The 2025 British version of Department Q is a perfect police rime procedural. There may be police shows as good, but I can't recall any better.
If you haven't heard about Department Q, then you don't hang out at my poker games. My friends have been telling me to watch it for months. My wife and I finally got around to it and wow were my friends right. This new version is based off Danish movies that were based on a book series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. So it is like a dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude. But thank god they jumped through those complicated hoops to make this show.
The show centers around a British police detective named Carl Morck, played by Matthew Goode, who is incredibly abrasive and has pushed basically everyone in his life away from him. It gets worse after he survives a shooting (this is no spoiler as it happens 5 minutes into the show). He is so hated in his department that he is banished to the basement (literally) and given the impossible task of solving cold cases that have been forgotten about.
I truly think the key to these types of shows are the side characters. There have been many shows with amazing main characters but the side characters are so annoying that they bring the show down. This was actually my problem with Breaking Bad. I get that people love the show but so many of the side characters made me want to take some meth (I'm looking at you Mrs. White, little son white, brother and sister in law... and many others). This is also why I loved Better Call Saul far more than Breaking Bad. All of the side characters were compelling. But I digress. Back to Department Q.
Although Morck hates everyone and would rather work on his own, he does put together a team (son of a bitch). And that is one of the true strengths of the show. Alexj Manvelov as Akram Salim is one of the best parts of the show. His character was some kind of badass officer back in Syria but he can't even get a job as a police secretary in England. So naturally he joins Morck's team. He's amazing! The two other members of the team, Rose and Hardy, also bring a ton to the table. I loved that they portrayed a police officer with a disability as still having tremendous value. His legs are weak... not his brain! Even Morck's roommate and step son are interesting characters. It also contains the best therapist/patient relationship I have seen since the Sopranos.
But all the characters in the world could not save a show if the driving mystery were not compelling. And believe me this one is. I can't say too much about it without spoiling it but trust me, the acting and surprises of "whodunit" are sensational.
It seems they are already making a second season. I can't wait!