Cold Cases & Dark Minds Netflix’s ‘Dept. Q’ Goes Straight to No. 1 in the UK

Netflix’s latest crime drama, Department Q or Dept. Q, has stormed to the top of the UK chart, claiming the number one spot within days of release. The show is an unflinching adaptation of Jussi Adler-Olsen’s bestselling Danish novels and plunges headfirst into psychological grit, grim murder cases, and one seriously broken man.

That man is Carl Morck, played with raw urgency by Matthew Goode. Best known for his polished turns in Downton Abbey and The Crown, Goode takes a sharp detour into something altogether nastier here. Gone is the genteel decorum—this is Goode as you’ve never seen him.

After a botched operation leaves his partner paralysed and another officer dead, Morck is banished to the cold-case basement. He’s no hero. He’s arrogant, abrasive, and emotionally stunted. But he’s also good—very good—at digging into long-forgotten files and sniffing out rot. As the plot unfolds over nine dense and increasingly disturbing episodes, so too does Morck’s descent into guilt, regret, and reluctant redemption.

“This is little more than a PR exercise,” says the official synopsis of Department Q’s formation a cynical attempt by the police force to sideline a man they’d rather forget. Morck is happy enough to be left alone, spending his days dodging responsibility and brooding in solitude. That is, until a new crop of outsiders—misfits, some might say—begin trickling into his orbit.

Kelly Macdonald appears as Dr Rachel Irving, the police therapist assigned to assess officers before they return to duty. Calm, clinical, and sharp, Irving is immediately at odds with Morck, who treats mandatory therapy as just another box to tick. But it’s clear from their first meeting that she isn’t easily put off. She doesn’t rise to his defensiveness or ego, she studies it. The more they meet, the more it becomes apparent that she’s not there just to sign forms. She’s a constant presence, quietly pressing on the cracks in Morck’s armour.

Dept. Q doesn’t just look like another crime show but a character study wrapped in bleak murder and political rot. It’s being compared to the likes of Slow Horses by way of The Bridge, but with a soul as damaged as its detective.

All 9 episodes of Dept. Q are available to stream now on Netflix.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook Instagram Twitter(X) YouTube TikTok