Netflix crime drama to return for second series

Netflix has confirmed hit crime drama Department Q, which was set and filmed in Edinburgh, will return for a second series.

The streaming giant said Matthew Goode will again play DCI Carl Morck, a damaged and shambolic detective who heads up the department of misfits in the basement of a police station.

The show follows the team as they are charged with solving cases which were previously deemed unsolvable.

The new season will see Morck reunited with team members Alexej Manvelov as Akram, Leah Byrne as Rose and Jamie Sives as Hardy.

Department Q is based on a book series by Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen.

But Scandi noir became Tartan noir after the show’s director set foot on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh while scouting locations.

A Danish language version of the programme was previously shown on the BBC, but Netflix brought the first big budget English language version to screens worldwide in May.

Department Q spent six weeks in Netflix’s top ten shows following its release.

Scott Frank, the show’s writer and director, previously told BBC Scotland News how the Scottish setting also allowed him to focus on the humour of the original novels.

Frank, who also directed The Queen’s Gambit, said: “I’m grateful to the folks at Netflix, as well as our shining cast and crew, for once more risking their careers to enable my folly.”

Executive producer Rob Bullock said he had a “really wonderful response” to the news of the second series.

“It is going to be loosely based on the second book in Jussi’s series,” he said.

“And much like season one, we will take the book and the gold that’s in that book but then go off and tell our own stories alongside it.”

Bullock said Edinburgh was still an important part of the process.

“It is such a fantastic, cinematic city,” he added.

“When we found out it’s often the case that shows are set there but not filmed there, we thought that was a really exciting opportunity for us to live and film in Edinburgh.

“It’s one of those places that looks beautiful in each direction you point the camera.

“That’s what we wanted from the start, to make a really beautiful thriller.”

Filming is set to begin early next year.

Netflix executives Mona Qureshi and Manda Levin said: “We are raring to return to Carl Morck and his band of glorious misfits at Department Q.

“Scott Frank brought us best-in-class storytelling and thrilled Netflix audiences worldwide.

“We can’t wait to see what Morck and the gang uncover in season two… Edinburgh, we’re back.”