TV News: Trapped II and BBC Four

The BBC confirmed yesterday that Trapped, Follow the Money and Cardinal would be returning to BBC Four and that they have also purchased the Australian drama, Safe Harbour.

Here's the blurb for the second series of Iceland's Trapped:

After the success of the first series on BBC Four, series two of the acclaimed Icelandic crime drama Trapped returns. Outside Parliament in Reykjavik, a man throws himself at the Minister for Industry, setting fire to them both. Andri Olaffson, now working in Reykjavik, is assigned to the case and quickly learns the attacker was the minister’s twin. Their family’s roots are in the North, in the very area Andri had hoped to leave behind, where his old colleague Hinrika is now Chief of Police. Trouble is brewing in the town, with widespread anger at a power plant, drilling and a proposed aluminium plant. Shortly after Andri’s return the power plant’s foreman is found dead. Are the two incidents - the murder and the attack in Reykjavik - connected?

No news yet on the transmission date.

Anne Holt's Modus - book & tv news

BBC Four will begin showing Modus based on Anne Holt's Vik and Stubo series on 26 November at 9pm. The DVD is released 19 December.

From Anne Holt's website:

BBC Four have officially announced that MODUS will be shown at 9pm on Saturday nights from 26th November 2016. The chilling Scandi crime drama fills the popular THE BRIDGE spot, and comes from the same director, Lisa Siwe. MODUS was the most successful Scandinavian TV series on Sweden’s TV4 in 25 years, with an audience of 1.2 millions. Adapted from Anne Holt’s bestselling novel FEAR NOT, it follows psychologist Johanne Vik as she investigates a number of disturbing deaths during a snowy Swedish Christmas.

The fourth book in the series, Fear Not (2011) translated by Marlaine Delargy, has been reissued today as Modus. Euro Crime has previously reviewed Fear Not and here are extracts from the reviews:

Maxine's review: This is an excellent book - in a couple of the previous novels in this series, the author has left things hanging in the air a bit at the end. This is not the case here. FEAR NOT is a fully rounded novel that addresses the terrorist and fanatical elements that plague our contemporary society, but elects to do so in an intelligent and engaging manner rather than by indulging in melodramatics. Having said this, the book is certainly not a dull lecture; to the contrary it provides plenty of conundrums that do eventually turn out to have plausible solutions. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, not least for its contemporary relevance in terms of its treatment of hate-inspired crimes, and very much look forward to the author's next. The translation into a naturalistic style is very good.

Lynn's review:  FEAR NOT is my idea of classic Scandinavian crime-fiction, rooted in social observation, and I loved it. As Holt said in a Guardian interview concerning Scandinavian crime fiction: "We don't write whodunnit books, but why did it happen [books]". With a pair of investigators who live lives aside from crime-busting; a solid, well-constructed mix of plot, mystery, character and coincidence that drives the whole thing along; a dark edge and of course - blood on the snow - we have the perfect Scandinavian crime story. In FEAR NOT Holt examines a threat greater than that of individual crime - the workings of organised hate-crime based on politico-religious beliefs. Anne Holt's background gives her a prime footing for writing such crime fiction: working for the Oslo Police, founding her own law firm, and serving as Minister for Justice between 1996-97. In another interview shortly after the shocking killings committed by Anders Behring Breivik in Norway, Holt referred to her book FEAR NOT as a book, although written two years before the Oslo bombing and the Utoya killings, in which she tried to explore "exactly the same issue as we now have to face, the line or the connection between spoken hatred and physical hatred. I really tried in that book to point to the fact that freedom of speech is also a question about responsibility for what we say and how we act".

FEAR NOT is a "what if" book that highlights the possibility of organised hate-crime, provides discussion of how such a thing can arise, and paints a picture of its effects and consequences with detail and humanity. It has an excellent English translation by experienced translator Marlaine Delargy, and if you are looking for comparisons, I would happily place it alongside books by Mankell, Marklund, Fossum, and Indridason as top Scandinavian crime-reads.

TV News: The Code is back

The second series of Australian drama, The Code, begins on BBC Four at 9pm on Saturday 22 October. It was shown on Australian tv last month.
Here's the synopsis for the first of the six episodes:

Hoping to escape the storm they unleashed previously, bruised but essentially scot-free, Jesse and Ned Banks are confronted with the terrifying possibility of being extradited to the US to face serious charges in an American court. Fortunately for the Banks brothers, Australian National Security is sitting on an explosive case they cannot crack, and Jesse might just be the man to do it.

Brilliant, mercurial Jan Roth (Anthony LaPaglia) hosts a hidden online bazaar of illicit weapons, drugs and dangerous ideas. Exchanging his hacker skills for their freedom, Jesse and Ned are drawn into Roth's dark world that could not only cost their own lives, but all that they hold dear.

The second episode follow hot on the heels of episode one, at 9.55pm the same night.

TV News w/c 7 Feb 2016

Lots of exciting new programmes this week on the BBC (and the return tonight of the X-Files on Channel 5!).

If you missed it last night, you can catch up with Montalbano and Me: Andrea Camilleri on iPlayer.

An intimate portrait of the man behind Inspector Montalbano, as acclaimed Italian novelist Andrea Camilleri gives us access to the man himself, his work and personal history.

Camilleri shares the name and beginning of what will be the final Montalbano novel which he wrote when he was 80 - worried that Alzheimer's would strike. [He is still writing new ones.] The interviewer notes how all the Montalbanos are the same length and Camilleri explains that it is deliberate. There is a brief interview with Luca Zingaretti and how he got the job of playing Montalbano.

Tomorrow night sees the return of Happy Valley at 9pm on BBC One:

Eighteen months have passed, and Catherine is spinning plates at work and at home, where Ryan approaches his tenth birthday. Tommy, serving a life sentence in a high-security prison, finds a way of keeping a watchful eye over Ryan from behind bars, while Catherine becomes a murder suspect after finding a dead body.

and lastly on Saturday, on BBC Four from 9pm, the first two of the ten episodes of Icelandic drama, Trapped:

In a small Icelandic fishing port, a ferry docks. That same day a dismembered body is found in the river, sparking an investigation and a call to Reykjavik for detective reinforcements to assist the small local police force. With the ferry held in dock and a bad snowstorm threatening to cut off the town, chief of police Andri is under pressure to deliver results quickly.

TV News: Echoes from the Dead on BBC4

BBC Four continues to treat us Scandi-drama fans. After the gripping 1864 (I have 2 episodes left still), next Saturday (13th) at 9pm we have the film of Johan Theorin's Echoes from the Dead.

Echoes from the Dead (2008 in English) is the first book in a loose quartet with the final part, The Voices Beyond, being released in English on 2 July.

In Maxine's review of Echoes from the Dead, tr. Marlaine Delargy, she wrote: "On finishing the book, I can only advise that if you read one crime-fiction novel [published] this year, make it this one."

TV News: Amber on BBC Four

Amber, a four-part Irish drama, begins on BBC Four on Tuesday 3 June at 10pm. It stars Eva Birthistle (Waking the Dead) and David Murray as Amber's parents:

The disappearance of 14-year-old Amber Bailey sets off a two-year search during which her family will go through unimaginable pressures. As the days, months and years progress the mystery deepens and strange and terrifying clues come to light, raising yet more questions. The world becomes gripped by the mystery of the missing teen.

Find out more about the show on the RTE Website.

TV News: Wallander's final series on BBC Four

The third and final series of the Swedish Wallander starring Krister Henriksson begins on BBC Four on 17 May at 9pm.

The first of the six ninety-minute episodes is based on Henning Mankell's final Wallander novel, The Troubled Man, with Linda Wallander being played by Charlotta Jonsson:

Attending a family meal at the home of his daughter Linda, Kurt Wallander is intrigued when Hakan von Enke, his son-in-law's father and a retired naval commander, is called away by an urgent phone call. It soon becomes clear that the call is related to the recovery of a body from the waters of the Stockholm archipelago - the same waters where, at the height of the Cold War, depth charges were exploded in an attempt to raise a submarine which had strayed into Swedish territorial waters. When Hakan goes missing, Wallander's investigations uncover a complicated international espionage.

TV News: Hinterland on BBC Four

Over a year ago it was announced that Welsh crime series Hinterland would be shown on BBC Four and now there's a start date.

Hinterland has been on in its Welsh language version on S4C and also on BBC Wales in the English language version (though the scheduling was very erratic) and now it has a regular slot on BBC Four, beginning 28 April at 9pm.

Episode 1 (1hr 34m):

On his very first day in his new job in Aberystwyth, DCI Tom Mathias is called out to investigate a suspicious disappearance. In a quiet seaside bungalow he discovers a bathroom covered in blood but no sign of the owner. His investigation into the disappearance of 64-year-old Helen Jenkins leads him to the cascading waters of an ancient ravine at Devil's Bridge, and uncovers the cruel history of a long-closed children's home.

Finally on Inspector De Luca: Via delle Oche

The fourth and final episode of Inspector De Luca is based on the third book in Carlo Lucarelli's De Luca trilogy, Via delle Oche, and is being shown on 12 April at 9pm on BBC Four:

April 1948, and demoted to the role of deputy inspector and assigned to the vice squad, De Luca returns to Bologna. As the first elections of the newly-formed Italian Republic are about to take place, a man is found hanged in a brothel. Although the authorities are quick to pronounce the incident death by suicide, De Luca suspects foul play. His dogged determination provokes a stand-off with his superiors, and the investigation takes a further turn for the personal when the inspector runs into the madam of a brothel located in Via Delle Oche.

Next on Inspector De Luca: Carte Blanche

The second episode of Inspector De Luca is based on the first book in Carlo Lucarelli's De Luca trilogy, Carte Blanche, and is being shown on 29 March at 9pm on BBC Four:

In April 1945, having inadvertently been credited with 'saving Il Duce's life', De Luca becomes a reluctant hero and is promoted to a high-profile job in Bologna. He heads a murder investigation which will lead him to probe the private lives of the rich and powerful during the frantic final days of the fascist regime. The powers-that-be grant him carte blanche, just as long as he arrests the 'right' suspect.

TV News: Inspector De Luca on BBC Four

Inspector De Luca, based on the trilogy (Carte Blanche, The Damned Season and Via Delle Oche) by Carlo Lucarelli begins next Saturday, 22 March, at 9pm on BBC Four.

The first of the four episodes is Unauthorised Investigation which is based on a non- De Luca novel called Indagine non Autorizzata, with the following three episodes based on the De Luca books:

At the seaside resort of Riccione in 1938 the body of a young prostitute is found on a beach, not far from Mussolini's holiday residence. The local chief of police, terrified that the news may become public, attempts to draw the matter to a swift close by charging the woman's pimp with her murder, and earns praise from Il Duce in the process.

But Inspector De Luca, unconvinced that the case has been solved, continues to secretly investigate on his own. Set against the backdrop of sophisticated hotels and exclusive beach resorts in what was once considered to be the 'summer capital' of fascism, De Luca's investigation soon starts to involve aspiring politicians, high-ranking state functionaries, seductive countesses, anti-fascist journalists and some of Mussolini's own bodyguards.

TV News: Salamander on BBC Four in February

Salamander, a twelve part Flemish political thriller begins on BBC Four on 8 February at 9pm. Episode two follows at 9.45pm.

From the BBC's media centre:

Disguised as builders, a group of robbers descend on a top Belgium private bank - but the burglars have no eye for money or other valuables and target only 66 of 800 vaults in the bank. These 66 vaults belong to the country's industrial, financial, judicial and political elite, and the safe-deposit boxes contained their most intimate secrets - secrets that could bring down the nation.

Who ordered this hack? Who wants to disrupt the state? The bank scramble to cover up the robbery and avoid the involvement of the police, but police inspector Paul Gerardi (Filip Peeters) catches wind of the affair. With his incorruptible, old-school morals and devil-may-care attitude, Gerardi throws himself into the investigation, and when some of the key players are murdered, commit suicide or vanish, he soon realises just how big the case is.

Gerardi discovers that the victims are members of a secret organisation called Salamander. As he becomes the target of both the criminals and the authorities, Gerardi must quickly find out what their agenda is - and who is behind the thefts...

TV News: More on BBC Four

There's no risk of my hard disk recorder ever being empty following today's news from the BBC...:

Cementing BBC Four as the home of international drama, the channel today announces three new foreign language drama series: Crimes Of Passion, a Swedish crime series set in the 1950s; Hostages, an Israeli thriller series; and 1864, a Danish historical drama series.

Sue Deeks, BBC Head of Programme Acquisition []: “I am delighted that we are adding to our range of international drama on BBC Four with three superb new series. Hostages is a taut, spare and authentic Israeli thriller; Crimes Of Passion is a stylish and engaging 50s-set detective drama; and 1864 is an epic historical Danish series with tremendous sweep and scale.”

1864 (8x60)

Brothers Laust and Peter live in an innocent world full of hope, under poor, but happy, circumstances, in the Danish countryside in the middle of the 19th century.

Following the victories over the Prussians in the war of 1848-51, Denmark is now scheming to annex Schleswig into the Danish Kingdom. Inflamed with nationalism, the leader of the Danish parliament, Monrad, neglects all European treaties and throws the country into war with Prussia. At the same time, Laust and Peter grow up and fall in love with the well-read and beautiful Inge, but when the war erupts Peter and Laust volunteer for the army...

1864 is an epic, highly cinematic historical drama, in which we become eyewitnesses to momentous events and the extraordinary love story of Peter, Laust and Inge, and how the brothers - along with thousands of Danish soldiers - fought some of the bloodiest battles in European history.

Starring: Jakob Oftebro, Pilou Asbæk, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Søren Malling.

Crimes Of Passion (6x90)

With love, sex, intrigue, betrayal, secrets, lies - and murder - Crimes Of Passion is based on the popular crime novels of author Maria Lang. Set in the magically beautiful region of Bergslagen, Sweden, these entertaining ‘whodunnits’ follow amateur sleuth Puck Ekstedt and fiancé Einar Bure, along with police superintendent Christer Wijk, in their quest to cast a light on the murderous intent beneath the seemingly idyllic surroundings – where the killer is always one of the community.

(Three of Maria Lang's many books are available in English, if you can find them. Can we hope for a reprint?)

Hostages (10x60)

Hostages is an intense psychological crime-thriller that follows a renowned surgeon about to perform a routine operation on the president of Israel. But there is nothing routine about it when the night before the procedure, her family is taken hostage and she is ordered to sabotage the operation and kill the president – or her family will die. Her battle to save both her family and the president takes us on a journey where everyone is fighting for survival.

BBC Four viewers can also look forward to season two of The Bridge, new Belgian conspiracy thriller Salamander, season three of Wallander, and home-grown dramas Hinterland from Wales and Amber from Ireland. 

TV News: Inspector Montalbano and a Ray of Light

The fourth and final episode in the latest series of Inspector Montalbano is A Ray of Light on Saturday 9nd November at 9pm on BBC Four:

A woman is attacked and robbed on her way home late at night, but the case leaves Montalbano wondering whether there isn't more to the story than he's being told. An abandoned cattle shed in the countryside has been boarded up by unknowns and used for mysterious purposes.

A Ray of Light is based on Andrea Camilleri's nineteenth Montalbano novel, Una lama di luce, which has not yet been translated into English. It was published in Italy in 2012.

The following Saturday sees the Return of Borgen.

TV News: Inspector Montalbano & a Voice in the Night

The third episode of the latest series of Inspector Montalbano is A Voice in the Night on Saturday 2nd November at 9pm on BBC Four:

A supermarket controlled by a Mafia family is robbed, setting off a chain of events in which the Mafia's political links start to transpire. Montalbano finds himself having to conduct his investigation using even more unconventional methods and this time he does something he's never done before.

A Voice in the Night is based on Andrea Camilleri's eighteenth Montalbano novel, Una Voce di Notte, which has not yet been translated into English. Though published in Italy in 2012, I believe the story is set a few years earlier.

TV News: Ol' Salvo's back in Town (ie the return of Inspector Montalbano)

Inspector Montalbano (with Luca Zingaretti) returns to BBC Four on Saturday 19th October at 9pm with the first of four episodes (from 2013):

Angelica's Smile

A series of burglaries takes place at the houses of wealthy Vigata residents. One of the victims is a beguiling young bank manager called Angelica, to whom Salvo finds he is soon attracted. As the investigation progresses, Montalbano starts to suspect that the burglaries might be a cover for something rather more sinister.

Angelica's Smile is based on Andrea Camilleri's seventeenth Montalbano novel, Il sorriso di Angelica, which is the next book to appear in English in June 2014 in both the US and the UK. At the rate I'm watching these I will have read the book first! But as the saying goes, one can never be too rich, too thin ... or have too much Montalbano (whatever his age).

TV News: Back to Basics for Young Montalbano

The third part of the six-episode run of Young Montalbano - Back to Basics - is on Saturday 21 September at 9pm on BBC Four.

Just as he's starting to settle into his new job, Montalbano is surprised, and somewhat irked, by the unexpected arrival of the new deputy inspector, Mimi' Augello. The two soon find that their personalities are as alike as chalk and cheese. Together, they investigate the kidnapping of a young child and make the acquaintance of a beautiful Genoese architect, Livia Burlando. A rivalry immediately ensues for the girl's attentions.

The series is co-written by Andrea Camilleri and Francesco Bruni with the stories drawn from several short story collections.

TV News: Next on Young Montalbano

Young Montalbano which started last Saturday appears to have been well received [I am of course still on the classic series of Inspector Montalbano and cannot comment yet!]. The second part of the six-episode run is New Year's Eve, and is on Saturday 14 September at 9pm on BBC Four.

A man is shot dead in his hotel room on New Year's Eve, so Montalbano spends his first New Year's Day in Vigata investigating a murder. The case presents several unusual conundrums, not least the fact that the victim was co-owner of the hotel.

The series is co-written by Andrea Camilleri and Francesco Bruni with the stories drawn from several short story collections.

TV News: Young Montalbano on BBC Four

Young Montalbano is a six-part series, with Michele Riondino as Montalbano. The first episode, on Saturday 7 September at 9pm on BBC Four, is The First Case:

Young detective Salvo Montalbano is posted to a remote village in the Sicilian mountains, where he struggles to adapt to the somewhat unwelcoming climate, but a promotion and transfer bring him to the more agreeable seaside town of Vigata. Here he finds himself supervising a team of local policemen, including veteran Carmine Fazio and affable but bumbling agent Catarella. Montalbano's first case in Vigata involves investigating an attempted murder at the hands of a vulnerable young woman whose motives appear unfathomable.

The series is co-written by Andrea Camilleri and Francesco Bruni with the stories drawn from several short story collections.

TV News: French thriller Point Blank on BBC Four

I blogged about the film, Point Blank, when it was released back in 2011 and it is to be on BBC Four at 9pm on Saturday 31 August.

When male nurse Samuel saves a thief, his pregnant wife is taken hostage by the thief's henchmen to make him spring their boss from the hospital. A race through the subways and streets of Paris ensues as the body count rises. Can Samuel evade the cops and the criminal underground and deliver his beloved to safety?

It's also available quite cheaply on DVD.