You’ll Want Detective ‘Van der Valk’ on Your Case
Preview
It’s not just Americans who love TV reboots. This atmospheric new police drama, an update of a classic English show that aired in the 1970s and was revived in 1991, has already scored a second season in the U.K.
Set and filmed in Amsterdam, the Masterpiece series highlights the city’s picturesque canals, world-class museums and lovely architecture while Dutch homicide detective Piet Van der Valk (Beecham House‘s Marc Warren, above) goes about the business of solving murders.
“Piet is someone who doesn’t suffer fools,” executive producer Michele Buck says of the maverick. (He also has a mysterious romantic backstory and a secret of his own.) Though his stubborn independence ruffles the feathers of his boss, Julia Dahlman (Emma Fielding), she nonetheless sees his value, as do his team. Among them: best friend Lucienne Hassell (Maimie McCoy), a confident gay woman who stands up to Piet, and newcomer Job Cloovers (Elliot Barnes-Worrell), an eager-to-impress data geek.
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The cases, too, are Amsterdam-specific. The first intertwines rival political candidates and a love story gone wrong; the second involves nuns and religious erotic art; and the third opens with the killing of a fashion vlogger on live video. By the end of the three-episode season, faith in Van der Valk will be high, Buck promises: “You’ll think, ‘If something awful happens to me or my family, I’d want him on the case because he’d get it sorted.'”
Van der Valk, Series Premiere, Sunday, September 13, 9/8c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)
