The detective series is an adaptation of the Nordic crime novels by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and will star Matthew Goode of Watchmen, Downton Abbey and The Crown alongside Kelly Macdonald of Trainspotting and Disney’s Brave
Matthew Goode will lead the show. Image: PA (Image: PA)
The show follows a former top-rated detective (Goode) in Edinburgh who is assigned to a new cold case but is wracked with guilt following an attack that left a fellow policeman dead and his partner paralysed.
It is not known how many scenes will be filmed in the county, nor how prominently it will feature.
The show stars Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald (Image: Newsquest)
In a letter informing residents of the filming, the production team said: “We have some planned exterior filming on both nights. This will involve a car driving down Ware Road and up to Lysander House. For this filming we will have lights in the surrounding fields. These may cause attention as the land surrounding is very flat, so I would think these will be seen from quite a way away.
“Access to Yellowcraig Beach and car park will be kept open at all times to the public, but we have made arrangements with East Lothian Council to park some vehicles in the car park.”
It is not yet known when the series will be available on Netflix.
Other confirmed cast members include Chloe Pirrie (Black Mirror), Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones) and Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter franchise).
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Matthew Goode Leads Netflix’s Gritty New Crime Drama ‘Department Q’ – Collider – 6th February 2024
RYAN O’ROURKE
THE BIG PICTURE
- Production has started on a new Netflix crime series, Department Q , with Matthew Goode as the lead detective.
- The show follows former top-rated detective Carl Morck as he tackles cold cases and builds a team of misfit officers.
- Other stars in the cast include Chloe Pirrie, Alexej Manvelov, Kelly Macdonald, and Leah Byrne.
Production is now underway in Edinburgh for a new Netflix crime series, Department Q, hailing from one of the streamer’s favorite creative partners, Scott Frank. The show is an adaptation of the novels of the same name by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and revolves around former top-rated detective Carl Morck as he tackles a cold case. As cameras begin rolling, Netflix also revealed the full call sheet of stars who will be appearing onscreen, with Watchmen star Matthew Goode headlining the bunch as Morck and reuniting with his The Lookout director Frank.
Described as “brilliant but impossible,” Morck is forever changed by the inciting violent incident of Department Q, which saw the detective’s partner paralyzed and an officer killed. Wracked with guilt, he’s given command of the titular department, a new cold case sector that is little more than a PR stunt to sideline him upon his return to work. He eventually starts to tap back into his detective instincts and turn the basement office space into a well-oiled machine full of misfit officers dedicated to cracking whatever seemingly impossible cases come across their desks. The new series will bring Goode back to television after ending his stint on A Discovery of Witches after three seasons and appearing in The Offer in 2022.
Key among the outcasts joining him in Department Q is Under the Banner of Heaven star Chloe Pirrie as the prosecutor Merrit Lingard who is as ambitious as she is ruthless. Haunted by her troubled childhood and her brother’s severe brain injury, she turned over a new leaf to fight tooth and nail for justice, quickly climbing the ranks until she was at the doorstep of her biggest case yet. However, she opts instead to change things up and crosses paths with Morck, altering the course of her career.
Alongside them is Alexej Manvelov as the former Syrian officer Akram Salim, who flees to Europe and becomes Morck’s oft-underestimated assistant, Kelly Macdonald as the therapist Dr. Rachel Irving, who forms a deeper connection with Morck throughout their sessions and conversations with each other, and Leah Byrne as Rose, a formerly promising police cadet forever marred by the stigma of her mental breakdown who turns to Morck for a second chance.
Rounding out the cast of Department Q are Mark Bonnar, Shirley Henderson, Jamie Sives, and Kate Dickie.
Frank will serve as showrunner for the series and leads the writing team consisting of Chandni Lakhani, Stephen Greenhorn, and Colette Kane. Netflix likely has the utmost trust in Frank to deliver yet again, as he previously helmed one of the streamer’s colossal previous hits — The Queen’s Gambit. Nominated for two Oscars, his fingerprints can also be found on plenty of acclaimed films, including Steven Spielberg‘s Minority Report, James Mangold‘s Logan, and Steven Soderbergh‘s Out of Sight. His most recent work came at AMC with the Monsieur Spade series starring Clive Owen.
Production is currently underway on Department Q, but there’s no indication of when it could hit Netflix. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the Edinburgh-based series as work gets underway.
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Matthew Goode, Kelly Macdonald, Chloe Pirrie Join Cast of Scott Frank’s Netflix ‘Department Q’ Adaptation – Variety – 6th February 2024
By Naman Ramachandran
The cast is led by Matthew Goode (“The King’s Man”), Chloe Pirrie (“The Queen’s Gambit”), Alexej Manvelov (“Jack Ryan”) Kelly Macdonald (“Line of Duty”) and Leah Byrne (“Call The Midwife”). It also includes Mark Bonnar (“Napoleon”), Shirley Henderson (“Harry Potter”), Jamie Sives (“Guilt”) and Kate Dickie (“Inside Man”).
“Department Q” is an adaptation of the novels of the same name from Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen. They have spawned a successful Danish film series with more in production.
Merritt plays a ruthless and ambitious prosecutor who has quickly risen the ranks in the Crown Office. Merritt had a troubled childhood, raised by her absent father on the Isle of Mull. But after her brother William suffered a severe brain injury, she turned her life around and dedicated her life to him, whilst striving for justice in her role as prosecutor. However, in the wake of the biggest case of her career, Merritt decides she needs to make a change. As a result, Merritt and Carl’s paths collide.
Manvelov plays a former officer in the Syrian police force who flees to Europe when civil war breaks out. Unable to work as a cop in the U.K., he petitions for work at Edinburgh’s police station, becoming Carl’s assistant. Akram keeps his past life in Syria private, but as the series goes on, Carl realises he’s underestimated his new partner.
Macdonald plays the therapist charged with getting officers back on the front line. She’s smart, and she soon gets the measure of Carl, his trauma and his superiority complex. Intrigued by one another, the two develop a deeper connection across the series.
The series is currently in production in Edinburgh.
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‘Department Q’ Takes Shape: Matthew Goode, Chloe Pirrie, Alexej Manvelov, Leah Byrne, Kelly Macdonald Join Netflix Series Adaptation Of Danish Crime Novels – Deadline – 6th February 2024
Department Q has staffed up. Cameras are rolling in Scotland on the upcoming series adaptation of Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen’s hugely popular crime novels.
Matthew Goode, Chloe Pirrie, Alexej Manvelov, Leah Byrne and Kelly Macdonald are all on board Netflix‘s English-language series Deadline can reveal.
The project comes from showrunner Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit). It has been written by Frank, Chandni Lakhani, Stephen Greenhorn and Colette Kane. Frank directs the first two of the eight instalments. Filming is taking place in Edinburgh, where the series will be set.
Goode will play DCI Carl Morck. After a violent incident turns Morck’s life upside down, the emotionally scarred detective is charged with setting up cold case unit, Department Q, upon his return to work. At first, the disillusioned cop is happy to waste his days away, but his detective instincts are ultimately reawakened and his new department becomes a magnet for a crew of misfits and mavericks.
The project sees Goode working with Left Bank Pictures and Netflix once more. He played Antony Armstrong Jones in season two of Left Bank’s regal drama The Crown.
Pirrie, whose credits include The Queen’s Gambit, plays ruthless and ambitious prosecutor Merrit Lingard. Fellow Scottish actor Macdonald takes the role of Dr. Rachel Irving, a therapist tasked with getting officers back on the front line.
Manvelov (Jack Ryan) is Syrian cop Akram Salim, who was forced to flee to Europe and ultimately becomes part of the new department. Byrne takes the role of Rose, a star police cadet left shaken by a breakdown and looking for a chance to prove herself in DCI Morck’s team.
The cast also includes Mark Bonnar (Guilt), Shirley Henderson (Bridget Jones), Jamie Sives (Crime) and Kate Dickie (Inside Man).
Adler-Olsen’s books have spawned a very successful film franchise. The fourth film based on the novels, The Purity Of Vengeance, became the highest-grossing Danish film at the local box office. New movies are in the works.
Indie filmmaker Matt Brown recently directed Freud’s Last Session, based on the stage play of the same name. It’s a thought-provoking film that envisions an intriguing fictional encounter between two intellectual giants, Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis, portrayed by the legendary Sir Anthony Hopkins and the talented Matthew Goode, respectively.
The play itself draws its inspiration from Armand M. Nicholi’s renowned book, The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex and the Meaning of Life, effectively encapsulating the essence of the film’s storyline.
In a candid conversation with Casting Networks, Brown —who previously directed The Man Who Knew Infinity starring Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel— delves into the intricacies of casting his lead actors, collaborating with his trusted casting director and the unique experience of directing one of the greatest living actors in the industry today.
Your film is about two very famous figures in history. How do you begin to assemble actors to play historical figures Freud and C.S. Lewis?
I go with the best actor. Looks matter to a degree but I think it’s trying to find the right actor. Casting the role of Freud, there were a ton of actors we could have considered. You always have that one actor who is your dream casting. Very rarely has it been my experience that that dream comes true.
How did you get Anthony Hopkins for that role?
Anthony Hopkins is a very, very special person, actor, musician and painter. He’s just a genius. We tried to get him. He read the script but was in the midst of shooting The Father and politely passed. Then I did some more work on the script and came back to him about a year and a half later, maybe two years later. For whatever reason, he decided this time to engage. I felt like I won the lottery.
What about Matthew Goode as C.S. Lewis?
I was looking at pictures of C.S. Lewis, which goes back to what you said about looks. C.S. Lewis looked so much different in his late thirties than he did as we know him historically later in life, which was a chubby bald man. But he drank, smoked many cigarettes and had a lot of trauma and PTSD. So, he aged rather poorly. I don’t mean to be offensive to somebody who’s long gone, but he didn’t age well.
In your film, this is C.S. Lewis before the effects of aging.
He was quite dashing and handsome when he was in his twenties and thirties and he actually looked a bit like Matthew. So that was in our favor. But again, it goes back to trying to find the best actor. Matthew’s somebody that I’ve been tracking and following. During the pandemic, I watched his vampire show with my wife, Discovery of Witches —every single episode of it.
That’s where he’s a vampire who teams up with a witch to fend off creatures?
It wasn’t my kind of show necessarily, but I was like, “This guy is so good.” I’d been watching him for years, but I felt like I lived with him through the pandemic. So I was like, “Can we please go to Matthew Goode?” Miracle of miracles, he said yes! I got an incredible twosome with Mathew and Anthony.
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