence, and Nyssen makes a shocking confession to his shrink. 
Friday 20th March, 9pm, Sky Atlantic

READ MORE: ALL OUR NEWS AND REVIEWS OF BABYLON BERLIN

2 Hidden *NEW ENGLISH LANGUAGE PREMIERE EPISODE* *LAST IN SERIES*
S2 E6/6
Deep in the mountains, the search continues, before Cadi and Mia finally come face to face – the hunter and the hunted. The sad truth about the murders begins to emerge, with two innocent people killed and three young lives destroyed. 
Saturday 21st March, 9pm, BBC Four

READ MORE: FOR ALL OUR NEWS AND REVIEWS OF CRAITH/HIDDEN

3 Dare Me *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S1 E1-10/10
Peering behind the all-American facade, the series dives into the cutthroat world of competitive high school cheerleading, following the fraught relationship between two best friends after a new coach arrives to bring their team to prominence. Part coming-of-age story, part small-town drama, part murder mystery, Dare Me exposes the physical and psychological extremes that some young women are willing to endure to get ahead.
From Friday 20th March, Netflix

4 Thou Shall Not Kill *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S2 E1/12
Valeria Ferro, the intuitive head of the Homicide unit in Turin, has a new romantic interest, but is still coming to terms with the fact Mario Ferro is not her biological father and news that her mother Lucia has disappeared. Amid her whirl of personal drama, a woman is found, strangled. The victim, Susanna Bianco, had fled to a domestic violence shelter, and her husband – involved in an accident near the shelter around the time of the murder – is the chief suspect.
Friday 20th March, 10pm, More4

5 The Nest *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S1 E1/4
Dan and Emily live in a huge house in the nicest part of Glasgow and want for nothing, but they’ve been trying to have a baby for years with no success. A chance encounter brings the couple into contact with 18-year-old Kaya, who offers to be their surrogate if they help set her life on track.
Sunday 22nd March, 9pm, BBC One

6 Penance *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S1 E1/3/3
Grieving mother Rosalie Douglas refuses to accept that her son Rob’s sudden death was an accident. Husband Luke has moved out of the house, and teenage daughter Maddie is acting out, wracked with grief and a pang of as-yet unexplained guilt over her brother’s death. Their lives change forever when Rosalie meets Jed – a charismatic young man – at bereavement counselling.
Tuesday 17th – Wednesday 18th March, 9pm, Channel 5

7 Save Me *REPEAT*
S1 E5/6
Nelly infiltrates a secret network that may hold the key to his daughter’s return. Goz makes a shocking discovery that someone in the Towers may know more than they are letting on.
Tuesday 17th March, 9pm, Sky Atlantic

READ MORE: ALL OUR NEWS AND REVIEWS OF SAVE ME

8 Bang *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S2 E5/6
The police mount an unusual operation in an attempt to catch the killer, but the operation fails when Harri interferes. Richie is attacked at the police station and the identity of the killer is revealed. Sam attempts to help Caryn and is required to stand up to Morgan once and for all.
Sunday 22nd March, 9pm, S4C

9 Liar *NEW UK PREMIERE EPISODE*
S1 E3/6
Haunted by nightmares of Andrew and harassed by the journalists lurking outside her flat, Laura’s world begins to turn in on her. When Winnie makes a surprising confession to her, together they follow a trail of evidence in the hope it will hold answers as to what is going through Carl’s mind. But press interest and Katy’s volatility threaten to derail Laura’s progress. Will she learn what brought Carl and Andrew together, and the tumultuous consequences of that meeting?
Monday 16th March, 9pm, ITV

READ MORE: ALL OUR REVIEWS OF LIAR

10 Bulletproof *NEW UK PREMIERE SERIES*
S2 E1/8
A chance discovery propels Bishop and Pike deep undercover, and they soon find themselves at the heart of a notorious international crime family.
Friday 20th March, 9pm, Sky1

 

The Best 20 Boxsets To Binge At Home Right Now

There’s never been so much choice if you’re stuck at home.